Doesn't matter, Wilson did it many times and Cherry voiced his opinion on it. With age does come wisdom, and Don likely learned from that.
Doesn't really matter because no one would hire Cherry as coach after that anyway. Turned out that once he wasn't behind a bench filled with all stars he wasn't that good.
I think this is just the opening move in the Rogers/Bell battle to get the Leafs extricated from the Hockey Night in Canada deal. You better believe that those companies would much rather have the Saturday night audience watching THEIR STATION(s) than CBC. The rub is that its an NHL negotiated contract, so the Leafs will have to pressure Gary. Between this Don Cherry stuff (I love Don) and that negative nancy Glenn Healy I think they'll have some reasons to put forward as to why they don't want to be part of the next HNIC contract.
For all you people blaming Burke, I think you would be naive to think that he didn't have the backing of the soon to be owners before this whole debacle.
Burke and Wilson's arrogant, sarcastic, pompous attitude and confrontational approach with the Toronto media created the storm, you reap what you sow.
While true Cherry criticized Wilson's coaching strategies long before Burke took action, maybe the end result showed Burke took too long making the "right" decision.
People that blame the media for the results, or lack thereof, are only making excuses for the team's performance. It wasn't Don Cherry or any media type that built this edition of the Leafs, nor did they make any of the following comments, Burke has ownership of them.
Nov. 29, 2008.
"It's our goal, we intend to get there, and we think this team is good enough to make the playoffs."
Wrong.
Sept. 11, 2009.
"As I said to you guys a year ago, I wasn't interested, and I'm still not, in a five-year rebuild like some of these teams have done. Maybe because of my age, maybe just because I know it doesn't have to be five years, because it wasn't in Anaheim. And I'm not interested in a five-year rebuild here."
Now heading into year four.
April 14, 2010.
"Despite our recent stumble, we believe in this group and we believe this group is capable of making the playoffs."
Wrong, and still looking wrong in 2012
Feb. 27, 2012.
“Panic can’t be part of your vocabulary if you’re a general manager, if you want to win a championship, that can’t be part of it. Setbacks for 10 days or 12 days, that can’t be how you guide the ship. You can’t change course because you have 10 bad days out of 180 or 190 days in the season. You can’t. And I still believe this team can get it back on the rails."
After the GM and coach had both thrown the goaltenders under the bus, Burke needed to make a move for a goaltender IMO. Since Burke utter these words the Leafs have fired Wilson and have a record of 1 Win and 4 Losses.
When individuals at the top of an organization make these bold statements, at the same time being adversarial with the media yet fail to deliver, what would one expect?
Don't blame Cherry or any media type for Burke's failures, if they appear over zealous in their reporting of the Leafs struggles, look no further than the President and GM.
Propaganda!! Didn't he say something about how easy it is to pick up goalies during the season? Here is a question, when was the last 14 game stretch where the leafs picked up only 5pts? 1997.
Whats the difference between being muzzled and being fired? If you got dignity and someone tries to muzzle you, you quit. Muzzle the media, who the **** do you think you are Burke?! If like you said, "I don't care what the media says", why try to muzzle it?
Because there is a difference between journalism and personal attacks. There is plenty of other things that Cherry can talk about in hockey other than Ron Wilson and Brian Burke.
Isn't there a thread on the main board that you can whine about Burke in?
Funny how it is ok for Cherry to have an opinion but not Burke....
No kidding. Burke had a problem with what was said, a request for a personal meeting was refused, so he took it one level higher (their bosses). I see absolutely no issue with this. In return, Cherry whines about it on the air.
At the end of the day, Cherry is just another entertainer, and as such craves for ratings. As is the case with the media in general (ie: some of the garbage newspapers), Leafs bashing will always generate hits.
I think Don Cherry using his kids as sympathy tools for his rant was crass. However, that Ontario Boy rant WAS about hockey, no matter how misguided it was, so I have no problem with him blowing that horn. Sheep will listen and eat it up, People will be skeptical and learn the facts.
