[OnTheIce]

$1:

That's what they said about his playing career, his coaching career and his broadcasting career.

Say what you will about the guy, he always seems able to reinvent himself and remain relevant. If he didn't we wouldn't be talking about him and his comments.

His playing career? His one NHL game.

5 years as a coach.

Broadcaster? You're insulting actual broadcasters by referring to him as such. Doing 10 minutes of TV a week where you just rant is far from being a broadcaster.

He's a sideshow. Real life Sideshow Bob, without the hair, just the stupid suits.

Perhaps we can do back to the good ol' days when he gives away a Black and Decker drill to the guy with the best hit of the night. Quality broadcasting.

Maybe a few more DVD's so he can make a few dollars selling clips of guys getting brain injuries.

[Lemmy]

I used to really enjoy watching Don Cherry, but he's taken a crazy downturn over the past decade. It's gotten to the point where he's like Dick Clark or Andy Rooney, actually painful to watch. He has nothing relevant nor poignant to say any longer. He used to be "the fool being paid to play the fool", but now he's just a fool. Aging is a bitch but it's time to put this relic out to pasture. He's become an embarrassment...to himself.

[Canajazz]

Martin, how many other stations broadcast the games?

[Freakinoldguy]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

$1:

That's what they said about his playing career, his coaching career and his broadcasting career.

Say what you will about the guy, he always seems able to reinvent himself and remain relevant. If he didn't we wouldn't be talking about him and his comments.

His playing career? His one NHL game.

5 years as a coach.

Broadcaster? You're insulting actual broadcasters by referring to him as such. Doing 10 minutes of TV a week where you just rant is far from being a broadcaster.

He's a sideshow. Real life Sideshow Bob, without the hair, just the stupid suits.

Perhaps we can do back to the good ol' days when he gives away a Black and Decker drill to the guy with the best hit of the night. Quality broadcasting.

Maybe a few more DVD's so he can make a few dollars selling clips of guys getting brain injuries.

Your like or dislike of the man is immaterial and nobody's forcing you to watch him, which begs the question why do you if you hate him so much?

Although I agree with you that he's over the top flamboyant and a sideshow or gongshow depending on where you sit, but the fact remains he draws and his 10 minute a week rant which you never watch LOL, likely has more viewers than the Mercer Report and that's what the network wants even though they have distanced themselves from his past and present irrational tirades.

But as far as being a broadcaster, hey, he's got as much right to be called a broadcaster as guys like Mike Milbury, Kelly Hrudy or any of the other CBC employed former hockey players and just because you despise him doesn't change that fact.

[Thanos]

Don's been consistently against, over the course of decades too, the sort of cheap head shots that have ended a lot of players careers. From Cam Neely through to Sidney Crosby, Don's never voiced any approval of any of the cheap shots that ruined these players' careers. And he's always very clearly differentiated the good hard bodychecking that is a huge part of the game from the vicious and dirty head shots/hits from behind that assholes like Matt Cooke and Sean Avery specialize in. I used to own a bunch of the Rock Em Sock Em video tapes and there weren't any dirty players or cheap shots being glorified by Don at all. All thsoe videos ever have in them are great checking, one-on-one fights, and some pretty awesome scoring highlites. In fact he's one of the few consistent voices to be against the plastic-armour shoulder and elbow pads that are the direct cause of the epidemic of concussions over the past decade since the players began to wear them. Fact is that you never saw the same amount of concussions from when the players were wearing the old-style cloth padding. And no one except Don has had the guts to even talk about what should be obvious to everyone. Like he said the other night, it supposed to be hockey, not "The Road Warrior" on skates.

His "pukes" comment was fairly stupid but the fact remains that Don's been right more often about the problems in the game than he's ever been wrong.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

I dont think Cherry defamed anyone, but he is a Grad-A asshole and I'll take the opinion of players and ex-enforcers who actually walked the walk over some idiot loudmouth who cant even respect an informed difference of opinion.

"You people that are against fighting, you should be ashamed of yourselves," Cherry said. "You took advantage of that to make your point on fighting. You should be ashamed of yourself for doing something like that."

Don Cherry may be a hockey encyclopedia, but that doesn't mean he has the credentials to speak about head injuries. Bob Proberts' brain tells a different story than Mr. "Rock 'em Sock 'em".

Don may not have the medical credentials but he does have the hockey credentials. Look at the friggin shoulder pads they wear these days. It's like body armour. The shoulder pads from the 80s and even the 90s were such that you really didn't wanna give 'er too hard with the shoulder else you'd be in pain as well.
This latest generation of shoulder pads body armour, I have no doubt, was certainly correctly identified by Don as a leading contributor to the number of concussions.

As far as the fighting goes, TSN showed an excellent program last post-season where they interviewed the league "enforcers". These guys today know full well the risks involved in their roles. Anybody that's ever heard a retired boxer speak can make a pretty informed opinion of what too many punches in the head can do.
There is also a great deal of respect and honour between the tough guys who scrap.
They don't call out guys that had injured hands from a previous fight.
They don't call out guys that had their clocks cleaned within the last couple of days.
And they generally don't go after the "skill" players other than to check them.

When it comes to fighting in the NHL, ask the guys that have that role what they think or want. It's them that are making a living that way.

[ShepherdsDog]

For Pete's sake ....it's Don expressing his 'opinion'. Suck it up butter cups. If they're going to sue Don over hurtful words, maybe some of their former victims can sue them for assault and battery. Hypocrisy or what?

