There is probably no more testosterone-fueled, Cro-magnon, somewhat racist group of people than “old-school” hockey coaches and fans. Like everything else in life, life is moving fast, too fast for those who thing that things should stay the same.
First of course was Don Cherry, who, after skirting the line of permissible speech on his “Coach’s Corner” broadcasts on Sportnet Canada’s “Hockey Night in Canada” was finally fired for making a statement about immigrants coming to Canada and not wearing poppies on Remembrance Day (U.S. Veteran’s Day). Viewers were outraged – Cherry was an institution, but his more radical views against non-Canadian hockey players, continued fighting in the sport, and immigrants in general became more and more out of touch with the current sensibility. Cherry had become the no longer amusing, grouchy old uncle that everyone has to endure at family functions. “Grapes” (Cherry) doesn’t care – he has moved on to a podcast, but he won’t get the same exposure or money as he did on television.
Then came the stories about Calgary Flames Head Coach Bill Peters. Peters had not been behind the bench for nearly a week when it was disclosed that he directed racist slurs at Akim Aliu, a Nigerian-born player in the minors a decade ago and kicked and punched players behind the bench during his recent time with Carolina. Last Friday Peters resigned as coach of the Flames. General manager Brad Treliving said he received a resignation letter from Peters on Friday that wraps up a weeklong investigation into the veteran coach’s behavior. Peters admitted to the incident in a letter of apology to Flames GM Brad Treliving, saying the comments were made in a “moment of frustration.” Assistant Geoff Ward took over as interim coach with the Flames 12-12-4 and in ninth place in the Western Conference.
The allegations continue. Here in Chicago, Blackhawks assistant coach Marc Crawford is under investigation in light of allegations made about the time that Crawford was Head Coach of the Los Angeles Kings. The New York Post published a story in which former NHL player Sean Avery alleged that Crawford kicked him during a game in the 2006-07 season. “He kicked me after a too many men on the ice call I took,” Avery said. “He didn’t have me serve it, we got scored on, and he let me have it. … You know how I stand at the end of the bench? He came down and gave me a kick [in the behind] that left a mark.” Avery told the Post that he was on Crawford’s bad side after an incident in practice a few days earlier. “This was right after I [messed] up a drill and dumped the puck into the wrong corner, and it landed on Crow’s head and cut him for six [stitches],” Avery said.
Fans are just as bad with African-American and African-Canadian players complaining about verbal abuse like the n-word and having bananas thrown at them. Even with successful players of color in the league like P.K. Subban and others making great strides in the game, there are still reports of players, coaches and fans becoming abusive. The days of players like Mike Milbury going into the stands at Madison Square Garden and beating a fan with his own shoe are over. (Admittedly, the fans were fighting the players.)
I am around junior hockey teams because of my girls’ figure skating and I have yet to see a coach go off on a kid, but if it were my child, there would be repercussions if it happened. Like the other sport of “testosterone” tough guys, football, coaches have had to adjust. Coaches cannot just do whatever they like to players anymore. Hockey parents have been warned and thrown out of games for being too abusive to players, referees and coaches.
It shouldn’t happen at any level. Finally, that “macho” attitude and abuse inflicted years ago by men still earning a living in hockey is coming back to haunt them. It’s about time.

I have mentioned here before a quote from a great, underappreciated B-movie from 1983 called “Blue thunder.” Roy Scheider plays a helicopter pilot for the LAPD when the powers that be want to bring in military gear (much as has already been done for real in many big cities). Anyway, Scheider is in trouble and his boss, played by the great Warren Oates in his last role before his death told him, “when you’re walking on eggs, don’t hop.”
To me, that is the story of the Chicago Cubs and Addison Russell. Russell, who was suspended for 40 games at the start of last season for spousal abuse, was retained by the club along with his multi-million dollar salary despite protests and generally poor PR. Russell then had a poor year on the field, hitting .237 with nine home runs and 23 RBIs before getting hit by a pitch in September which ended his season. With Javy Baez, David Bote and especially up and coming Nico Hoermer at the middle infield positions, Russell’s $5 million cap hit was just too much, and the Cubs released Russell yesterday.
