Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Chasing the Dream
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Long Island
STATE: NY
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://dc.sbnation.com/authors/ted-starkey
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2012123367
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2012123367
HEADING: Starkey, Ted
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670 __ |a Red rising, c2012: |b t.p. (Ted Starkey) p. 4 of cover (a veteran hockey writer, who has covered the game for over a decade for the Washington times, Tampa tribune, AOL Sports, USA Hockey and SB Nation)
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Sportswriter.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals, including the Washington Times and Tampa Tribune, and to websites, including AOL Sports, FanHouse.com, USAHockey.com and BuffaloBills.com.
SIDELIGHTS
Ted Starkey is a sportswriter who has written for The Washington Times, Tampa Tribune, AOL Sports, FanHouse.com, USAHockey.com and BuffaloBills.com. He has covered the NHL, NFL and MLB. Starkey has published two books through ECW Press, Red Rising: The Washington Capitals Story and Chasing The Dream: Life in the American Hockey League. Starkey lives on Long Island, New York.
Red Rising
Red Rising tells the story of the surprising success of the National Hockey League’s Washington Capitals. The book focuses on the years between 2003 and 2011, starting with internet entrepreneur Ted Leonsis’ purchasing of the team. When Leonsis purchased the Washington Capitols, the team had a limited fan base and a reputation for underachieving. Though Leonsis initially lost money on the team, his decision to trade out most of the players for draft picks and prospects was the beginning of the Washington Capitols’ comeback. With these new trades came future MVP Alexander Ovechkin, as well as a group of other talented players. Leonsis was able to begin the process of rebranding, transforming it into a respected and popular hockey team.
Starkey writes about the importance of Leonsis’ businessman background, highlighting his ability to make quick decisions for the team and sensible trade decisions. The book contains interviews with Capitals players, coaches, and staff from the past decade, as well as with Leonsis. A contributor to Publishers Weekly noted that Starkey “relies heavily on quotes from players, coaches, Leonsis, and the media, sometimes to the point that it is difficult to determine the voice.”
Chasing the Dream
Chasing the Dream offers a glimpse into the American Hockey League, hockey’s primary minor league. The book is directed by interviews with players, coaches, and owners that Starkey compiled in a span of eight months when he interviewed individuals from seven different teams.
The book focuses on various aspects of minor league hockey, including the travel, fights, and financial problems that arise. Unlike in other professional sports, in which it takes numerous steps to rise from the minor to the major leagues, minor league hockey is short leap away from professional hockey. The book contains interviews with players, franchise owners, and staff members from recent years. A contributor to Publisher’s Weekly wrote, “it lacks a historical perspective,” however, “there’s much to be gleaned about life in the minors here, including travel woes and the psychological battles for players who are close to and yet so far from their NHL dreams.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, July 30, 2012, review of Red Rising: The Washington Capitals Story, p. 53; September 12, 2016, review of Chasing the Dream: Life in the American Hockey League, p. 46.
ONLINE
Hockey Book Reviews, http://www.hockeybookreviews.com (August 25, 2012), Joe Pelletier, review of Red Rising.
Sports Book Review Center, http://allsportsbooks.blogspot.com (June 17, 2017), Budd Bailey, review of Chasing the Dream.*
Ted Starkey
Contributor
Ted Starkey is a veteran sportswriter who has covered the NHL, NFL and MLB, writing for The Washington Times, Tampa Tribune, AOL Sports, FanHouse.com, USAHockey.com and BuffaloBills.com, as well as the author of two books on the Washington Capitals, Transition Game: The Story of the 2010-11 Washington Capitals and Red Rising: The Washington Capitals Story.
Ted Starkey is a veteran sportswriter who has authored two books, Red Rising: The Washington Capitals Story and Transition Game: The Story of the 2010–11 Washington Capitals. He has written for Newsday, the Washington Times, the Tampa Tribune, SB Nation, AOL Sports, and USA Hockey. He currently lives on Long Island, New York.
Q&A With Transition Game Author Ted Starkey
By Jeff Posted December 6, 2011
Me with my copy of “Transition Game” by Ted Starkey (photo credit: Melanie Riggio)
I haven’t had much time to read books lately (unless you count business and accounting textbooks), but when I received by copy of “Transition Game” by Ted Starkey, I decided that I could take a slight break from my studies and read a few pages. Bad mistake, because it was a great book that was very hard to put down. It’s a great book for not only Capitals fans, but for hockey fans as well. I had the opportunity to talk to Ted about the book and he was gracious enough to answer a few questions for me regarding it. Questions after the jump.
What inspired you to write Transition Game and Red Rising?
I’ve always wanted to do a book, and after collecting a year’s worth of notes, I decided in March to write a book profiling the grind that goes into a National Hockey Lague season, starting from being on ice during the Hershey Bears’ 2010 Calder Cup celebration in June to the offseason into training camp, “24/7” and the season itself. I didn’t know what the outcome of the season would be when I decided to undertake the project, but thought the was going to be more about the journey than the result. Even though the Capitals didn’t win the Stanley Cup last spring, the book involves what goes into a season rather than the rehashing of a playoff run.
