Can everybody in the Don Cherry spat just grow up?

Boys, boys, boys. Let’s all grow up here.

Lots of name-calling going on between Don Cherry and a group of former NHL enforcers these days, but not a whole lot being said, at least not much more than the kind of insults and taunts you might hear in a schoolyard.

Now, maybe we shouldn’t expect more. But maybe we should. See, the issues of fighting, concussions and related depression are serious, serious issues, and the way in which these folks are dealing with them is simply trivializing the problem.

Now, for starters, that’s enough with the lawsuit talk. First of all, nobody should publish stories about somebody “threatening” to sue. It’s a story when the papers are filed.

Second, nobody should be suing anybody. Cherry used his bully pulpit to, well, bully Messrs Grimson, Nilan and Thomson, who now feel aggrieved because they don’t like being called mean names. Well, guess what? So have many of us who have had our views distorted by Cherry, who is incapable engage in a constructive, intelligent debate on any subject, let alone fighting. He can show fights, repeatedly talk about how they don’t cover the points any more and wave the flag, and that’s about it.

But those of us who find ourselves the targets of his shots don’t fire back with threats of lawsuits. You fire back by continuing to point out the many holes in Cherry’s arguments, and you never let up, no matter that his main argument on most every subject is that all who disagree with him should shut up and mind their own business because they didn’t play in the AHL during the 1960s.

To be honest, I just don’t see Cherry being very influential anymore. He’s got his devoted constituency, but it’s not growing. He’s been pushing no-touch icing for a decade, for example, and has managed to achieve zero, so how influential, exactly, can he be? He is incredibly popular, which is a different thing entirely, and he knows how to generate headlines to feed his ego, commercial interests and attract viewers to his show, which is why the CBC continues to pander to him.

But he’s not changing anybody’s mind on any subject.

Of Stu Grimson, Jim Thomson and Chris Nilan, they’ve all communicated in various ways their thoughts on fighting, but they need to understand that getting involved with Cherry is just playing his game and distorting any useful message they may have on the subject. State your ideas and opinions, and don’t worry what the CBC bully has to say.

You don’t engage with him. You never hear, say, Ken Dryden mention Cherry’s views. You ignore Cherry, you let him rage against the light as his twisted vision of Canada’s great game slowly, but inexorably, fades into history.

Two Sides of Brian Burke

Impetuous? Or patient? Uber-aggressive? Or willing to let the game come to him?

Twenty-two months into his reign as boss of all that is the Maple Leaf hockey empire, it's still debatable whether Brian Burke is an executive who believes in immediate action at all times or prefers to sit back and wait.

Which probably means he's a bit of both.

His detractors, naturally, will point to the Phil Kessel trade as an example of Burke being unnecessarily aggressive in terms of trying to turn the Leafs into a competitive team. There's no shortage of critics who would have preferred a slow, gradual approach, taking high draft picks rather than grabbed a proven young goal-scorer like Kessel. It's still not exactly clear why Burke felt he had to make that move at that time, rather than waiting a year or two before the Leaf rebuild was further along.

That debate will probably be going on a decade from now.

That Burke's underrated ability to be patient has paid off multiple times in recent months, however, is less discussed. The most recent example would be his decision not to pull the trigger on a deal with Boston that would have given him a bona fide front line forward in Marc Savard.

The Leafs wouldn't have had to give up much, if anything, for Savard, and the fact he's now on the shelf indefinitely suffering from post-concussion syndrome certainly suggests there were reasons why the Bruins were looking to unload him and his contract, which has seven years left to run and more than $28 million owing.

It's a tragedy, really, that a fine player like Savard was injured so badly by a hit for which Matt Cooke received no suspension. The NHL has changed the rules, but that won't help Savard, who might have come back too early in the playoffs last spring.

The Leafs could have had him at any time during the summer, despite denials from Boston GM Peter Chiarelli that Savard was being shopped, and certainly if Burke had made the deal, there would have been no shortage of people who would have applauded him for acquiring the top six forward his team so desperately needs.

