Cherry needs to go Away

The latest chapter in the Don Cherry saga just cements what I’ve thought for a very long time: that he needs to go away, off into the sunset, never to be heard from again. CBC should have the guts to remove him from his ‘Coach’s Corner’ spot so at least he no longer has the far reaching platform that is Hockey Night in Canada to spew his very old and very tired ‘tough guy’ ramblings.

I shouldn’t be surprised anymore at anything he says but his latest rant wasn’t only inarticulate and Neanderthal-like but possibly slanderous as well.

"The ones I am really disgusted with — a bunch of pukes that fought before — (are) Stu Grimson, Chris Nilan and Jim Thomson. (They say) 'Oh, the reason that they're drinking, (taking) drugs and alcoholics is because they fight.' You turncoats. You hypocrites," Cherry said.

Wow. Not only is the language completely unnecessary but it may also be totally inaccurate. All 3 of the ex-NHLers Cherry mentioned claim they have made no such statement. Not sure where Cherry came up with this but he should maybe check his facts before he decides to attach commentary to someone else. Grimson, Thomson and Nilan have contacted a lawyer and are considering legal action. A lawsuit, or even the threat of one, might be what it takes for ‘Grapes’ to re-examine his method and possibly even his ideas and fighting, hockey and life in general. The proverbial stick, as opposed to the carrot, just might get the message across since confrontation seems to be about the only thing that Cherry understands.

This, of course, is not the first controversial episode involving Cherry. There was his ‘European and French guys’ comment in 2004 relating to hockey visors that resulted in him being put on a 7 second delay by the CBC; his referring to Jets Finnish born assistant coach Alpo Suhonen as ‘some kind of dog food’ which prompted then owner Barry Shenkarow to threaten a lawsuit; his repeated attacks on European players as being ‘soft’; his criticisms of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin for post-goal celebrations; labeling Crosby a ‘hot dog’ for his creative and difficult lacrosse style goal from behind the net and on and on it goes.

I’m not arguing in favour of censorship, since he does have the right to have ignorant and outdated ideas and to state them publicly. I’m just not sure that his act is really entertaining or that we should be paying to keep him on the air. On the other hand, his on-air rants in favour of fighting in hockey might be the best argument against it.