Cherry

What does Don Cherry represent? What does Don Cherry stand for?

Does Don Cherry represent Canada? Does Don Cherry stand for the Canadian way of life?

I hope not. Don Cherry just comes across as a grumpy old man, a septogenarian curmudgeon who has a singular idea of what Canadians are: gap-toothed, hard-working, win-at-all-cost hockey players who wear their hearts and patriotism (among other things) on their sleeves.

I don't think Don has looked around metropolitan Canada in the past 30 years. I don't think he's even close to understanding what it means to be "Canadian" these days.

I would not be surprised if Don admitted he didn't realize Adrienne Clarkson, the 26th Governor General of Canada, was Chinese.

Wake up, Don. Enough of the European-bashing. It's one thing to be proudly Canadian; it's another to portray all Europeans as pussies who whine and dive and wear visors and won't drop the gloves (though Alex Semin wasn't helping).

You don't represent Canada. You don't represent Canadian ideals. You may be fiercely proud of your small-town Canadian roots, but small-town Canada no longer represents Canada as a whole. Nearly half of the country's population now live in the ten most populous cities in the country. That's more than the total population from less than 60 years ago.

You may be entertaining. You may be controversial. You may even be entertaining because you're controversial. But times are passing you on, and until you are ready to admit that maybe there are other ways to play hockey and other ways to live life, you'll always go down as a stubborn grouch in my books.