But he didn't, deciding instead to wait and see how Savard played through the pre-season. Today, he's undoubtedly thankful he didn't.

He showed that similar patience last season swinging deals for goalie J.S. Giguere and defenceman Dion Phaneuf. Giguere could have been had before Christmas, but the Ducks weren't willing to take back heavy contracts. When the deal finally happened, Anaheim accepted the contracts of both Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake, two players many believed were untradeable.

On Phaneuf, the Flames went back and forth on whether they wanted to move the backliner for weeks, months really. The Leafs were persistent and stealthy in their approach, with no internal leaks, and when the deal came down it was a surprise to the industry, both in the Leafs getting Phaneuf and for what little they had to get him.

None of these deals, of course, have completely played out yet. Phaneuf and Giguere could bomb in Toronto, and Kessel could flourish, or the other way around, or all three may pan out. Savard may return healthy soon and be back to the player he was.

But it's clear Burke has more than one way of doing business. That some see him as always unnecessarily bold verging on rash doesn't jive with the record. 

 

 

A test for more than just Tiger

Monday is going to be a big day for Tiger Woods as he mounts a podium at Augusta National to answer questions. Presumably, it will be an extraordinary challenge, and an opportunity for Woods to come off as a square shooter and a person who can show grace under fire.

Presumably. See, Monday's much-anticipated press conference is also a test of the world sporting press, particularly of the willingness of the North American media to be controlled by the use of privileges and credentials.

No one seems certain, you see, exactly what kind of questions will be permitted to be asked of Woods on Monday. Golf only? None relating to his personal life? What about queries relating to performance-enhancing drugs? Are the events of that strange night when he backed out of his driveway and crashed into a tree fair game?

Two things seem clear. Woods will try to control the process, just as he tried several weeks ago during his awkward television mea culpa, one that was partially boycotted by the North American golf media because Woods tried to invite only a select - and acceptable - few. His recent TV "interviews" have shown a similar intent to make sure he isn't put in a situation beyond his control.

Augusta National, meanwhile, will also try to manage this press conference. These are people who don't allow women in their club and insist that those who attend The Masters as paying customers are referred to as "patrons," not "fans." Augusta's determination to allow TV to show only what it wants TV to show is legendary, and one supposes the good old boys who run the place might not necessarily think shining the light of scrutiny on private lives is so good for the game, their course, or them.

But they wield enormous power over the media. This isn't like a season's pass to Nashville Predators games. A press pass to the Masters is a very meaningful document, one that folks in the media can lord over their peers and colleagues, one not easily surrendered. It's a status symbol.

So if there are ground rules laid down on Monday as to what can and can't be asked of Woods, will the media go along, or will it fight back? Surely, there will be those who will realize that holding a press credential to an event where a free and open press is discouraged makes that a fairly useless credential. On the other hand, holding a Masters press pass comes with perks, like an opportunity once in a while to play the course.

Who's going to give that up to play hero? What editor, with many media outlets in North America in dire straits, will counsel their reporter or columnist to damn the torpedos and insist on asking unwelcome questions if it means possibly becoming as unwelcome at Augusta as female members?

This will be fascinating to watch. Hopefully, Woods will just do what he should have done some time ago, sit down and try to patiently answer whatever questions are lobbed his way. He can answer "No comment." He can lecture the media on his private life and say its none of its concerns. He can lie and obfuscate, if he thinks it's worth the risk.

Showing up is his challenge. The media's, too.

One Hundred Games, Thirty-Seven Wins

The first 100 days of any U.S. presidency are often viewed as critical. The tone is set, the optimism from the election is still vibrant and there's a freshness to it all.

Maybe the same's the case for the first 100 games for an NHL coach with a team, a milestone Ron Wilson hit Saturday night with the Leafs against Calgary.

With another loss.

If you're keeping score at home, that's 63 losses for Wilson during his Leaf tenure against 37 triumphs. Of those 63 defeats, 18 have been through either overtime or a shootout.

Of a possible 200 points, Wilson has achieved 92 for a "winning" percentage of .460.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is not good. The optimism from Wilson's hiring is gone and it sure doesn't feel fresh.

