# Cherry makes surprise Afghanistan visit



## GAP (25 Dec 2010)

Cherry makes surprise Afghanistan visit
Accompanied by federal ministers, entertainers on Christmas Day
Last Updated: Saturday, December 25, 2010 
Article Link

Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan received a surprise Christmas visit on Saturday from one of their fiercest backers — Don Cherry.

The Hockey Night in Canada icon visited the country to celebrate the holidays with the troops he praises regularly on his Coach's Corner segments.

In the morning, Cherry went to various operating bases, where distinguished guests served food to the soldiers.

Cherry was joined by other Canadian dignitaries, including Defence Minister Peter MacKay, International Co-Operation Minister Bev Oda, Alberta Tory MP Laurie Hawn, comedian Jimmy Mac and Quebec singer Dany St-Arneau.

They were joined by Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk.
All the trimmings

MacKay and Oda did the turkey-carving honours at their last stop while the soldiers were serenaded by St-Arneau.

Cherry has been a strong proponent of the soldiers serving in Afghanistan since the war began and Canada's mission started in 2002, using his first intermission segment to honour fallen Canadians.
not much More on link


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## Old Sweat (25 Dec 2010)

If you want to keep your Christmas spirit, do not, repeat do not, read the comments.


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## aesop081 (25 Dec 2010)

Old Sweat said:
			
		

> If you want to keep your Christmas spirit, do not, repeat do not, read the comments.



I read them......then punched a kitten in the face.


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## TN2IC (25 Dec 2010)

I got to meet him for the first time... great guy!

Merry Christmas Canada,
Regards,
TN2IC


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## eurowing (25 Dec 2010)

TN2IC said:
			
		

> I got to meet him for the first time... great guy!



I was working and missed him.  PM me if you are avail for coffee tomorrow.


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## HavokFour (25 Dec 2010)

The comments on that article is why we can't have NICE things.


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## Arctic Acorn (25 Dec 2010)

Only Don Cherry can pull off a CADPAT (AR) double-breasted blazer (with nametag).


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## CombatDoc (26 Dec 2010)

Kudos to Don, as well as the rest of the folks accompanying the CDS.  They decided to spend Christmas with the troops, away from their families, too.  Don is a very entertaining "personality", and he received a very warm welcome from all who saw him here.  He was missing a bit of his famous voice, but none of his wit!  :christmas happy:


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## chrisf (26 Dec 2010)

0tto Destruct said:
			
		

> Only Don Cherry can pull off a CADPAT (AR) double-breasted blazer (with nametag).



More accurately, only don Cherry has such a thing hanging in his closet (And a matching TW!)


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## Retired AF Guy (26 Dec 2010)

Old Sweat said:
			
		

> If you want to keep your Christmas spirit, do not, repeat do not, read the comments.



Par for course for the CBC comments section.


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## MP 811 (26 Dec 2010)

the CEO of Timmies was there as well.  WELL received by the troops!........lol


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## Hammer Sandwich (27 Dec 2010)

Old Sweat said:
			
		

> If you want to keep your Christmas spirit, do not, repeat do not, read the comments.



I did, and It raised my Christmas spirit to soaring levels. 

QUOTE from CBC comments:"_Again al this is a waist of live and monies. Read the history books before you sent your army any where and then use the proper tools what can improve peoples lives. You catch more fly s whit honey then whit salt. Whit all this, the door is closed for a order 50 years_." ENDQUOTE

I think it's pretty obvious that a retard got a computer for Christmas.....this kinda stuff warms my heart. 
 >


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## gun runner (27 Dec 2010)

BWAAA HAAAAAA HAAAAA HAAAAA! That was good!


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## Sapplicant (27 Dec 2010)

Maybe next year they can avoid CBC.ca arm-chair commentator controversy and send Pierre McGuire in lieu of Grapes. I'm sure the troops would much rather see his polished scalp as opposed to their biggest public supporter.
 :


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## The Bread Guy (30 Dec 2010)

MP 811 said:
			
		

> the CEO of Timmies was there as well.  WELL received by the troops!........lol


Not surprising if he was giving out free coffee - more here if you're interested.


