Don Cherry a True Canadian Hero in a Fake Incompetent Nation
Ron McLean and Hayley Wickenheiser along with many others including Canadian politicians, like Canada as a nation itself, need their backsides kicking from coast to coast.
“He got fired on Remembrance Day. That is just wrong,” said Orr of Cherry’s dismissal from Hockey Night in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet. “This whole thing is unbelievable. Don Cherry is a good man and to do this to him is disgusting.”
Canada the land of opportunity for newly arrived citizens. Immigrants. I like you as a fellow Canadian citizen are all immigrants at one stage or another. First generation. Second generation, newly arrived. What's the difference?
If I had to select a personal top ten of Canadian icons. Well. Along with Christine Sinclair, Tom Harrington, Mark Tewksbury, Malcolm Gladwell, Ashley Kelly, Tracy Vallaincourt, Paul Peschisolido and others Don Cherry would be on it.
Winter 1982. Sheldon Avenue, Oakville. Toasty Basement room. Plume of smoke circling from Nan and mum's cigarettes. Father, Gramps and I playing cribbage. Background noise of a Maple Leafs game. We had only been in Canada two years. The freshness of a country hadn't yet worn off. That would take 27 years of grinding down.
Once the music of Coaches Corner played. Everything stopped. We listened not knowing what Don Cherry really meant with regard to the game itself. We loved his directness, honesty, charisma and obvious educated opinion - no matter other different views. He was an expert in delivering a message on a area of such Canadian pride. The epitome of competence and obvious one in lifetime, talent.
Summer 1988. Playing for the Hamilton Steelers in the old Canadian Soccer League. Every Thursday was "Ladies Night" at Don Cherry's Vine. And so conveniently a team gathering always took place at the central bar and restaurant on Main Street, in Hamilton. One night my breath was taken away when right next to me was Don Cherry himself leaning up against a pillar. Open mouth like a fish I am not sure what came out of it as I tried to compose a question in those heady days of being so unassured. What I do know is that the man was absolute class. A beautiful passionate, spirited man just as Peter Zezel said he was.
November 5, 2019
Walking through the doors of the Eaton Center at Queen street in my second-hand clothes, I see a little old lady dressed impeccably in her Canadian Uniform sitting down, poppy carton full to the brim with poppies. One hundred yards forward I pass another clone like demonstration stand. Same sad eyes of two female veterans. It's all they were as citizens passed them by as inconvenient obstacles.
All I had in my pocket was 75 cent. I elected to not buy one even though remembrance day is a my birthday. Needed TTC fare was my rationale. I regret the decision. Don Cherry meant to say "everyone". He got fired and assassinated and it took Bobby Orr from Boston to nail it. "Disgusting, disgraceful". The man is 85 years of age. A Canadian Legend. As Jane Fonda observed 18 months ago Canada has lost its way. Our Prime Minister's black face antics provide the perfect mirror to our hypocrisy. Canada is spoiled. Could never fight a war. Passive aggressive ethos. "Canadians are so nice we are actually not", I do recall writing over the past 2 years. That would include Ron Maclean and Hayley Wickenheiser. Absolute no class. The nation needs pulling up by the boots straps of competence. We need our hair pulling. We need solitary confinement. We need mandatory one year of military service. If we had to fight a war we would last a day. We have developed into a corrupt, spoiled, fake nation.
Paul J James
