Sour Grapes:: Don Cherry stands by his words even after firing

November 2019 – First things first: I’ve always liked Don Cherry. He entertained me long before I ever got into hockey media, and when I got to know him he was always kind, cordial and willing to help a guy with a fledgling radio show back when sports-talk radio was born in Detroit.

“Call any time,” the iconic Hockey Night in Canada commentator would say. “If I’m home and pick up the phone, I’ll give you all the time you need, don’t worry about it.”

And I took him up on it because Grapes was great radio just like he was great TV for nearly four decades.

One more thing: I am in no way defending the comments he made that got him fired, using his bully pulpit (and few ever did it better), to criticize certain citizens in Canada who failed to honor his nation’s military by wearing a poppy symbol on their lapel on Remembrance Day.

“You people that come here, you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple of bucks for poppies or something like that,” Cherry said during his traditional first-intermission segment on Saturday night. “These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada.”

Remembrance Day in Canada, like Veterans Day in America, honors those who have served in the armed forces. Ahead of the Nov. 11 commemoration, Canadian veterans groups and volunteers distribute poppy pins and stickers in exchange for donations, and the poppies are worn as a symbol of honor.

Two days later, Cherry, 85, was fired by Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada for those divisive comments aimed at immigrants. Sportsnet, Hockey Canada and the NHL released statements condemning Cherry’s remarks.

But true to form, Cherry wasn’t backing off, conceding only that if he had it to do over again, he’d choose a few words differently.

“I know what I said and I meant it. Everybody in Canada should wear a poppy to honor our fallen soldiers,” Cherry told the Toronto Sun. “I speak the truth and I walk the walk. I have visited the bases of the troops, been to Afghanistan with our brave soldiers at Christmas, been to cemeteries of our fallen around the world and honored our fallen troops on ‘Coach’s Corner.’”

And while the Canadian sports media – many of the same ones who crowded around the TVs in arenas around Canada during Saturday night games to listen to Cherry, nod and snicker – tripped

all over themselves to denounce he remarks that got him fired, the Internet nearly broke with people flocking to social media to support him.

This isn’t at all surprising. Nobody knows his audience better than Don Cherry, save for a certain president south of the Canadian border who shares his first name.

I remember when Sergei Fedorov broke into the league in 1990 and had a spectacular rookie season with the Red Wings. He scored 31 goals among 79 points, running neck and neck with Chicago goalie Ed Belfour in the Calder Trophy conversation. Cherry used no small amount of his time on the air to openly campaign for Belfour – that good Canadian boy.

When I ran into Grapes at a radio appearance on a show then hosted by Mitch Albom, I confronted him and point blank asked if he was lobby for Belfour or against Fedorov because he was Russian. What I got in response was what we call in journalism a non-denial denial of sorts.

“Keith, you’ve got to remember who I work for,” Cherry said. “It’s called Hockey Night in Canada.”

So it is. And so, too, the time has finally come to silence a great voice that made us laugh sometimes, made is cringe too often, but always, always made us love and appreciate the game of hockey just a little bit more.

I’ll miss Don Cherry.