So Don Cherry, where do I begin? Aside from being what I think is Canada's most prominent personality (sorry to the PMs, news anchors and others who should be on this list but none of you stand out like this man), he is also an arrogant, pompous, dinosaur who's views are as outdated as Leafs fans hopes of winning a cup (stop telling me how you really feel that this is the year for you guys and that Kessel can score 50 in his sleep, and Dion's a natural leader, and that blah blah blah. If they can lose and make money why bother winning?).
Now obviously Don is a very controversial person, and he has consistently said things that prove he has antiquated views (pinkos, commies, and other Cold War era jargon that no one who was born after the advent of television would ever use in public). But his most recent statement, calling three former NHL enforcers pukes and hypocrites has drawn a lot of attention from sports media. I clearly don't agree with him on this issue, as I don't believe fighting in hockey is part of the game. They don't fight during playoffs, good players rarely fight, and no other league allows it (aside from the AHL, which is generally considered THE fighting league). Other leagues and sports kick you out and ban you for fighting (ala Ron Artest and the Pacers).
However, fighting is not the issue here for me (at least not for this blog). The issue is Cherry's half-assed apology (Seriously Cherry, the only time I've seen something more half-assed is in my first-year university papers). Don attempted to clarify that his "pukes" statement was inappropriate because kids watch his show, but never stated that he was sorry or that perhaps his views are outdated.
CBC has stepped up and stated that his views do not correlate with their own, and in so have distanced themselves from Don. However, they have not forced him to apologize. Can they? Should they? Probably, but we all know Don and that he doesn't apologize and that he doesn't believe he's wrong. But clearly CBC does. Now we've got a PR nightmare, what with the lawsuit threats and bloggers and writers stating that he must apologize.
I don't think CBC can fire him if he doesn't apologize, and I don't think he will. If they fire him, they lose all the loyal Cherry followers who believe Cherry knows all with regards to hockey. And if they fire him, TSN will for sure hire him, and then you lose Coach's Corner (or at least why people watch it, I'm not sure about trademarks). CBC is already hurting for hockey, and if they lose Cherry then they lose hockey. CBC is in a tough situation because of Cherry, but can they really reprimand him?
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