Let me start off by pulling a page out of Blue Jays’ general manager, Alex Anthopoulos’ book and just say the fact that this story is stupid. The whole thing that the Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM Brian Burke and CBC’s Don Cherry are not getting along and don’t agree with each other should not be front page sports news anywhere, or really a leading story. I’m aware by even writing this I’m fueling the flames but there have been what I feel to be, narrow minded views throughout fans and the hockey world that have come from it.
This is something that tends to happen a lot, especially in Toronto. Steve Simmons earlier this year wrote an article for the Toronto Sun titled “Burke’s becoming an embarrassment” , where he lambasted Burke for his treatment of the media. For me, as a hockey fan, this is not sports news. This is not relevant to anything that the NHL (or the Toronto Maple Leafs, in this case), are doing on OR off the ice. To use one’s column, air-time, or position to attack someone is not only petty, but the wrong thing to do morally.
For those who didn’t see what happened on Saturday night, Brian Burke did an interview with Ron MacLean discussing the coaching change. During the interview they discussed comments that Burke made at the deadline about the media coverage and how it is “not an excuse be a reality”. To further his point, he uses the fact that when Ontario born kids on opposing teams come to Toronto and play the Leafs, they tend to have the game of their lives.
Here is the full interview:
Don Cherry later took that example and ran with it on his weekly Coach’s Corner segment this past Saturday. This is something Grapes had been talking about for a long time before Burke, even before former Leaf GM, John Ferguson Jr. Supplement that with the facts that Brian Burke had gone to CBC and complained about Grapes’ comments about former Leaf coach Ron Wilson, as well as Burke’s attempt to create a belief that there is not anything he can do about those certain “realities” made Don Cherry completely fired up, as only he can be.
I’m not going to really go into what Cherry said because most of you have seen it. If you haven’t here is the full Coach’s Corner from Saturday:
Before I say anything else, I want to say that these two men are probably my biggest idols in hockey as a Sport Management major. I admire both parties’ desire to say what they want, when they want, and not give a damn about who it upsets. The sad thing is that they are probably the most similar people in sport and one would ordinarily imagine they would get along because of it. The fact that most of the dispute is based on what they’ve said astounds me because both do the exact same thing.
First, if Brian Burke indeed tried to get Don Cherry fired, it was a silly vindictive move. It reminds me of the Original 6 days where teams would essentially hire/pay reporters to cover their teams and if they say anything that the club doesn’t like, they’re out. There’s another example of this going on right now on Long Island where GM Garth Snow has banned journalist Chris Botta from Nassau Coliseum, despite the fact that coverage of the Islanders is not as high as it used to be and he runs one of the biggest fan sites dedicated to the Isles (which can be seen here
, and Dee Karl can correct me if I’m wrong on anything there). Whether it’s true or not isn’t even the point anymore, the idea is out there and Burke looks petty about it.
As for Don Cherry, I’ve said this many times on this blog. He is the most influential broadcaster in the world of hockey since Foster Hewitt. I’ve also said that he belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame, in the same manner as Foster Hewitt. Grapes has made a living saying what he thinks and how he perceives the hockey world. Whether people agree or disagree with what he said has too, become irrelevant because everyone always wants to know what he thinks. Why he HAD to go after Burke in a public fashion is beyond me. Most adults, I would like to believe, would try to talk this out between themselves behind closed doors. To try and sway public opinion one way or another is just going to create a mess. To be perfectly honest, Don Cherry didn’t have to say anything at all. There is no way CBC is going to let him go. Just look at what happened when they weren’t going bring back Ron MacLean, the uproar from hockey fans forced them to re-new his contract. Even if by some fluke he does get let go, the first thing that’ll happen is he’ll get swooped up by TSN or Sportsnet, just like the HNIC Theme song, and he’ll have his rant there.
For what Don Cherry had to say I have two points. I firmly believe that a player born in Ontario, who grew up with the media coverage around the Maple Leafs, would have a better grasp of why there is so much attention. Let’s face it, the coverage and desire for information about hockey that is in Toronto or Montreal is what most other markets can only dream about. For a team to be annoyed with too much coverage is moronic because it only means that the fans, their customers, are clamouring for more information on their product. For someone from this market to play here, they would understand the demands of the media and the fans, and more importantly how much winning means to this city. Someone who grew up in Edmonton in the 80s, for example, would have a harder time to understand why people in Toronto are uptight about winning as they’ve seen multiple championships before.
It can be viewed as too much pressure. Don Cherry told the FAN590 this morning that he spoke with Darcy Tucker who said that players from Ontario felt like they HAD to play well or else they’d hear about it from not only the media, their friends and family as well. With all of this said, a team ALWAYS has to get the best talent available. I don’t know if the Leafs have been able to get the best talent available, but not being privy to their situation, I have to believe that they have done their best to do so. The first thing I saw from fans on the internet after Cherry made his comments was something to the effect of, “Oh now Grapes thinks that the Leafs aren’t winning is because they have no one from Ontario.” No one believes that, not even Grapes. But the point stands that if you’re going to use that as a “reality” you should see if you can work it in your favour.
From all I’ve heard about Brian Burke, I would imagine he’s seething right now at the comments. We saw the war of words he had with Kevin Lowe and it took the death of Burke’s son, Brendan, to bring the two of them together. If I am Brian Burke, I don’t respond to these remarks at all. Don Cherry can say whatever he believes and that’s his prerogative. Getting into a war of words with the man will not help matters and just distract from his product that he’s trying to sell. The best thing he can do is do what he thinks is right for the team and by doing so, prove Don Cherry wrong.
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Trivia Question for two passes to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Which is the only team to put their Mascot on the Stanley Cup, what year was it, and what was his name?
This is a hard one (unless you look at the Cup everyday), so first person to email me the correct answer gets the passes.
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