The tone? Well, the idea was that a teacher was coming to town, a no-nonsense bench boss who would make sure everything, from defensive zone coverage to the laundry, was done correctly. Wilson spoke of a new culture, an end to any sense of entitlement players might have, something he called the blue-and-white disease.

Interesting, then, to hear Wilson discussing on Monday the need to start benching players who make major errors early in games and punishing players for egregious errors.

Shouldn't that have been happening, oh, 100 games earlier?

When Jason Blake didn't do much opening night on the backcheck to stop the winning goal in overtime by the Montreal Canadiens, nothing much happened. When Matt Stajan didn't get to the red line last Friday with the puck, took an icing call to force a group of exhausted Leafs to stay on the ice which resulted in a costly turnover by Luke Schenn, Stajan just kept on playing. There have been occasional instances in which players have been exiled to the press box to put on a big show, but within games, of late only Colton Orr seems to sit in third periods.

Right now, Wilson is safe, which means he's still got time to turn this thing around. In fact, he's probably got at least until early March, after the Olympics, when he'll be guiding Team U.S. under the management team led by Brian Burke, also his boss with the Leafs.

But even though Wilson has a long term contract, this losing, this consistent weak defensive play, can't go on forever. There are people out there right now who could take the helm - Craig MacTavish, even Wayne Gretzky - and there will be more at season's end.

After 100 games, Wilson's honeymoon is over. He's not in danger of losing his job anytime soon. That said, he's got to start winning some hockey games.

SpinPlus: The Leafs after 10 games

SpinPlus Video: Leafs practice in Vancouver

Pre-Weekend Musings

Nice to see nice guys finally get their shot.

Now, there was more than one deserving candidate for the GM job in Minnesota. But the fact Chuck Fletcher, a young man who has certainly put in his time leanring the hockey business, ended up getting the job is a positive story. Fletcher, son of Cliff, had a brief shot running a team back in 2001 with the Florida Panthers, but this is really his first bona fide opportunity to develop and manage a club.

It's a nice situation to step into. You don't have to worry abouit selling tickets, there are already some nice pieces in play and its a market that knows the game. What will be interesting will be to see how Fletcher is different from his predecessor, Doug Risebrough, and how he's different from his Hall of Fame father.

The nice part is that no one will say he got the job because of his famous dad. Chuck Fletcher earned this opportunity.

Other stories on the go:

-- First Martin Brodeur was the victim of a stunning Carolina comeback. Then Roberto Luongo couldn't hold the fort against Chicago. Now Cam Ward, seen as the dark horse in the race to be Canada's No. 1 goalie in next year's Olympics, gets blasted for a six-pack by the Pittsburgh Penguins in a game Carolina really needed to have.

More and more, it's looking like this is a decision that's going to have to wait. Whoever is the hottest goalie next January gets the job. If Detroit wins the Cup again, does Chris Osgood at the very least get an invitation to the Team Canada orientation camp in August?

-- So here's how this works. If both conference final series are sweeps, the Stanley Cup final begins next Thursday. If either goes longer than four games, the Cup final waits until June 5th at the earliest.

And ends just before the Super Bowl. Ridiculous.

-- Not going to say "told you so" about the Jays starting to slide 'cause I didn't. I was one of the many hoping this could be real. The city could use a winning franchise. But losing five of six to Boston/New York sure undercut the legitimacy of the Jays early season excellence. Now they need to get back on the winning track very, very soon or people will be more than happy to start ignoring them again.

-- Not sure that I get Jim Balsillie's exuberant optimism that an NHL team for Hamilton is just around the corner. Not sure I get why he thinks a heavy P.R. campaign in Canada is going to make a difference. On the other hand, you sure do get the feeling that there's a big, big twist coming in this story before it's all decided.

-- Pavel Datsyuk is the most dominant goal-less player I've ever seen.

-- Kris may have won American Idol. But I'm betting Adam has the bigger career.

-- Not sure I know how much a Hamilton franchise would hurt Buffalo. But I am sure two U.S. Senators have absolutely no idea.