That said, I don't think taking an issue (Burke to CBC) that was behind closed doors and spewing it on national television was very professional; nor was it related to Hockey. It was a personal matter that should have stayed personal.
Whats funny is that this post turned into a small sampling of the public. Not one person commented on this which seems like a very legitimate hypothesis.
It's Burke's job to protect the players and this seems like one very skillful manipulation. Everyone seems to be blamed but the players.. you know, the people that actually control the team's destiny.
Well, if thats the case, cherry and burke must be great partners, as cherry pulled that t.v. act rather well. They must be smoking cigars and laughing about this whole thing right now!
I think its more cherry picking an opportune time to attack burke, after what was almost a 10 game losing streak.
Too many people here are too biased to form a real opinion on this matter. It just becomes another Burke bashfest. Burke did what he had to do. The media blew it way out of proportion and everyone falls for it.
I don't get why people are hard on Burke when it's the media usually attacking him. It actually saddens me that there are a bunch of Leaf fan that would just take it in the ass from anybody and not stand up for themselves. Pathetic.
I kind of like burke, but I always wonder how much of him is real. He seems kind of phony to me. Think he wants to be the type of guy who rents barns to fight people, without actually having to rent a barn to fight people
he's a conflicted guy. Worried he's one step away from that glass box of emotion from anchorman
If Burke gets fired over cherry i will be pissed. Ive defended Cherry my whole life but after re watching that rant and him calling out U.S.A. Hockey as well as the dumb "he hates ontario players". Hes lost his mind yet people continue to defend him
Did Don Cherry go to Burke about the whole incident?
Or just every News Station?
And burke is the bully spewing propoganda.
How about we think for a second...
Was cherry trying to get ron fired? Attacking him on a personal level makes me think so. Influence the people and the bosses will have to cave in eventually.
How about burke? I think cherry is trying now, too. I mean spewing words like "behind my back" and "trying to get me fired" on NATIONAL television makes me think so. If my memory serves me right, bigmouth burke never went on national t.v to settle his disputes with canadian idol Don. He tried to do it silently.
I think its a very relevant article. Clearly we are seeing some back door buisines relating to Rogers and Bell's takeover of MLSE. Does anybody on here think they will be letting CBC play any of their playoff games? In fact I will be surprised if we see Leafs on CBC for much longer at all. A depressing possibility: we may never see a CBC Leaf playoff game again
To Burke's credit he did go to Mclean to tell him 1st before he went to CBC, Mclean declined to meet Burke saying it would be ridiculous for them to soften Coach's corner, when you do that, you lose credibility. It's an opinion spot.
I think Burke is really losing any goodwill he has built up with this war on media, controlling the message to his liking. Even Dreger made a snide remark once when he referred to The Leafs as the crystal palace.
If Burke gets fired over cherry i will be pissed. Ive defended Cherry my whole life but after re watching that rant and him calling out U.S.A. Hockey as well as the dumb "he hates ontario players". Hes lost his mind yet people continue to defend him
Be my guest, fire burke. But find me someone better. Dont fire just for the sake of firing, that is just stupid.
Burke gave them a heads up that he was going to their bosses to have them removed. Think about how petty that is for an NHL GM.
Maybe Burke should have concentrated on building his hockey club vs. the media. That is sort of his job after all.
This.... when our best player is Phil Kessel we have a problem. Burke hasn't been as great as everyone sais he is. I would have rather kept Seguin. Lupul and Phaneuf are decent. I just hope the prospects will be good.
I think its a very relevant article. Clearly we are seeing some back door buisines relating to Rogers and Bell's takeover of MLSE. Does anybody on here think they will be letting CBC play any of their playoff games? In fact I will be surprised if we see Leafs on CBC for much longer at all. A depressing possibility: we may never see a CBC Leaf playoff game again
Thats why I wasnt happy when MLSE sold their shares to rogers and bell.