I am not wise enough to decide whether Russell should never play baseball again, but I do know that with his issues, both Russell and the Cubs need a change or scenery. Russell’s issues hung over the team to a small extent last season, helping to poison the atmosphere enough to help the team finish out of the playoffs for the first time in five years. As for Russell, he needs to get away from this atmosphere where his ex-wife and kids are around and the fans know and won’t forget. Not that fans in other cities should forget, but when does a player do something so heinous that he is banned for life, formally or informally? Athletes like Colin Kaepernick are banished through collusion (“too much of a distraction”) or just banned outright (Pete Rose and others).
If we really believe in second chances, then Addison Russell should find another team to take a chance on him, especially if he has been a “model citizen” since the incidents came to light. If he can’t get his act together and he abuses another girlfriend/wife/kid, that’s another story entirely.

As it turned out Colin Kaepernick was right: the sudden workout, the original plan to have no press, extra secrecy as to which teams would be sending representatives, and even having Commissioner Roger Goodell visibly absent, replacing him with the rapper Jay-Z was all a sham. They could report that Kaepernick was a bust, couldn’t throw the football anymore and his career and hopes were over.
Instead Kaepernick moved the location of the workout in Atlanta at the eleventh hour, invited teams, invited his own receivers, and even had the workouts on podcast. The fact that Kaepernick has not received even one call from an NFL team while journeymen, has-beens and never-wases play in NFL games every weekend, says that the league was never serious. The league even got “Uncle Tom” black reporters like Stephen A. Smith and Jason Whitlock to put Kaepernick down; say that he was still too outspoken; that the sudden change was underhanded, even though the whole idea was crooked from the outset.
I guess that current environment of “fake news” and lies that a certain group of people swallow hook, line and sinker, most of whom are people who strongly oppose Kaepernick’s hiring, the NFL believes that it can just set it up and put whatever spin on the workout that we want and the issue will just go away.
If there is an organization that can screw-up a one-car funeral, it’s the NFL. Spouse beaters, men with substance abuse problems including cheaters with performance enhancing drugs have gotten lesser sentences that Kaepernick has paid. That this is played out in the open, on television, on social media makes the hypocrisy even more pronounced and obvious.
However, I expect that from the NFL, a group of white men who consider the players, especially the players of color, a commodity to be used and discarded. The rich black men who are a party to this are even worse. I am not a fan of Jay-Z (or rap music past about 1980), but I appreciate that he has built a billion-dollar empire from the music business (and married another billion-dollar entrepreneur), but now that he’s playing with the other billionaires, he sets up Colin Kaepernick. Smith and Whitlock are examples of the ignorant black man on radio or television who white people can listen to and smile because they can feel intellectually superior to them.
I have not agreed with Colin Kaepernick on everything (sitting out the 2016 election because, to him, Clinton and Trump were equals continues to leave a bitter taste in my mouth); but the silent protest, the fact that he never even brought it to anyone’s attention until the media reported on it, and to take this unwarranted and racist punishment is something to respect. In the short term, Kaepernick may never play professional football in the NFL again; but in the long run, the NFL will be on the wrong side of history.

For years now, I have wondered what Dallas Cowboys Head Coach Jason Garrett has on owner Jerry Jones. In nine years as head coach, his Cowboys have finished in first place in the NFC East 3 times. In those three playoff appearances, the team has gone 2-3, losing all three times in the NFC Divisional Round. His regular season record has been 83-63. Respectable, but no Super Bowl appearances, much less wins.
Jones, GM as well as owner, is known as a win first owner. He fired Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer, coaches who won Super Bowls and National Championships in college, when Jones felt that they were no longer effective. Each year, with the pundits, fans and the media expecting a very hot seat in Dallas, Jones would make an announcement that Garrett would be back.
Last night’s loss to New England in a very stormy Foxboro 13-9 elicited the first criticism of Garrett by Jones. Jones said he weather was bad and Dallas simply made too many mistakes to get the win. Garrett’s team dropped to 6-5 with the loss. The Cowboys are still in good shape, leading the NFC (L)East, but most people believe including Jones that there’s too much talent on this roster to be just one game above .500 late in November.
I don’t believe that Jason Garrett should be looking for open NFL jobs yet, but he may want to get his resume updated.

