Buffalo Sabres Book Review: On The Road Again . . .
What happens when one Buffalo Sabres fan decides to watch his team play in every NHL city? Read our book review to find out!
A while ago, die-hard Buffalo Sabres fan Adam Derose asked me if I would be interested in reviewing his book, On The Road Again . . ., for our site.
Being a cool guy, I said “Of course!” and had a copy of the book in my clutches within a week. But being a total douche, it took me like four months to get around to actually writing the review.
Here I am, though, fulfilling my promise to review a book about a guy who fulfills a life-long dream of watching the Buffalo Sabres play in every current NHL city! (I wonder if he will revise this book once he visits the T-Mobile Arena to watch the Sabres play the Las Vegas Golden Knights?)
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On the Road Again is the result of an epiphany that DeRose had after he knocked himself by hitting his head on the porcelain sink in his bathroom – true story! And if that sounds funny, then you will really enjoy the book, which is full of roughly five years worth of anecdotes and Buffalo Sabres recaps that involve DeRose, his wife Shannon (who must have the patience of a saint), and a cast of characters that is way too large to list here.
The book begins in August of 2009, when the Sabres were still competitive enough to qualify for the playoffs, and ends in April of 2014, when the team finished dead last in the NHL with an abysmal 52 points. It goes without saying, then, that DeRose is a diehard fan of the blue and gold, as his quest to watch the Sabres play in all 30 NHL cities not only cost him a pretty penny, but cost him a lot of heartache, as well – DeRose saw the Sabres win only 10 of the 30 games he attended on his tour of the NHL, a rate of success that would have caused most fans to bail.
The fact that DeRose is such a knowledgeable fan of the Buffalo Sabres and hockey in general is only half the reason why this book in enjoyable, however – as they say, getting there is half the fun, and the majority of this book describes the people that DeRose and his wife met, the locales they visited, and the highs and lows they experienced while they were touring North America. DeRose’s conversational style and everyman sense of humor make it easy to relate to his anecdotes, plus it helps the reader overlook some of the book’s flaws (namely, it often goes into too much detail about what food was eaten drinks were consumed, and sights that were seen, plus there are some grammatical errors that will terrify the perfectionist inside of you!).
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If you are interested in grabbing this book, whether it’s for yourself or as a present for the holidays, head over to Amazon.com and grab yourself a copy (only $19.95 at the time of this writing). It’s not a perfect book, and I found myself skipping around as some parts dragged on too long, but it is clearly a labor of love. Buffalo Sabres fans should enjoy DeRose’s love-hate relationship with the blue and gold, so support a local author and consider adding On The Road Again . . . on your winter reading list!