Don Cherry

Tuesday November 12, 2019

November 12, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 12, 2019

Don Cherry fired by Sportsnet following offensive on-air comments

February 6, 2004

Brash, outspoken, opinionated — longtime hockey broadcaster Don Cherry was never afraid to ruffle feathers during his “Coach’s Corner” segment on “Hockey Night in Canada.”

His latest outburst cost him his job.

In a two-paragraph statement Monday afternoon, Sportsnet confirmed that it was cutting ties with Cherry.

“Sports brings people together — it unites us, not divides us. Following further discussions with Don Cherry after Saturday night’s broadcast, it has been decided it is the right time for him to immediately step down,” said Sportsnet president Bart Yabsley. “During the broadcast, he made divisive remarks that do not represent our values or what we stand for.

October 12, 2011

“Don is synonymous with hockey and has played an integral role in growing the game over the past 40 years. We would like to thank Don for his contributions to hockey and sports broadcasting in Canada.”

Cherry’s ouster came after a segment that sparked a swift backlash from inside and outside the hockey world. The network apologized Sunday for Cherry’s comments about his belief that new immigrants don’t wear poppies, and in turn, don’t support veterans.

March 11, 2014

On Monday — Remembrance Day — the network took it one step further.

Cherry, 85, had singled out new immigrants in Toronto and Mississauga, Ont., where he lives, for not honouring Canada’s veterans and dead soldiers.

“You people … you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that,” Cherry said Saturday night. “These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price.”

June 6, 2019

“Coach’s Corner” and HNIC are broadcast on CBC in a sub-licensing deal with Rogers Media, which owns Sportsnet.

Cherry did not respond to multiple phone calls seeking comment. He has yet to publicly apologize.

The Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council said it was so overloaded with complaints about the segment that it exceeded the organization’s technical processing capacity. The CBSC said it was dealing with the broadcast under its normal process, but was not able to accept any further complaints.

Segment co-host Ron MacLean apologized Sunday evening. (MacLeans) 

 

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Tuesday, March 11, 2014By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday, March 11, 2014

George Stroumboulopoulos to host Hockey Night in Canada next season

George Stroumboulopoulos said it will be a “dream” to anchor next season’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Rogers Communications introduced Stroumboulopoulos at a press conference on Tuesday as one of the new faces of Hockey Night when the telecom and media firm takes control of Canada’s NHL broadcasting rights.

The multiple Gemini award-winning talk show host of CBC’s George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight will join Hockey Night’s Ron MacLean and Don Cherry, along with Sportsnet’s Daren Millard and Jeff Marek as the “cornerstones” of the new hockey coverage, Rogers said in a release.

Stroumboulopoulos said that a big role in the hockey media world was a long-standing dream of his and Marek’s since they started their careers in promotions at the Fan 590 radio station.

“It took 20 years to get to this place,” Stroumboulopoulos said. “What a dream.”

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

The hiring of the fast-talking Stroumboulopoulos as the new face of Hockey Night is the first major personnelchange made by Rogers after acquiring the NHL Canadian broadcasting rights in a blockbuster 12-year, $5.2-billion deal in November.

Scott Moore, president of Sportsnet and NHL properties for Rogers, introduced the “top line” of his hockey broadcasting scene during a live telecast from the CBC studios. While the CBC may have been “where the tradition of broadcasting hockey began,” Moore said, he’s hoping to bring a “fresh face” to the game.

Hockey fans can look forward to big games being broadcast on different channels such as Citytv and on additional days, including Sunday, Moore said. More announcements to come will include new technology for mobile devices.

“You do have to be aware that people are watching hockey differently. They’re watching it with two, three or more screens.”

Moore also faced a sharp question about the absence of women on a broadcast team he called “the face of hockey on Rogers.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

SOCIAL MEDIA

Shared on Yahoo News Canada and National Newswatch. Also, on Yahoo Canada’s Facebook page:

Post by Yahoo Canada.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Friday, November 15, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, November 15, 2013

Rob Ford’s comments ‘disappointing’ to Toronto Argonauts

The ongoing saga involving Toronto Mayor Rob Ford spilled over its political banks into the sports world on Thursday.