A couple of weeks ago, I was channel surfing and I found an NHL game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Toronto Maple Leafs, and I texted a friend that the game featured two of the most hated coaches in the league: John Tortorella for Columbus and Mike Babcock for Toronto. Both have won a Stanley Cup behind the bench – Tortorella in Tampa, Babcock in Detroit, but both have gained a reputation for having, as a local hockey guy says “three year contracts and one year acts.”
This week, the underwhelming Leafs fired Babcock as their coach. Babcock has a long history of being a tough coach to play for, especially if you get into his dog house. There are a number of players who have stories that they are none too sad to get away from Babcock. There was a story in 2017 that Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Chelios said that veteran free agents don’t want to play for Babcock. Of course, John Tavares and Mitch Marner chose to sign in Toronto, but perhaps it’s the hometown factor? I’ve seen a couple of stories over the past few months of other retired players happy to get away from Babcock.
I don’t think Babcock’s reputation is as bad as Tortorella’s. Once his Lightning won the Cup way back in 2004, suddenly, he was the best coach in the history of hockey. In Tampa, then in stops in Vancouver, New York, and Columbus, Tortorella was notorious for throwing players under the bus in the media instead of talking to them personally first. Hockey is the one sport where a team will give up on a coach, and he did not last long in Vancouver or the Big Apple. It seemed that he might have calmed a bit when Tortorella led Columbus to one of the biggest upsets in Stanley Cup playoff history, knocking off the Presidents’ Trophy Winner and record setting winning team Tampa last season. Columbus got to the second round before losing to eventual Eastern Conference Champions, the Boston Bruins.
However, success isn’t a guarantee of retaining players. Columbus stars Artemi Panerin and Sergei Bobrovsky both left Columbus as free agents. Yes, money was a factor, but Columbus had made financial moves to keep at least one of the two stars. They ended up with neither and the players had little to say about the coach they were leaving.
Curiously, Bobrovsky ended up signing with Florida, whose coach is the recently fired Blackhawks head man Joel Quenneville, a coach who is also known to be a bit gruff and tough on younger players. His last couple of years in Chicago he lightened up on the young players a lot more than he had in the past, but it wasn’t enough – the Hawks brought in very young Jeremy Colliton who was a junior coach and mentor to many players.
I bring it up because an old dog can learn new tricks occasionally as Florida is second in the Atlantic Division with 27 points. It is very early, but Quenneville seems to have adapted more than his compatriots. At the very least, no one from Chicago seems to hate Quenneville (other than some players who couldn’t play defense and got bounced out).
Of course, Mike Babcock has $24 million to collect in his unemployment. He could do like Quenneville and sit out the season and rest and recharge. Or he could be ready for the next opening available.
Of course, Sportsnet is looking for someone to broadcast during the first intermission of Hockey Night in Canada.

This week, it seemed like the NFL-Colin Kaepernick issue was about to reach a conclusion. Reports were that Kaepernick, who has been out of the league since 2016 because of his protest to kneel during the National Anthem, was scheduled to get an open tryout for any and all NFL teams who wanted to attend this upcoming Saturday in Atlanta. At least three teams announced that they would attend almost instantly. My hometown Chicago Bears were noncommittal despite the uproar over the less than stellar performance of Mitchell Trubisky.
Still, the NFL did have one last bit of unfinished business. Now that the collusion lawsuit between the quarterback and the league has been settled, it isn’t hard to see QBs starting games in the league who are not on par with Kaepernick when he was playing. Older at 32, his skills may have deteriorated a bit, but on the other hand, he has not suffered the wear-and-tear three seasons of football can place on a human body. The uproar is over; Donald Trump who blasted Kaepernick and forced the league to suspend and eventually blackball Kaepernick, has his own problems right now. Yes, there are the Trump faithful who will huff and puff, but I have a feeling that after the initial outrage has worn off, the fans would still come out and watch the teams, including whatever team eventually signed him, if for no other reason than to boo.
