Book Review: The Guy on the Left by James Duthie

If you love hockey and enjoy reading about the guys on television who bring the games into your living room, then James Duthie’s third release – more or less an autobiography but one that is a riot – is for you. I read the entire book in less than a day, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I was more entertained by a hockey book.

The title comes from the descriptor that someone slapped on Duthie at one of his son’s hockey games. The lady who recognised him couldn’t quite remember his name and so labelled him as the guy on the left, because of where he sits, far left, presiding over a rotating cast of players and NHL insiders on the now-famous (and, it must be said, beloved in Canada) NHL on TSN panel.

Right from the outset, I knew this book would be hilarious – and it is. Duthie is as polished a writer as he is a television host (which is really saying something) and he writes in a wonderfully self-deprecating manner. We follow his life from childhood through university and a number of television postings before being hired by TSN to first work NBA and football, and, eventually, the network’s NHL coverage, for which he is so famous.

I never imagined that that autobiography of a sportscaster would involve brushes with vehicular manslaughter, monkeys, prank callers, puppets and more…but The Guy On The Left features all of that and more. You don’t know what’s on the next page until you get there. 

Duthie’s writing style is such that he manages to avoid getting too bogged down in intimate detail, and so the book moves along at a great pace. He answers a lot of questions that people have asked over the years about his job – covering John Tortorella, Roberto Luongo, Darryl Sutter and more – and reveals a few heretofore untold stories.

Duthie’s sensitive handling of stories about the September 11 terrorist attacks – he didn’t think it was right to do a sports broadcast that evening, but was asked to by his bosses at TSN – and the shocking murder of an Ottawa-area sportscaster – an idol of Duthie’s – show that he’s more than a host and often the panel’s class clown, but also a wonderful human being, and, importantly, one who doesn’t take himself too seriously.

The next time you’re looking for a hockey book, make it The Guy On The Left. You won’t be disappointed.