[OnTheIce]

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

Your like or dislike of the man is immaterial and nobody's forcing you to watch him, which begs the question why do you if you hate him so much?

That game/segment was the last of Don Cherry I'll be watching.

I was always a supporter of Cherry until he went off on that childish tirade spewing false statements a few weeks back taking aim at guys that he's used in his videos to make him a lot of money.

He honestly lost ever ounce of respect I had for him and I know I'm not alone.

[OnTheIce]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

For Pete's sake ....it's Don expressing his 'opinion'. Suck it up butter cups. If they're going to sue Don over hurtful words, maybe some of their former victims can sue them for assault and battery. Hypocrisy or what?

You can't just slander people and put words in their mouth and then play the "it's just my opinion card". Doesn't work that way.

[r_p]

dementia is a long, sad road outta here..

[Nuggie77]

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

Your like or dislike of the man is immaterial and nobody's forcing you to watch him, which begs the question why do you if you hate him so much?

That game/segment was the last of Don Cherry I'll be watching.

I was always a supporter of Cherry until he went off on that childish tirade spewing false statements a few weeks back taking aim at guys that he's used in his videos to make him a lot of money.

He honestly lost ever ounce of respect I had for him and I know I'm not alone.

Well I guess that's it for Coaches Corner and Hockey Night in Canada, you've stopped watching! Go watch knitting or something a little less violent.

[OnTheIce]

Nuggie77 Nuggie77:

OnTheIce OnTheIce:

Freakinoldguy Freakinoldguy:

Your like or dislike of the man is immaterial and nobody's forcing you to watch him, which begs the question why do you if you hate him so much?

That game/segment was the last of Don Cherry I'll be watching.

I was always a supporter of Cherry until he went off on that childish tirade spewing false statements a few weeks back taking aim at guys that he's used in his videos to make him a lot of money.

He honestly lost ever ounce of respect I had for him and I know I'm not alone.

Well I guess that's it for Coaches Corner and Hockey Night in Canada, you've stopped watching! Go watch knitting or something a little less violent.

Looks like some of the dementia has wore off on you too.

We're not talking hockey here you tool, we're talking about some asshole with his 10 minutes of ranting time per week.

[2Cdo]

PublicAnimalNo9 PublicAnimalNo9:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

I dont think Cherry defamed anyone, but he is a Grad-A asshole and I'll take the opinion of players and ex-enforcers who actually walked the walk over some idiot loudmouth who cant even respect an informed difference of opinion.

"You people that are against fighting, you should be ashamed of yourselves," Cherry said. "You took advantage of that to make your point on fighting. You should be ashamed of yourself for doing something like that."

Don Cherry may be a hockey encyclopedia, but that doesn't mean he has the credentials to speak about head injuries. Bob Proberts' brain tells a different story than Mr. "Rock 'em Sock 'em".

Don may not have the medical credentials but he does have the hockey credentials. Look at the friggin shoulder pads they wear these days. It's like body armour. The shoulder pads from the 80s and even the 90s were such that you really didn't wanna give 'er too hard with the shoulder else you'd be in pain as well.
This latest generation of shoulder pads body armour, I have no doubt, was certainly correctly identified by Don as a leading contributor to the number of concussions.

As far as the fighting goes, TSN showed an excellent program last post-season where they interviewed the league "enforcers". These guys today know full well the risks involved in their roles. Anybody that's ever heard a retired boxer speak can make a pretty informed opinion of what too many punches in the head can do.
There is also a great deal of respect and honour between the tough guys who scrap.
They don't call out guys that had injured hands from a previous fight.
They don't call out guys that had their clocks cleaned within the last couple of days.
And they generally don't go after the "skill" players other than to check them.

When it comes to fighting in the NHL, ask the guys that have that role what they think or want. It's them that are making a living that way.

Well said.

[2Cdo]

Thanos Thanos:

Don's been consistently against, over the course of decades too, the sort of cheap head shots that have ended a lot of players careers. From Cam Neely through to Sidney Crosby, Don's never voiced any approval of any of the cheap shots that ruined these players' careers. And he's always very clearly differentiated the good hard bodychecking that is a huge part of the game from the vicious and dirty head shots/hits from behind that assholes like Matt Cooke and Sean Avery specialize in. I used to own a bunch of the Rock Em Sock Em video tapes and there weren't any dirty players or cheap shots being glorified by Don at all. All thsoe videos ever have in them are great checking, one-on-one fights, and some pretty awesome scoring highlites. In fact he's one of the few consistent voices to be against the plastic-armour shoulder and elbow pads that are the direct cause of the epidemic of concussions over the past decade since the players began to wear them. Fact is that you never saw the same amount of concussions from when the players were wearing the old-style cloth padding. And no one except Don has had the guts to even talk about what should be obvious to everyone. Like he said the other night, it supposed to be hockey, not "The Road Warrior" on skates.

His "pukes" comment was fairly stupid but the fact remains that Don's been right more often about the problems in the game than he's ever been wrong.

Well said also. The people who despise Don the most don't watch him thus would not know of his crusade against "body armour" pads and the touch icing rule. Bringing in no-touch icing and banning the body armour would go a long way to reducing potential career ending injuries. But acknowledging that goes against their prejudice towards him.

[raydan]

I guess some people never realize that others still want you on television because they hope you'll put your foot in your mouth and/or make a complete fool of yourself?