Don Cherry: You Messed Up

[dewline]

Don Cherry disappointed me the other day.

Don, speaking as both a hockey fan and one of the "artsy people"? You blew it. Big time.

A confession I've already made to the Toronto Star's Facebook people: I got a lot of drawing practice as a kid in grade school - we're talking grades 1-3 level here - drawing people playing hockey. The figure work wasn't much improved over "stick figure" levels and their chins were almost nonexistent. But this is what inspired me as a kid to draw like a comics-artist-in-training fiend. NHL hockey.

Just sad, Don. Really...sad.

Comments

[radargrrl.livejournal.com]

“People are sick of the elites and artsy people running the show. It’s time for some lunch pail, blue-collar people.”

Lunch pail, blue collar people? Is he mad? Is he going to advocate having boy scouts with first aid kits replacing nurses in hospitals as well? Or bus drivers replacing pilots? I might be a crackerjack technician and good at what I do, but I seriously doubt I could handle the intricacies of public office. I'm sorry, but there are some jobs in which someone who can actually think beyond what they need to do to practice their trade...original thought versus applied thought, if you will. Of course, the skills needed to get elected are exactly the opposite to those needed to actually do the job.

BTW, Don Cherry is hardly lunch pail blue collar material himself, now, is he? Somehow, I don't think a hockey coach jock type is going to have my best interests at heart, probably the opposite.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Cherry certainly started out as blue collar, but I'm wondering how connected to the current state of his roots he truly is these days.

[liabrown]

He gets paid more than we'll ever see.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

No denying that, not with a chain of restaurants from one end of the country to the other with his name on them. Not saying he hasn't earned his level of achievement (bracing for fans who WILL swear that I'm making veiled accusations regardless of my intentions) but it does cloud the issues he ought to be seeing clear as day.

One example: that people who now earn at the modern version of the level he did when he was starting out as a young man are among the most dedicated users of public transit. And we all know what his new mayoral friend has stated as his intentions for the Transit City plan.

My lungs could do with the improvements that plan might provide the world. Big time. And I doubt that I'm alone in this.

[liabrown]

Heck, I'm sure the CBC alone pays him more in a year than I'll ever have in my lifetime.

I use the TTC every time I go into Toronto. Even as a non-resident now, its state of quality is important to me. And I like seeing my hometown do well, so I hate Ford and all he stands for. He's an embarrassment to the city.

[thebitterguy]

I personally lve that he seems to think a cop and a millionaire accountant are somehow representative of Joe six-pack.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

For all the improvements in their respective pay schedules and whatnot over the decades, they may still fit the profile. I'd have to do some checking.

Right and left, right and wrong

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

I hate to say, largely because I think it's true: Ford does speak to a large segment of what is disparagingly called the blue-collar class. And so does Don Cherry, so the latter's support for the former doesn't much surprise me.

I enjoy Cherry as a showman and respect him as a hockey commentator, but otherwise consider him a political neanderthal (know offense to our late European cousins). He is knee-jerk pro-cop and military, anti-government (except, of course, when it comes to cops and soldiers) and generally a reactionary buffoon, no matter that his money now means he hasn't technically been a part of the working class for several decades.

So I find myself once again appalled by Cherry's politics, but not in the least bit surprised.

Does it sully me to admit that I'll watch him on HNIC the next time I tune in for a game?

Inconvenient Truths

[dewline.livejournal.com]

You just pointed out one or two of them right now.

And, no, it doesn't. Anyone who still largely considers Hockey Night worth watching for the actual games covered likely considers it part of the price of admission. Like me.

Re: Inconvenient Truths

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

You know, despite your dispensation, I heard him speak at Ford's inauguration (or whatever it was) on the radio a coupl'a hours back and I suddenly found myself unable to laugh at Cherry's antics.

Not sure, but the next time he shows up on my screen I just might turn down the sound, on principle. Logically, the next step would be to give up on HNIC completely, wouldn't it?

Re: Inconvenient Truths

[dewline.livejournal.com]

I'd leave it at the "sound muted" end of things for now. And tell CBC why.

Granted, if John Doyle's latest in the Globe and Mail with his alleging the "kettling" of the network is correct, then they may not be allowed to do anything to your liking about it. But at least they'll know.

I hope Doyle's wrong on that point, though.

Re: Inconvenient Truths

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

Jesus, thanks for hipping me to the Doyle piece; that's an excellent piece of analysis. I fear it's all-too close to the truth (maybe less so for Radio), though I watch so little television I won't swear to it.

My impression has always been, though, that the CBC (television especially) has always (subtly) made nice with whatever party held the reins in Ottawa.

The big difference now is that our current government isn't one of two establishment parties, but rather is one with a pretty radical agenda designed to change the establishment in a very big way.