Now however, the word is that Kaepernick may pull out of the thing. Negotiations between the sides specified that the teams showing would be public, which the league has not done (the teams themselves has issued statements); there is no word of how the workout will be structured, what passes will be required, who the receiver(s) will be, what routes will they run. In other words, Kaepernick is supposed to come into a cold interview with no idea what to expect. Even the way it was set up, suddenly, quickly, with no options for the QB, seems like this is a set-up. Perhaps that is the NFL’s game plan – make the situation so ridiculous that Kaepernick pulls out and the league can say “see, he knew he couldn’t make the cut anymore, so e can officially forget about him now.”
If this is the case, as an African-American fan, I would be very disappointed with the league (again). Once again the No Fun League is appearing tone deaf to its African-American players, coaches and fans, once again proving that the league and its owners are more in sync with the redneck segment of the fan base.
I hope that I’m wrong. I hope that there’s a workout this weekend; that Kaepernick performs well, and he gets signed by some team. I am already prepared to drown out the complaints of Fox News and its followers. Give it a couple of days and then they will find something else to be outraged over (impeachment?).
But if this is a setup, every African-American player should be ready to sit out Sunday’s and Monday’s games. There are too many black players for the NFL to treat one of their own, one who was quietly protesting inequality and brutality of people of color, to be tricked.

I have to admit that I never thought that Sportsnet would ever have the balls to fire Don Cherry. The 85-year-old commentator who has been on the “Coach’s Corner” at the first intermission of Hockey Night in Canada for 40 years is often like the old uncle at Thanksgiving – cantankerous, loud, but mostly harmless. He has made unapologetic remarks on issues from fighting in hockey and female sports reporters in dressing rooms to French-Canadians and “pinkos” that “ride bicycles and everything” came very close to the edge of getting himself canned.
He crossed the line this past Saturday night, commenting on new immigrants in Toronto and Mississauga, Ont., where he lives, for not honoring Canada’s veterans and dead soldiers on Remembrance Day weekend (Veteran’s Day here in the U.S.) He started with the red warning light that something horrible would follow… “You people,” (always the phrase, usually followed by “I’m not a racist, but…). “You love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that,” Cherry said. “These guys paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price.”
As usual, the powers that be issued meaningless apologies written by lawyers and spin doctors. On Sunday, Sportsnet, the National Hockey League, Cherry’s television co-host Ron MacLean, and Hockey Canada issued statements censuring Cherry’s remarks. The league said in a statement that Cherry’s remarks were “offensive and contrary to the values we believe in.” Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie called his comments “despicable. “We’re proud of diverse cultural heritage and we’ll always stand up for it,” she said on Twitter. “New immigrants enrich our country for the better. We’re all Canadians and wear our poppies proudly.” The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, a national self-regulatory organization, said on Monday it received so many complaints following the broadcast that it would no longer accept any more on the issue.
MacLean, who has been Cherry’s sidekick for most of the 40 years he has been on the air, failed as usual to criticize Cherry on the air, nodding during the rant and giving Cherry a big thumbs up at the end. One day later, MacLean issued a statement calling the comments “hurtful and prejudiced” and apologized for failing to intervene. He also apologized to viewers for mishandling “a divisive moment” after he gave the remarks a thumbs-up. I believe that MacLean, who had announced that he was retiring at the end of the season, should take this opportunity to take early retirement.
Again, I thought that the network would suspend Cherry for a week or two – Cherry, right or wrong, is a national icon. In many ways, it was like the Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder’s comments about African-Americans in 1986. Unlike Snyder, I never thought that Sportsnet would fire Don Cherry, but I was happily wrong.
In a statement issued on Twitter Monday afternoon, Sportsnet said that after discussions with Cherry, it had been decided that it was “the right time” for him to go. “Sports brings people together — it unites us, not divides us,” Bart Yabsley, Sportsnet president, said. “Following further discussions with Don Cherry after Saturday night’s broadcast, it has been decided it is the right time for him to immediately step down.
“During the broadcast, he made divisive remarks that do not represent our values or what we stand for. Don is synonymous with hockey and has played an integral role in growing the game over the past 40 years. We would like to thank Don for his contributions to hockey and sports broadcasting in Canada.”
The absolute last straw was when Cherry did not apologize. I’m sure that the network would have been happier if he had issued some innocuous apology, suspended him and moved on. Cherry’s only comment was “I had my say.”
So did Sportsnet, the NHL and hockey fans across North America. Good!