This week, we pick up in the aftermath of the infamous 1987 World Junior brawl and follow Grapes through the most controversial years of Coach’s Corner. From his unforgettable partnership with Ron MacLean to the political firestorms that threatened his career, we revisit the moments that cemented Don Cherry as one of Canada’s most polarizing and influential broadcasters. We also spend time on the quieter, more emotional side of the story, exploring Rose Cherry’s battle with cancer and the lasting impact she had on Don’s life both on and off the air.
As always, the recap is packed with behind-the-scenes observations, hockey nostalgia, and plenty of debate. Did the film stick the landing? Did it give Rose’s story the attention it deserved? And was this a stronger movie than Keep Your Head Up, Kid? The panel is split, leading to one of our liveliest review discussions yet.
We also hand out our final ratings and MVPs, with Jared Keeso earning well-deserved praise for his remarkable transformation into Don Cherry… though one panelist makes a compelling case for Blue the dog instead.
If you’ve been following our Don Cherry series, this is the finale you’ve been waiting for. And next week, we take it one step further as Tim Cherry joins The Produce Stand to share the stories behind the stories.
Chapters:
- 00:00:00 – Introduction
- 00:01:03 – How Was Your Week?
- 00:13:20 – Don’t Bore Us Get To The Chorus (Episode Recap)
- 01:09:22 – Initial Thoughts
- 01:19:26 – Ratings
- 01:25:19 – MVPs
- 01:30:35 – Patreon Roll Call
- 01:33:21 – Final Comments
- 01:38:38 – Outro
Episode Rating:
- Al: Clearance
- Tanya: Fresh
- Victor: Fresh
- Mat: Clearance
Episode MVP:
- Al: Jared Keeso
- Mat: Jared Keeso
- Tanya: Rose Cherry
- Victor: Blue
Links:
- Opening Theme: Rightfully Mine by Poised For The Worm
- Closing Theme: Inebriation by Poised For The Worm
- TPS on Facebook | Instagram | Bluesky | YouTube
- Join Our Patreon
The Produce Stand: Wacky Nostalgia Chat
Clip: [00:00:00] So
Mat: aggressive … that fresh produce stand there. That’s a beauty. That’s a beauty. What do
Clip: youse listen to? My Favorite Murder podcast. Taggart and Torrens podcast. Taker and
Mat: George podcast. The Produce Stand. The Produce Stand. Oh, fucking sexy. Ah, fucking sexy.
Al: Flat Matt. It’s Thirsty Thursday, and that means we’re once again hanging out at The Produce Stand, a podcast covering everything in the universe.
Yeah. Fuck Kmart. This intro
Tanya: is- No one knows what we’re
Al: talking about … this, this intro is all over the
Tanya: place. You
just
Al: jumped into fucking- Now, I know what you’re thinking. There are lots of… Oh, yeah, Kmart’s not gonna be a, a,
Tanya: a- They’re not a sponsor anymore …
Al: a sponsor. This
Mat: is going well.
Al: There are a lot of p- podcasts about Letterkenny out there.
Oh. But this one will never be sponsored by Kmart. I’m Al, your host. Good job. Joining me in the room, as always, is the lovely Tanya. And online, we’ve got Squirrely Matt and the very stubborn Victor. How are you guys tonight?
Mat: Oh, good and you?
Tanya: We’re not shopping at Kmart. That’s what
Al: I gotta say. We’re, we’re not shopping…
Uh, [00:01:00] so let’s get to why- Is Kmart an
Mat: American company?
Al: Uh, let’s, let’s get to why we’re talking about this. How would you know? Good question. Uh, tonight’s lineup is m- Al, Matt, Tanya, and Victor. Uh, yeah, uh, I can’t think of… There’s not much to talk about for me this week. We’re, we’re just… It’s kind of been a, a, a, a nothing week.
I can’t… Well, I haven’t, yeah, I haven’t really done anything this week, just work and, and nothing else. Boring. Uh, yeah, the reason we’re talking Kmart is ’cause, uh, Matt came on, and he’s wearing a Zeller’s hat, and that got us ta- talking about- Well, Tanya got all excited.
Tanya: Reminiscing. ‘
Al: Cause she was reminiscing about the blue light specials they used to have in at Zeller’s.
They did. And, and then on a live stream, uh, I think it was Awesome Glass, is, is Kmart like Zeller’s and, or Zeller’s like Kmart? Very much. Basically, uh, uh, and, and we were talking about Orfus Road, not Orfus Street. So those who are in Toronto know what we’re talking about. Uh, those out, out there don’t. Um, anyway, so
Tanya: And they had a roast beef sandwich.
So they had a toast, two slices of toast.
Al: There was a [00:02:00] restaurant in the store-
Tanya: Yes …
Al: that old people would go eat at.
Tanya: And I was one of them.
Al: The food wasn’t very good.
Tanya: It wasn’t.
Al: No.
Tanya: But I feel like there was a roast beef sandwich, and it was two pieces of bread. And the roast beef was in the middle, and the gravy was poured on top.
That’s how sandwiches work.
Mat: That’s how sandwiches work.
Tanya: No, no, no. And the gravy was poured on top, and there was peas. Yeah, yeah. Peas from a can. Yeah,
Al: yeah. It’s
Mat: totally- I think restaurant, restaurant is an exaggeration. Diner is, diner is closer.
Al: I know. I feel like- So Zeller’s will also not be a sponsor for this podcast,
Tanya: is what this- I feel like Zeller’s restaurant was more like, um, cafeteria because I remember- Yeah
didn’t they have the, the, the s- the spinny things? Mm-hmm. They had… W- you put your tray down on the spinny thing.
Al: The conveyor belt?
Tanya: No, no, no. You, you got to, you got to pull it.
Al: Okay. So the manual conveyor belt. Oh, like, like Ikea.
Mat: Like Ikea, where you slide the-
Al: Yeah, the rollers. Yeah … slide the thing along it.
Tanya: Like, okay, do you remember the old… Okay, wow. We’re gonna go- I didn’t
Mat: know I was gonna… I’m sorry. Oh. I would’ve never worn the
Tanya: hat, Al- You’re so triggering me right now … had I known we were
Mat: gonna cause this much controversy tonight. Do
Tanya: you [00:03:00] remember the old Upper Canada Mall- Yeah … used to have a grocery store in it, Dominions?
Al: Yes.
Tanya: And on the outside of it, you could drive up, and they would put your groceries out, and it was the rollers. And your, and your food would be in a box, and you would get this roller, and it would- Like at the beer store Sure … the r- those rollers
Al: Wasn’t that at the Metro? That was in Upper Canada Mall, was it?
Tanya: It was at the- Well,
Al: anyway …
Tanya: Upper Canada Mall too Sure. They would, th- they would throw it out through a, a hole in the wall- That’s what she said … and it would go on the conveyor- So, I mean- … and it
Al: was dry … those holes, we were socially distancing before it was even popular to do so See There you go.
Tanya: Oh, man.
Al: Um, anyway, uh-
Tanya: An automat?
Al: Uh, that-
Tanya: What is an automat? I don’t,
Al: I don’t know. Maybe-
Tanya: Sorry, Awesome. You just caught my eye
Al: She’s trying to answer your question about the rollers. Anyway, um-
Tanya: Com-
Al: Matt, how have you been? How has your week been?
Mat: I’m sor- I’m sorry I wore the hat
Al: out. Yeah, no.
Mat: I-
Al: Oh, man You derailed the entire, the intro to this.
Oh,
Mat: sh- Oh, oh … oh, she’s better. Oh,
Al: okay. Oh, before we do move on, I [00:04:00] do wanna say one thing good th- one thing happened this week- … of note. We’ve scheduled, he’s in the schedule- Oh, yes … Tim Cherry is going to be visiting us next Thursday. Hmm. At 7:00 PM Eastern, I’ll, I’ll live stream it. So yes, Tim- Tim Cherry is joining us next Thursday- Yeah
and we’re gonna ask him all, all the questions that we’ve been saying that l- we’ll ask him when, when, when we get him.
Mat: So
Al: on that note- You’ve been writing them all down, right? Yeah.
Mat: No. No. So any- on that note, any of our die hards, die hards out there who pay attention to us- Please give us the questions.
Yeah … um, if you have all the questions- … that we said we need to ask Tim- Did you just- … you could drop them in the chat. That’d be amazing ’cause- Oh my God … I, I don’t, I have not been taking notes.
Clip: Uh, anyway,
Mat: how, how’s your week been? We have some good questions. My week’s been, uh, it’s been fine. I’m off tomorrow.
Um, we’re going up to my buddy’s cottage for a couple days. Cool. I’ve been… I, I’m almost finished, uh, the new deck, the big deck energy. I know I posted something about that. Right. Yes. Yeah. So that’s coming along quite well. It’s a bit of a pain in my ass, but it’s, uh, [00:05:00] it’s coming together. It, r- it’s a little combative, combative at home trying to figure this thing out and disagreements of opinions on how we should do things.
That um, never happens in a married life, but, you know- Never … it’s fun.
Al: Yeah.
Mat: Never.
Al: That’s why Tanya and I try, try to, you know, avoid any home projects now.
Mat: Yeah. Yeah. I, and I do much better on my own with these things- Mm-hmm … ’cause once I get my mind set on a particular way of doing things, I don’t like to be told otherwise.
I can’t, I don’t know why, you know. Mm-hmm. It’s just a thing I have.
Al: Well, the picture you showed, it, it looks great. Looks good. Thank you. Thank you. It, it’s much bigger, so you, you got a deck enhancement. It’s much
Mat: bigger. Yeah. We, we, we… It’s 16 feet longer than what we had before.
Al: Yeah.
Mat: So, uh- You’re compensating
Al: much?
Yeah, and she was al-
Tanya: I can’t
Mat: wait to see it. Yeah, no, always. And Jen, Jen was already decorating the deck before I even finished it. I’m like, “What are you doing?” She’s decorating the deck. She’s like, she was, she was already rolling out the new rug and everything. Well, she
Al: should trim around the, the base of it so that it looks bigger.
Yeah.
Mat: It’s true. Yeah, well, I haven’t, we… I don’t know where we’re measuring from, so it actually might be 18 feet [00:06:00] longer.
Al: Does that trick even work? Measure from, measure from the bottom instead of… Okay.
Mat: Um, does it work? You… Yeah, it works.
Tanya: Yeah, it works.
Mat: Um, but no, aside from that, it’s been another week and just, uh, yeah, I’m a few into it, and I’m ready to get into this thing.
Al: All right. Well, that, that’s boring. Tanya, how’s your week been?
Tanya: You’ve triggered me. Mm-hmm. I remember see- my sister sent me a photo- You bring up Zellers
Mat: again.