And you're telling me the Sabres can't survive because a team is 100 kilometres away with a border between them? Then they ultimately won't survive.

--

Scattered Thoughts for A Monday Morning

THE CANADIAN PRESS

Martin Brodeur tied the NHL wins record on Saturday.

When it comes to Martin Brodeur, one can only wonder what might have been and marvel at what is.

If Brodeur had entered the NHL 17 years ago as a member of an Original Six team or even one of the NHL's more high profile franchises, his reputation and profile would have been that much larger even if he hadn't accomplished that much.

He almost certainly would be better paid.

As it is, Brodeur, tied today as the winningest goalie in NHL history with Patrick Roy, wakes up today as the 60th highest paid player in the NHL. Nine goalies - Evgeny Nabokov, Cristobal Huet, Tomas Vokoun, Marty Turco, Miikka Kiprussof, J.S. Giguere, Nikolai Khabibulin, Roberto Luongo and Henrik Lundqvist - earn a higher salary than Brodeur, a near laughable reality.

Choosing to be a Devil for so long, and choosing to take less to leave more for teammates in the salary cap era, has created this unusual economic story, unusual in that none of the netminders listed above have accomplished anything close to that which Brodeur has accomplished.

CHERRY BOMBS

Interesting on Saturday night to hear and see Don Cherry rail against those who spent the week providing coverage of the fighting issue off the GMs meetings in Florida rather than focusing on the playoff races.

So the guy who talks fighting every single week, rain or shine, whether there's a reason at hand or not, is suddenly cheesed off that fighting it being discussed.

Okay, sure.

It's right up there with Cherry professing to be upset because somebody else - Alex Ovechkin - is behaving too flamboyantly.

Or holding up Bob Probert - major drug and alcohol problems, frequent run-ins with police - as a model of what a Detroit Red Wing should be while at the same time professing to lecture to kids.

Ahh, nothing like a whiff of hypocrisy.

FAMILIAR PHANEUF

Don't know about you, but watching Dion Phaneuf play on Saturday night against the Maple Leafs sure reminded me a lot of the type of game Bryan McCabe used to deliver regularly at the ACC.

Those who watch the Calgary Flames play regularly would tell you that's Phaneuf's game, all over the map and with constant improvisations, particularly in his own end. Can't see him on the Canadian Olympic team at this point.

RULE BOOKED

Interesting to see that the instigator rule is already being called more aggressively. In Sunday's tilt between the Rangers and Flyers in Manhattan, Philly captain Mike Richards levelled Nikolai Zherdev with a fierce but clean hit. Dan Girardi of the Rangers jumped in to fight Richards, and was subsequently assessed 2, 5 and 10 for instigating.

That's exactly the way in which that penalty needs to be used. What's interesting still, however, is that Richards is forced to go to the box for five minutes simply for protecting himself when all he did was deliver a legal check.

For doing so, he gets pummelled and penalized, which still makes it a good trade-off for the Rangers, right?

The correct penalty would be a game misconduct for Girardi. That would be fair.

HEAD GAMES

In the Saturday game between the same two teams, meanwhile, Richards was given an elbowing penalty when New York forward Brandon Dubinsky faked as though he'd been hit in the head in the open ice when the contact had really been shoulder-to-shoulder. Despicable, really.

If the NHL wants to head such soccer-style shenanigans off at the pass, they'd suspend Dubinsky for a game.

HAVE MERCY

A mercy rule in a major international tournament featuring professionals?

Sorry, but that makes the World Baseball Classic a write-off for me.

WALKS LIKE A DUCK

Brian Burke could never have imagined that he'd have left Anaheim for Toronto and ended up with the more successful team.

But that could end up being the case. As of today, the Ducks have 70 points in the NHL standings, just one more than the Maple Leafs. Playing in the tougher Western Conference, of course, has something to do with it, but it sure is evidence of how the 2007 Stanley Cup champions have fallen.

Moreover, with Burke gone, the Ducks are rarely newsworthy any more. It was largely because of him that a team in Orange County, California somehow became one of the most talked about clubs in the NHL.

