You can't see it or hear about it just yet, but inside Madison Square Garden, the Rangers organization is busy planning for the club's gala 100th anniversary.
You can't see it or hear about it just yet, but inside Madison Square Garden, the Rangers organization is busy planning for the club's gala 100th anniversary.
At this very time a century ago the Garden -- that is the third Garden, not this one – was a year old and already had an NHL team, the New York Americans. Now, a century ago, Conn Smythe was given the job of building a Rangers roster.
Now, you Blueshirt fans can get a jump on the MSG marketeers and learn all about the Original 1926-27 Blueshirts, their unusual creation, and the arresting characters that enabled New York to have its first Stanley Cup only a season (1927-28) later.
The way to do so is get your hands on a copy of "The Last Original Ranger," a novel by Bryan Reilly. I've read it twice; and my buddy Bernie Rhode just finished his. Together, we are RAVING about it.
While "The Last Original Ranger" is called "fiction," it is, but it also isn't. Author Reilly weaves his tale around Murray Murdoch, who made the Blueshirt varsity in 1926 along with the more famous Frank Boucher and the brothers Cook, Bill and Bun.
With uncanny historic accuracy, Reilly captures the essence of training camp right into the regular season with both major and minor characters from that era exquisitely portrayed. (One such character really fooled The Maven.)
There's also a keen mystery plot which Reilly cleverly disguised and which will be a challenge for any Rangers historian to unravel.
J.T. Miller Has To Put Spirit Back Into The BlueshirtsNot long after the Rangers packed their gear and went golfing, snorkeling or whatever elsehey do with their petty cash, Joe Micheletti said something not so petty about the team he'd left as an MSG Networks analyst.
The beauty part is that Brother O'Reilly can write which makes the whole package a must read.
Bottom Line: Reading "The Last Original Ranger," you'll get the feel that this 1926-27 team played only last night and you're reading about them in today's papers.
Get a hold of this gem and you can boast that you're the first Ranger fan on your block to start celebrating the your team's 100th anniversary.
(P.S. Check my other sidebar today for Bryan Reilly's assessment of the current Rangers. The man may be a novelist, but you'll find that he's also a realist.)
Category: General Sports