Tanya: Yeah, yeah. Oh my God. My sister had sent me a… Do you, did I show it to you or was that on the family chat? I don’t know. A picture of Zellers, um, and it was the cafeteria, let’s call it that.
Um, and oh my God, you’ve just triggered me ’cause I remember seeing it and the nostalgia like that. So sorry I wore the hat. Oh my God. Like, I’m, I went from falling asleep to the excitement of a lifetime. She’s wide awake. She’s on a Zellers
Al: high right now.
Tanya: I am really… Oh, there it is.
Al: Oh,
Tanya: geez. I found it.
Uh-oh. Oh my God. Okay. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Do I need to- Is it gonna… Oh, it is. Okay. Hold.
Mat: Twist. Oh, it’s not gonna… I can’t see the thing. Hang on.
Tanya: Okay, hold on. Oh. It’s
Mat: not gonna work.
Al: I- This is such good podcasting right now. [00:07:00]
Mat: It’s
Victor: terrible. Oh, can-
Mat: I’m part of this and
Victor: I don’t know what’s happening
Mat: Is she having a good time?
It’s- I
Al: guess so. Look, the AU and the restaurant is, is not, is, is not working Oh,
Mat: I
Al: see Yeah Rest-ran- How
Mat: do I turn off my background? Nothing
Tanya: Sorry, I can’t-
Mat: So look, that’s from us when we went and we were
Al: focused Oh, Zed. There’s a giant Zeddy out front. Okay. Wow.
Mat: Whoa. What’s going on? That’s That didn’t work very well.
Al: Yeah, again- There we go … those of, uh, those people who are listening to the audio-only podcast are not enjoying this at all. Um- No, I’m showing a picture- Oh, it’s the little- … of Jen
Mat: and I … bear. The bear,
Tanya: the bear
Mat: It’s…
Victor: Yeah There’s a big rat behind, uh- … uh, Matt
Al: I’m gonna put the thing back on Jen No, still on All right.
Uh, uh, okay. Victor, help us here. Save us. Oh, wait, wait, wait Oh,
Tanya: wait Yeah, so, um- My God … he’s triggered me. I was fine. Um, so-
Al: We’re trying to get to the paid- Um- … advertised material …
Tanya: this week has- We are the paid advertised material … I’m, I, I’ve not slept this week. I think I’ve got a total… Uh, I have a kink in my neck.
I don’t think I’ve been [00:08:00] sleeping. Um, it’s been go, go, go. I’ve been juggling work and family and, um, I’m exhausted. I’m ex-
Al: The girls got- I- … the girl got braces this week …
Tanya: uh, the girl got braces- Ooh … this week. And, um, the, they are an absolute pain. Mm. Um, I haven’t had them myself- How does she feel about them?
but wowzers, did I, I, I did not realize how painful, um, the whole process could be. So yeah, we’re dealing with it and, um, I will be in and out and, um, of, of tonight’s show. Matt asked a question.
Mat: You ignored him. How does she feel about the braces?
Tanya: Um, it’s been a mixed bag of, of feelings. Uh- Okay … yeah, it’s been mixed.
Mat: That’ll happen.
Tanya: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so that’s what we’re, that’s what we’re dealing with.
Mat: Yeah. My, my, my oldest is, he’s getting his off next month. Ooh. He’s had them for two years, so he’s super excited. And then Reese, my middle guy, in a month or two is about to get his on. Mm-hmm. Ooh. So he’s dreading it. So I got, I’m, I’m right in the middle of it all.[00:09:00]
Tanya: Mm. Fine. Okay. So, uh, I will reach out to you with questions as we- … as we move forward.
Mat: Oh, I won’t have any productive answers- … but go for it.
Tanya: Yeah. Yeah. It’s, uh, ugh, I’m exhausted.
Al: My biggest piece of a- advice for her is, ah, children are resilient. She’ll, she’ll get through it. I did. Yeah.
Mat: So- Yeah. Ri- Riley got over it in, like, a week.
Yeah. He was like, at first he was so mad. And then a couple of weeks, he was like, “Eh, I’m already used to them.”
Al: Yeah.
Mat: Yeah.
Al: That- Yeah … that’s what I keep on telling them. We keep on- They don’t, they don’t believe me. Victor, save us here.
Victor: I’m happy to have all this nonsense behind me.
Al: Yeah. That, that’s not helpful.
Victor: Ah. It’s helpful to me.
Al: I don’t need a na, na, na, na, boo-boo. I just need to, to give us something interesting to, to…
Victor: Oh, man. Well, uh, I’m, uh, in the process of booking a trip to Vegas, but it’s for work.
Al: Oh.
Victor: But it’s still a trip to Vegas.
Al: Sure.
Victor: So that’s, that’s- Are you
Al: gonna go this year?
Victor: Um, I, I d- I, I don’t know.
Like, uh, I think, uh, the Backstreet Boys are playing-
Al: There
Victor: you go … at the Sphere when I’m [00:10:00] there.
Al: Oh. Yeah.
Mat: Ooh.
Victor: But, or I could go to the Vegas Knights opener or something like that one or the other. Mm. I feel like if I had the option, I would probably go to the hockey game over the Backstreet Boys- Mm … I’m thinking.
<<Well, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.>> Is that one of their songs? I don’t
Al: know. No, that’s New Kids, but, uh, anyway, nice try. Well, it’s, it’s, it’s
Victor: close. It’s, it’s- It’s adjacent …
Al: yeah, Backstreet. It’s, it’s an
Victor: adjacent street.
Mat: That’s fine. Yeah. Blasphemy is what you
Al: just said. I, I hate that I knew that, but anyway, go on. So J- Vegas, that’s interesting or exciting.
Good for you.
Victor: It is, it is. Our s- it, is Vegas- And we’re… Uh, yeah, go ahead.
Tanya: I was gonna ask, is Vegas still offering, uh, dollar for dollar?
Al: Mm, probably not.
Victor: Dollar for dollar? I’m not sure.
Al: Well, they were taking, they were accepting Canadian dollar at, on par for a while there ’cause, uh-
Victor: Oh, I didn’t know. I had no idea about that
Al: to attract- They, they wanted us … the tourists.
Victor: Uh, I don’t know. Vegas used to be fun. Like, Vegas, you know, back, back, back, back be- well before COVID, it used to be fun. You could go and, like, have $5 [00:11:00] minimum tables.
Al: Mm-hmm.
Victor: Right? Oh, yeah. And, you know, it’s like…
Al: Yeah. Well, Tanya and I spent hours at, at the-
Victor: Yeah
Al: yeah, playing,
Victor: uh, Texas Hold ’em. And y- yeah, you could sit there for a couple of hours- Yeah … with $60- Yeah … and just, like, have, have a good old time. Yeah. And n- but the last time I was there it’s like, “Wait, where are the $5 minimum tables?”
Al: Yeah.
Victor: The cheapest you could find was 15, and those were far and few between.
It was typically 20, $25. Yeah, you gotta
Al: go to… Was it the Fremont? That’s not fun. With the, the old casinos to, for that
Victor: kind of shit. Yeah, and Circus Circus was great. You could d- you know, sit there, I think for, I think, like, they, they had, like, 250 minimum. Mm-hmm. Um, a- a- and I think that one’s closed down now.
And anyway, uh, we’re gonna be sp- be staying at some fancy new, uh, place called, I think, World Resorts. Um, it’s like, it’s, it looks like it’s got, like, 20 pools, and then it’s like, who goes to Vegas to go to pools? Mm. It’s like, but whatever. Um-
Mat: Well, apparently you do.
Victor: Well, I, yeah, I’m not gonna… I’m gonna be that s- stupid, uh, conference, uh, sessions all day long, so.
Yeah. But anyway, I, I think we get, like, one freebie day there, so that’ll be… [00:12:00] We’ll, we’ll see. Hopefully we’ll have some fun. Um-
Al: So you’ll, you’ll be going over to Thunder Down Under or whatever?
Victor: Uh,
Al: I
Victor: don’t know what
Al: that is. Taking in the show. You don’t know that one?
Tanya: The horsey show.
Al: Is that, that show still on there?
I don’t know.
Victor: I, I don’t know a Thunder Down Under.
Al: Oh, yeah, I’m sure you do. Hey, girl,
Tanya: hey. It was the Australians.
Victor: Is that a Cirque du Soleil show? No,
Tanya: the Australians. The, the Thunder Down Under. It was the, the men, the men show. Male strippers.
Victor: Male. Yeah.
Tanya: Male strippers? I don’t think they strip, though. Oh. I don’t know.
I could be wrong.
Victor: Anyways, uh, so and then, and then the other trip we’re booking is, uh, to Montreal again. So we’re going to Montreal, uh, at the end of the month, at the end of August for a week. Very cool. Nice. Yeah, so we’re looking forward to that. So, you know, busy doing that stuff, and we’re still watching through…
Oh my God, I swear to God, it’s the best show ever, uh, ever written. Uh, but, uh, uh, what is called? Uh- Breaking Bad … Breaking Bad, yeah. Yeah. We’re, uh, halfway through season three right now. It’s such a good- Oh, you’re crushing it … so well-written.
Al: Very cool. Uh, I mean- So loaded … yeah, speaking of shows, so we finished Brooklyn Nine-Nine with the girl, and now we- we’ve got her [00:13:00] watching Ted Lasso be- so that, uh, she can catch up- All the new season- Well-
or
Victor: beginning?
Al: Well, well we’re, we’re starting over with her so she can check it out. Oh, yeah,
Victor: yeah.
Al: She’s actually- Oh,
Victor: that’ll be fun.
Al: Oh, yeah, it’s great. It’s
Victor: been a long enough time, I could probably easily re-watch and enjoy that show.
Al: It’s so good. It’s so re- Oh my God … it’s definitely re- re- re-watchable and, and, uh- Yeah
yeah. All right, let’s get going. Speaking of re-watchable, let’s hit this.
Clip: Previously on Letterkenny.
Al: Last time we recap reviewed the first half of the second film of the Grapes, Grapes of Wrath miniseries. This week we finish off our recap and give our final, final review and MVP. Uh, I’ve done my homework.
Matt, have you done your homework?
Mat: I have done it.
Al: Tanya, have you done your homework?
Tanya: Zellers.
Al: Victor, have you done your homework?
Mat: It is.
Al: All right. Well, don’t bore us, get to the chorus. Let’s, let me share my screen. Be- uh, remember this time. And my sound Here we go. Share, share, share You’re getting really good at this now.
I’m getting… Yeah, well, now that we’re on, on the last- Yeah … part of the last movie, now I’ve got it down. I never lost
Mat: faith- Don’s first [00:14:00] rodeo … that after six years I knew you would get
Al: it. Yeah. All right, here we go. We- … pick up immediately following the infamous 1987 World Junior brawl between Canada and the Soviet Union.