DESERT STAR?

Just as Sidney Crosby was a big part of the reason the Penguins stayed in Pittsburgh, its worth wondering if John Tavares could ending up meaning the same. . . to the Phoenix Coyotes.

Don't look now, but a Phoenix team that was in striking distance of a playoff berth at the all-star break has crashed to earth and is now in striking distance of the Islanders for dead-last overall in the NHL.

Tavares, quite obviously, would give the Coyotes a true marquee name in the desert for the first time since they moved there from Manitoba. Having Wayne Gretzky coach hasn't sold tickets, but a player with star quality might.

And if he goes to Long Island? Quite frankly, at this point I wouldn't wish that on anybody.

GENERALS NEVER SURRENDER

Tavares' former junior team, the Oshawa Generals, ended up missing the OHL playoffs by a single point, an impressive showing, really, by a team that gave up the present for the future in dealing Tavares to London.

Kudos to GM/head coach Chris DiPiero for keeping the Gens competitive.

Worlds Apart

Maybe it would have been too much for all of us to digest.

Arizona Cardinals; Super Bowl champions.

We've dealt with the Carolina Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup, and the Florida Marlins capturing the World Series. The NBA's equivalent? Maybe Golden State under Al Attles taking the title back in 1975.

But the former St. Louis Cardinals winning it all, well, that wouldn't have been Cinderella getting the glass slipper and the prince. It would've been one of the ugly stepsisters ending up ahead in the fairy tale.

The Cardinals didn't quite pull it off, ending a terrific Sunday that began with the Aussie Open men's final in Melbourne, included the Bruins-Canadiens and the Boss in the middle, and ended up with the Steelers getting No. 6 late in the evening.

What a day to be a couch potato.

Other thoughts from the weekend that was:

Santonio Holmes might have been credited with the greatest catch in Super Bowl history if not for the still unsurpassed grab of David Tyree of the Giants last year.

====

To me, it was Ben Roethlisberger's ability to avoid the rush and scramble for extra time that ultimately made the difference. Roethlisberger is Fran Tarkenton in a big man's body.

====

It was the second straight terrific Super Bowl, particularly the conclusion and third in a decade, if you count the 2000 heartstopper between Kurt Warner's St. Louis Rams and the Tennessee Titans. That's a better rate of recent success than the Grey Cup, which last had an outstanding game in 2005 (Edmonton-Montreal) and only one other (2000, B.C-Montreal) in the past decade.

====

LUCAS OLENIUK/TORONTO STAR

Crosby and Malkin make a tough equation for the Penguins.

I'm thinking it was honest of Roger Federer to break down after losing to Rafa Nadal yesterday in a grinding Aussie Open final, but not great strategy. If Nadal didn't know he was deep inside Federer's head before, he surely does now. With six Grand Slam titles to his name, do we start wondering now how many Nadal will win?

====

Given that every team sport now seems to produce different finalists every year, it's pretty clear Federer-Nadal is the greatest rivalry, individual or otherwise, in sports today. Nadal seems to own Federer now, but just in 2009 we have possible clashes at the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open ahead.

====

It's pretty apparent that a big part of the pro-fighting agenda in hockey is to take hitting out of the sport, a dangerous agenda indeed. We saw it again on Saturday when Luke Schenn, after a great hit on Evgeni Malkin, then had to drop 'em with Tyler Kennedy of the Penguins. The equation is simple: more fighting, less hitting; less fighting, more hitting. Frankly, I vastly prefer the latter.

====

Doubt Brian Burke is going to go out and spend huge dollars on the free agent market this summer. But for a reasonable sum he might be able to bring in his entire checking line from the 2007 Anaheim team that won the Cup as Samuel Pahlsson, Rob Niedermayer and Travis Moen are all unrestricted free agents. Ditto for Ducks rearguards Francois Beauchemin and Kent Huskins. Bring in those five and suddenly you have a Leaf team with a lot more bite to it.

