COACH'S CORNER/HNIC

To be honest, I thought he was already in.

He should be careful about some wackjobs wanting to use him for their politics, it will ruin his chance to get in.

 

'I cringed': How some former and current soldiers reacted to Don Cherry's poppy comments

When Shawn Stewart, a retired army major, heard Don Cherry's comments about the poppy and "you people" during the hockey game Saturday night, he says he cringed.

"I cringed in the sense that, I totally understood his motivation and his devotion and support to the Canadian Armed Forces — fallen and alive. I just think there was a much better way to say it."

Stewart, who retired after 20 years in the military, including a tour in Afghanistan, is an unabashed fan of Cherry's, pointing to the 85-year-old's support for the Forces through the years.

Stewart says he's even choked up on occasion watching Cherry, hearing him speak about soldiers and veterans during hockey games.

But he doesn't think Cherry made his point very well. It's not just immigrants, said Stewart, "we're not doing a great job as a country... educating everybody," about the poppy and what it represents.

That includes "our own, you know, born-and-raised kids."

"Is it part of immigration, part of your exam? Like, is it a big enough issue that's been brought to light, that you know, it's on us as a country to do a better job of educating?"

 

Don, you know I'm just doing this for the money.

 

Not trying to dance on graves but I was done listening to Don Cherry a long time ago.
It was never his comments that annoyed me, his schtick was just too over the top and what he brought to the table hockey-wise wasnt enough to make up for it. Too much sizzle not enough steak.

I will say that I respect that he was firm when he had a position and he didnt pander to others.
Loved the Rock em Sock ems back when and watched them on VHS hundreds of times.
Also loved that he was the Bruins coach. Have to say though that his coaching career seems to be greatly over exaggerated. He inherited a loaded Bs team with 2 Cup rings and Bobby Orr and was never was able to beat the Habs. He then coached the Colorado Rockies to a last place finish (4 expansion teams entered the league that year and Colorado had already been in the NHL for a few seasons) and then came back to coach 1 year in Mississauga to a last place finish in the OHL.

 

The funniest story I heard is when knuckles Nilan accused him of sexual assault because Grapes kissed him. He was actually thinking about pursuing a lawsuit.

 

does this incident hurt his HOF chances?

 

does this incident hurt his HOF chances?


YES..............I believe he should go in alone..........Without Ron Maclean.

We will see where the NHL stands on this............there has been a HUMONGOUS withdrawal of SN and Rodgers accounts in the last two days.

 

If he keeps going on Tucker Carlsons show, he'll never be inducted. Tucker is human scum and starts turning it into tribal and identity politcs. He was calling those that were offended facists, even grapes froze for half a second like wtf?.He needs someone to give him good advice, he's giving his time to bad people.

 

hey Matty-why did the Bruins get rid of Bep Guidolin coming off the Cup finals loss to the Flyers to hire Cherry? He had a great year and a Cup loss and 40+ wins is nothing to get fired over?

 

I like how you put it, Matty. You didn't bash him and you didn't 'dance on any graves'... you spoke your mind on him and that's fair and also why I love Donald S. Cherry. I personally don't suckup to him or agree with everything he says, but he's a huge staple of my hockey life and I respect the fact that he never held any punches, shot straight from the hip, wore his emotions on his sleeve and said what he meant and meant what he said. He is, in my opinion, blatantly honest and more times than not, correct.

He was proud and sometimes overly, but he had a warm and soft spot for animals (pets/dogs), the game of hockey, old fashioned views of Canada and the military and all the vets of North America. I believe and just conjecture on my part, that he had a tough guy persona to live up to on his show and in life with the 'code' and all, but he is a gentleman, I dicern... could be wrong, but i doubt it.

Ive read his books and he has had an interesting life... his one of the best the HNIC department has ever had and has been good for the game, the tv world in general, even with the non-stop controversy over the years has been a huge money machine for the CBC.

 

Don Cherry is the only one on the planet that could say that on sportsnet live on the air still be able to keep his job by doing a little walk back. Anyone else uses language like, "you people come here and this and that", would be easily escorted off the property that same night.

Greg Zaun was touted the next Cherry of baseball for the jays on sportsnet. He walked into the office one day with a tanktop, some female employees complained and he was gone.

Anyway, ready to move on from this.

 

In 1988 Jimmy the greek was fired for racist comments.

 

what the Greek said was 50x worse than what Cherry said! The world is soft now and before we became over saturated with softness and PC bullshit, if Cherry said what he said 10-20-30 years ago, people wouldn't care about it. Now it's a huge deal. However, what the Greek said was bad then and equally as bad now.

 

What the greek said was worse, but taking into context, speaking against multi-culturalism and immigration in Canada is taboo.
Like I said, if anyone else singled out new Canadians on a sportscast (remember it's hockey we're talking about) they would be on their ass so quick.
Grapes is the only one that could get away with it with a simple walk back, reword, not even an apology.
These aren't my personal views on the matter as I've already said my piece. I'm just being realistic.

 

Bep was not exactly popular with the players. He ran exhausting practices with relentless drills. He'd keep the whole team working until he was convinced every player had worked his butt off. The results were incredible - In 104 regular season games he had a coaching record of 72-23-9, well over .730 winning percentage!

However things were not rosy in Boston, not for Bep anyways. His players hated playing for him, particularly Phil Esposito and Derek Sanderson, who both had bitter feuds with him. In the playoffs when the Bruins became the first original six team to lose to an expansion club in the Stanley Cup finals, the Bruins used that to release Guidolin, despite his great results. Someone named Don Cherry was given the bench.

 

I have a different take. What he said may be "taboo". But, should it be? I do not know Canadian law, but in the U.S.A. we enjoy the First Amendment right of free speech. (Which is another way of saying we're free to express our opinion.) What Cherry said would be deemed inappropriate or "taboo" by many in the U.S.A., too.

The problem is the erosion of the rights to express ourselves as we wish. That right, incidentally, includes the right to offend.

What he said is not tactful. It is not a cogent expression of fact. Cherry expressed his opinion with too much passion. That should not be a fireable offense.

The problem with denying freedom of speech is it is an almost certain path to societal decline when it is permitted. This is dangerous and outrageous. I am offended that so many feel offended by his words.

 

History is full of lessons that should be understood about the danger of de facto censorship of free expression.

 

It's not a debate about wether he broke the law, he expressed his opinion and sportsnet made a corporate decision. A decision to disassociate themselves from his views, only after he refused to walk it back.
He then admitted in an interview with CTV a couple of days later that he regrets saying, "you people", and wishes he said, "all people".

The truth is that it is more than immigrants that don't wear the poppy (also millenials), and the govt does a really poor job to promote the practice for the new Canadians.

It's not a debate about freedom of speech law, but rather a corporate decision where there are no winners. Haters of grapes don't watch the segment and fans that tuned in to hear his views on hockey lose out, me included.

 

It is, in fact, a matter of freedom of speech. He said something and they said you are not permitted to say that. Then he was fired.

It is extremely dangerous for a democracy to allow people to effectively attempt to censor speech. That is what happened.

 

You're mixing up lawful freedom of speech with a corporations right to enact policies regarding divisive speech.