A bit of in-game blogging for me. In between the second and third period of Game 4, Don Cherry sounded off on fighting in the NHL. This is from memory. I will certainly be looking for a clip.
Cherry said that he heard the NHL was trying to cater to American fans by eliminating fighting. He then said that they were making a "big mistake" by doing this and cited Nascar/crashes, football/fill the quarterback, and the success of the Ultimate Fighting.
Brett Hull agreed with everything Cherry said and chimed in that the instigator rule should be removed all together. Hull also said that he would make players take off the visor, with the exception of those guys that have had eye injuries. This, of course, would make players more accountable for their actions.
Cherry brought a clipping from a Buffalo newspaper that advertised the Ottawa/Buffalo series. The clipping highlighted the "bad blood" between the two teams and featured pictures of Ray Emery and Andrew Peters during the Sabres/Sens brawl earlier this year. Now if you remember back, the Atlanta Thrashers actually did something quite similar, adding a 30 second montage to their website of the Capitals/Thrashers brawl from early in the season... this to sell tickets for the next Atlanta home game.
Hull brought up some past enforcer names including Joe Kocer, Bob Probert, Kelly Chase, and Tony Twist. Cherry said that the NHL would be wise to go back to the rock em' sock em' days of hockey.
It'll be interesting to see if Cherry is invited back for Game 5. He even said that "I'll probably get in trouble for this" when commenting that he didn't think Chris Pronger should have been suspended. Hull, again, concured with Cherry's assessment. So we will see if Cherry makes his way back. If it is up to NBC, there is no doubt in my mind he will get to chime in on another game. If the NHL is able to pull the plug on Cherry, I'm sure their reaching for the cord as we speak.
Update - If you'd like to see Cherry back, email NBC at nbcsports@nbcuni.com
Update Update - NBC ran a poll on whether or not fighting was good in the NHL. Although they don't list the number of votes, after two days, 90.4% say fighting is good for the NHL. Listen up Gary!
Youtube Update:
More:
NHL Hockey Fights
Kuklas Korner
Smokeyblunts
The Disgruntled Chemist
On Frozen Pond
Japers Rink
NBC Sports
The Star
Detroit Free Press
LA Times
And fine work by Christine Daniels of the LA Times who wrote, "Don Cherry stopped by the NBC booth during intermission and seemed confused, at usual." It seems Ms. Daniels was confused when she penned that line.
After reading Off Wing's blog that highlighted a sports writer's tirade on just how unprofessional bloggers could be, I can't help but point out some of the blatant grammatical mistakes made by paid writers.
3 comments:
I’ve heard a lot about Don Cherry, but I’ve actually never watched him before Game 4 of the Finals. He’s great! Love him or hate him, he brings emotion, controversy, and energy to the broadcast. Bill Clement plays a great straight guy to Don’s outrageous personality. It was also great how much Don Cherry and Brett Hull argued – it made you want to take sides. My friends and I haven’t spoken much about hockey during the playoffs, but today we’re all on fire about last night’s game.
That was seriously great, and I'm glad I recorded it.
It's like someone said, he's hockey's Howard Cosell. He makes some controversial statements at times, you may love him, you may hate him, but when he has something to say, you need to shut up and listen.
Thanks for the new entry Drew. It's a shame that something has to go wrong to see you post more. But I think you and I both are in the same boat. With the addition of the son, I just haven't had the time or desire to watch playoff hockey. At least with the SC, we have two teams (one especially) that like to dish out some good hits and get in scrums.
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