====

It's pretty clear that the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to have to decide between keeping Malkin or Jordan Staal. They can't keep those two and Sidney Crosby and hope to be able to fill out the rest of the lineup with enough quality. Unless the cap goes up in the next few years - and there are those in hockey who believe it will go up, not down - having Malkin and Crosby at a combined salary cap hit of $17.4 million is going to make it tough for the Pens.

====

Tracy McGrady was tough. Having Vince Carter force his way out of town was ugly, But if Chris Bosh were to bolt the Raptors in 2010 it would be darn near catastrophic in terms of public relations, and doesn't it seem as if the love-in between Bosh and the city is fading? He's getting booed just a little and doesn't like it.

Of Spezza, Sharks and Jim Hart

What's this? The Cardinals into the Super Bowl? Sacre bleu. And without Terry Metcalf gaining an all-purpose yard, or Jim Hart finding Jackie Smith once for a big play.

Sadly, it ends in two weeks at the hands of the Steelers. How did Pittsburgh beat Baltimore yesterday? By being even more physical and intimidating than the brawny Ravens. It was not a day for the faint of heart, watching one Ravens player after another taken to the locker room right to the end when Willis McGahee was carted off the field.

Live by the sword, die by the sword (and by the rookie quarterback).

REUTERS

Sens turnaround starts about here.

The weekend also included:

The sense that the current plight of the Ottawa Senators may be worth it if it prompts Jason Spezza to play with the urgency and fire he did against Montreal Saturday night. Spezza was a house-afire out there, and simply looked like a totally different player.

====

People are going to point at Mats Sundin when it comes to the state of the plummeting Vancouver Canucks, and that's fair. When you attract that much attention, people will notice. But if Kevin Bieksa can skate backwards and doesn't get beat by Kris Russell, and if Roberto Luongo can stop Jason Williams on a shootout, the 'Nucks maybe don't lose to Columbus on Sunday night. That said, in a storyline familiar to Leaf fans, Sundin missed in the shootout. Didn't even hit the net.

====

AP PHOTO

Drew Doughty: Young Kings can fly.

If you're a Leaf fan that wants to get a sense how a careful, patient rebuilding effort can piece together a promising roster over time, watch the L.A. Kings some time. Its a lineup that includes Jack Johnson, Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Peter Harrold, Wayne Simmonds, etc. etc., all deployed effectively these days by underrated coach Terry Murray.

====

If you're a Leaf fan and can't wait as long as it has taken in L.A., just consider that it was just over three years ago that the Boston Bruins traded away Joe Thornton and essentially got nothing for him that lasted other than winger Marco Sturm. The B's, at that time, seemed to be a nightmare going nowhere, and now look at 'em.

====

Just wondering. When, or who, was Bryan Colangelo's last home run in terms of personnel? Turning Jermaine O'Neal into Shawn Marion shouldn't make the smell of the lousy deal made to get O'Neal in the first place go away.

====

AP PHOTO

Pumped over Wings-Sharks.

Detroit-San Jose is now the NHL's best rivalry. Saturday night's 6-5 Sharks win was a classic, all accomplished, somehow, without a fistfight. Of the many impressions left from that game, one was that Detroit's blueline didn't look very sharp at all. Nicklas Lidstrom isn't having the year he usually does - so far - and that may leave Detroit in need of defence help before the playoffs.

====

How cool is it - at least for tennis enthusiasts - to have a Canadian singles player actually seeded at a Grand Slam event for the first time in a long time? That honor falls to Quebec's Alexandra Wozniak, seeded No. 30 at the Aussie Open, which began yesterday.

====

Cameron Wake has left B.C. to sign with the Miami Dolphins. And not a single other CFL team is sad about it.

====

Amazing, really, how the fighting debate has taken off again in hockey in the wake of Don Sanderson's death. Those in favour of fisticuffs are clearly on the defensive, which means as usual their only verbal strategy is to call people who disagree with them names like pansy and granola eaters. Yawn. Just imagine for a second an NHL that didn't carry all the controversy that fighting brings with it, but instead was able to somehow free teams to make more trades again and thus attract more attention that way.