Don Cherry: An Embarrassment to the NHL and Its Fans

Growing up in Canada, there was always one consistent theme of being a fan of the Montreal Canadians. They were never on CBC unless they played Toronto, and when they did, Don Cherry would always offend viewers with his boorish and tiresome diatribe against the Canadians franchise. Aside from the fact that his stature and dress are offensive, his remarks also make all who watch him less intelligent. He also has a lifelong hatred of all things European, French, and a complete unfathomable hatred of anything to do with the Montreal Canadians. It's amazing to think that to this day, he is still given a platform by the CBC to spew his incendiary commentary on all things anti-french, anti-Canadian , anti-foreigners and anti-precautionary. To him, you simply aren't a man playing hockey if you either don't fight, or try and wear a visor. Along the way, he's developed a devoted following, and an equally large movement of those who would just assume see him leave the CBC for good. A lifelong hockey lover, he's polarized fans and put them on either side of the fence. Agree with him and love him is to love fighting and men that are men because they don't wear visors, or hate him and be branded as a European loving, less than tough, not quite a man, fan of pacifying hockey teams. To him, real teams are the Philadelphia Flyers of the 70's who brutalized and pummeled every team their way to two consecutive Stanley cups. To him, real players are guys like Tie Domi who played for Toronto, who other than having a penchant for punching people in the face, had no reason to be on the ice. To him, the previous two Stanley Cup winning teams, Detroit and Pittsburgh, are nothing more than an abomination against hockey's glorious and bloody past.

Where does this hatred come from:

In the case of someone like Don Cherry, most of the anger and animosity towards those not like himself, is nothing more than misplaced anger. Perhaps he's threatened that as time goes by, less and less hockey fans will take him seriously. Perhaps he knows that he is a throwback to a time when fighting in hockey was the norm, and seeing a game break out in the middle of an extended long NHL fight was a real treat. It's unfortunate, but he has forever positioned himself as someone willing to fight for something fewer and fewer people still believe in. Unfortunately, as time goes by, his input on the game he loves becomes less and less important and his insight less and less interesting. He certainly feels this pressure, as he continues to only surround himself with those who see his tiresome commentary as refreshing and important. Along the way, he's insulted fans and players with his boorish and insane commentary.

As a Montreal Canadian fan, I will forever embrace Don Cherry's stupidity:

There is one thing I can surely be happy for when thinking about Don Cherry. Every time I, and my friends hear him comment and offend, we need nothing more than to remind ourselves of how the Montreal Canadians beat Don Cherry's Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup Finals twice in 1977 and 1978, and how he has the Montreal Canadians franchise to thank for losing his job in 1979. What a burden to bear. With mere minutes remaining in game 7 of a semi-final game against Montreal, Don Cherry's Bruins were penalized for having too many men on the ice. The Canadians scored on the ensuing power play and won it in overtime. Harry Sinden, then Bruins GM, fired Don Cherry. That's what started Cherry down his road of hatred and anger. Burned somewhere in the recesses of Cherry's mind is that play and the culmination of a hatred for all things Montreal, and subsequently all things French, that continues to this day. For that, I thank you Don Cherry. For your continued insensitive and incendiary comments, I need only think of why.