The Sports Corner

Cherry’s comments unprofessional, but he’s done plenty good for the game

Don Cherry is back at the forefront of controversy in Canada after a rant full of expletives to a news reporter was been made public.

Cherry was approached outside a radio station in Toronto by a news reporter from 680 News and asked what his thoughts were on comments made by Dr. Charles Tator, a Toronto-based neurosurgeon who said at a recent seminar that the star of Hockey Night in Canada’s Coaches Corner was a “negative influence” in the fight against violence and head injuries in hockey, according to the Globe and Mail.

The audio clip of the impromptu interview with Cherry, who had not scheduled anything as such said the Globe and Mail, have now made their way onto Youtube.com with several F-bombs to put the stamp on his decline of the interview.

Now, regardless of whether or not you know you’re being interviewed, there was no reason for Cherry to drop the profanities he did.

It was unprofessional and it was basically unnecessary. Especially for a man like Cherry, who is such a big figure in Canadian sports and has had number of memorable his run-ins with controversy.

But it really doesn’t matter what Cherry said. It doesn’t even really matter that the reporter may or may not have gone beyond the boundaries of journalistic ethics to get a story.

Big deal, he went off, people tend to do that and it really doesn’t matter who they are or what they do for a living.

What should be the bigger story are comments made by a doctor, who is without question an expert on head injuries, going after someone in the public eye on a very touchy subject without any real evidence to back it up.

Here’s the thing about hockey, and people need to take note.

The game has always been a rough and tumble, or “rock’em sock’em” kind of game as he described. It didn’t just turn that way when Don Cherry came onto the scene of junior and professional hockey back in the 1940s and 1950s.

It will always be a tough, even violent sport well after Cherry retires from the spotlight and passes away. And no, his reputation that will succeed him once he passes will have zero influence on the game.

Hockey’s reputation of being a physical sport where injuries – serious and non-serious alike – has been around longer than Cherry, longer than the Toronto Maple Leafs and longer than the Montreal Canadiens, who just recently celebrated their Centennial year.

Cherry is definitely old school. There’s no question that he stands and upholds a part of the game where confrontation and “aggressive” rule the day. But so do a lot of hockey coaches, like London Knights head coach Dale Hunter and Anaheim Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle. The list goes on and on and on.

Sure, there needs to be respect for the opposition and your peers in hockey. When a players’ back is turned and he’s three feet away from the boards – or whatever the circumstances may be where injury seems inevitable – you don’t hit him or her.

If people recall, Cherry was one of the founding fathers of the STOP program that requires players in minor hockey to wear a stop sign on the back of their jersey above the numbers in the hopes that kids would get it into their heads not to hit a player when they saw that sign.

That one must’ve escaped Tator’s memory.

Then there is Cherry’s Rock’em Sock’em videos, particularly No. 6 and 7.

In the sixth edition of the popular hockey highlight video, Cherry goes over a number of safety tips to help prevent injuries in minor hockey. The segment lasted nearly 10 minutes and covered a variety of topics like not hitting someone when their back is turned, how to protect yourself along the boards, not to stick out your leg on an opponent, and more.

In the seventh edition, he discussed proper equipment.

Again, there may be a bit of selective memory when it comes to Cherry and all that he has actually done to teach young hockey players about proper safety of the game.

Hockey is the fastest game on the earth, especially at its top level – the NHL. It’s a collision sport and there’s no where to run because there’s no out-of-bounds line.

Injuries are going to occur, that’s just the logical way to view the game from a safety perspective. It’s not only admirable, but necessary to have experts like Tator trying to help reduce the risk of serious injuries, specifically to the head and neck where the results can be long-term and devastating.

That being said, Tator’s comments about Cherry were out of line.

The controversial figure has had way more of a positive influence on hockey in many different aspects than he has a negative one, he supports Canadian troops, police officers, paramedics, fire fighters and those who risk their lives each and every day to protect its citizens and his heart is in the right place despite sometimes clouding his judgement.

Cherry has indeed tried to reach out in order to help reduce the risk of severe injuries both in minor hockey and the big league, and Tator should take note.