Coach's Corner - Fire it?

by LeafFanInVan on Nov 10, 2008 5:49 PM EST

Watching the Leafs game on Saturday, I came to the realization that the first intermission of the first game on saturday is essentially a wash. Should it just get scrapped altogether?

Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Cherry's shtick has gotten a little stale. The eye-bruising suits (really? giant rose pattern? you would wear that outdoors?), the comic mispronunciation of names, the constant bellowing, the getting misty over "those fine boys".. Add to this the 5 minute bookends of commercials for a crappy suit company, and I'm starting to think this time could be better spent.

Personally, I'd love to have an additional Hotstove segment over a tragically seemingly endless tribute to the fallen to bagpipes. Didn't HNIC do a segment on Rememberance day at the beginning? I take Rememberance day fairly seriously (I'll watch the memorial services on tv, take a moment of quiet reflection, exercise my franchise in the voting booth) but it seems a little much. Perhaps this makes me some kind of unpatriotic lout, but the near prothlestizing from Grapes makes me a little uncomfortable.

Really though, the once a year tribute isn't the big issue. The main issue is that Coach's Corner rarely offers anything new, has a tedious amount of commercials, and usually gives me a headache. Now I know CBC will never fire Don since TSN would snap him up instantly..

Any thoughts on how it could be made more interesting? I was thinking Don goes on a dunk tank and Ron gets to throw 3 baseballs..

Poll

Is Coach's Corner relevant anymore?

Yes

4 votes

No

9 votes

13 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Completely disagree

Have you watched the last couple hotstoves? man oh man.

Cherry is the man, plain and simple. He says totally wild things, is entertaining. its been obvious for years that at the intermission the french ratings fall and the english ratings spike during his segment. I think the choice of, and extent to the commercials in the broadcast might be out of his reach and over his head. That said, i haven’t seen don cherry’s 26, so i can’t say with certainty that, if up to him, there isn’t moores ads.

Ron’s a tool.

by Johnny Thunder on Nov 10, 2008 6:12 PM EST reply actions

so vote yes...

I havent’ heard Don say anything remotley sensible or even half way interesting in at least three years. He has the occasional sad story about a kid who loved hockey but lost his life, and that just makes me think of the fluff pieces they tag on at the end of a newscast. His rants about “visor wearing frenchies and euros” is so beyond ridiculous, it’s not shocking in the slightest. To say the Dion Phaneuf, Luke Schenn and the like are wussies for wearing visors flies in the face of convential logic.

Hotstove isn’t much better, but could be greatly improved by subtracting Strachan, who merely wants to be like Cherry, but is less bombastic and more retarded

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.
The Left Coast Lock

by blurr1974 on Nov 10, 2008 6:17 PM EST up reply actions

The fluff pieces really drive me nuts too. Even if it is tangentially hockey related (kid’s uncle volunteers at a local rink once every 2 weeks etc) it’ll get the same amount of attention from Cherry as the actual hockey going ons.

Hotstove without Strachan would be better, Milbury does a good job as the wild card whereas Ron and Lebrun are the sensible shooters. Bring in an intelligent ex-player and it would be gold.

by LeafFanInVan on Nov 10, 2008 6:27 PM EST up reply actions

Millbury’s grown on me. Couldn’t stand him on TSN, but LeBrun and Ron are the perfect foils for him. Hrudey works well with him on After Hours, maybe he’d be better for Hot Stove than Strachan…

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.
The Left Coast Lock

by blurr1974 on Nov 10, 2008 6:30 PM EST up reply actions

I actually enjoy...

the Hotstove now.

Perhaps it’s a sign of me getting old, I don’t know, but the Hotstoves are hype.

I’m with LFIV. Cherry’s act is tired. Let him go down and “sell” the game to the Americans. They’ll find his shit more entertaining.