Don drives home listening to sports radio, where he’s being called a dinosaur, a relic, and pretty much everything else we’ve come to expect. After his confrontation with Brian Williams, Don figures he’s finally gone too far and given the, the CBC the excuse they’ve been waiting for to fire him. But that’s not what he’s most worried about.
He’s worried about Rose’s reaction. When he gets home, though, Rose isn’t angry at, with Don. She’s angry with Brian Williams. For once, he tells Don he was right. Somebody needed to stick up for the Canadian players. And then the phone rings. They want Don on the national news the next day to debate the incident.
Clip: Yesterday’s incident in Prague has launched a heated debate in Canadian hockey circles. Did the Canadian team and its coaches behave as they should? We are joined by former NHL coach Don Cherry and by longtime sports writer Michael Farber.
Tanya: Here
Clip: we go. Michael Farber, [00:15:00] everybody in the country seems upset with somebody on this question.
Who are you upset with? I’m upset with Bert Templeton, the coach of the Canadian junior team. If he had really wanted to avoid what happened in Czechoslovakia, he would have told his players, “Under no circumstances should you fight. Don’t allow yourself to be suckered.” Bert Templeton is apparently taking the blame, and that’s where it belongs.
Don Cherry, who do you blame? Well, I don’t, I, uh, I blame the Russians, naturally. Anybody with any mind would blame the Russians. It definitely wasn’t Bert Templeton’s fault at all because what are you supposed to do? You see 20 Russians gonna go at five Canadians. I’d like to ask Michael right here and right now, if his son was one of the five and he was gonna get beat up by the Russians, would he say, “Stay on the bench.
Let my son get beat up”? I think not. The punishment for fighting in international hockey is banishment. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute, Michael. Wait a minute. Now, two years ago, the Russians and the United States had a battle. They say it wouldn’t make this one look like a tea [00:16:00] party. Naturally, the Russians are going for the gold medal, so they didn’t throw them out.
It was just one, a few penalties and away we go. And I guarantee you, I guarantee you, if the roles had of been reversed, if they were going for the gold medal and we were out of it and we’d have gone over the boards, I guarantee you those foreigners on that commission would have found some way for them to win the gold medal.
It’s not fair. That’s right. Not fair. Not fair. Thank you both. Atta boy, Don.
Al: All right. Let’s, uh, let’s start with that, uh, that scene. Matt, uh, what do you think of this for, for starts?
Mat: Yeah, it was great. Um, I mean, I don’t… I’m not familiar with all that. I don’t know if you dinosaurs remember that, but I, I, I definitely don’t.
But, um-
Tanya: Dinosaurs?
Al: Fucking Matt. You’re the one wearing a jello- Shot- A Zealous
Tanya: cap. Shot’s fired. Jeff
Mat: just- Shot’s fired. Look, I can bring back grumpy Matt from last week- … if you prefer. Whatever, man. Grumpy Cat can come too.
Clip: [00:17:00] Mm.
Mat: Um, no, it’s great. I mean, I, I think it was an interesting time. And, um, I, I keep wanting to go back and watch the like for likes on this- Sure
’cause everything I’ve watched so far, um, his interpretation or, um, take on Cherry has been so spot on. It’s been amazing. Um, and I know these are interesting times and, like, the controversy just con- just begins to build and continues to build with Cherry, um, throughout this episode as well. So it was fun to see this.
Um, and I love that, that, that Rose had his back.
Victor: Mm-hmm.
Mat: Um, I, I, I can’t remember exactly, but I know there was a bit of a, “Don’t,” like when Victor cut me off last week. He’s like, “Oh, don’t worry. She’s, she, she changed her mind.” I think it was less around that and, and him sticking up. But, uh, I’m glad she did on this one.
I think it’s the right place. And, uh- Yeah, I don’t know. It was, it’s a fun scene
Al: Victor just gra- has produced- Yeah, what is that? Grumpy Cat? … a- Is that Grumpy Cat? … a plushy Grumpy Cat. Where, where the hell did you get that? I was like, “Where the fuck did
Mat: you get that?”
Victor: I just have [00:18:00] these props around in case Matt says something interesting.
Al: And that’s… So where was that when we, when we interviewed Brittle Star and he was telling us the story of meeting Grumpy Cat in person?
Victor: I may or may not have been on that one.
Al: No, you probably didn’t have that. Um, Tan, what did you… Any thoughts on that scene?
Tanya: Um, yeah, I, I agree with, uh, Matt. Um, I, I loved the change of, um, pace with Ro- well, and it, and it’s, it was no surprise that Rose would back him.
Victor: Mm-hmm.
Tanya: Um, but it was nice to see ’cause usually their relationship is her, you know- Yelling at
Victor: him for,
Tanya: for something stupid he’s said … saying, “Stop saying…” And now she’s like- Yeah … “Go get him.” Um, I, I, I’ve loved every scene with Rose in it. I, I think she adds a lot of value to the show and, um, I, I just loved, you know, him coming home expecting to get it and, um, and she’s got his back a- as, as, uh, as it was.
Al: Uh, [00:19:00] Victor, I mean, I’m too young to, to have l- like listened to that story and understood the story at the time. How about you?
Victor: Yeah, yeah, no, to be honest, like-
Al: Mm-hmm …
Victor: um, I was still learning English- To be
Al: fair-
Victor: Right. … I was still learning English at the time.
Al: Yeah.
Victor: Um, but, uh, if, if you believe the facts the way that Don describes the facts- Sure.
Mm-hmm … and they would need to be sure, you know, fact-checked-
Mat: Yeah …
Victor: um, it’s an open and shut case. L- you know what I mean? Like, it’s, if, if the Russians started that fight, then how is it that you’re not gonna send your team to defend your five players? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It’s just, it’s open and shut. And for that buffoon to be sitting there on the other side and blaming the coach and saying, “Oh, don’t fight,” duh, duh, duh, duh, it’s like, you know, you’re, you’re kind of- you know, virtue signaling or whatever.
So it’s ki- it’s kind of silly, I’d say, over in Russia. Or maybe he
Al: actually believes what he says and it’s not virtue signaling, but who knows? Um- Yeah … I’m cur- I’m interested to f- like, your perspective in terms [00:20:00] of… ‘Cause you, yeah, you, you had just moved maybe or, or were fresh in the country from the Soviet Union, and there’s this guy on Canadian national television, and he doesn’t have a lot…
I mean, I know you weren’t, you weren’t Russian, you were Georgian, but you’re Russian adjacent. Uh, and- I am
Victor: Russian
Al: adjacent. I was. No, and, and- And you’re one of these foreigners that he loves to, to, to call out all the time. How did you feel about whenever you’d hear him talk about that?
Victor: Uh, I, I took zero offense to that.
Mm-hmm. Um, so first of all, I was defending myself against idiots that were accusing me of being, uh, or, or kind of, uh, picking on me because they thought I was Russian. Mm-hmm. So I, it was Rocky, I think it was Rocky IV that came out right around that time. Yeah. I think I was in grade three. And, uh, Dolph, of course the- Hard time to be a
Mat: Russian
Victor: of course the great- Right? … the, the great Russian, Dolph Lundgren- Yeah. … uh. The infamous Russian, Dolph Lundgren- I will break you … was playing the, the villain.
Clip: Mm.
Victor: And, um, you know, so people were just picking on me because of that [00:21:00] movie. Um, and so I got into several, uh, altercations because of that. Um, so I was- Did,
Mat: could you throw down, Victor?
Could you, were you, could you
Victor: throw down? Yeah. Uh, so I th- I may have shared this story in the past. So, uh, there, there was, like, a karate shark cartoon that I used to watch. I’m trying to remember.
Mat: Of course you did.
Victor: I’m trying to remember the name of it. Well, you did have- It was
Tanya: one of the cartel-
Victor: The- Yeah
Tanya: Winnie the Pooh cartel or whatever, so.
Victor: Yeah, yeah.
Mat: Let’s, let’s go with Karate Shark. I like it. Karate
Victor: Shark. Anyway, so- Do, do, do,
Mat: do, do, do. Karate
Victor: Shark. So yeah, it was, it was grade three, Reese’s, and, uh, I ended up, uh, kicking a kid in the nose, and he started bleeding. And then, uh, we- Hold on.
Mat: Was- Yeah … can you describe how you kicked a kid in the…
Like- Was it a standing kick? It was foot on the ground? Or you did, like, a roundhouse kinda kick and you-
Victor: Yeah, it was, it was like a just from a standing position kick in the nose. Uh- Wow, that’s
Mat: impressive.
Victor: Uh, well, you know, when you’re- Uh,
Al: calm down. Calm down. It was third grade.
Victor: It was third grade. [00:22:00]
Al: But
Tanya: I’m still impressed.
We were all flexible in third grade. Yeah.
Victor: And, and I- Fair … and my, all my shoes probably were from BuyWay, so maybe they were a little bit, you know-
Tanya: BuyWay shoes.
Victor: Maybe they were… You know, the material was a little hard to hit, uh, like-
Al: BuyWay made Zellers look high-end. Okay.
Tanya: And if you had a mother like me, she would buy a size up so that way you wouldn’t have to- You grow into them
have shoes.
Al: Yeah, you had two seasons worth of shoes. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we’re, we all, we all went there.
Victor: So anyway, uh, yeah, so I got a talking to from the principal. I didn’t mostly understand what the principal was saying. Um, but, uh, you know, basically- He’s
Al: probably saying, “You, you damn Russian. You come here-
and you start kicking kids in the nose and…”
Victor: Yeah, yeah. So, so anyway- Doesn’t help your case … I, I don’t remember too much about the whole thing. All I know is that I, I was defending myself because people were accusing me of being Russian.
Al: Mm-hmm.
Victor: Um, so anyway, there you go. I don’t know what that… You know,
Al: if that helps anything.
And you were like, “And I’m on, on your side. I think they’re all freaking…” [00:23:00] Anyway. Let’s move on. That’s right. The debate only makes Don’s position more popular. He, we hear callers on the radio and TV from across the country weighing in, and while there are di- di- dissenting voices, plenty of people agree with Grapes.
Uh, even Brian Williams is b- feeling the backlash. He calls Cherry’s house and asks T- and tells Rose that his own kids are being called commies at school. Rose tries to reassure him before handing the phone to Don and telling him to be nice. Uh, Don’s greeting? “Hello, comrade.” In voiceover- … Rose says this was when they realized just how many Canadians counted on Don to speak up for their point of view.
And after that, there was no stopping him, which naturally means another meeting with the CBC management. They tell Don they love Coach’s Corner when it’s about hockey, but they’re concerned that Don isn’t just talking about hockey anymore. He’s disparaging Europeans, glorifying fighting, and upsetting parts of the audience.
