Tuesday, February 19, 2008
A Hockey Interlude
Don Cherry is a Canadian icon and I guess a sort of institution. He comments during break between first and second periods of hockey games on the CBC. In a weird way...Don Cherry is kind of like Stephen Colbert. Colbert plays the role of right wing Republican extraodinaire. Don Cherry plays the role of "Archie Bunker" only...is it a role? He is pretty much serious and for hockey fans he is the bridge between the
"old boys club" and the Canada of today that we know and love. Don Cherry is like every guy who is pissed off about affirmative action, "women drivers", and pop music. Don Cherry is almost like a big doll that Canada brings out and he represents the reluctance of older generations to change and he allows the younger generation to be reminded of how the world used to be.
Like Don Cherry, hockey has had to transform to meet the values and ethics we believe in in Canada...sure most fans of the game understand why there is so much fighting in hockey...and we even think it is justified...but we also want the players to attempt restraint...and good gameship is tied to how we see our society.
The puck over-the-glass penalty drives Grapes (nickname for Don Cherry) crazy. We know because he complains about it constantly in the playoffs.
The delay of game penalty, caused when a defender in his own end flips the puck over the glass as he's attempting to clear the zone, came into play after the lockout in 2005-06. from here
Don Cherry meets a gay man...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Geez, and I thought he was just a hockey-freak blow-hard.
Don is definitely from the old school. I wasn't sure if Don was in on the joke when Scott Thompson-Baker came out on stage, but he seemed to get into it as the segment continued. Although I didn't own it, I remember hearing how cheaply made the Madonna book was.
Mister Anchovy, heh heh well you know how I like to consider "the big picture" everything is an exercise in anthropology for me!
Malcolm...yes, the thing with Don Cherry is exactly that he seems to be in on the joke...and I suppose after several decades he sort of is in on the joke. His job depends on him maintaining this crotchety behaviour as Mister Anchovy says he is a "blow-hard"...and heis out-of-touch with how people live now and what they believe in...yet...I like to think that he isn't a complete shut-in and realizes his own changes and maybe he knows he's doing a great public service by acting like an idiot and he personifies "resistance to change"...
I have the Madonna book...one I never opened and one I did...and it fell apart almost right away. I don't know, it was unfortuante that the publishers couldn't figure out how to spine the book with spiral wire properly...but it was worth it anyhow and I really thought it was a cool book!
Post a Comment