Should Don Cherry be in the HHOF?

[Rants Mulliniks]

Racism and xenophobia aren’t hard conversations. They are racism and xenophobia.

These days I would say racism definitely is a hard conversation because the majority of people I see using the term racism often use it without actually knowing what classifies as a race.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Don Cherry is a joke. Apparently he loves Canada but not those pesky French Canadians who are very much still Canadian. He made fun of Europeans but he himself is probably a descendant of Europeans. He is a clown, no way he should be in the Hall.

 

[Tutu to]

For Cultural reasons alone yes.

 

[Agent Zub]

Achievements:
-Jack Adams award for NHL coach of the year

-Dominion Command Honorary Life Member of the Royal Canadian Legion in recognition of "his longstanding and unswerving support of... Canadians in uniform.”

-Canadian Forces Medallion for Dinstuinguised Service recipient

- has a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame

-had a starring role on Hockey Night in Canada for decades, had his own TV And Radio Show “Don Cherrys Grapevine.”

-had his own podcast in his 80s.

He’s accomplished a lot more in his life than I ever will, and I’d bet more than you too.

To be fair, he is a blowhard.

lol so one hockey accomplishment coaching a team that had bobby orr?

 

[Scandale du Jour]

For Cultural reasons alone yes.

For cultural reasons alone, no.

 

[Golden_Jet]

No as a player, or coach , possibly in the broadcast category, the Foster Hewitt award.

 

[Tutu to]

For cultural reasons alone, no.

He’s a Canadian icon brah

 

[ClydeLee]

He’s a Canadian icon brah

Through why wasn't he in already when he's been this icon for decades? Why would he be worthy of being added now or in the future?

 

[Benttheknee]

I feel pretty confident that I won’t say something racist or homophobic in front of people. Doesn’t take much effort to do that.

You want to go use racial slurs at work? Good luck saying freedom of speech as your ass gets rightfully fired.

So do I, but that is meaningless. It is how the words you say get interpreted that is being evaluated.

What Cherry has said is rude not racist. Nothing he said was racist except for possibly the "pinko" comments. That is applying a negative attribute to people because of their nationality. So that one is racist.

In addition, my father was accused of sexual assault by his colleague, who was gay. The police were never brought in, there was a movement to have him removed from his job simply because of the allegation. Other people were also accused, but my dad survived.

They faked the whole thing in an effort to take control and remove senior members of his organization.

So this was how I learned how shit works in the real world. This is why I defend the people getting slammed for small shit.

 

[Benttheknee]

I guess my overall point here is that Cherry is being judged very harshly for minor transgressions. You don't throw a guy in jail for shoplifting a case of beer but the internet is a world wide forum, so 0.1% of the people who fake a grievance show up and bully the offender.

This is not real outrage, it is fake.

 

[Nikishin al Gaib]

No, he represents pretty much everything the NHL is trying to distance itself from

 

[ManofSteel55]

I guess my overall point here is that Cherry is being judged very harshly for minor transgressions. You don't throw a guy in jail for shoplifting a case of beer but the internet is a world wide forum, so 0.1% of the people who fake a grievance show up and bully the offender.

This is not real outrage, it is fake.

If we are using the criminal analogy, criminals do get stricter sentences for repeating their offenses. Cherry hasn't exactly gone through his career without ruffling some feathers.

I don't think Cherry and his bigotry are the ones we want to refer to as bullying victims either. He is the bully a lot of the time.

 

[Benttheknee]

If we are using the criminal analogy, criminals do get stricter sentences for repeating their offenses. Cherry hasn't exactly gone through his career without ruffling some feathers.

I don't think Cherry and his bigotry are the ones we want to refer to as bullying victims either. He is the bully a lot of the time.

Cherry is no racist or bigot, he is old school rude, but that is just an opinion I have based on what he actually said. I don't read minds like his haters do.

Who do I fear? One old rude guy on TV or a hundred internet trolls with time to kill?

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

So do I, but that is meaningless. It is how the words you say get interpreted that is being evaluated.

