As part of working on Bob's book, I asked him ``Why hockey?'' This was his response:
``To me hockey is really unique and I've been fortunate enough to play about every sport. I never played rugby, lacrosse or soccer, but about everything else I've tried. I've never been exceptional at any of them but passible enough to get by. I was a good enough athlete to play high school and college sports, and a little semi-pro stuff. There's something that is so different about hockey from the rest of them. I would almost call it an individual team sport. A coach of a hockey team has a real strange responsibility because he has to take talent and individual psyche and be able to match it up with people who can play together and be successful. Hockey players are all in their own way eccentrics, but they are all there with a common bond, like I'm there with the same bond because hockey is different from my way of thinking than any sport. You just have to make so many more sacrifices. Yes, I see football and baseball, but the actual physicality of the sport and what you put into it is so demanding that if you let up on it at any point for any moment it's pretty obvious you aren't doing your job. That's why I like hockey more than any other sport. There's no place you can coast except back to the bench. A lot of people who coasted with incredible talent went to the bench and never got back off. A lot of guys with no talent at all except the knowledge of how to scramble over the boards one way or the other are still playing because they know what it takes to win.''
