Don Cherry: "I never heard a player use the Lord's name in vain"

[Big Phil]

Watching Coach's Corner tonight got me thinking about something Don said on more than one occasion. The first time I heard him say it was on his Rock Em Sock Em #10 video. He stated that there is a lot of bad language when you walk into dressing rooms all over hockey. He hated to admit that but this is a guy who played in the minor leagues for several years and also coached in the NHL. No doubt Don has been in his share of locker rooms I am sure since he coached.

He admits that there are a lot of 4-letter words that get flung around in the hockey locker rooms but he claims that he has never heard a player use the Lord's name in vain. I am guessing that includes stuff like God d*** or saying Jesus Christ the wrong way out of anger.

So if that's the case, is this possible? Perhaps the players knew this is how Don felt and kept the blasphemy to a minimum around him? Cherry is a stand up guy even if people have a hard time seeing it and he was loved by his players so maybe they respected his wishes. But either way, does anyone know a back story to this or whether or not Cherry is remembering things wrong? Can a guy who has been around hockey for so long have never heard that in a dressing room?

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[Infinite Vision*]

I would personally say that's complete crap. Cherry seems like a guy who would greatly exaggerate things or just say what favours him most in any given sitiuation, regardless of facts presented to him.

 

[cynicism]

I think this is another case of a Grapes statement that needs to be taken with a salt shaker. I've heard plenty of foul, some might say blasphemous, things on the benches of beer league games and street hockey when I was younger. I have a hard time believing pros would be any better.

I think Kypreos has it right when he says anyone who thinks there's a limit to swearing or trash talking doesn't know what they're talking about.

 

[Infinite Vision*]

I think this is another case of a Grapes statement that needs to be taken with a salt shaker. I've heard plenty of fowl, some might say blasphemous, things on the benches of beer league games and street hockey when I was younger. I have a hard time believing pros would be any better.

I think Kypreos has it right when he says anyone who thinks there's a limit to swearing or trash talking doesn't know what they're talking about.

Basically that.

 

[Theokritos]

Knocking a guy out is fine, using the Lord's name in vain is a sin. I don't get the Cherry mentality.

 

[Roof Daddy]

Actually Cherry went to school with Jesus. You wouldn't want someone trash talking one of your buddies from high school, would you?

 

[Buck Aki Berg]

I put Cheery's assertion right up there with "George Washington never told a lie". It's a BS statement to get the kids to behave

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

I would personally say that's complete crap. Cherry seems like a guy who would greatly exaggerate things or just say what favours him most in any given sitiuation, regardless of facts presented to him.

This seems to imply you know very little about Don Cherry.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

I put Cheery's assertion right up there with "George Washington never told a lie". It's a BS statement to get the kids to behave

Winner winner, chicken dinner.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

I put Cheery's assertion right up there with "George Washington never told a lie". It's a BS statement to get the kids to behave

Wholeheartedly agreed.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I put Cheery's assertion right up there with "George Washington never told a lie". It's a BS statement to get the kids to behave

yep. i would also add a dash of his usual "hockey players are the best athletes in sports because they are good honest canadian christians who hate communists, call their mothers on mother's day, and support our troops" crap.**


** how much of that is subtextually racist, as in hockey players are not african-americans from single parent inner-city housing projects, i will leave an open question.

** call your mother.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

to respond to big phil's original post though, while cherry is surely exaggerating when he says "never," i don't doubt that he was very vocal about and able to keep the blasphemy to below-average levels on the teams that he coached.

 

[Killion]

I think Kypreos has it right when he says anyone who thinks there's a limit to swearing or trash talking doesn't know what they're talking about.

Bingo!

 

[BigFatCat999]

God Damn what a bunch of ******** that is.

 

[Killion]

I personally am not conscious of my accent.
Jared Diamond

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

I think this is a more of "how the times have changed" thing than anything.

Even 30 years ago, a very, very large portion of the world were religious. Not so much, anymore atheism is growing and probably does affect this.

 

[BigFatCat999]

I personally am not conscious of my accent.
Jared Diamond

OOh outstanding. Anthropology degree?

 

[Killion]

OOh outstanding. Anthropology degree?

Indeed, "we" have been studying your species for millenia, Dr. Diamond one of ours, and quite the troublemaker I can tell you. He very nearly overthrew the Holy Roman Empire with Rhino Mounted Bantu Shock Troops at one point in your evolutionary history, bit I digress... lets just say its fortunate for you & everyone else on the planet that were equipped with remote viewing capabilities and can keep an eye on him. At all times......

 

[JWells16]

He's clearly never coached any of the teams that I've played for...

If it's happening in varsity high school games for Catholic schools and house leagues, it's happening at the NHL level.

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

I bet he has even heard the Lord's name in vain in french given that he played in Quebec and coached against the Canadiens. If its true he hasn't, just what Lord is he talking about?

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

I think this is a more of "how the times have changed" thing than anything.

Even 30 years ago, a very, very large portion of the world were religious. Not so much, anymore atheism is growing and probably does affect this.

I don't know about that.

I'm a bit of a weather enthusiast and have thus seen quite a lot of storm footage from the Deep South in my time. People there are very Christian for sure, but when faced with a large tornado, the lord's name sure is taken in vain quite a bit by these good folks. It's easy to forget your normal principles in a tense, heated situation. Of course, there are saints who would never say a thing they don't mean to say whatever the situation but that's not the majority of people. And certainly not the majority of hockey players.

When Cherry says stuff like that, it's a combination of dad telling you not to cuss and turning around to cuss when he thinks you can't hear him and typical Cherry propaganda about the purity of spirit to be found in Canadian hockey.

 

[Infinite Vision*]

This seems to imply you know very little about Don Cherry.

He's a what I say goes, narrow minded hypocrite. I've been watching coaches corner for 19 years. Don't know him personally, I suppose you do?

 

[Canadiens1958]

Don Cherry

Long established fact that Don Cherry cannot count. Now it is obvious that he cannot hear. Just a bit of time required before it will be possible to complete the hat trick by showing that he cannot remember.

 

[RabbinsDuck]

Well, "god" and "jesus" are not their actual names.

 

[vezna*]

I think this is another case of a Grapes statement that needs to be taken with a salt shaker. I've heard plenty of fowl, some might say blasphemous, things on the benches of beer league games and street hockey when I was younger. I have a hard time believing pros would be any better.

I think Kypreos has it right when he says anyone who thinks there's a limit to swearing or trash talking doesn't know what they're talking about.

fowl language like "chicken wing"?