There are several ways of looking at Hockey Night In Canada commentator Don Cherry's putdown of Jermain Franklin, a TSN reporter who asked a question of San Jose Sharks coach Ron Wilson and was ridiculed on Cherry's Coach's Corner for doing so.
You could point out that Cherry is not a journalist, therefore, isn't qualified to judge Franklin, although Cherry is certainly entitled to his opinion.
Or, given the number of weak questions asked on Hockey Night In Canada, Cherry's sudden interest in the media should start at home. He could even compile a DVD -- Hockey Night's Greatest Hits: Stupidest Questions Vol. 1.
At TSN, the hockey people are upset with Cherry over his denouncing Franklin on Monday night, but perhaps they're over-reacting, too. After all, Cherry knocks hockey players and coaches all the time. Why not a reporter once in a while?
But, can you imagine TSN's Mike Milbury airing a clip of a muddled query by Hockey Night host Ron MacLean or one of dozens of leading questions by reporter Cassie Campbell, and then belittling MacLean or Campbell on the air?
Of course not, nor would it happen at any other television network or any other show, except the CBC's Hockey Night.
After the Sharks lost Game 2 to the Dallas Stars on Sunday night, falling behind 2-0 in the series, Franklin asked Wilson about team captain Patrick Marleau, who had been unproductive.
“Do you need a little more out of your captain?” he asked.
Wilson, clearly upset, said no, and then walked away, muttering, “It's always freaking negative. That's TSN, that's Canada.”
Wilson, who was born in Canada but raised in the United States and has represented the United States in international hockey competitions for more than 20 years as player and coach, has had a chip on his shoulder about Canada and its success in hockey for most of life. He's been talking about Canadian hockey's “arrogance” since at least the 1987 world hockey championship in Vienna, when he played for the United States. So, his reaction to a Canadian reporter asking him a leading question wasn't a surprise.
A few minutes later, in the formal news conference, Wilson was asked a genuinely dumb question, when a reporter asked if he was “disappointed” that his team was down 2-0 in the series. He avoided rolling his eyes or walking away, and said, yes.
Cherry aired both clips, but focused his attention on Franklin and his question, which he said was “stupid.”
He noted that if Wilson had answered by saying, yes, he had expected more from Marleau, Franklin would have “run and weaseled to the next guy.” In other words, he would have gone to Marleau for a reaction.
But what if he had? That's what the job is all about, so viewers such as Cherry can be enlightened, intrigued and even angered.