Red Rising came about from a desire from ECW Press in Toronto to explore the growth of a sport in a non-traditional hockey market, so the Capitals were one of the best examples of growth since the lockout, selling out regularly in a building that certainly had some empty nights with some of the rebuilding teams around the lockout. Having covered the Capitals off and on since 2000, it’s an interesting tale of how several components came together to help create one of the league’s recent success stories both on the ice and in the stands.
While doing research, there must have been some memories that you were happy to recall and some that you just wanted to forget about altogether. What were some of them?
Doing Red Rising, I had forgotten how miserable a season the 2003-04 edition was, from not only trading away most of the team’s core, including Steve Konowalchuk, Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra, Sergei Gonchar and Mike Grier, but also the firing of Bruce Cassidy and an altercation with Ted Leonsis and a fan in the hallway of then-MCI Center. The team took a real risk with the slow and painful rebuilding process heading into the lockout, and it certainly was a forgettable season.
The recent play of the club certainly puts some of those old seasons in perspective, as although the team certainly is one of the most intriguing around the league with the personality, it certainly is preferable now – even with the ups and downs of a season so far where the team has been .500 – than it was back in the dark days before the lockout.
You mentioned in Transition Game how bad the Capitals were when they first entered the league and got into the “Save the Caps” movement a little bit. How does that compare to how bad the team was before Alex Ovechkin was drafted and the team started to turn their fortunes around?
The early edition of the Capitals certainly weren’t pretty, starting off with the NHL’s worst regular season in history and getting just 8 wins in their first campaign. The “Save the Caps” movement was essentially a demand by former Capitals owner Abe Pollin for fans to buy more tickets to games – despite not making the playoffs in the team’s first 8 years – and also to get some tax breaks from Prince George’s County, where the Caps played at the time.
Despite that, there was a sense the team was progressing into a playoff club. 2003-04 was a bit more striking since the team had qualified for the playoffs nearly every season since 1982-83, and quickly dismantled into a team that was filled with AHL and ECHL talent by the lockout. Certainly, the Caps benefited from the lottery, leapfrogging both Pittsburgh and Chicago for the right to draft Ovechkin, but there was a big risk by Leonsis to totally gut the team for what turned out to be a four-year period without sniffing the playoffs.
The 1970s Capitals were new and the expectation was slow progression, while the 2000s Caps were a self-inflicted rebuild, and although not as long a period of lack of success as they had between 1974 and 1982, the stakes were higher to risk the fan base.
There was a book you talked about written by Toronto Star columnist Damien Cox called “The Ovechkin Project” and a rather public feud between Cox and Ted Leonsis. Do you mind getting into that a little bit?
The “Ovechkin Project” certainly was a project I think the Capitals thought would be a more favorable view of their superstar, but it certainly didn’t seem to turn out that way. The book was negatively viewed by a number of people in the organization, and certainly didn’t put the franchise player in the best of lights. (Editor’s note: The negative reviews also included Caps Outsider, via partner site Gunaxin.com)
Several critics noted a comparison in the book between Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, and of course, marketing-wise, it wasn’t the best idea to try and sell a book on Ovechkin with putting that comparison as a prominent feature, since Crosby fans aren’t likely to pick up a book on Ovechkin and it has limited appeal to its target audience.
The book didn’t do particularly well, and the author engaged in a rather public spat with Leonsis over some elements of the work. It certainly wasn’t the book the Capitals were hoping for, and I’m sure sales-wise, it wasn’t what Cox was looking for either.
Do you think that the Capitals being under such scrutiny in December of last season with being taped for “24/7” played a major role in the team struggling so much, which in turned, forced Boudreau to change the system that the team played?
I certainly think the external pressure not only from “24/7” to media criticism caused Boudreau to adopt a more defensive system, and in some ways, it is what eventually led to his ouster in 2011. While the players bought into it, giving up offensive numbers – and in many cases answering questions on what was wrong with their production – in the hopes it would lead to greater success in the playoffs. However, when the team lost to Tampa Bay in four straight, it certainly put some doubt in the room how effective it was.
Coming into the season, the Capitals started off well – playing a style rather like their pre-defensive days – but once the emphasis on defense returned, the message certainly didn’t seem to take this time around.
Personally, my philosophy is you have to have players to fit the system you use, not try and fit players in the system you want. The Capitals are built right now to score goals and not overly strong in their own end, and they need to exploit their advantages rather than conform to a style that they may not have the most adept players to utilize.
Dale Hunter would be wise to certainly take advantage of the team he has and use that edge rather than compound some of the problems both Glen Hanlon and Boudreau had using a defensive system with this group. While they can be responsible, they certainly should avoid a passive system as they showed in Boudreau’s final games.