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## TN2IC (1 Jan 2011)

Pretty sure a lot us got a $5 gift card for Timmies. Always got time for Tim Hortons.


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## Fatalize (2 Jan 2011)

Footage from his trip from tonights coaches corner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRabWPBdKpw#t=5m00s


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## The Bread Guy (6 Jan 2011)

Pick on Don Cherry and picket Hockey Night in Canada:


> A newly formed Vancouver-based group is challenging Don Cherry to a debate on Coach’s Corner to offset criticism that the fiery commentator is using Hockey Night in Canada to promote militarism and the war in Afghanistan.
> 
> Hockey Fans for Peace plans to rally outside the HNIC broadcast of Saturday night’s Vancouver Canucks game against the Detroit Red Wings at Rogers Arena in Vancouver to make the point that hockey fans have the democratic right to speak out against the war in Afghanistan.
> 
> ...


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## ballz (6 Jan 2011)

I can't say I've ever heard Grapes say anything blatantly "support the war," always just great things about those in uniform.

But what's so wrong if he did? Wouldn't be a wise PR decision, but he's entitled to his opinion and entitled to say it out loud just as much as these protestors are entitled to show up and protest, no?

This is the root of all my frustrations... I'm always trying to find logic, I need to learn to accept that sometimes it doesn't exist.


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## quadrapiper (6 Jan 2011)

Retired AF Guy said:
			
		

> Par for course for the CBC comments section.


Never been quite sure where the commenters are coming from; to generalize, most of the people I know who listen to or watch CBC are a fair bit brighter than the mob of semi-literate trolls that infest article comment sections. Don't always agree with them, but, at least, get better arguments than "oh noes, the mil-industrial complex is taking us over!!!! and harper is a nasi!!!," or equivalent.

As for Cherry - good on him.


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## PuckChaser (6 Jan 2011)

Cherry is on CBC, if he said anything remotely close to supporting the war, he'd either be fired or on an even longer tape delay.


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## 57Chevy (8 Jan 2011)

Hockey fan group challenges Cherry's 'pro war' stance
article link

VANCOUVER — A newly formed Vancouver-based group is challenging Don Cherry to a debate on Coach’s Corner to offset criticism that the fiery commentator is using Hockey Night in Canada to promote militarism and the war in Afghanistan.

Hockey Fans for Peace plans to rally outside the HNIC broadcast of Saturday night’s Vancouver Canucks game against the Detroit Red Wings at Rogers Arena in Vancouver to make the point that hockey fans have the democratic right to speak out against the war in Afghanistan.

Spokesman Kimball Cariou said Wednesday the group is calling on the CBC “to either stop the promotion of militarism during hockey broadcasts, or else to allow one of its members to debate Cherry during an upcoming Coach’s Corner.”

Hockey fan and peace activist Derrick O’Keefe agrees.

“It’s something that’s bothered me for a lot of years that Don Cherry’s Coach’s Corner has been used to really give a one-sided platform to talk about the war only in full support,” said O’Keefe, a member of the group’s Facebook page. “And when Don Cherry makes political comments during the hockey broadcast he’s never challenged.”

He said Cherry is “100 per cent pro-war from everything I’ve heard him say.”

O’Keefe, who is also co-chair of StopWar.ca, said people “can support the soldiers and hope that they come home safely and it doesn’t mean that we support the war.”

“I think he’s giving a very biased perspective and he’s invoking the soldiers as a way of promoting the war,” said O’Keefe.

CBC spokesman Jeff Keay said he doesn’t accept the premise that Cherry is promoting the war in Afghanistan and militarism every week on Coach’s Corner.

“I mean, Don does offer remembrances of soldiers who are killed as well as police officers and firefighters that are casualties,” said Keay. “We really don’t have a problem with that.”