They t- they tell him to, the act has to change. Don insists it isn’t an act, and if changing himself is what takes, [00:24:00] it, what it takes to keep his job, he’d rather lose it. After all, he says, if, uh, he could walk away from the Boston Bruins rather than change, he can walk away from anything. Uh, shortly after, Don runs into- Right
a coup- couple of firefighters who tell him they missed a great fight between Wendell Clark and Marty McSorley because, M- Marty McSorley, because they were all out on a call. They ask Grapes if he’ll show it on Coach’s Corner. The CBC may not want Don showing fights anymore, but these are firefighters, so cut to Don’s next Coach’s Corner
Clip: Now, a lot of storylines these playoffs, but none bigger than you declaring the Leafs’ Doug Gilmour the best hockey player in the world and kissing him right here on Hockey Night in Canada.
First it was Bobby Orr, then Doug Gilmour. You even promised to kiss me. Is there anything we should know about? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up, bud. Hey, look. Now, eh, I’m a guy of the ’90s. Now, you see what I mean? I can kiss a guy- … like Bobby or Dougie. It’s okay for me to kiss a guy. Now, if you start kissing [00:25:00] guys, boy, what is- Okay, enough of this.
We got a lot to get onto. Uh, where to begin? All right. Now, I’m talking to a couple firemen today, couple beautiful guys. They’re probably out working all night, minus 30 with the wind factor and everything. They come up and everything. They say, “Grape, how’s it going?” I says, “Hey, did you see the Wendel and Marty fighting?”
And they says, “No, no, we hardly ever see anything. We’re always out on call. They’re fighting fires is what we’re paid to do.” Gonna go, go with this now, or- Yes, well, they said for us, would you show it? So for the guys that keep us safe, a couple stout-hearted firemen, I’m gonna show it, all right? Okay then. Are we gonna do the song
Uh, da, da, I don’t know. You a chicken? Am I a chicken? I dare you. All right. All right. Give me some men who are stout-hearted men who will fight for the right they adore. Shoulder to shoulder and bolder and bolder and I’ll soon show you 10,000 more. Anyhow. Wouldn’t be the playoffs [00:26:00] without that song . All right.
Are we gonna- We, we, uh, first things first here. Are we gonna show it? Okay, first things first. This is not a cheap shot. Well now, Doug, it sh- it shouldn’t have been a penalty. Oh, no, Marty could’ve killed him if he wanted to. Now look, Dougie cutting through center ice like that, he deserved to get zonked like that.
He’s just lucky it wasn’t the other guy coming through there. He’d have been in Kingston General Hospital. Now, Wendel being the good guy that he is, he comes in, “All right, let’s go, Marty. We gonna drop him?” Two good guys. Love Wendel, love Marty. Not a darn thing wrong with it at all. Now everything going pretty good here.
Ev- everything going pretty even. Now you see Wendel cut him there, and now look, Marty coming back pretty good there. Two great guys. Love ’em both. Wendel doing what he had to do. Marty doing what he had to do. It was not a cheap shot at all. You wanna cut through center ice like that, boy, you better keep your head up.
Of course, the Leafs went on to win 4 to 1. For the guys who keep us safe, that one’s for you. Boy, I miss it. I re- I, I really do miss it. You know what? There’s one thing that I miss the most, it’s gotta be the fighting. All right. Don Cherry on Coach’s Corner, never afraid to kiss and make [00:27:00] up, here on Hockey Night in Canada.
Al: All right, product- uh, well, yeah, let’s talk about the, the scene first of all. Um- Well, I’ll, I’ll use the production notes to talk about it, because I had to look this up. I remember, I mean, one of the things that we saw over and over again was Don Cherry planting a kiss on Doug Gilmour’s cheek. Uh, uh, that’s what, the, the kiss that Ron MacLean is talking about.
And yes, Doug Gilmour, he was on Shoresy, the, the killer, um, big time Maple Leaf. And in that video you also saw Wendel Clark, another big time Maple Leaf. So Don Cherry is known for kissing three players ever on Coach’s Corner. Bobby Orr, uh, Doug Gilmour, I think twice, and N- Nazem Kadri, which I was surprised to read.
I thought it was only Bobby Orr and, and Doug Gilmour. I guess I wasn’t watching Coach’s Corner when, when Kadri was playing. But anyway, so that’s what, uh, Ron MacLean is, is, uh, alluding to there. And the Stout Heart- Hearted Men song that he, he sang there, it’s an old show tune written by Sigmund [00:28:00] Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II from the 1928 operetta, The New Moon.
It’s essentially a rousing anthem about courage, loyalty, solidarity, and men standing together for something they believe in. Um, so that makes it, you know, pretty much Don Cherry’s favorite song. For Grapes, it became an old-fashioned salute to the people he admired, hockey players, firefighters, police officers, soldiers, and other people regarding, uh, regarded as courageous and loyal.
Uh, Ron’s line, “Wouldn’t be the playoffs without that song,” uh, tells us that this is something he did often during the playoffs, he sang that song. So anyway, Victor, I’ll start with you. What did you think of that scene?
Victor: Oh, yeah. It was, you know, very nostalgic, ’cause I watched that live. Yeah. I watched the, you know, watched that game live, watched the Coach’s Corner live.
Mm-hmm. So it was kind of… Uh, they did such an incredible job redoing it. Yeah. Um, uh- I
Al: remember that fight. I remember the specific fight because, yeah.
Victor: Yeah.
Al: Dougie gets-
Victor: Oh,
Al: absolutely. And so ironically, Dougie, who, Doug Gilmour, who Don Cherry, [00:29:00] o- one of his favorite players, but in that case, he says Doug deserved to get knocked out- Yeah
because he was skating through, through the neutral zone with his head down. And so-
Victor: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And, and again, you know, that’s, that’s the f- that’s the- What happened to Matthews last year, that’s the, uh, moment that most hockey fans, most Leaf fans kinda think about. Like, you know, that happened to Gilmore and Clark without even wasting a second dropped the gloves and went to defend his captain.
Al: Yeah.
Victor: And meanwhile Matthews, something similar happens and everyone’s just standing around just scratching their butts wondering what’s- Yeah … when’s the next shift gonna start?
Al: Yeah.
Victor: Like, it’s such a, it’s, it’s crazy. It’s just so, so crazy. Uh, let that season go down the drain- Yeah … and let us start anew this year.
It’s very, very exciting for this new season. But yeah, that was [00:30:00] embarrassing and what a, you know, what a difference.
Al: Tam, did you think it, yeah?
Tanya: I was so having moments of Jory Jordan – … during that scene.
Al: Why?
Tanya: Um, I just feel like it, Jory must have watched this. Mm-hmm. Or maybe was directed to, to maybe watch this because if, if you watch it again thinking of Jory Jor- Jordan, you will spot all of the moments where it’s like-
Al: Like Ron McLay being Jordy Jordan?
Tanya: Yeah.
Al: Okay.
Tanya: Yeah. All
Al: right. ‘Cause he’s, he’s what? Egging Don on?
Tanya: Yeah.
Al: Okay. Yeah. And- A little bit …
Tanya: and, and with him like, “Oh, uh, um,” kissing. Like, he’s, like, poking. Yeah. He’s poking the hole. Yeah. And then how-
Al: And calling him chicken when he wouldn’t sing the song at the beginning. Yeah.
Tanya: Yeah. It’s just how he pokes and how he- Sure
sets him up and then at the end he jabs him one more time- Mm-hmm … with the, “We’ll kiss you next week,” or whatever. Yeah, yeah. Like, again, with another little poke. Yeah. Yeah. It had, it, it, it gave me much- Mm-hmm … Jory Jordan vibes.
Al: [00:31:00] Okay. Uh, Matt?
Mat: Yeah, I, I don’t know if I… I mean, I see what you’re saying, but where I was going is my thoughts in this scene were focused on similar s- similar activity in the sense that watching the Ron- the actor playing Ron McLay and Don interact is incredible.
Mm-hmm. Um, not knowing a ton about them other than what I’ve seen, I continue to see more and more how, um, impactful Ron McLay was on this show. Mm-hmm. Without him, I don’t know if it truly would’ve lasted as long, because he truly is the balance. And he, I, I, I feel like he had to walk away so many shows just laughing his ass off inside going- Right
“That was awesome,” because he just knows how to poke, and he knows- Mm … how to sit there and let Don do his thing and, and get the best out of him- Mm-hmm … in the weirdest ways. And it’s so entertaining to take in as he just sits there and he has a shit-eating grin on his face- Yeah … as he’s saying these things.
[00:32:00] And then on the other side of it, watching, again, Keeso play Don Cherry, if watching that scene as an example, if you covered Keeso’s face, like, yes, he, he’s playing well, but if you covered his face, from the neck down his mannerisms- Yeah … are so on point with the hands- Yeah … the forefinger, the, the fingers on the table, the pointing down like- The delivery
Al: even.
Yeah, the,
Mat: the, yeah … the delivery is, is im- in- incredible.
Al: Mm-hmm.
Mat: Um, so the, yeah, the, the recapturing of all this is just so much fun to watch, and that was a, a really great scene to show how well they both interpret these characters.
Al: All right. After the segment, Ron asked Don if he really meant, meant it when he said the, the thing he misses most about hockey is the fighting.
Uh, Don admits that maybe it does sound a little strange, and that takes us, uh, in a flashback back to his playing days with the Rochester Americans. Don explains the code that existed among young, tough guys. You don’t pick your spots, you don’t fight smaller players, you d- you show up whe- [00:33:00] whether you’re going to win or lose, and most importantly, you protect your teammates.
By this point in Don’s career, his NHL dream is fading. He’s b- competing with younger, faster players, and barely getting any ice time. More and more, his role is simply to fight. After one game, Rose finds Don getting stitched up in the dressing room. He’s frustrated because he’s only dressing every few games, and even when he does play, he’s getting three or four minutes.
Rose finally tells him to stop complaining to her, and go complain to his, uh, coach, Joe Crozier. So Don does, which turns out to be a mistake. The next ti- the next game, Crozier dresses Don and leaves him sitting on the bench the entire night. Eventually, during a televised Christmas Eve game, uh, against Hershey, Croz- Crozier finally gives Don the tap.
An opposing player named Callahan has been taking liberties with Rochester players, and Crozier wants Don to do something about it, so Don does. Crozier rewards Don with a bonus for the fight, which Don uses to buy drinks for the guys after the game, and Christmas presents for the family. I don’t know how much money he got for that fight, but, uh, holy crap.