Is there anything else you would like say that I haven’t already talked about?
If fans want to order Transition Game, it’s available at Transition-Game.com, and gives fans a good look inside what goes into an NHL season. Red Rising is slated to be out in summer of 2012, and there will be a sequel to Transition Game that chronicles this season coming in 2012 as well.
So don’t forget, there is still plenty of time to order the book for the holidays for that hockey fan in your life. And give Ted a follow on Twitter.
WRITER
Bio
Twitter
Latest Posts
Jeff
Jeff
Contributor at Capitals Outsider
He is a college student who majors in finance. As a lifelong Capitals fan, he has endured all of the highs and lows the organization has gone through. Jeff is also a NHL contributor for Puck, Drunk, Love on the Bloguin network.
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Print Marked Items
Chasing the Dream: Life in the American
Hockey League
Publishers Weekly.
263.37 (Sept. 12, 2016): p46.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Chasing the Dream: Life in the American Hockey League
Ted Starkey. ECW (Perseus/Legato, U.S. dist.; Jaguar, Canadian dist.), $17.95 trade paper (240p) ISBN 978177041
2989
Veteran sportswriter Starkey (Red Rising) offers readers a view into life in the, American Hockey League (AHL),
hockey's foremost minor league, where players are a "heartbeat or a sprained ankle away from the NHL." After
spending eight months with seven different teams during the 20142015 season (with an update to add the AHL's
California shift for '1516), Starkey compiled a dizzying collection of interviews and glimpses into the sport's realities,
including franchise financials and how affiliations with NHL teams work. "If there's one constant in the , American
Hockey League, it's change," Starkey writes, unintentionally pointing to the book's weakness. The players, coaches,
and owners he interviewed have been involved in the league in recent years, so the book is relevant now, but it lacks a
historical perspective. Even in the chapter on the league's championship, the Calder Cup, which dates to 1936, Starkey
stays firmly planted in the 21st century. Nevertheless, there's much to be gleaned about life in the minors here,
including travel woes and the psychological battles for players who are close to and yet so far from their NHL dreams.
Readers will come away with great respect for those who have recently called the AHL home. (Nov.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Chasing the Dream: Life in the American Hockey League." Publishers Weekly, 12 Sept. 2016, p. 46. General
OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA464046284&it=r&asid=5dfce41f915f6bef417b5128ba7fe89d.
Accessed 11 June 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A464046284
6/11/2017 General OneFile Saved Articles
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Red Rising: The Washington Capitals Story
Publishers Weekly.
259.31 (July 30, 2012): p53.
COPYRIGHT 2012 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Red Rising: The Washington Capitals Story
Ted Starkey. ECW, $17.95 trade paper (238p) ISBN 9781770411050
Internet entrepreneur Ted Leonsis cashed in "his startup Redgate Communications" and indulged in a fantasy by
purchasing the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals. The Capitals are an expansion team that made regular
trips to the playoffs, but had only one, unsuccessful, appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998. Leonsis lost money
initially and traded most of his team for draft picks and prospects, the prize being future MVP Alexander Ovechkin.
Sportswriter Starkey (Washington Times) focuses on the years 20032011, during which Leonsis oversaw the
rebuilding of the Capitals into one of the most popular teams in hockey. Starkey interweaves the successful farm
system with Leonsis's business acumen and shrewd trades that resurrect the franchise in his account of their as yet
unrealized quest for the Stanley Cup. He relies heavily on quotes from players, coaches, Leonsis, and the media,
sometimes to the point that it is difficult to determine the voice. He never cedes the narrative to those voices, however,
in a story that is as much about the popularity of American sports as it is about a hockey team. Photos. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Red Rising: The Washington Capitals Story." Publishers Weekly, 30 July 2012, p. 53. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA298410546&it=r&asid=2f9b1a4df4c4e49498b27d0f599dbd89.
Accessed 11 June 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A298410546
AUGUST 25, 2012
Red Rising: The Washington Capitals Story
Ted Starkey and ECW Press offer the new book Red Rising: The Washington Capitals Story.
Buy The Book: Amazon.ca - Chapters - Amazon.com
From the depths of the National Hockey League basement in 2003, to the league's most recognizable, successful, and offensively potent team just seven years later, this book chronicles the rebranding and reemergence of the Washington Capitals.
Fueled by the arrival of charismatic Russian superstar Alexander Ovechkin, as well as other gifted young players, the Caps have transformed themselves from a chronically underachieving organization with an eroding fan base into an organization that players, media, and fans respect.
Featuring original interviews with Capitals players, coaches, and staff from the past decade, including team owner Ted Leonsis, as well as the expertise of dozens of the NHL's most informed media personalities, this work examines how the once-anonymous hockey franchise became not only a success in Washington, but around North America and the world.
Posted by Joe Pelletier at 00:23
Labels: 2012 Hockey Books, Red Rising, Ted Starkey, Washington Capitals