don cherry – The Concordian

When I was a kid, I looked forward to Saturday nights more than anything else. Not because it was a night off of school followed by a morning where I could sleep in, but because it was Hockey Night in Canada.

When I think of the Saturday nights of my childhood, I think of the couch at my cottage, our TV that only had channel three CBC, my dad having a beer, my brother getting excited about Martin Brodeur’s new goalie pads…and Don Cherry.

Little me enjoyed the funky suits and the loud-mouthed old man who reminded me of my grandpa. Plus, Ron MacLean is kind of a silver fox? I digress. Little me really saw nothing wrong with Don Cherry. I once spent two of the five dollars my mom gave me for my school’s used book fair on a VHS copy of Don Cherry’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em: Volume 2, and “gifted” it back to my family.

But, as time passed, my frontal lobe started to develop. You know, the part of your brain that eventually allows you to foresee the consequences of your actions. Once that happened, it was easy for me to see that the man was problematic. I found myself regularly asking the question, “did he really just say that?” Over time, I came to see that he was completely incapable of calculating the weight of his words, and made absolutely no sense more often than not. Coach’s Corner made a swift change from something I looked forward to every week, to an opportunity to change the channel and catch up on something more interesting during intermission.

I initially wanted to write this article as a sort of “Exhibit A through Z” of instances in which Cherry has said something that made my skin crawl, but honestly, do a Google search and you’ll find a hundred other articles that do just that. So, instead, I’ll just highlight my personal favourite. It isn’t my favourite because it’s funny – in fact, it isn’t funny at all – but it comes to mind because I vividly remember tweeting my frustration at the time, and random men on Twitter replying to me exactly as you’d expect them to.

In 2018, during the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, a photo circulated of Canadian women’s hockey player Meghan Agosta, who also worked as a police officer for the Vancouver Police Department. She was posing in uniform in front of her police cruiser; hockey gloves and stick in hand, skates and helmet resting on the hood. During the next airing of Coach’s Corner, Don Cherry pulled up the photo of her on millions of Canadians’ screens and remarked that she looked like a Sports Illustrated model. Nothing about the fact that she was the team’s assistant captain, nothing about the fact that she is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (not to mention her numerous other athletic accomplishments), just the fact that the photo suited his imagination’s needs.

Let’s not forget for a second that we don’t hear about Olympic men’s hockey team players working day jobs – at all – because they’re paid more than adequately for their athletic contributions to the earth and don’t need the extra income.

So, that’s when I knew I was absolutely done with Don. That was almost two years ago. He is brash, inconsiderate, and arguably senile. Sure, he represents Canada, but he hasn’t represented any Canadian values that I care to partake in, in a very long time (he appeared on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight a mere day after his firing, just in case there were any doubts about just how far-right he is). Plus, my dear Ron MacLean was a ticking time bomb with Cherry by his side. I’m actually sad that we never got to see him snap: “Don! Cut the shit, we only have seven minutes! We get it, he’s a good old boy from Southern Ontario!”

Time was up, and Sportsnet did the right thing. There are a plethora of better-spoken former hockey legends out there. Let’s all hang in there, and make Hockey Night in Canada great again, shall we?

Graphic by @joeybruceart

On Remembrance Day, the poppy signifies our commemoration to the fallen veterans of the First and Second World War.

But does pinning a poppy to a shirt necessarily prove one’s recognition more than somebody who doesn’t carry the flower? When did patriotism become all about competition?

Yes, I understand that it is a symbol of honour for the fallen, for I too carry the poppy on Nov. 11. But how does that make me more patriotic than my counterparts who might not wear a poppy?

Don Cherry and Sportsnet are facing backlash this week after the Hockey Night in Canada commentator referred to new immigrants as “you people,” therein generalizing that immigrants who do not wear poppies in honour of Remembrance Day do not support veterans.

Cherry’s comments from the night of Nov. 9 lead the sports network to post a statement on Nov. 11, confirming his lay-off.

Some of Cherry’s comments include the following:

“You people … you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that […] These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price,” reported The National Post.

Shireen Ahmed, a sportswriter and co-host of the Burn It All podcast wrote an article on this for The Globe and Mail, headlined ‘What Don Cherry forgets about Remembrance Day, hockey and what unites Canada.’ Ahmed discusses the racist connotation of Cherry’s words and her views from the perspective of a person of colour.

What gives Cherry the right to single out minorities about paying for Canadians’ way of life?

As questioned in Ahmed’s article, what about the minorities whose ancestors did serve during the wars? My great-grandfathers, who were born in India, served in the Royal Indian Army as medical assistants and doctors during the Second World War. Ahmed’s own grandfathers also served in the Royal Indian Army and Air Force.

Did Cherry forget the entire world was faced with the ramifications of these wars? Did he forget about the colonies under European control that were forced to contribute their military and citizens to the wars? Did he forget about the Black and Indigenous veterans in Canada, who, despite contributing to the Canadian Armed Forces, were still treated unfairly and not given the right to vote?

Why aren’t these communities recognized for their bravery as equal to the rest of the military? Why aren’t they recognized for making the same sacrifices for their country and/or their colonizers? Why are these facts so hard to swallow for people like Cherry, who, might I add, did not contribute to the war themselves? Judging by Cherry’s remarks, their efforts have clearly gone unnoticed, along with the thousands of other veterans who served in various militias.

I say other, because let’s not kid ourselves: we all know that any soldier or vet who isn’t white is a racial minority. It threatens the white knight-in-shining-armor-complex that has been explicitly presented to us throughout history.

One thing is for certain, Cherry is a hypocrite. “Don Cherry [never] acknowledged the many vets who are suffering from homelessness, substance abuse, mental health issues who get so little support,” continued Ahmed in her article. Need I say more?

Canadians with the same mindset need to take a step back and re-evaluate the reason they wear the poppy on Nov. 11. Whether or not it is worn, immigrants and minorities in general do not need a lecture on respect, as pointed out by Ahmed. Most of us are very familiar with the notion of ‘sacrifice,’ and Cherry should be the last person pointing the finger.

Nevertheless, let us not dwell on Cherry’s unnecessary comments that took away from the meaning of Remembrance Day. Let us not focus on the end of his career with Sportsnet, because people like him need to be held accountable for their actions.

And to you, Mr. Cherry, I think I speak on behalf of most POCs and minorities when I say the following:

Ok boomer. Good riddance.

Graphic by @sundaeghost