From The Book's Introduction: "During the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, newspaper columnists and local TV sports anchors were criminally negligent about reporting on the Caps, and before blogs and TV hockey channels, there weren’t any other options. So I dug into it. Now, like Marty McFly in Back To The Future, you’re invited to buckle up your DeLorean and set the Flux Capacitor for Landover, Maryland and 1974, to read what I uncovered.
Deep-dive research (more than 170 unique sources) revealed that beyond the historically wretched expansion season, the decade-and-a-half climb out of the wreckage was also worthy of sharing – and hadn’t previously been shared. The book’s filter is that each entry should make the reader smile or reflect. In other words, dry recitations of games and numbers wouldn’t cut it. There’s no mandate to be comprehensive, because year-by-year results, player statistics and scores are easily found online. This is a volume about people and their circumstances, that just happened to revolve around a hockey franchise.
The ‘70’s and ‘80’s Capitals are also a jumping-off point to larger topics of American society. Issues examined include bigotry (Pride, Prejudice & Pucks); the ethics of hockey fighting, and disregard for player safety (Comedy Club, Fight Club, Health Club); the political class (Hockey Sticks and Politics); foreign relations (Exhibitions of Note); media relations, and lack of same (Media); arena issues (Capital Centre); and the business of sports (Save The Caps!).
Luckily, tales of the early Caps are in turns hilarious, moving, and thought-provoking. That’s the goal; bite-sized stories which are interesting, funny, or poignant – even if you’re not a Caps fan."
Author Glenn Dreyfuss interviewed
by "Caps Talk" host Ben Raby.
Caps Radio 24/7 is the team's
official online station.
