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TORONTO - Like his playing days, Gordie Howes career as an author has spanned decades.Mr. Hockey: My Story arrives almost 30 years after And ... Howe!: An Authorized Autobiography by Gordie and Colleen Howe, and 25 years after Gordie Howe: My Hockey Memories by Howe and Frank Condron.Howes Hall of Fame career has spawned books by others, including Nine: A Salute to Mr. Hockey, by Bob Duff. Son Mark Howe wrote his own book Gordie Howes Son, A Hall of Fame Life in the Shadow of Mr. Hockey.Sixty-eight years after his NHL debut, Gordie Howes story is still a good read a€” a slice of Canadiana.Born in 1928 in Floral, Sask., Howe grew up in Saskatoon during the Great Depression. Howe relates that on the day he was born, his mother was chopping wood when the labour pains began. Howe was the sixth of nine children so she knew what to do. She cut the umbilical cord herself and waited for her husband to come home.It was another era. There was no indoor plumbing and the Howe kids took a lot of their baths at school. An eight-year-old Howe delivered pamphlets for a local grocery store. He hunted gophers with a handmade slingshot for a penny a tail and sold fish he caught to a Chinese restaurant for five or 10 cents apiece.Howe writes how his father Albert taught him not to take dirt from anyone, because if you do theyll just keep giving it to you. Its a life lesson that served Gordie well during his long hockey career. The book is filled with stories of Howe waiting to take revenge on the ice.Respect equals space, Howe soon learned.Rangers tough guy Lou Fontinato ultimately paid the price for carving open Howes face with his stick in early 1959. Howe bided his time before thumping him up in a one-sided fight that left his rival bloodied with a relocated nose. Howe dislocated a finger during the beating.It didnt make me happy to see Louie in such bad shape, but I cant say I felt sorry for him, writes Howe.Both were doing their jobs, he reasoned, and one of them was going to get hurt.Later, wife Colleen convinced Howe to invite Fontinato to a charity fundraising dinner in Vancouver. He accepted and the two became firm friends.Howe waited four games before cold-cocking Stan Mikita for another stick violation. Some might call it a cheap shot, he admitted. To my way of thinking, though, it was just payback.Howes awkward courting of Colleen a€” as well as his sappy letters to her a€” offer a very different view of the hard man on the ice.Colleen, who died in 2009, was Howes rock as well as his partner. She went on to become a canny business manager a€” the book notes both Mr. and Mrs. Hockey are registered trademarks.Howe was just 15 in his first NHL training camp, in 1943 with the Rangers. With players away at war, NHL teams were scouring for talent.But he launched his NHL career as a Red Wing, making his debut Oct. 16, 1946, against the Maple Leafs.Again, it was a different era. Howe writes how general manager Jack Adams wielded almost total control over his players, whom he traded like hockey cards. Adams, whom Howe calls Mr. Adams, disapproved of booze, sex and women a€” even wives a€” because he saw them as distractions.Howe admits to being naive in his business dealings, learning years later the club had lied to him about how good his salary was in comparison to others.While not a tell-all book, Howe does not hide his occasional discontent with the Detroit organization or teammates. And Howe, while respectful to todays game and players, clearly believes the Original Six era was tougher.Thats not the same as saying that todays players arent tough, just that the game itself has changed, he writes. When there were only six teams, every player in the league came prepared to claw over his best friend the second the puck dropped.Howes longevity as a player a€” he was 52 when he retired at the end of the 1979-80 season after 32 pro campaigns a€” is stunning when he lists the price his body paid on the ice. He estimates his nose has been broken 14 times and he has taken more than 300 stitches to the face.He has broken fingers, toes, wrists, feet and collarbone as well as had a hole drilled in his skull after a 1940 encounter with Teeder Kennedy. There were knee surgeries and a detached retina.These days, Howe bears a different cross.In an afterword from Marty, Mark and Murray Howe and Cathy Purnell, the Howe children cite Gordies cognitive impairment, a form of dementia, the past few years.It has been a very slow decline over many years, although it has become more noticeable recently, they write. His memory just isnt what it once was.At 86, Gordie is becoming frail for the first time in his life. It is sad to see him struggle at things we all take for granted, things he wouldnt have given a second thought only a short time ago.Howe lives with his kids, rotating from one house to another.Howe has the sole writing credit, although in his acknowledgments he thanks Paul Haavardsrud who helped to take the thoughts in my head and put them down on paper.The book, which features a foreword from Bobby Orr and back-page blurb by Wayne Gretzky, comes out Oct. 14. a€” Mr Hockey: My Story, by Gordie Howe. Viking, 229 pages, $32---Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter Sam Acho Jersey . Minutes after the previously winless Colts got their first win, 27-13 over Tennessee, team vice chairman Bill Polian said the four-time league MVP will not play this season though he has begun throwing to teammates at the team complex. Allen Robinson Jersey . The Giants chances of winning the division were dealt a serious blow by the three-game sweep at the hands of the lowly Padres. The Giants open a three-game series at Dodger Stadium on Monday night. San Francisco is still in good shape to clinch a wild-card berth, although it dropped into a tie with Pittsburgh in the race for the top spot. http://www.officialchicagobearsfootball....l-jersey-womens. Needing to bulk up on both sides of the line, the Falcons agreed to terms with guard Jon Asamoah, defensive end Tyson Jackson and defensive tackle Paul Soliai. Asamoah and Jackson played last season with Kansas City, where Asamoah lost his starting job. Prince Amukamara Jersey .ca. Mr. Fraser, I think everyone would like to hear your opinion on what sort of suspension Zac Rinaldo should get. His comment after the game of I changed the whole game, man. Marcus Cooper Jersey . After a 99-97 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night, his Celtics coaches and teammates have only positive things to say about the Toronto-born rookie.MILWAUKEE -- Cincinnati Reds right-hander Mat Latos will be activated Saturday and make his season debut that night against the Milwaukee Brewers. Latos is returning from elbow and knee surgeries. "He brings a lot to the table," Reds manager Bryan Price said Friday. ";He brings a lot of wins.dddddddddddd He has a real high winning percentage as a major league starting pitcher and a lot of wins for us in the last two years. And you know, were always looking for a boost." In 2013, Latos started 32 games and was 14-7 with an ERA of 3.16. 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