What Cherry has said is rude not racist. Nothing he said was racist except for possibly the "pinko" comments. That is applying a negative attribute to people because of their nationality. So that one is racist.

In addition, my father was accused of sexual assault by his colleague, who was gay. The police were never brought in, there was a movement to have him removed from his job simply because of the allegation. Other people were also accused, but my dad survived.

They faked the whole thing in an effort to take control and remove senior members of his organization.

So this was how I learned how shit works in the real world. This is why I defend the people getting slammed for small shit.

This had Jack shit to do with my post other than sour grapes based on one event in your life. Expand your worldview instead of saying people being offended are fake and other bullshit.

 

[WarriorofTime]

After Cherry's "you people" rant regarding poppies or whatever dumb thing he was mad about, it exposed what a terrible piece of filth this guy is. Hope that old man dies sad and alone.

 

[Andrei79]

There's absolutely no argument to be made for him to be in HHOF.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Cherry is no racist or bigot, he is old school rude, but that is just an opinion I have based on what he actually said. I don't read minds like his haters do.

Who do I fear? One old rude guy on TV or a hundred internet trolls with time to kill?

He absolutely is a bigot. Being old doesn't clear him from being a bigot when he spent decades judging and insulting players based on their nationality.

 

[avsfan9]

Absolutely! I loved to watch him, he was great. Sure he said some stupid stuff but he was a great hockey personality and I tuned in every Saturday night for Ron and Don. All in the family was out there too but still doesn’t make it any less funny. People get offended way to easy in today’s society. If you didn’t like the personality then why tune in. If I didn’t like something then I wouldn’t tune into it. Don Cherry gave more to the game of hockey than most every body complaining about him on here ever will and we are left with the cringeworthy panels and broadcasters that are being shoved down our throats each and every night we watch a hockey game

 

[Weztex]

Cherry is no racist or bigot, he is old school rude, but that is just an opinion I have based on what he actually said. I don't read minds like his haters do.

''When I was young my neighbor hit his wife so badly she had a broken nose. 'Wasn't a wife beater tho'. He was just old school rude y'know. Good old Mike! Never knew why he wasn't elected mayor.''

That's how you sound to me.

Who do I fear? One old rude guy on TV or a hundred internet trolls with time to kill?

The guy weekly banalizing bigotry to millions on national TV... x 1000

[...] People get offended way to easy in today’s society. If you didn’t like the personality then why tune in. If I didn’t like something then I wouldn’t tune into it. [...]

So, if you're uncomfortable with xenophobia and racism folks, just look the other way. That'll be all for your first lesson of How to look strong without having to actually use your brain.

Don Cherry gave more to the game of hockey than most every body complaining about him on here ever will and we are left with the cringeworthy panels and broadcasters that are being shoved down our throats each and every night we watch a hockey game

Dallas Eakins did more for the game of hockey than anybody here. What kind of benchmark is that? It flattens me to see how Don Cherry is some kind of sanctified figure that is sacrilegious to touch to some. It gives me a Church of Don Cherry vibe.

 

[ricky0034]

I think he should yes

like it or not he's one of the most influential broadcasters the sport has ever had and a fairly big part of the history of the sport

I don't think hall of fames should be about whether you like someone or not(even though in reality a lot of the time they are that)

 

[Benttheknee]

''When I was young my neighbor hit his wife so badly she had a broken nose. 'Wasn't a wife beater tho'. He was just old school rude y'know. Good old Mike! Never knew why he wasn't elected mayor.''

That's how you sound to me.


The guy weekly banalizing bigotry to millions on national TV... x 1000

So, if you're uncomfortable with xenophobia and racism folks, just look the other way. That'll be all for your first lesson of How to look strong without having to actually use your brain.

Dallas Eakins did more for the game of hockey than anybody here. What kind of benchmark is that? It flattens me to see how Don Cherry is some kind of sanctified figure that is sacrilegious to touch to some. It gives me a Church of Don Cherry vibe.