[00:34:00] Back in those days, I guess, uh, 50 bucks went a longer way than, or $100 or whatever Uh, in a later game, Don gets driven hard from behind into the boards. He retaliates by punching the opposing player, breaking five of his teeth off at the gums. Later, Don learns the player’s father was sitting in the stands watching.
In a voiceover, he admits there was a time when he could do something like that and never think about it again. This time was different. And as far as his playing days were concerned, Don says this was the beginning of the end of his career. Now back to the present, we finally get the origin story nobody knew we needed, Don Cherry suits.
Rose discovers Don has been shopping at Fabricland. I don’t know if there’s Fabricland in the US, but basically it’s a, it’s a, a store where you just buy fabric for curtains. Yeah. And, um-
Mat: We- I’ve been to it many times, actually. Yeah.
Al: And,
Mat: uh- Yeah, Jen, Jen likes to make a lot of her own stuff, and, and, uh, I know Fabricland well.
Tanya: Yeah. Is it still a bit… Like, is it still running? Is it-
Mat: Yeah. The… Actually, I think the head office is just up the street from me. It’s, it’s, it, it looks [00:35:00] like, uh, the head office for Fabricland. Like, it looks like it was the original building, and they never upgraded, so it’s, it’s, it’s rough. But I’m pretty sure that’s the head office just around the corner from me.
Hmm.
Al: Yeah. So and I, I believe he had a, a… Like, he was a, like a spokesperson for Fabricland. He- But he probably did it on, like… You know, he did it for free fabric, not even for money ’cause, uh- … that’s what he did. He found some spectacular curtain material that he thinks will look even better as a suit, and, but Rose points out that her aunt used to have curtains made out of that same stuff.
Don doesn’t care. He says it’ll look sharp on TV. He even got himself a Fabricland loyalty card, and thus- Amazing … a Canadian fashion icon is born
Clip: And what does this guy do? He brings in a Finnish guy to coach Moncton, and what’s his name? Alpo Suhonen. What’s wrong with that? All right, all right, never mind.
All right. Now, all you coaches out there, you’re not good enough. No one coaching junior anywhere in Canada or the United States is good enough to coach [00:36:00] Moncton. Now, what about all those guys down there in the AHL slugging it out on the buses? Are they gonna get a shot? No, and you wanna know why? I- I’m gonna, I’m gonna tell you why.
I’m gonna tell you why they brought the Finn. All you people in Winnipeg, he wants you to think he’s progressive with his PhD. That’s a Doctor of, of what? Well- Ph- Philosophy or, or, or something like that. Pat Burns coached in the AHL, but is anybody around here good enough to coach Moncton? No. Some Finn is.
Ridiculous. Oh, and they say Dan Maloney didn’t have good enough communication with the players. Have you seen this guy talk? Woof. Well, I know one thing, we wish Rick well in Winnipeg and Alpo well in Moncton. Well, I don’t. I don’t wish him well. Alpo sounds like dog food. Now, just a minute. Now, your local forecast, accurate and dependable from The Weather Channel.
Why’d you do it? Turning into The Weather Channel segment- You get off of there. Wait, wait. You know better than that. Around Lake Michigan today- What? What’d I do? What? The winds at 10 to 20 miles- Winnipeg Jets are threatening to sue us. Oh, that. Yeah, [00:37:00] that. Everybody’s missing the point. I was just trying to help out the guys in the minors.
Didn’t do nothing. You called the man dog food. Sunshine here- I don’t know about you sometimes.
Al: How about that suit? And that’s probably the tamest of the suits that he, he’s worn on TV. Matt, uh, talk about that scene.
Mat: I, I, uh, so this might be one of my favorite scenes in the whole- … series with the Fabric Land thing. That, that, uh, that made me so happy. Mm-hmm. Um, ’cause again, I always wondered. That was definitely a thought, regardless of how well I knew Gerry, was, “Where the fuck does he get these things from?”
Um, and the fact that it started off with him designing his own-
Al: Mm-hmm …
Mat: um, was nuts.
Al: No, didn’t start. Like, he was alwa- he always made his own.
Mat: Okay. Well, regardless, I, I… It’s never the answer I thought- Yeah … was going to come forward. Mm-hmm. I, I assumed it was someone going, “Whatever, and, and here, we’re gonna dress you, and this is gonna w-…”
And then it just started getting out of control. But the fact that [00:38:00] he is the pioneer story of his own amazing- … ensembles- Mm-hmm … uh, makes me so much happier about it. Um, that is the weird fact of this series that I really, really enjoyed. Um, and then calling someone dog food and it getting out of control.
What the fuck? Like- … that, that’s the standard back then that, that really rolled, um, defamation suits and things like that? I don’t
Al: know. Yeah, I was gonna say, I don’t know if you can sue over somebody calling you dog food, but anyway. That, that seems kind of weird. I,
Mat: I… Yeah, I- … I don’t know. It’s a stretch, but we’ll see.
I know where it goes
Al: and- It’s dumb, but it’s, it’s still weird. Uh, Tan, what did you think
Tanya: of it? Yeah, look at all the crazy shit that happens now that people get sued for. Ooh. That, that just seems like a nothing.
Al: Yeah.
Tanya: Yeah. Especially when, when his name is the same name- Toppo … as dog food. So, yeah. I don’t have a dog food
Mat: name.
Tanya: Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know. Um, uh, again, Rose is, is everything. I, I think she’s amazing. Her just… The, the, how [00:39:00] she gives the, the looks and s- like, well, what you gotta do that for? Like Yeah.
Mat: She looks a bit mobster wife in that scene with those glasses too. She does. She does. Yeah, yeah. Yeah,
Tanya: yeah. It’s nice.
Mat: Love
Al: it.
Uh, Victor?
Victor: Yeah, I mean, uh, not much to add. Uh, it was, it was good. It was good to see Rose again, t- you know, basically telling him, “You’re a doofus.” Um, but, but I think, um, I, I, I just wanna go back to a scene we didn’t watch but y- you, you described it, Al.
Tanya: Mm.
Victor: When he goes to Crozier when they’re having that dinner and, uh- Oh.
So, so this is, this is one of those things, you know, we can ask, um… We can ask Tim if, you know, what are, you know, how dramatized that is. Because, uh, you know, they don’t present Don as an idiot, right? Mm-hmm. Like, especially when he’s younger, they don’t present him as a dumb person. He, he’s definitely, um, you know, makes bad decisions in the moment.
Mm-hmm. Right? Uh, and, uh, but, but when he has time to just think s- things through, he’s [00:40:00] stubborn, but he’s not necessarily dumb. But in a restaurant, to walk up to your coach while he’s having dinner with his, I don’t know, I can’t remember, were they friends, family, whatever it was, I, I don’t remember. And then just basically start talking to him sh- start talking shop.
Clip: Mm-hmm.
Victor: Um, and put him into a situation where, you know, like, you’re gonna… I, I just feel like, you know- N- uh, y- you have to pick your, you know, you have to pick your punches, right? And pick your places to do that stuff. Uh, I just have a hard time believing that Don would actually have done that. Like, you know, maybe why don’t you wait and take him to the side and ask him, like, you know, when, when it’s just one on one and not in a public setting like that.
It’s just-
Mat: That also doesn’t sound like Don Cherry
Al: to me either No. Yeah, I was gonna say, you’re, you’re, you’re- I,
Victor: I… But something in…
Al: But I don’t know. Something- You’re expecting tact from, from m- from the man, and, uh, I’m not sure he has much.
Mat: Very direct.
Victor: I know. I know. That’s as direct as you get. There’s just, there’s some missing do- like, th- there’s some missing dots, right?
Yeah. ‘Cause they [00:41:00] presented his father as this- Mm … kind of really smart, upstanding, encouraging, um, do the right thing kind of guy. Um, and, and then we see a scene like that, and then we’re thinking, “Okay, where, where, where are things getting lost?” Mm. Like, some- something’s getting lost here- Yeah … in translation.
Um, so but anyway, so that scene, I, it was disappointing to watch that scene ’cause it was like, “Don, what are you doing?”
Al: Yeah. “
Victor: What are you doing? Of course, you’re gonna get benched the next game.” Uh, you know, um, uh, it, it just doesn’t make any sense. Yeah. It doesn’t make any sense.
Al: All right, we’ll move on. Af- after the Alpo Soona- Sunen, uh, episode, Rose asks Don whether Hockey Night in Canada is gonna get him a lawyer.
Uh, he, Don’s not sure, but eventually Don does sit down with one to discuss his options, and the lawyer dis- explains that most of Don’s criticism f- uh, qualifies as fair comment. As for the dog food remark, well, Alpo actually is the name of [00:42:00] dog food, and Alpo is also the coach’s name. Therefore, according to the lawyer, it’s difficult to call it defamation if it’s true.
Don loves this defense. As far as he’s concerned, his lawyer has just confirmed that his legal strategy is simply to tell the truth. So I feel like that, that’s a turning point in Don’s, uh, career, I feel. I don’t know. Next, we jump forward to 1997. Rose looks older and tired as she reads what appears to be the results of medical tests.
We soon learn that she has liver cancer. She calls Tim and tells him, uh, she’s making sloppy joes, then asks him to c- to call Cindy and have her to come over, too. Later that evening, Rose breaks the news to Don and the kids. Don immediately says he’ll call CBC and tell them, uh, he’s taking the rest of the season off.
Rose refuses. Uh, she tells Don he’s going on the road with Ron and doing the playoffs. If he suddenly disappears from Coach’s Corner, people will know something’s wrong, and that’s not what she wants. Don doesn’t wanna leave her. He knows he’ll spend the r- the, the entire trip worrying about her, but [00:43:00] Rose tells him Cindy and Tim will be there with her.
Uh, the family agrees to keep Ro- Rose’s illness private until Don, uh, so, while Don continues to work. Uh, at this point, the film doesn’t make the timeline especially clear here, but Rose’s condition eventually worsens and Don steps away from Hockey Night in Canada to be with her. Uh, even Ron apparently doesn’t know what’s happening at first.
She passed away June 1st of 1997 of that year. Uh, then the movie picks up, uh, j- and shows us just how much the hockey world cared about the Cherry family. Uh, CBC management discusses Don’s absence and Rose’s passing, and then during Detroit Stanley Cup celebration, owner Mike Ilitch, owner of the Red Wings, offers his condolences to Don and his family.
And during his interview, Steve Yzerman, the captain of the team, says how much he misses Grapes because the Stanley Cup playoffs just aren’t the same without him. Uh, I know I didn’t clip this scene, but I wanted to talk about it because the movie really drops the ball, I think, in [00:44:00] this. It, it does not explain the timeline very well at all.
Um- But I do love the way it showed and using real footage of Mike Ilitch saying, uh, you know, offering his condolences during the happiest time of his freaking professional career, to take the time to, to give his condolences to Don, to, to Don’s family, just shows you how much- Mm-hmm … the Cherry family meant in the hockey world, right?
