Exclusive:  Winnipeg Man Proves Don Cherry Is Correct!

Research Report Reveals Grapes Statements on French accurate

DETROIT, MICHIGAN  FEBRUARY 10, 2004
The Grapevine Online has obtained a fascinating thirty-one page report titled "Was the CBC Justified in Censuring Don Cherry?" from a man identified simply as "Curt from the 'Peg".  The document essentially proves that Don Cherry's statements made on the January 24, 2004 edition of Coach's Corner were correct.  Cherry, who often goes by Grapes, stated that most players that wear visors (or masks) in the NHL are "Europeans and French guys".  This has led to an investigation by the Canadian government and the decision to put Coach's Corner on a seven-second delay to allow statements deemed inappropriate to be censored.   Here is the entire report:

On the January 24th edition of Coach's Corner, Don Cherry stated that most players who wear visors in the NHL are "Europeans and French guys."  The controversy that ensued resulted in Mr. Cherry being put on a 7 second tape delay for future broadcasts of Coach's Corner.  Although I do not agree with Mr. Cherry on a lot of issues (ie. I think that Peter Forsberg is the "toughest" player in the NHL), I was dumbfounded to see how many individuals in government and the media were quick to criticize him for his comments.  I was particularly surprised by the fact that I did not see a single critic (or other party for that matter) take the time to determine if what Mr. Cherry said was, in fact, false.  I took the time to do this.  Many of you may be surprised to learn that Mr. Cherry was right when he said that most players who wear visors in the NHL are "Europeans and French guys."

In order to determine this question, I grouped players into the following categories (goalies were removed from the sample altogether):

1) North American: players that were born in North America, except for Quebec;
2) Europeans: all players born outside of North America; and
3) "French guys": players born in Quebec.

There were a couple of players who were placed in categories that may not necessarily be seen by some as most suitable. For example, Scott Mellanby and Scott Walker were born in Montreal, PQ (and are grouped as "french"); Stephan Yelle was born in Ottawa, ON (is grouped "North American"); and Owen Nolan was born in Glasgow, Scotland (and is grouped, I am sure much to Mr. Cherry's chagrin as "European").  Another example is J.P. Vigier, who was born outside of Quebec, but grew up in a predominantly French speaking community in southern Manitoba (is grouped "North American").  These examples are few and do not impact on the survey results as a whole.

The player rosters were taken from the February 10, 2004 edition of the Hockey News and would have reflected rosters as they were on or about January 24, 2004, when Mr. Cherry made his comments.

In order to determine the place of birth of each player, I utilized the www.hockeydb.com website. In order to determine who wore visors, I used my knowledge of hockey and used photographs from the internet, including www.gettyimages.com .  There were nine (9) players in which I was not able to determine whether they wore a visor or not. I have therefore removed them from the survey altogether. They were: Carl Corazzini (BOS), Marek Svatos (COL), Jeremy Reich (CLB), Niklas Kronwell (DET), Zbynek Michalek (MIN), Robert Schnabel (NSH), Eric Meloche (PIT), Jame Pollock (STL) and Kirby Law (PHI).

The survey results speak for themselves  They reveal the following:

PLAYERS & THEIR "NATIONALITIES"
Total Number of Players on Rosters: 673
Total Number of North Americans: 411 (61% of players)
Total Number of Europeans: 207 (31% of players)
Total Number of French:   55    (8% of players)

PLAYERS WHO WEAR VISORS
Total Number of Players Wearing Visors:                          234 (35% of all players)
Total Number of North Americans Wearing Visors:             82 (35% of players who wear visors)
Total Number of Europeans Wearing Visors:                      122 (52% of players who wear visors)
Total Number of French Wearing Visors:                           30 (13% of players who wear visors)

These numbers reveal the following:

• 35% of the players in the NHL wear visors;

• North Americans make up 61% of the NHL and represent 35% of the players who wear visors;

• "Europeans and French guys" make up 39% of the NHL and wear 65% of the visors;

• 20% of the North Americans that play in the NHL wear a visor;

• 55% of the "French guys" who play in the NHL wear a visor; and
  59% of the Europeans that play in the NHL wear a visor.

To reiterate, I do not agree with everything that Mr. Cherry says. However, it appears that he has
been reprimanded for making a comment that, at the end of the day, was correct. 

In light of this, I would like the CBC to justify the action that it has taken in placing Mr.
Cherry on a 7 second tape delay.  If the CBC has based this decision, in part, on other comments that
have been made by Mr. Cherry in the past [or if I have misunderstood the reason(s) for
implementing the 7 second tape delay], then please advise.