Roy MacGregor and Don Cherry's Ultimate Epitaph

It's been almost a week since Don Cherry opened his big mouth, let out another bigoted roar, and for once didn't get away with it.

And while his supporters are trying to whip up support for him.

So is Cherry, even more desperately...

“Support Don Cherry” sign confiscated by security at NHL game, hockey fa... https://t.co/4v3qOSgGwL via @YouTube

— Don Cherry (@CoachsCornerDC) November 15, 2019

But it's just not working.

At least judging by the number of people who turned out for this rally outside Rogers' headquarters...



Which looked more like a wake than anything else.

And whose posters seem as dated as Cherry himself.




But then who can be surprised when Cherry has been peddling his anti-immigrant nonsense for a long long time?

As you can see in this old interview with Eric Holling Malling.

Don Cherry with Eric Holling, 1990 pic.twitter.com/s4qKbGcrTZ

— Nathan Caranci (@NathanCaranci) November 14, 2019

Malling died tragically eight years after that interview was recorded.

But luckily the great Roy MacGregor is still around to write Cherry's ultimate epitaph, and point out that by the time he was fired, he had become no more than a caricature.

He became far more interested in his opinions than the games on which he was supposed to opine.

He lost touch even with how the game is played, still telling “you kids out there” to get out of the way of the shots, so the goalie can see, long after the game had become block everything you can and trust that any puck that gets through the blockade will slam into a goaltender big enough to cover the net like a tarp.

He ridiculed Europeans and francophones who wore visors. He celebrated fisticuffs long after they began to disappear from the game and scientists began connecting headshots to brain disease.

His act had grown stale. In the end he was just another loudmouthed Con bully.

Who attracted supporters like this one.



The man accused of defacing the Old City Hall Cenotaph, says he did it in part because of Don Cherry’s firing.

Which is another reason we need to move on, leave Cherry stuck in the past.

And let history be his judge.

We will not have to wait that long to see how history will remember Don Cherry, but it will still be a considerable time. And, if the measures of this week hold up, it is not likely to be kind.

Don Cherry might yet find another job....



But one thing is for sure.

One after another, the ugly Cons are going down.

Time is moving on.

And the future belongs to us...