Incredible story about Bobby Orr

Not only the greatest hockey player ever, but the man responsible for the building of more hockey rinks in New England than any one.

 

Thought this was an outstanding profile, and like others have said, the type of thing that SI used to do a lot of. My subscription just ran out, and the issue with this story in it was one of my last. It made me regret for a moment not renewing. Just a damn good read, and there were some other pretty good stories in that issue, IIRC.
Then I got the latest issue and realized why I made the decision not to fork out the cash anymore. I'm sure I'll go back ... I always do. But these are the types of stories that kept me coming back for decades. Now you get a book excerpt every other week, and while I enjoyed the Forever Blue excerpt, I can get that elsewhere if I want it. Have to disagree with the person who called out Telander for injecting himself into the Mandarich story. Since he wrote the original, I thought he had every right (and in fact, was probably obligated) to do that.

 

Christy almighty... please fucking stop.

 

I'm glad the line is in there. I didn't know that about Boston strippers and consider my life enriched by that knowledge.

 

What the fuck is your problem?

It's a stupid throwaway that has nothing to do with the rest of the story and as others have pointed out, can't be validated.

As someone who's followed his career since he was a fourteen year old with the Gens, I find it interesting that most people know nothing about his private life. He has two sons, neither of whom learned to skate, let alone play hockey. And has anyone here seen a photo of Bobby with his wife and sons?

 

I loved this piece. One, reading it made me wish I had gotten to see Bobby Orr play hockey. Two, I vividly remember being 20 years old and breaking a cardinal rule of journalism - Bobby Orr politely declined to talk to me for an interview, but readily agreed to sign an autograph for me, which I still have, framed above my desk at home.

The stripper grooming detail was a bit extraneous, but I could see how it would fit if this was an excerpt from a book.

 

I think S.L. Price is worthy of tossing in a throw-away line once in a while if he wants. Though I consider it a trivial aside for the point of entertaining the reader.

And I'd rather take this fine profile as a whole, on its merits, rather than break it down and nitpick it.

Maybe there are flaws, or avenues you wish he coulda/shoulda pursued.

I just thought it stood out because it is the type of well-written profile I used to see more of in Sports Illustrated, and I wish there were more of them now.

And I'm always happy to see Price at his best. This was one of them for me.

 

The tidbit was used in Stephen Brunt's book about Bobby Orr, but he also didn't back it up.

 

I sent off for that book yesterday, just to read more about Orr.

Thanks to the poster who recommended it.

 

Could you please distinguish between a "very, very good" story and a "great" story ... That's a very pretentious gap to differentiate between.

Also worth noting: The best writers are the ones who can spin straw into gold. Maybe their research or interviewing techniques were lacking, maybe not. But when you can write a story like that on so little firsthand information, congratu-freaking-lations and no sarcasm intended.

 

Um, sounds like you're pushing style over substance. Sure, pretty much any author is either a better writer or a better reporter. But writing the hell out of something doesn't override lightness of facts and details. Haven't read the piece, so I dunno what applies. Just sayin'

 

I think a great story is one that might be mentioned ten years from now when talking about great stories. I don't think this is one of those.