The Don Cherry Show Trial

See Also: July 29/04- Don Cherry Returns

He is an institution in the north. But even hockey fans in the United States have heard of Don Cherry, the crusty blowhard who commands a huge audience on Hockey Night In Canada every Saturday. Cherry has never been one to contain himself, he holds unpopular opinions, and has his suspicions about the fortitude of hockey players from Europe and Quebec. The latter viewpoint has now landed him in trouble with Canada's thought police.

The federal official languages commissioner is investigating the man for comments made during the January 24 edition of Coach's Corner. Engaging the debate on whether visors should be mandatory for NHL players, Cherry grumbled, "Most of the guys that wear them are European or French guys."

That's about it. An ill-considered comment, to be sure. There are probably more than a few fans who share his disdain for such players, which is unfortunate.

So what to do? Let it pass? By no means! Bring the weight of the federal bureaucracy down upon him before he ventures to say anything mean ever again!

"The Official Languages Act requires federal institutions, such as the CBC, to respect the two languages and also the communities that speak them," is how it's explained in the Toronto Globe and Mail.

Some of Canada's sports columnists can barely contain their glee. They have long been jealous of Cherry's profile and perturbed by his refusal to parrot the interchangeable drivel they feed us in daily newspapers. The tempest over his latest remarks gives them another convenient excuse to wallow in outrage.

"CBC Needs To Stomp Grapes Hard" declares one Toronto Star pundit, in a fairly typical example.

Such hopelessly blinkered comments as Cherry's cannot go unchallenged. And if he or his employer cannot take the heat, it may well be time for him to slip out the kitchen door.

But Canada's sports media would be much duller without him. Cherry's is a rare genuine voice in a field dominated by the dull and the shallow. He's a performer, but the appeal of the performance is that he ventures to say what's on his mind, providing relief from the herd mentality that dictates most mainstream NHL coverage. Some of his opinions are wrong-headed; that they will occasionally surface is inevitable. Such is the price to be paid for having a real voice on television.

The question worth asking is this: If you were given a television soap box every week, and if you were determined to say exactly what you think – not what’s appropriate or considered or fair, but what you really think – how long would it be before you landed in trouble?

Update: In a typically bureaucratic non-response to the issue, the CBC declares that Cherry's live segment will now be televised on a seven-second tape delay. Check out the CBC's sad attempt to claim the moral high ground.