And, and even the CBC, who butted heads with Don often, the, the, the, the manager there, he, he says he’s gonna miss her, right? So i- it’s, while they kind of flubbed the, the, the part where she passes away, uh, they, I think they did a gr- really good job of showing, you know, how much they, they meant to the hockey world.
Uh, Victor, what did you think?
Victor: Yeah, I mean, uh, it was very jarring- Mm-hmm … i- in terms of kind of watching the story, right? Watching the story, it’s like, wait a second, who cut out a chapter out of this book?
Al: Yeah. It’s like we [00:45:00] skipped a scene or something, right? They went-
Victor: Yeah, yeah. It was… And, and, you know, obviously, it was likely very intentional because I’m sure that there was…
Tim had probably an idea. Mm-hmm. Uh, and maybe there was a family, you know, compromise in terms of what they wanted to include and what they didn’t wanna include-
Al: Yeah …
Victor: uh, about that very painful part of their, you know, uh, family- Mm … family life. And that’s probably what we ended up with, right? I mean, all
Al: they needed to do-
Victor: It’s probably some sort of a compromise is what I think
Al: have a, the t- text on the screen just saying, Rose passed on, you know, in June. Like- Yeah. Yeah … they didn’t even do that though. They just cut to a scene of R- Don in the park sitting there quietly by himself. Yeah. So we’re only supposed to s- Yeah … you know, uh-
Tanya: But
Victor: I- It’s very, it was very jarring. Yeah. For like a movie and a half, she’s such an integral part and she just disappears.
Mat: Mm-hmm.
Tanya: Yeah. I see your point, but at the same time, it was her request, or like [00:46:00] her dying wish was that her illness wasn’t a part of everyone’s life. Yeah. That it was her life. That was her- Sure … what she wanted. And I, I feel like the movie respected that part of it, and that’s why they jumped. And they didn’t need to say the date, like she lived from here to the…
Like, it wasn’t about that. It was Don r- you know, going to the bench and sitting on the bench and being alone, and she’s passed. Like I, I don’t… Again, that was their family m- situation for them to go through. I understand. But
Al: I mean, they, they still talked about the illness and her breaking into the family and the decision they made for Don to keep on working.
So- I, th- they didn’t need to show anything other than just saying, “Okay, she’s passed now.” Like, I, I feel like there was… A- I mean, Awesome’s agreeing with you on the live stream. She’s guessing that they just glossed over it out of respect for Rose’s wishes to not- Yeah … not to air their private business in public.
Yeah. But I mean, there’s a freaking movie about the [00:47:00] family. So, uh, Matt, what did you think of that?
Mat: Yeah, I’m… I was very conflicted on this part. Um- And I think, uh, I, I, I ki- I hear what everyone’s saying, and I, and I agree with bits of everything, and, and I, and I, and I, and I hear what everyone’s going for.
I’m conflicted because I think there’s, there’s twofold. There’s one, the… Having Tim at the helm of this and a creator writer… He, he was writer of this, right, as well?
Al: Yeah, yeah.
Mat: Right? It’s clearly a, a, a hard thing to write. Sure. Right? It’s, it’s you have the helm. Um, so right, some of it could have been we don’t wanna get into this too deep.
Maybe there’s a, a, a point of reminiscence on this and, and going too far. But to Victor’s point, um, she has been such an, a paramount part of this storyline to the point that a, in, in number, number of cases we’ve all said Rose is the rock. Rose is- Yeah … everything. Yeah. Um, I think from a, from a film perspective, they owed her a little bit [00:48:00] more in terms of her send-off.
I, I really liked the, the real footage and how they portrayed the hospital-
Al: They could have cut to, they could have cut to a news report.
Mat: Anything. Yeah. Anything. Yeah, I think, I think they needed to spend even one more minute-
Al: Mm-hmm …
Mat: pre-death on her. Um- Maybe…
Tanya: Okay, maybe this is- Just, just- Yeah.
Mat: And that’s just like…
And I get it. There, there’s no good answer here, but I don’t know exactly what I wanted, but I feel like they really just said, “Hey, I’m sick. Bye.” Like, a- a- and it’s a tough one to address in- Yeah … any manner ’cause it is true, true story. Um, but I think they owed a little bit more. Or would… Not owed is the wrong…
I would’ve liked to have seen a little bit more interpretation of maybe the family, um, as they approach. I don’t, I don’t know. I don’t know- See, I
Al: don’t, I didn’t need any of that. I just needed a demarcation- Some acknowledgement … of when it happened. Yeah. Right? And, and Awesome says at the end there’s a title- I don’t even need a date.
I don’t need
Mat: a date …
Al: there’s a title card. But there’s a title card at the end of the movie that says, [00:49:00] “For Rose,” and her dates. Yeah. Right? All they needed to do was have that there instead of at the end.
Mat: Yeah.
Al: You know? That’s all I need.
Mat: They just… Yeah. ‘Cause
Al: it, it, it left you w- But- Okay, what just happened there?
Why is he in the park, y- you know?
Mat: So-
Victor: Yeah. Do- doing it at the end doesn’t cut it- No … because by then the story is told.
Al: Right.
Victor: What I’m s- Yeah. It’s like as you’re, as you’re watching the story unfold, it feels jarring. Yes. It feels off. Yeah. Agreed. Yeah,
Mat: I agree.
Tanya: So
Mat: I think- Yeah, it felt like they didn’t know what to do, and they just- Mm
moved on. Yeah.
Tanya: So I think for me personally, because we have a friend that did something similar, uh, our, our, our dear friend Maxwell, he d- he was diagnosed. Yeah. And he decided, s- same as Rose, that he did not want the end of his life to be about his illness, and he did not share with any of us. Yeah. Um, and very much his death came out of the blue for, for, for us.
It was a freaking shock. Yeah. Um, and e- and I f-[00:50:00]
Uh, and watching this, I kind of reflected back on that- Yeah … because n- she didn’t want people to know about her, her illness. She didn’t want people to, to remember that part. Like, she was in the, in the commercial. She was in the sh- like, I, remember her how she was in the show- Sure … and not the, the- Sure.
Al: Okay … yeah. But in this case, we’re telling the story. Yeah. Like, the movie- Yeah … is being made, and they, they do s- ta- talk about her illness. I mean, I, I get, they, they could have maybe skipped it all and not talked about the illness at all, and just had a screen saying, “Rose passed away,” blah, blah, blah. Yeah.
You know what I mean? They could have done that, but they didn’t. They showed- Yeah … they showed her talking to the kids. I, I think, I think because it- Explaining the decision for why Don was going to continue working while sh- whatever. So-
Clip: Yeah …
Al: it’s just a little thing about me is like, wow, that’s, that was l- like, to, you know, using Victor’s words, that was jarring.
That’s all. I was like- Yeah … that, that was kind of a- I see
Mat: what you’re saying. Like, I think you said it, too. Like, it skipped a chapter- Yeah, [00:51:00] yeah … almost felt like. Yeah. And, and it left it on the table. I don’t know.
Al: Mm-hmm.
Mat: Um, it was fine, and I- Sure … and I, and I’m not gonna-
Al: Yeah …
Mat: like, criticize it to death. No.
But from a storytelling perspective, it felt, I think jarring is the word. Yeah. It, it, it just skipped over something where I think they could have spent an extra moment-
Al: Yeah …
Mat: and really pulled that moment together.
Al: All right. So we jump ahead six years now to 2003. Uh, we get a montage of, uh, Don preparing for Coach’s Corner set to ZZ Top’s Sharp Dressed Man, which has-
become synonymous with Grapes. It’s basically his theme song. Uh, Don’s putting on another one of his signature loud suits. Fantastic transition, by the way-
Mat: Yeah … from that into that.
Al: Yeah. I did
Mat: like this.
Al: And he finishes it off with a rose on his lapel in Rose’s memory, which, so I believe after her death, he always wore the rose on, on, on his lapel.
Uh, in voiceover, Don explains that without Rose there to rein him in, uh, he started branching out even more on Coach’s Corner, speaking his mind about subjects that had absolutely nothing to do with hockey. And we’re about to [00:52:00] get a pretty spectacular example. Before a segment, the producers ask Don and Ron h- if they plan to discuss the American national anthem being booed in Montreal.
They do, but Don doesn’t stop there. Before anyone in the control room can quite figure out what’s happening, Don Cherry has moved from hockey to the anthem to Canada’s decision not to participate in the I- in the Iraq War.
Clip: Uh, where do you wanna go with this? I don’t wanna go anywhere with it. What are you- Well, everyone wants to know what you think, Don All right, all right.
Uh, what’s Ron doing? We’re supposed to be going to clips here. Well, the records show that you sir- Buckle up. He’s walking us into the Iraq War Well, they’ll only be on this for a few seconds Well, I’m gonna start by saying, uh, God love England, God bless, uh, England, and, uh, Tony Blair, and the chips are down.
They’re there, Australia, and we’re not there. 50, 50 years of pride down the drain as far as I’m concerned. Let me ask you a question here. If we had a catastrophe where, God forbid, someone come along and wanna, you know… [00:53:00] Who would be the first in line? Well, see, that’s what I wouldn’t base it on, Don. I wouldn’t base it on our security.
I wouldn’t base it on economy. These are our good trading partners. Just a minute. Friendship I understand, but- Just a minute, just a minute. Let’s, let’s, let’s lay the cards on the table here. The troops went over to, to, to- Make this stop … Afghanistan- … because the fighting- Okay, let’s move on … wasn’t in Iraq.
No. Let’s get that straight. No, Don, that’s ridiculous. Yes, sir. We’re talking about a nation who has come to our rescue so many times, and when they need us, we’re not there. But is that any reason to sell our soul? We’re not selling our soul. Well, we may be. A few seconds, huh? Ron. Get off it now. No, no, we’re not moving on.
Don’t worry about it. He’s blowing us off. I can’t- No, we’re just riding their coattails- No, we’re not, Don … is what we’re doing. They just need a little moral help. If we can’t send anybody, at least send some moral help, uh, to help them out. Well, that’s when the prime minister got into trouble, that day when the war began.
Ron, you gotta move on. It’s gotta be now. Well, what if it’s the wrong thing to do? But the people who think it is, [00:54:00] like you, are the ones walking around the streets waving their signs. No, no, no, Don. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. And the ones who think it’s right, like me, are the ones laying their jobs and their lives on the line.
Now, Don, you know that’s ridiculous. Talk to me, Joe Uh, Ron doesn’t wanna move on Make this stop Fine, I’d love to, but what can I do? Go to black? We’re in it. They have to end it. What are you saying? Why are you saying- Can I say it? Say it Sometimes it’s important to stand back from the herd and, as a good friend say, “I don’t know about this action.”
