There's Only One Man Who Can Replace Don Cherry On HNIC Now After He Was Fired By Sportsnet, And He'd Be A Humangous Big Get
Don Cherry was fired by Sportsnet today after going off on a xenophobic rant this past weekend during HNIC. Here's the rant in case anybody missed it.
Here's the thing--Don Cherry has made a living saying complete nonsense that most people can't even begin to comprehend most of the time. Even with subtitles, often times it is nearly impossible to figure out what exactly he was trying to say. And I've always been a big Don Cherry guy because of that. I figured it was always going to be better to have some unhinged grandpa on there talking about god knows what instead of trotting out some young nerd between periods to talk about stats. But unfortunately this time around, that wasn't the case and it was super clear exactly what he meant. I mean as soon as you use the term "you people", you're done. It doesn't matter if you're an establishment in the hockey community or not, you can't go on national television between periods and start ranting against immigrants. Just can't do it.
But now the issue becomes that we need to find another rambling lunatic who never really knows exactly where they're about to say anytime they open their mouth to speak. We need to find a Don Cherry replacement and we need to find one fast. So who knows the game of hockey just as well as anybody else out there, isn't afraid to say whatever is on their mind at any given moment, and is also currently available?
That's right, folks. It's time for Bryz to finally catch his big break.
The best part about Coach's Corner every week is that you would leave the segment having absolutely no idea what was going on or what was just said. Ilya Bryzgalov can slide into that role more naturally than anybody else I could imagine. One moment we're talking about Connor McDavid flying down the ice on his way to scoring his 400th career point in only 306 games, the next moment we're talking about aliens and tigers in Russia. Another great part about Coach's Corner every week is watching Ron MacLean's face as he tries to process what is being said and he got himself into this situation in the first place, and we can get those exact same reactions while Bryz is talking.
So sure, this is the end of an era for HNIC but it could also be the start of something new and beautiful. And if Sportsnet feels weird about hiring a Russian for Hockey Night In Canada, then the next best option is Roberto Luongo. But I really feel like it should be Ilya Bryzgalov or bust at this time.