Hey, a book I actually paid for!

Anyone who knows me knows I can listen to old hockey players tell stories all night. When it's a storyteller like Dennis Hull, I can listen all year.

Since Dennis doesn't have a year to kill for my entertainment, the next best thing is to dig up a copy of The Third Best Hull. Now, I'm warning you, it's out-of-print. Which means either you have to pay out your ass for a new copy, or find a used one, like I did.

Dennis has eked out a pretty cool existence, first being a pretty damn solid left winger (who had the misfortune of having the same last name and uniform as the greatest left winger to ever lace up skates), then a teacher and athletic director before being a sought-after after-dinner speaker.

Strangely, there aren't really any growing-up-with-Bobby stories here, since the 5 year age difference meant Bobby was off playing Junior before Dennis was very old. That doesn't mean there aren't some fun stories in here.

For instance, one time when Bobby was between wives, he told Dennis his eyes were red from having sex. Dennis told him, "Bobby, it's probably the mace." He jokes about Bobby's rug too.

Now, as memoirs go, this one isn't exactly an exposé. Unless you're somehow shocked by the fact that Eric Nesterenko liked smoking weed. Otherwise, there's lots of fun drinking stories. One story was Dennis and Doug Jarrett on a 747's maiden voyage. There was a bottle of champagne the crew wanted to give away, and Jarrett decided there should be a contest. Since it was the early 70s and moustaches were in vogue, it was decided the best moustache would win the champagne. So Jarrett heads down the aisle while Dennis follows taking notes. All the while, the men on the plane are all combing their 'staches to make them prizeworthy. When it came time to award the champagne, it went to two Italian women from New Jersey who couldn't speak English and had no idea why they got a bottle of bubbly.

There's also a rivalry between Dennis and Henri Richard. They would go back and forth with "my brother's better than your brother". Dennis finally got the last word in when he tole Henri, "My nephew's better than your brother."

I really don't want to give any more away, because this is one that I recommend every hockey fan, and especially every Blackhawks fan, track down.

Maybe if there's enough demand, it'll go back into print.