Madness North Of The Border

Here in the U.S., it takes the exposure of a breast filled with copious amounts of silicone to spur the goverment into action. But North of the border, the threshold is a little lower.

The target: CBC Hockey Night In Canada commentator Don Cherry, for comments he made about which players in the NHL wear visors and drug use in Canadian Junior hockey:

An aide to Dyane Adam, official languages commissioner, confirmed that she is looking into allegedly anti-francophone remarks made by Don Cherry between periods on Hockey Night in Canada.

``The commissioner feels it's an important enough issue that she's going to investigate,'' said the aide, who asked not to be named.

``There was no formal complaint filed here, but she has on her own initiative decided to investigate. She feels that the allegations are serious enough.''

During a Jan. 24 broadcast, Cherry berated those who were calling for the mandatory use of protective visors by NHL players in the wake of several recent eye injuries.

The only players who wear the visors are ``Europeans'' and ``French guys,'' he said.

In an earlier segment aired after reports that players were using drugs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Cherry, without giving any evidence, said drug use in junior hockey is confined to the QMJHL.

Just what sort of insanity is this? You can easily make the case that Cherry can be an absolute blowhard -- albeit an entertaining one at that. But a government investigation?

But this isn't the first time Cherry has gotten into trouble. During the run-up to the war with Iraq, Cherry didn't hesitate to make his case that Canada should have been ashamed for not supporting the U.S. Further, when French Canadian fans began to boo the Star Spangled Banner last season, Cherry said he wanted to make it clear that the rest of Canada didn't agree with most Quebec on the issue.

Normally, Cherry's Coach's Corner is archived at CBC.ca. But after a few days, the CBC removed the video of that particular segment from their Web site. With that kind of track record, you ought to hurry to watch the archived version of the January 24th segment before the CBC decides you might get hurt.

But wait, there's more! An American playing in the OHL got his own dose of political correctness, Canadian-style, for this bizzare incident:

Plymouth Whalers captain and defenseman James Wisniewski was suspended for five games by the Ontario Hockey League because of a gross misconduct penalty in Friday night's 7-4 loss to visiting Owen Sound.

Stefan Ruzicka, Owen Sound's top goal-scorer with 27, challenged Wisniewski to a fight; Wisniewski responded by saying he did not fight "Euros." The comment was overheard by a linesman. Ruzicka, a third-round draft pick by Philadelphia in last year's draft, is a native of Nitra, Slovakia.

Wisniewski said he didn't think he was being insensitive, and coach Mike Vellucci agreed.

"I don't think he meant it in a harmful way," Vellucci said. Ruzicka "is a 30-goal scorer, not a fighter."

Ted Baker, the OHL's director of hockey operations and referee-in-chief, said the league does not tolerate comments directed at players based on their origin, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Baker said the league reminded teams about the policy following the firing last year of Sault Ste. Marie coach John Vanbiesbrouck, who used a racial slur to describe a player. Baker said there was no opportunity for Wisniewski to appeal.

Note to Wisniewski: next time, just deck the guy. They wouldn't suspend you more than a game for that.

Eric 07:08 AM

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Eric over at Off Wing Opinion juxtaposes the government investigation of Don Cherry's comments on CBC with the FCC investigation of Janet Jackson's Superbowl gig. While both investigations are ridiculous, if the current head of the Canadian Radio-telev... [Read More]

Tracked on February 6, 2004 11:20 AM