SportsLit S7E03: Dave Hill, "The Awesome Game: One Man's Incredible, Globe-Crushing Hockey Odyssey"

Hope that is was well worth the wait. SportsLit returns as we talk with a comedian-musician who is enthralled with pucks.

Dave Hill is neither your stereotypical comedian nor a stereotypical hockey fan. That is the hook for his fourth book, The Awesome Game: One Man’s Incredible, Globe-Crushing Hockey Odyssey, which he came on to discuss on “SportsLit.”

There are a lot of comics who are sports buffs. Hill has assured his fans he is far from that, recently writing, “I don’t like sports, I like sport, singular, and that game is hockey.” In the book, Hill seeks out hockey on his travels, whether it is strapping on inline skates with the Kenya Ice Lions in Nairobi, or having a fish-outta-water experience at junior games in Canada. He even saw Neil Acharya and I’s hometown team, the Kingston Frontenacs, play a game during Shane Wright’s NHL draft season.

True story: this week, the building that was once home to the arena in Napanee, the next town over from Kingston, was burned to the ground. The same day, the Fronts fired their coach just 10 games into the season. If only local sportscasts could get away with ledes such as, “The fire that razed the old Napanee Arena is out, but the Frontenacs are trying to show they’re not a tire fire.”

Reading The Awesome Game made for a unique conversation about how sometimes you work for your fandom because something isn’t in your face. Hill grew up on the American side of the Great Lakes loving hockey. And of course, we talk about his comedy. Hill usually shreds on the guitar when he performs, because as he points out, if the comic plays guitar, “you only need half as many jokes.”

Here is the Spotify link. Also, here is the iTunes link.

Biographically wise, Hill is a successful comedian who has authored four books. (I’m currently reading his second book, Dave Hill Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.) One of his bands, Valley Lodge, had a single “Go,” that was adapted to be the theme song to Last Week Tonight With John Oliver on HBO.

The roll call of funny people who offer testimonials to Dave’s humour and wit is staggering. It’s probably good I did not check out Dave Hill Doesn’t Live Here Anymore from the Hamilton Public Libary until after our conversation.

The jacket blurbs were contributed by the likes of Dick Cavett, Janeane Garofalo, Jim Gaffigan, Laraine Newman, Adam Resnick, and Andy Richter. Those are names you can look up on Wikipedia, since Elon Musk has not yet ruined it.

Thanks again. I am working to get back to posting sporty screeds semi-regularly. I do post a lot in Notes and I encourage you to bookmark that.

That is more than enough for now. Please stay safe and be kind.