With Grapes so much in the news lately i've been pondering about the original Rock Em Sock Em Hockey Videos starting with the original which i recieved for Christmas circa 1989...it kind of started an Old Man Robb Christmas tradition which has lasted to this day...every year for Christmas, Robb recieves the latest Don Cherry video... however i've wondered about the earlier videos..isn't it time for a Rock Em Sock Em Boxset on DVD? Blu-Ray? Put at least the first ten Rock Em Sock Em Hockey videos in one set and the next ten in the other...i would buy for sure... what a time capsule to see hockey before the latest round of expansion, the instigator rule, Gary Buttman...Grapes had yet to start to resemble Colonel Saunders...and not half looney like he seems to be these days...
Personally i don't think Don is the problem...he does what most of us are afraid to do and that is speak his mind..many look at Don like an old uncle who no one listens to anymore..but i do believe Cherry speaks from the heart..he does not speak for all of us and in this case he jumped the gun..Cherry loves the sport of hockey and is a strong supporter of the game...he comes from another time where players played hurt..played for the love of the game and played knowing the next season could be their last..from a time of pre-expansion, of a time where the game was Canadian dominated, where a helmet on a player was a strange sight... where men were men and shut up and played...hockey was yet to be corporate dominated...diluted by expansion which in turn diluted the hockey talent pool... anyways im off topic... carried away..much like one Donald S Cherry...however this time involved three guys that played hockey the tough way that Don likes...
This latest controversy with Grapes is a bunch of baloney...Cherry has his opinons and is not afraid to state them no matter what. I think Cherry should be given a wee bit of respect from his haters for sticking to his guns so to speak. I agree that fighting should stay in the game..what needs to go is this chicken shit stuff like the high elbows, the head hunting, blind sided hits and the hitting from behind... Remove the fights? We wouldn't be watching hockey anymore..we would be watching ringette for gosh sakes! Cherry apologized for his comments because he likes Stu Grimson, Chris Nilan and Jim Thomson and he knew in his own mind that this time he had crossed the line....plus CBC knows that the minute they let Cherry go from HNIC that TSN, The Score, ESPN, Sportsnet...one of them would swoop Grapes up in a second and be trying to woo Ron to go with him....last thing CBC wants is to turn on TSN and hear the ORIGNAL HNIC theme and Don/Ron there to go with it....
Gosh Grapes's 1974-75 rookie card reminds me of Charles Bronson...
1 comment:
Agreed!
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