| SEARCHING FOR BOBBY ORR--US ED |  | Author: Stephen Brunt
Publisher: Knopf Canada
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $21.24
You Save: $6.71 (24%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 5754385
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
ISBN: 0676979335
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780676979336
ASIN: 0676979335
Publication Date: December 12, 2006
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks
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Product Description
The book that hockey fans have been waiting for: the definitive, unauthorized account of the man many say was the greatest player the game has ever seen.
The legend of Bobby Orr is one of the most enduring in sport. Even those who have never played the game of hockey know that the myth surrounding Canada’s great pastime originates in places like Bobby Orr’s Parry Sound. In the glory years of the Original Six – an era when the majority of NHLers were Canadian – hockey players seemed to emerge fully formed from our frozen rivers and backyard rinks, to have found the source of their genius somehow in the landscape. Like Mozart, they just appeared – Howie Morenz, Gordie Howe, Maurice Richard and Bobby Orr – spun out of the elements, prodigies, geniuses, originals, to stoke the fantasy of a nation united around a puck.
Bobby Orr redefined the defensive style of hockey; there was nothing like it before him. He was the first to infuse the defenseman position with offensive juice, driving up the ice, setting up players and scoring some goals of his own. He was the first player to win three straight MVP awards, the first defenseman to score twenty or more goals in a season. His most famous goal won the Boston Bruins the Stanley Cup in 1970 – for the first time in twenty-nine years – against the St. Louis Blues in overtime. But history will also remember Bobby Orr as a key figure in the Alan Eagleson scandal, and as the unfortunate player forced into early retirement in 1978 because of his injuries. His is a story of dramatic highs and lows.
In Searching for Bobby Orr, Canada’s foremost sportswriter gives us a compelling and graceful look at the life and times of Bobby Orr that is also a revealing portrait of a game and a country in transition.
So Bobby Orr could skate, he could stickhandle, he could fight when he had to. He could shoot without looking at the net, without tipping a goaltender as to what was coming. His slapshot came without a big windup, and was deadly accurate. Skating backwards, defending, he was all but unbeatable one on one. He could poke check the puck away, or muscle a forward into the boards. In front of his own net, stronger on his feet than his skinny frame would suggest, he wouldn’t be moved. But there was more…
–from Searching for Bobby Orr
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 A Canadian Gentleman May 27, 2008
Being brought up in Detroit I knew of Hockey but that was it. I went to a few games as a child with Grandpa but everyone jumped up and I couldn't see anything. Now retired and with a wife that was a hockey fan I decided a few years ago to try watching the game. Low and behold a instant fan. This book did more for me that anything else in explaining the game and the names I had heard but really did not know. The sad side is like so many sports and jobs the management or agents or lawyers use and abuse their help. I enjoyed the book and it has certainly brought my knowledge of the sport and the game up. Go Red Wings.
 Great read November 30, 2007
If you like Hockey and grew up during the time of the legend Bobby Orr playing against the Canadians, the Maple Leafs, the Blackhawks and others this book is well worth the read. I enjoyed the book and will pass it on to others to enjoy as well.
Searching for Bobby Orr October 18, 2007
I purchased and read this book only after receiving a recommendation from a hockey buddy. I originally passed on it based on the few reviews on Amazon.com; however, I was pleasantly surprised. Despite the "up and down" reviews, I thought this book was interesting and well written. One reviewer wrote, "In the course of researching this book, author Stephen Brunt was not able to talk to Orr or any of his close knit circle of friends and family. As a result, Brunt's account is superficial and, ultimately, disappointing and unsatisfying." I disagree. Because Orr was, in the reviewer's own words, a "secretive, introverted man", I do not believe that he is inclined to reveal any more of his private life than was shared in this book. The book provides an objective account of the best and most exciting hockey player ever to lace a pair of skates. Included are Bobby's battle with knee problems that robbed him (and all hockey fans) of a lengthy career and his financial difficulties linked to his association with Alan Eagleson.