Sports And The City

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by eyebleaf on Nov 10, 2008 6:16 PM EST reply actions

they had him on NBC down here last year...

and he was on a short leash, which made him even more lame. He and Hull could have created quite the headache if they were truely allowed to speak their minds…

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.
The Left Coast Lock

by blurr1974 on Nov 10, 2008 6:19 PM EST up reply actions

The Don

I love him, and if I had my way he would be kept on coaches corner forever, he just amuses me so.
But yes, I can see how his gig is getting stale, and he should retire from a full time gig and go to maybe popping up at the Olympics and Juniors or Playoffs as a special guest.

Because Taking The Leafs Seriously Is Not An Option

by JaredFromLondon on Nov 10, 2008 6:32 PM EST reply actions

I'm with Jared

I understand that people don’t like his act anymore but I really like tradition. It’s bad enough that they changed the song but I like seeing Grapes in the intermission. He might be (mostly) crazy but he says what he believes in and doesn’t sugarcoat it and I find that that’s actually a pretty rare trait anymore.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Nov 10, 2008 7:26 PM EST up reply actions

My main beef is it seems less and less is actually based on hockey skills, plays and the like, and more just plain fluff or the same stupid recycled crap (we get it, no touch icing: good, visors: bad)

Really needs to freshen it up and get back to actual hockey.

You know what I would actually prefer, I would love to see him showing some junior game clips and breaking it down. I know he prefers going to see the kids play more than the NHLers, it would be quite an interesting segment if he could break down clips of plays of junior teams. Of course, it would be kept positive showing the other kids “this is how you do it” so it doesn’t embarrass the youngsters being shown. Could be a pretty cool segment, keeps it positive, informs.. Or it could be boring as hell, but I don’t think so. Personally, I love seeing those Timbits come out on the ice between periods of the nhl games I’ve been to..

by LeafFanInVan on Nov 10, 2008 7:48 PM EST up reply actions

Good Idea

I like the idea of using junior clips to teach because I feel like Don does have a good grasp of the game and what kids should know. Although, I don’t mind him ranting and raving about no touch icing until it gets done because he is a lone voice of reason on that one.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Nov 10, 2008 8:05 PM EST up reply actions

How odd is it

we have Don Cherry, known for outrageous suits on a segment being sponsored by (what appears to be) a more subdued suit company?

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Nov 10, 2008 7:01 PM EST reply actions

the irony is delicious

Because Taking The Leafs Seriously Is Not An Option

by JaredFromLondon on Nov 10, 2008 7:41 PM EST up reply actions

“suit’s custom made, no labels, no tags, nothing in the pockets except lint and knives”

Making stuff up since real Leafs news is far too depressing

by loser domi on Nov 10, 2008 8:56 PM EST up reply actions

Don Cherry is awesome. He’s like everyone’s senile old granddad at Thanksgiving, bellowing unintelligibly while telling you to sit up straight, then asking for the fourth year in a row when you’ll be starting university (after you’ve graduated). Then mom (Ron McLean) hushes him for foul language, at which point he becomes surprisingly lucid… for about 10 seconds. Then he falls asleep in the turkey.

Canceling Don Cherry would be like killing my grandfather (again). Is that what you want, LeafFanInVan?

(also, he loves garish rose patterns because his deceased wife’s name was Rose, you’ll note Ron use her name occasionally to calm him down)

Old Guys in Blue and White

by koopa kid on Nov 11, 2008 12:16 AM EST reply actions

I like Coach's Corner

You can’t take everything he says seriously, but there are the occasions where he makes some really good points because he doesn’t pull any punches. The guy is a tradition, he’s like that grandpa who we all love but can’t stand to listen to for more then 5 minutes.

Let him stay, he’ll retire soon enough.

"God's in His heaven. All's right with the world." - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

by Winkle on Nov 11, 2008 8:23 AM EST reply actions

i still like Milbury better now. I truly belive one day soon, he will snap and kill someone with his shoe on live TV. Who will be traditon then I ask? Some old guy ranting on about non-sensical xenophobia, or a shoe weilding murder?

Anybody throws me against the boards I'm gonna piss all over myself.
The Left Coast Lock

by blurr1974 on Nov 11, 2008 11:24 AM EST up reply actions