After his contentious showdown with council on Wednesday, Ford chose to switch up his workday wardrobe Thursday and wore his Toronto Argonauts sweater, complete with “Mayor Ford” on the nameplate and the No. 12, the year the Argos hosted and won the Grey Cup.

But while wearing the sweater to promote this weekend’s CFL East final against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Ford made comments on media reports coming from the second round of revelations coming from Toronto Police’s Information To Obtain document. More portions of the document, which were filed as part of the case against Ford’s friend and driver Alexander Lisi, were released by the courts on Wednesday night. Ford’s comments included a profane response to allegations he made sexually explicit comments to a former female staffer, for which he later apologized.

With the Argos preparing on the field Thursday afternoon, preparing for the East Division final — a game against their historic rivals, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats — the team’s media relations officials were pacing the sidelines, tied to their mobile telephones. Questions flooded in from all manners of outlets, but not many relating to football.

The team released a statement expressing their displeasure at being dragged into the the Mayor’s theatre of the absurd.

At the end of Ford’s comments, in which he said he would take legal action against former staffers for their statements made to police, Ford dropped in an Argos game promotion before returning to his dismissal of the information in the ITO.

“And the next thing, I wanna call Mayor [Bob] Bratina in Hamilton and tell him we’re going to spank their little Tiger-Cats.” (Source: National Post)

Friday, November 15, 2013This is the local version of the same cartoon.

 SOCIAL MEDIA

Both versions of this cartoon attracted quite a few likes, shares and comments on Facebook here, and here. It was also mentioned in a piece written in The Toronto Star, Friday, November 15, 2013 by Tech Reporter Raju Mudhar

Wednesday October 12, 2011

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday October 12, 2011

Former NHLers may sue Cherry

Former NHL players Stu Grimson, Chris Nilan and Jim Thomson are considering legal action over Don Cherry’s rant about fighting in hockey.

They issued a joint statement early Tuesday morning calling Cherry’s comments “damaging and inflammatory” and his attempts to qualify them “entirely ineffectual.”

Cherry singled out the three men as “pukes”, “hypocrites” and “turncoats” for speaking out against fighting in the sport during the first “Coaches Corner” segment of the season on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada last Thursday.

He accused the men of not wanting current players to make a living as enforcers as they did and criticized them for linking drug and alcohol abuse to that role.

On a subsequent show Saturday, Cherry expressed some remorse over using the word “pukes,” but that doesn’t satisfy the former players.

“We’re considering all alternatives including legal recourse, of course, given the nature of Don’s comments,” Grimson told The Canadian Press on Tuesday from Nashville.

“We are curious to know what remedies we have, if any, under the law probably in Canada simply because that’s where most of these events took place. ”

Grimson is a lawyer with the Tennessee firm Kay, Griffin, Enkema and Colbert, which specializes in corporate litigation and intellectual property. The law firm issued the statement. (Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday, December 9, 2010

McGuinty admits security law kept Ontarians in the dark

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says his government acted too quickly and kept the public in the dark when it handed police special powers that violated people’s civil liberties during last summer’s G20 summit.

He made the admission a day after the province’s Ombudsman said the now infamous secret measure, made at the direct request of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, was “likely illegal” and never should have been enacted.

“This was an extraordinary regulation and it deserved more transparency and more debate,” Mr. McGuinty conceded to reporters on Wednesday.

But his comments did little to end the controversy at the provincial legislature, where opposition members called for the resignation of Community Safety Minister Jim Bradley. It was Mr. Bradley’s predecessor, Rick Bartolucci, who was harshly criticized in the Ombudsman’s report for plotting to keep the measure under wraps last June. But Mr. Bartolucci was moved to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing two months later as part of a cabinet shuffle.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak accused the Premier of exercising “extraordinary poor judgment” in enacting powers normally reserved for times of war and for “conspiring” to keep them secret.

“This was not a simple error,” Mr. Hudak said during Question Period on Wednesday. “It was not a simple mistake. The Ombudsman said this was a premeditated plan to keep the general public in the dark.” (Globe & Mail)