Last week's dust-up between periods of a Hockey Night In Canada broadcast over the war in Iraq is getting some more attention today courtesy of Don "Grapes" Cherry himself:
Don Cherry thought he was close to being fired over his pro-American rant on a Coach's Corner episode 10 days ago, but that didn't stop him from yesterday criticizing Prime Minister Jean Chr
I’m aware of Cherry’s “colorful” history, but only somewhat. If I may inquire of anyone reading this, from where exactly did “grapes” become attached to him?
No one can help me out here? Too dumb of a question, perhaps? I figure it’s just a silly play off his last name, but also wondered if it might be a dual reference; an affectionate if not-so-complimentary comparison of his slap shot to the notoriously innaccurate 18th century grape shot projectiles. Probably not.
Inquiring minds want to know why Don Cherry is called Grapes… This is what I’ve dug up… There’s two explanations, but they could both be combined together to form one, so they both might be right. The first is that he had a show called Don Cherry’s Grapevine, also it’s a chain of restaurants now too. But this could also be derived from the rumour that when he was Bruins coach in the 70′s he had a really bad case of hemmoroids (I think he complained they were as big as grapes, and the nickname stuck).