I am not the least bit surprised that this is how I appear to you. What you are doing is mind reading, and I see this all the time. This is a necessary step to justify your beliefs. If you do not insert your mind reading, what I say makes sense, but you feel a need to be against it, so you insert information that simply is not there.

It happens all the time, so this is not meant to insult you, it is merely and observation on my part.

Finally, you do not understand what the word bigot actually means. Look it up. This is also another very common mistake.

 

[sr edler]

I really don't care too much about the HHOF to have a strong opinion on that particular issue, but Cherry's own goalie with the Colorado Rockies Hardy Åström, whom he famously threw under the bus to the press and dubbed "The Swedish Sieve", doesn't hold any grudge or animosity towards him (according to this article → The Life And Times Of Hardy Astrom), so I don't really see why I should hate him on Åström's behalf?

Åström on Cherry:

“He’s a funny man, and I still like him very much as a reporter and a showman.​

I feel like a lot of Cherry's early dislike for European players, outside of the Soviet Union/Cold War aspect, just had to do with the different styles of hockey. He liked the North American style, and didn't really care for the European style. And a lot of Europeans at the time didn't care that much for the North American style either, and thought it was needlessly violent, stupid and uncreative dump-and-chase shit. It's not that big of a deal.

Cherry doesn't come across as a malicious figure to me. A bit rough around the edges sometimes, sure, but a little bit of honesty most often goes a long way.

 

[Thenameless]

Should Don Cherry be in the Hockey Hall of Fame? There aren't many hockey people more famous than Don Cherry.

 

[Sanf]

I really don't care too much about the HHOF to have a strong opinion on that particular issue, but Cherry's own goalie with the Colorado Rockies Hardy Åström, whom he famously threw under the bus to the press and dubbed "The Swedish Sieve", doesn't hold any grudge or animosity towards him (according to this article → The Life And Times Of Hardy Astrom), so I don't really see why I should hate him on Åström's behalf?

Åström on Cherry:

“He’s a funny man, and I still like him very much as a reporter and a showman.​

I feel like a lot of Cherry's early dislike for European players, outside of the Soviet Union/Cold War aspect, just had to do with the different styles of hockey. He liked the North American style, and didn't really care for the European style. And a lot of Europeans at the time didn't care that much for the North American style either, and thought it was needlessly violent, stupid and uncreative dump-and-chase shit. It's not that big of a deal.

Cherry doesn't come across as a malicious figure to me. A bit rough around the edges sometimes, sure, but a little bit of honesty most often goes a long way.

Regardles of what Åström feels I still feel it was pretty low how he kind of pushed his entertainment career using his old players as part of his "standup act". I remember reading that Merlin Malinowski (who he called Merlin the Magician claiming his ability to disapear in important games) did have some hard feelings about that.

Cherry really haven´t had impact in hockey in Europe. When I was kid/younger if you were hardcore hockey fan you had probably read bit of his comments on some papers or maybe read some story from hockey magazine about him and his dog. Overall he was mostly regarded as sideshow/entarteiner. So for Åström it was easy to come back to Europe where nobody really cared what he was talking.

But yeah I agree I don´t see him as particularly bad man. Just an old man who struggles with the change of time. Now granted obviously I haven´t really paid that much attention what he has said over the years,

But overall as hockey entertainer it does seem as outsider that he has been doing things for the popularity of hockey atleast in Canada.

 

[Soundwave]

It honestly feels like he's not very relevant anymore, like is his podcast even that popular?

He was bordering on sounding like he was senile towards the end of his tenure anyway (couldn't pronounce like half the players names properly).

For that reason because there's not really I think much of a push to get him in, I think the HHOF takes a pass on him. Why take the risk on controversey at a time when the sport is trying to distance itself from that kind of stuff and feel more inclusive. He already got a star on the Canada walk of fame or whatever.

I don't really know what category he goes into. "Builder" is something more for guys who were like GMs and what not, HNIC was already a national institution in Canada long before Don Cherry showed up there.