The great fire that burned too bright for too short a time... May 29, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Just how good was Bobby Orr? Harry Howell said it best during the National Hockey League awards ceremony, where he was presented with the Norris Trophy as the League's top defenseman: "I've been around for fifteen years, and thank God I finally won the trophy. I've got the feeling that for the next twenty years it will be known as the Bobby Orr Trophy." High praise indeed, but consider this: Orr had just completed his rookie season, earning respect almost unheard of at that stage of a career, and he wasn't even the runner-up for the award.
Bobby Orr was regarded as a savior for the Boston Bruins from the very moment he was first seen on the ice by members of the Bruins management, playing in a junior game with children three and four years older than him, dominating the game and controlling the puck better than anyone. He was just an average kid from an average town --- not well off financially and not the greatest of students, though he tried hard --- but on the ice he became a legend.
Stephen Brunt likens Orr to the Greek hero Achilles. The National Hockey League was Troy, and Orr was the most powerful and dynamic hero of the game. And yet, like Achilles, Orr had a flaw. While he had the heart, the determination and the will, it was his knees that ultimately would cut short an exciting and record-setting career. He was the flash of light, the great fire that burned too bright for too short a time. He would win the Norris Trophy the next eight consecutive seasons and lead the League in scoring twice.
As popular and as masterful as he was on the ice, Orr was savagely private about his personal life. He was quiet and reserved, and Brunt shows us that even though he would join his teammates at a party, he often was the first to quietly slip away unnoticed. In putting together this book, Brunt approached Orr about being involved, but he declined and also made a stipulation: Brunt would not be allowed to approach his family.
In some ways that is a loss. Hearing about the storied career from the man who wrote it with his play would have been enlightening and lent a sense of charm and closeness, a way for those who worshiped him to get closer to their hero. Perhaps, however, it was more of a boon that Orr did not wish to be involved. It freed Brunt to seek his own answers and create his own path. The story he chose to pursue could not be shaped and molded, and things he discovered may never have come to light in speaking with the man himself.
One of the fabulous aspects of this book is that Brunt seems to know that a hero, no matter how grand or powerful, is not self-made. Along the way Orr has people who shape his world-view and his life. Those figures are given definition here, particularly Wren Blair, who saw the young boy play in Canada and tried to secure a contract for Boston. "Bucko" McDonald, his junior coach, recognized that Orr was exceptional: a rushing defenseman who was small. McDonald let Orr be who he was and didn't attempt to turn him into something he wasn't. Alan Eagleson was the lawyer who worked with Orr in drafting up a healthy contract in his first season and paved the way for the creation of player agents and sports management groups. However, Eagleson, who would also be the ruin of many a good man by pilfering their retirement funds, ultimately was brought down by Orr and fellow player Carl Brewer. And then there were Orr's parents, who were both encouraging and very protective.
As quickly and beautifully as he came, Orr would be gone. Brunt does an excellent job at revealing him, yet, when all is said and done, there is still so much unknown. The title, SEARCHING FOR BOBBY ORR, is very accurate. Brunt had to search, and could probably keep searching for years. What the author has done, however, is give us an exceptional biography of the greatest hockey player ever to lace up a pair of skates.
--- Reviewed by Stephen Hubbard
 "Superficial Account of an Enigmatic Superstar" April 1, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In the course of researching this book, author Stephen Brunt was not able to talk to Orr or any of his close knit circle of friends and family. As a result, Brunt's account is superficial and, ultimately, disappointing and unsatisfying. Orr has hinted that he might tell his story himself some day but I won't hold my breath. I suspect he will remain a secretive, introverted man, someone who plied his trade for too short a time, then bowed out with dignity. There's really nothing new in SEARCHING FOR BOBBY ORR and, as much as I like and respect Mr. Brunt, he has done little to disspell the mystery surrounding Number 4...and perhaps that's for the best.
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