Okay, okay. So if I was in a fight in a bar, you’re just gonna stand back. You wouldn’t help me out. Of course I’d be there, Donald. No, no, no. Of course I’d be there. No, no, no. If I was wrong, you’d say, “I…” You’d say, “Yeah, he’s wrong.” You’re with your friends, right or wrong. You’re with us or you’re against us. 40 countries, 40 countries joined the coalition, and we didn’t.
That’s right. We made [00:55:00] a decision, and as, and as Canadians, it’s important to stand up for ourselves sometimes You are actually saying that you do not support the United States in this war? Right What more can I say, folks? I got nothing more to say to you Honor, you come out and fight it one way or another.
You don’t sit on the fence. Well, I’m not on the fence. I’m a Canadian with the Americans because they are always with us. All right. Ties with the, mm, US. If anyone’s got a job for me Monday, if anyone’s got a job for me Monday, I’d be happy to apply. You’ll be fine. Come on. That’s what we’re all worried about.
You know that. Maybe we’ll all be looking for jobs on Monday. Don Cherry in Coach’s Corner, Hockey Night in Canada, CBC.
Al: All right.
Clip: Wow.
Al: Yeah. Um, I don’t remember that one. Um, I, I probably wasn’t watching back then. But, uh, uh, who do we start? Um, Tanya, you start.
Tanya: Ron [00:56:00] did that whole thing. Like, if he could have just…
He w- he had, um, a vision of- An agenda … what he, he had. Uh, absolutely. He had an agenda, and he was the one that was pushing Don to say all those things. He could have changed it. He could have, he could have- He
Al: could have ended it, for sure. But, I, I mean- They could have- … Don was gonna say what he wanted to say.
I don’t think Ron was pushing
Tanya: him, yeah. No, Ron was pushing him. Well,
Mat: right out of the gate, though, Ron’s like, “Let’s talk about this.” Yeah. Like, “You wanna talk about it?” He’s like, “Yeah, let’s talk about it.” Yeah, ’cause he, he- But Ron prolonged it. It,
Al: Ron- He prolonged it, for sure. He did. Yeah, he prolonged it. He did.
Yeah. No,
Mat: he, he stoked it right from the get-go.
Tanya: Absolutely.
Mat: Yeah. Yeah.
Tanya: 100% he did. And for why? For why, why did he stoke it? Did he want-
Al: Well, ’cause he knew Don wanted to get it off his chest, and he wanted to get it off. They both wanted to get- I think it was- They both had an agenda.
Tanya: No. I think, uh, that was totally- They were
Al: just opposite agendas.
Tanya: No, ’cause- Yeah … that was totally Ron’s agenda. Mm-hmm. And he was pushing Don to-
Al: I think he knew what, what Don wanted to talk about, and he wa- I,
Victor: I, I think, I think, [00:57:00] you know, in previous segments we’ve seen that Don comes in with a pre- Yes … premeditated. Yeah. Right? He doesn’t always like to share what his ideas are- Yeah
and stuff like that. Sometimes he does. So it’s not like he’s a puppet- Mm-hmm … right, uh, in this scenario. But Ron definitely prolonged it and pushed, pushed Don’s buttons and helped make this happen.
Tanya: Oh, yeah, 100%.
Mat: No, I, I also believe that there’s a sense where Don, or Ron in this case, is very aware of the power that Don- brings to the table on discussions, even on topics that are very unpopular.
Um, so in this case, I actually think there was more of an agenda from Ron’s perspective, where he’s like, “Let’s get us talking about it. Let’s not pretend like this isn’t… Yes, I may know Don’s opinion, but let’s bring it up.” And, and he’s really stoking the fire. He’s like- Yes … “I wanna see.” That, that’s why he’s brushing off, ’cause if it was Don’s agenda, he would’ve redirected the conversation.
Yeah. But no, he’s like, “Let’s get this out. Let’s [00:58:00] hash it out. Let’s h- let Canada, Canadians, everyone- Yeah … hear what our perspectives are.” ‘Cause everyone takes him so seriously. Mm. And he’s not, he’s not oblivious to that. Yeah. Um, so I, I definitely think there’s moments like this where Ron was like, “This is a huge opportunity to have our voices be
Al: very public- Yeah, and it was a balanced segment-
on a very unpopular topic … because they were both on, on different sides of the coin. Yes, other sides
Mat: of it,
Al: yes. And, and I love when Ron said, “I, I’m not hedging my, I’m not sitting on the fence. I’m telling you exactly how I feel.” And, and- Yeah … “Don, you are, too.” So you know what? I, I don’t have much of a problem with it because it was- No
on, on, like, they were both-
Victor: Th- there is a problem with it. Yeah. What’s that? Coach’s Corner.
Al: Yeah, exactly. Oh, yeah. Well, there’s that.
Yeah. It’s, it’s a coach- They don’t talk about
Victor: t- hockey,
Al: yeah.
Victor: It’s Coach’s Corner, and they didn’t- This was not the- … spend a second- Mm … talking about hockey. That, I think that may have been the only Coach’s Corner where 100% of the segment had nothing to do with hockey.
Al: Mm-hmm.
Victor: And so I think that, and, and you know what?
Like, [00:59:00] that’s, that- You know, you start every, you know, all the things that people are starting saying about him in terms of in his older age and towards the end, like he’s this old senile man, and he should stick to hockey and whatever. Th- it wasn’t him. Like, he was staged to do that as well. Mm. Like, it wasn’t just him coming in, “I’m gonna be controversial.”
Right? It was everybody was positioning to him to be controversial. Well, y- you s- Yes …
Al: Sorry.
Victor: Yeah, you know.
Al: I was gonna say- Including Ron, right? Even, even in the, in the control room, you s- you see a very different control room than earlier years- Yeah … where they were all, like, their heads in their hands going, “What the fuck’s he talking about?”
In this case, well, you had, you had the female producer. She’s like, “Oh, let him get it off his chest. He’ll, he’ll, he’ll get it. You know, let him do…” Like, they were a lot more willing to let them say what they wanted to say before cutting it off. Not the guy on the phone- Yeah … but the, the people in the room, the producers in the room were- Yeah,
Tanya: yeah.
But then when Ron was saying that he wasn’t going to get off of it- Mm-hmm … they knew that they [01:00:00] lost control. Yeah. Because Ron was in control.
Al: So, I mean, to Victor’s point, ev- there’s, there’s blame to go everywhere. So, um, but yeah, and, and this was probably one of the more… It’s also
Tanya: though, it’s- I, it’s interesting to me, though.
I wonder if Ron got in trouble for that because he, again, he’s the- Oh,
Al: he probably did. Yeah …
Tanya: he’s the one-
Victor: He, he, he might have gotten in trouble. Yeah. But the guy in charge, um, I’ve, I’ve, I, I’m not sure we know his name, but- Mm … who ends up not being the man in charge in, in the 11th hour. Yeah. Spoiler alert.
Yeah. We’re getting to that. Um, you know, he clear- yeah, he clearly didn’t like, uh, Don, and so he would have used that situation to go down hard- Oh, absolutely … on, on Don versus Ron, right? Mm-hmm.
Al: Yeah. Well, let’s move on. Backstage, the producers are furious, but one of them finally s- points out the obvious. Don Cherry’s been on Hockey Night in Canada for almost 30 years.
For better or worse, he’s become a Canadian icon. Maybe it’s finally time for CBC to stop trying to change him. Either fire him or support him. But [01:01:00] fast-forward to three years later and Ron and Don are still at it, uh, this time during a discussion about visors. Don makes comments about European and French players that trigger another national backlash.
The, the Bloc Québécois condemns the remarks, politicians weigh in, CBC publicly reprimands Don, calling his comments inappropriate and reprehensible. And for the first time, CBC announced that Coach’s Corner will no longer air live. Uh, then Don gets called into another meeting. He’s told he won’t be covering the World Cup anymore and, uh, and more importantly, uh, this will be his final season on Hockey Night in Canada.
CBC wants to send him around the country on a f- uh, farewell tour. Don refuses. Instead, he proposes that they keep the firing quiet until the Stanley Cup Final and then when the team, when one team is a win away from the Cup, he’ll announce on Coach’s Corner that he’s leaving. He’ll thank CBC for all the years.
CBC looks good, Don looks good, everyone wins. But Don offers one warning. If word leaks about CBC firing him, there will be trouble. The [01:02:00] executive asks if that’s a threat. Don says, “No, it’s a promise.” So CBC agrees. Don’s, Don Cherry’s final season has finally begun Except it isn’t. The season ends, management changes again.
The executive who wanted Don gone d- disappears, and his replacement wants to renew Don’s contract. So after decades of CBC executives trying to figure out what to do with Don Cherry, Don has finally somehow outlasted another one. Uh, for the final sequence, the movie brings Don back to where everything started.
Yeah. Minor hockey. And hold
Mat: up.
Al: Oh,
Mat: go on. Hold on, before you- I, uh, the one comment I loved in all that mess was the, when he’s narrating and he goes back to, like- Mm-hmm … what? Like, the very original episode where he’s like, and he references CBC executives are fire, are hired to be fired.
Al: Yeah, yeah.
Mat: Right?
Al: Yeah.
It’s true. Yeah. It, yeah, anyway, uh, let’s see, final scene. Okay, so Don and Tim are watching a kids’ game from the stands. One team is dominating 4-0 and celebrating every goal [01:03:00] with elaborate celebrations. Don hates this. He thinks they’re embarrassing the other team and acting like prima donnas. Soon it’s 5-0, but Don still insists the other team’s going to come back.
Tim bets him they won’t. Between periods, Don walks through the arena signing autographs and talking to young players. He meets a man whose brother is serving his third tour in Afghanistan. The man thanks Don for his support of the troops and jokes that the soldiers wanna know when Grapes is going to run for prime minister.
Don laughs off the idea. He’s too good on TV. Uh, back to the game, with three minutes left in the third, the other team has somehow battled back to within a goal, 5-4. Then they score two q- quick ones and win it 6-5. Don was right, and Tim has to pay up. After the game, the coach of the losing team recognizes Don and asks Grapes if he would come into the dressing room and give his players a little pep talk.
Don agrees. But it doesn’t go quite the way the coach expects.
Clip: Listen up. Someone wants to have a few words. You guys[01:04:00]
Are jerks. An absolute joke. And you know why? Because you act like prima donnas out there, jumping around with your swoops and high-fives and fighting nothing. You know, those guys, they got half the talent that you guys got, but they got pride. They showed heart coming back like that. You’re pissing everybody off.