“We hire him for his hockey commentary, but as a commentators he’s entitled to his opinion,” said Keay, who doesn’t foresee allowing someone to counter Cherry’s views on the war in Afghanistan.

“I wouldn’t say that’s a forum for that kind of debate, so I really don’t see that happening.”

Photo:

Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry poses in front of Leopard 2 tanks with members of 12E Regiment Blinde du Canada at Forward Operating Base Ma'sum Ghar in southern Afghanistan during this year's Team Canada Christmas Day visit to the troops.
Photograph by: Doug Schmidt, Postmedia News

                                   (Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)


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## The Bread Guy (8 Jan 2011)

Thought you'd enjoy seeing the Hockey Fans for Peace logo  ;D


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## ballz (8 Jan 2011)

Must be the same group that supports the instigator penalty...

Don't worry, real hockey fans know they're idiots ;D


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## The Bread Guy (18 May 2011)

Reviving necrothread to add "academic" proof Don's a warmonger  :


> A couple of PhD students at the University of Western Ontario have been dedicating their research time to a deep textual analysis -of Coach's Corner.
> 
> John Nater and Robert Maciel watched Hockey Night in Canada as part of their graduate work in policical science at the London, Ont., university. After parsing the words of Don Cherry through the entire 2009-2010 season, the pair con-cluded that the "coach" was about as likely to discuss politically charged subjects as he was to talk about the nominal focus of the segments: hockey.
> 
> ...


More here.


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## Sythen (18 May 2011)

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> Reviving necrothread to add "academic" proof Don's a warmonger



Don Cherry responds on Sun News..

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/a-word-from-don/947850278001


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## Edward Campbell (18 May 2011)

The paper, as reported and about which I know nothing else, appears to make one good, valid and even important point: since most Canadians get most of their _information_ from TV then what we see/hear matters. Don Cherry does have a big audience; Don Cherry does have his own, particular perspective, as he says himself; it is fair to wonder if Don Cherry's views help to shape the overall views of many 'ordinary' Canadians. This does not stem from or lead to a cause and effect issue - Don Cherry did not campaign for Rob Ford or Stephen Harper but, did he help _set the table_ for them?

There is a broader question about CBC _editorial_ policy. Many members, here, perceive a bias in CBC news - perhaps there is one. I wonder if there is not, also, a bias in CBC sports. How many Canadians listen to Don Cherry once or twice or even, during the playoffs, three times a week? My guess is that it is many, many, many more than see or listen to Neil Macdonald and Terry Milewski combined on CBC news in a month.


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## vonGarvin (18 May 2011)

I would offer that the subtle difference is that when Rex Murphy or Donald S. Cherry talk, people know it's their opinion, and not facts.  When Terry Milewski talks, he's supposed to be delivering the events as they happened, with some analysis.  The perception is that the news, as reported, is biased consistently to one slant or another, as opposed to Mr. Murphy or Mr. Cherry, who people know are slanted, but only opinion, and not necessarily fact.


(Edited to fix grammatical errors)


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## MrsAlex (20 May 2011)

I concur with what Technoviking says. I'd add that considering how colorful (to say the least) Cherry is, people wouldn't rely on him to inform them. He is a commentator, his job is to give his opinion. And I think that's how the audience considers his talk about all things military: opinion.


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## Fishbone Jones (20 May 2011)

Terry Milewski is a hack who just likes to hear himself talk. If he ever held an interview where the person he was talking to, ever had more to say than himself, it would be a miracle.

His questions cross the line from an inquiry, to a soapbox speech and on into perverse diatrabes of the single oringinal thought he had for the day.

Plain and simply another overpaid (by the taxpayer) civil servant with an overblown sense of misapplied self worth and an inferiority complex that he cannot even rival the cub reporter of the nations smallest news outlet.

In layman's terms he is the goofus maximus of the broadcast world.

If he had any credibility before the elections, his unprecedented attacks have left no doubt, after the election, that he is an overpaid, overexposed goof.


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