THN.com Blog: Cherry goes too far

Adam Proteau
2007-12-24 11:56:23

For his stomp-down session on Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Simon deserved suspension for at least the rest of the season. And after Don Cherry used his latest TV appearance to walk all over everything the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is supposed to stand for, the old blowhard and his ludicrous brand of authoritarian, bigoted babble should be suspended from Canada’s national broadcaster for the rest of his overblown, brazen career.

Cherry kicked off Saturday's Coach’s Corner segment on Hockey Night In Canada by promoting his personal religion. Then he blamed Ruutu for Simon’s reprehensible actions, a route even the enforcer’s teammates and Islanders organization didn’t have the stomach to travel. After that, Cherry demonstrated his profound ignorance of the plight of Native Canadians, implying that any struggles they are continuing to go through as a people is simply a case of them not trying hard enough.

He followed up by (a) tearing a strip off the CBC, first sneering that it was “sickening” they allowed famed and respected Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki to appear on a previous broadcast alongside green-friendly NHLer Andrew Ference, then (b) decreeing that everyone who appears on HNIC should keep their topics related strictly to the game itself.

A single breath later – just to see who was paying attention, I suppose – Cherry proceeded to discuss Canada’s soldiers, a topic that, you guessed it, had absolutely nothing at all to do with hockey.

It was vintage Cherrian hypocrisy, bubbling with cock-eyed indignation, spraying off wildly in all directions like a turned-on fire hose with no one to hold it. It was, as per usual, a hateful preacher shouting at a choir that apparently most enjoys a bonding experience when it comes at the expense of others.

But somehow, it was worse this time around. Aired on a broadcaster with a mandate to represent the whole of Canada – not just the Christian, blood-hungry, xenophobic part of the country, the same one that mangles non-Anglo-Saxon surnames for snickers and giggles – Cherry’s latest diatribe was wholly revolting and looked as if it should’ve been shown on the Fox “News” network (which I’m henceforth referring to as “De-Pravda”) instead.

Much like Simon, Cherry has snapped and been reprimanded for it more times than he’s had nightmares of swarthy foreigners coming to steal his beloved Caucasian-ness. And much like Simon, he stubbornly refuses to learn his lesson, making it only a matter of months before he again comes unglued.

And so, just like the NHL needs to stop serving as a corporate enabler of Simon’s hair-trigger temper, so too must the CBC stop assisting Cherry in his delusional efforts. The man deserves no more of a national stage than any other bitter old fool with a bee in his bonnet and a tentative grasp of reality.

Oh, and by the way Don – David Suzuki finished fifth on the CBC’s recent list of the greatest Canadians of all time. You finished seventh.

Makes a guy proud to be Canadian, I tells ya.

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