Friday, February 06, 2004
Don Cherry a Racist?:
I can't say I understand all the uproar over Don's comments about face visors. According to reports he made comments to the affect that only French people and Europeans wear them. For one thing, he might be right. I don't know anything about it, but I would wager the manufacturers of the equipment could tell us if he was statistically correct. Just because someone makes a comment that has anything to do with race doesn't mean that they are a racist. There are many statistical facts which concern race that are not quoted with the intention of deriding that race. Example: Percentage of total people in Africa with Aids verses percentage of people in Europe who suffer from the same affliction. There are many racial statistics which evolve from these two percentages. That doesn't mean the person who quotes them in a discussion about Aids is a Racist. I tell you one thing, I, as a French Canadian would be proud to learn that the French Canadian hockey players have a higher visor usage then others as that, to me, would mean that they have a higher I.Q. Playing a game of hockey is not worth losing an eye over. The only reason I never used one was because when I was playing, the visors they had used to fog up too much. Perhaps they have resolved that problem now.
There are other areas where Don has made comments in the past which has gained the ire of some. In particular he has criticized the European style of hockey for some time. Without trying to be a racist, I too have noticed a difference in hockey style from one nation to the next I too prefer the Canadian style of very tight, fast, hard hitting hockey. This is only a personal opinion and being a Canadian is highly biased as I learned to play in Canada. This does not mean that I have any less respect for the players from any other country. In particular I have always enjoyed watching the Russian and Swedish teams. There are many styles of hockey and just because someone might express their preference of one over another doesn't make them a racist.
I can't say I understand all the uproar over Don's comments about face visors. According to reports he made comments to the affect that only French people and Europeans wear them. For one thing, he might be right. I don't know anything about it, but I would wager the manufacturers of the equipment could tell us if he was statistically correct. Just because someone makes a comment that has anything to do with race doesn't mean that they are a racist. There are many statistical facts which concern race that are not quoted with the intention of deriding that race. Example: Percentage of total people in Africa with Aids verses percentage of people in Europe who suffer from the same affliction. There are many racial statistics which evolve from these two percentages. That doesn't mean the person who quotes them in a discussion about Aids is a Racist. I tell you one thing, I, as a French Canadian would be proud to learn that the French Canadian hockey players have a higher visor usage then others as that, to me, would mean that they have a higher I.Q. Playing a game of hockey is not worth losing an eye over. The only reason I never used one was because when I was playing, the visors they had used to fog up too much. Perhaps they have resolved that problem now.
There are other areas where Don has made comments in the past which has gained the ire of some. In particular he has criticized the European style of hockey for some time. Without trying to be a racist, I too have noticed a difference in hockey style from one nation to the next I too prefer the Canadian style of very tight, fast, hard hitting hockey. This is only a personal opinion and being a Canadian is highly biased as I learned to play in Canada. This does not mean that I have any less respect for the players from any other country. In particular I have always enjoyed watching the Russian and Swedish teams. There are many styles of hockey and just because someone might express their preference of one over another doesn't make them a racist.
# posted by Wil Smith : 5:39 p.m.