Even the refs are pissed off at you. Why do you think you’re down a man the entire time? Guys jumping around like a bunch of Brazilian soccer players out there. You’re a good club. So smarten up, and start playing like Canadians. And you, you’re at the helm of this ship. I expect you to clean it up.
Good.
Mat: That is so good. Not qui-
Al: Oh,
Mat: man … not quite what they expected, eh?
Al: No, not at all. Matt, what did you think of that [01:05:00] scene?
Mat: That’s awesome. Mm-hmm. I mean, that’s… I, I mean, if that really happened, that’s amazing. If that’s the kind of pep talks that you- … that he dove in and gave, um, wow, I, I think there really isn’t words.
But I love that that coach immediately went, “Oh, shit, like, this is-
Al: The look on the coach’s face during that anti-pep talk that Don was giving in the locker room- Yeah … was, was pretty
Mat: priceless. And is, and is that, is that, is that Tim that’s with him?
Al: Yeah, yeah, that’s Tim.
Mat: Yeah. Yeah, and like, and Tim, um, Tim’s reaction, like he knew it was- Yeah
gonna be a bad scene- Yeah … right away
Al: with Don Oh, yeah, when the, when the coach first asked Don if he’ll come in, Tim was like, “Maybe we should go,” and Don’s like, “No, I got time, I got time.”
Mat: Yeah, Tim’s like, “Oh, fuck, here we go.” And, like, his look during is like, “Well, this is what you asked for. Be careful.” Yeah, yeah.
That was awesome.
Al: Yeah. There was a nice little touch there at, at, at the end when Don’s walking out after he tells the captain- Mm … of the team to smarten up, whatever. His hand’s doing a little bit of a shake or something as he’s walking out, just one of those, like, little unconscious touches that, you know, s- show how, [01:06:00] like, that he’s aging and, and, and, you know, we- he’s moved on in, in, in his life there.
Um, Victor, what’d you think of that scene?
Victor: Oh, it’s brilliant. I mean, there was nothing wrong with it. Mm-hmm. That’s exactly- … what they needed to hear.
Al: Yeah.
Victor: Um, and if it happened that way, that’s probably one of his- Better speeches … peak moments. Yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe one of the best speeches ever, right? Yeah, yeah.
Like, it was… ‘Cause I’m sure those guy- I mean, I’m sure every single person in that room f- took that to heart.
Al: Sure.
Victor: You know what I mean? Like, ’cause it’s not, it’s not some guy off the street. It’s, at that point, it’s Don Cherry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? At that point for, in a hockey world-
Al: It’s the coach, yeah
Victor: he’s, he’s the coach. Yeah. He’s the voice of God. Yeah. Like, he is… If he’s… And he’s talking about hockey, God damn it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, so, um, uh, I, he probably had a huge impact on everybody in that locker room- Mm … especially the captain, and maybe even that stupid dumbass coach, so- … um-
Al: [01:07:00] Right.
Now, I mean- Yeah. Often in these kind of biopic films, th- these scenes are maybe an am- amalgamation of different times or whatever, different scenes kind of thing, right? But if it happened exactly like this, there’s no way in hell any one of those co- uh, players in that locker room has forgotten that moment.
That’s like, that’s like a, a burnt in moment in their- Right. That’s a core memory … That’s a core memory- Yeah … for sure, right? Uh, Tan, what’d you think?
Tanya: Yeah, I, I didn’t realize that that was Tim either when they were- Oh, yeah … at the rink side and, and I, I thought they were scouts or, or he was with a scout.
Al: Well, Tim was a scout. That’s why
Tanya: they were at the game. Oh, was he with him? Yeah. Oh, well then that, I alm- I got half right then. Mm-hmm. Um, I, I really loved it because he was, uh, he was in his elm of, of, of being a coach, right? Yep. And, and the first thing that you would think any sport w- like, what they learn is good sportsmanship- Mm-hmm
and they just r- they re- they were shitting the [01:08:00] bed on it. Yeah, yeah. And, and yeah, it was insulting and, and terrible. And, uh, he did a good job putting them in their place.
Al: All right. Uh, oh, Matt, did I… I, I already asked you, right?
Mat: Yeah, yeah.
Al: Yeah. Okay. So afterwards everyone has left the arena. Don and Tim are, uh, s- standing together in the empty rink, and we get our final scene
Clip: Jeez, Dad, why you gotta throw hand grenades everywhere you go?
That’s what your mother always used to say to me. Yeah, well, Mom loved you to death. She always said you were a tough guy to be around. Well, I think that deep down she liked that edge. Too late to change now
Teach them. Listen how quiet it is under all that noise. How much eerie
I don’t know what it is. It, uh, the smell, I don’t know. I just love an empty rink[01:09:00]
So Leafs Canadians tomorrow night, what have you got for Coach’s Corner? Uh, geez, I don’t know, but it’ll be great. Oh, I can’t wait to hear what I have to say.
Good
Al: And that is the end of The Wrath of Grapes All right. Um, before we get to ratings and stuff, I’ll just ta- we’ll just talk quickly about our, our first impressions, and I guess I start. Um, I find that ending kind of non-eventful. Mm-hmm. I mean, it was kind of a, a, you know, a nice little speech he gives there, but, uh, the ending was like, uh, wh- when it ends, you’re like, “Oh, that’s it?”
Like, I was waiting for something bigger to happen, and when it was just that, it was kind of like, “Ah.” So it was a bit of a meek ending compared to the rest of, of, of the series. Um, but, uh, yeah, it was enjoyable. I mean, I, I, I’m [01:10:00] probably gonna echo what Matt’s probably gonna say. Loved every scene with him and Ron, just reliving those moments was a lot of fun.
Loved, obviously, Rose. Um- And, uh, yeah, it was, it was a, it was a fun, a fun way, a fun story to tell and, uh, I really enjoyed it. Um, I think, you know, if we’re gonna be a little critical, it’ll be maybe some of those flashback scenes, and we talked about this in previous, uh, weeks, w- seemed unnecessary or just kind of jammed in there and, and, and not really, didn’t really add to the story too much.
Um, so we, I would’ve been h- just as happy to see more, like, replays of old j- of classic Co- Coach’s Corner episodes, but I guess then I should just go on YouTube and watch those. But, um, uh, well done. You know, Kisu did an amazing job. Like we said before, he, he disappeared, uh, and we all he saw is Don Cherry.
And, and, uh, the actress, I, um, keep on for- blanking on her name, but that played Rose was, was, was perfect. It was [01:11:00] perfect way to, uh, she was the perfect cast for that, uh, that role. Matt, what did you think?
Mat: Yeah. One thing I wanna quickly call out on that final moment, um, and I don’t know if this was intentional, but I hope it it was, um, was there was, if you’re listening to the sound, you could hear the lights in the arena.
Al: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Mat: Um- Good sound … and I know that sound, and it’s a good sound, and it’s that buzz- Mm-hmm … and it was very much in that scene. Um, and that actually made me happy. That was a small subtle detail about that that really made that feel genuine. Um, and, and I, and I appreciated that. Mm-hmm. Um, as an episode as a whole, I, I, I think I echo a, a lot of what you just said.
I think the wrap-up, I mean, I don’t know how you would wrap up a story like this. You have to pick a, a moment in time and end it. I think that’s probably as good of a time as any. Um-
Al: I would’ve probably ended it on the Doug Gilmour kiss.
Mat: Yeah, yeah. Maybe. Just cut to black. Yeah. We, what do you do- I don’t know
yeah, how do you, how do you close off- Yeah … a story that [01:12:00] really isn’t finished? Yeah. Um, and you pick it at, at a time when things are just stable. Mm-hmm. So I, I don’t know. I mean, I’m not mad at it. Did I feel it was sort of uneventful? Yes, but any other event is probably a negative one, so you kinda gotta be careful.
Um, I, I, I, I also agree that the, the flashbacks, um, in this, in this last episode, I, I didn’t find necessary. The only one that felt necessary for a moment, but then I also think it sort of conflicted with, I think its point, was the one in this half where they flash back to his fighting- Mm-hmm … and when he knocked the guy’s teeth out, right?
‘Cause it came right off of a scene where he was talking about and endorsing fighting. Yeah. And you know, that, that’s the thing he missed most, and then they cut back to him fighting. But then in that same scene, he knocked the guy’s teeth out, and he kind of, like, that was a turning point. He talked about that being a turning point for him.
Like, almost he realized that, fuck, like that- Like it, it, it, I
Al: don’t know He felt bad. For the first time- Yeah, yeah … he felt
Mat: bad for, for- Right? Yeah. So it almost conflicted with his opinion of- Yeah, yeah … why, what he missed [01:13:00] most. So I think it was a weird choice. Um, so yeah, a couple gaps here and there. But, but from, I think overall it was a lot of fun to see the story.
Mm-hmm. You know, I, I, I’m v- very much aware of who he was. Didn’t know much of his background. Like I said in, in the first, uh, first, uh, series, had no idea that he’d never won a cup, had no idea that he really hadn’t played for the NHL other than that one game or whatever. Um- And, and seeing the transi- like how he transitioned across his career, um, and stayed true to who he was whether you like him or not, um, was, was pretty interesting to take in.
Um, as a Canadian and as, as I know he’s such a figure in the, in our culture. The only thing I felt was maybe missed, and whether it needed to be covered or not, but I thought it would’ve been kind of fun if he really wanted to, um, elaborate on his love for fighting was I wish they would’ve tapped into the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em series a bit.
[01:14:00] Yeah. And, and talked about that- I’m surprised they didn’t … a bit, right?
Clip: Yeah. ‘
Mat: Cause I think that was what, ’92 when they first released that? Yeah. And that became such a-
Clip: Yeah …
Mat: a, a yearly or bi- whatever, however those came out, like twice a year. Yeah. They were such a big-
Clip: Christmas.
Mat: It was a Christmas
Clip: present.
Mat: Yeah. Put it in the stocking. Yeah. Everybody who was a hockey fan got that for Christmas. My, my buddy whose whole family lived and breathed hockey, we’d watch Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em every Christmas morning when his dad got the new version of it. Yeah. So I definitely know it. It was such a fun series. If, if you ever wanna go back and see some of the greatest hits and greatest moments in hockey history through that period of time, look up the old Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em, uh, Don Cherry’s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em- That’s true
hockey videos. Um, you will see some pretty epic stuff. Um, so I wish they at least talked to that a bit because that was a side project of his-
Al: Mm-hmm …
Mat: um, that was very, very much present during the, the timeline that we covered here.
Al: Uh, thank you, Austin. Yes, her name was Sarah Manninen. That’s the actress who [01:15:00] played Rose Cherry.
I, I, I, I, my bad, my bad for not having her name at, on the tip of my tongue. And no, I’m not shipping Don and Dougie Gilmore, but, uh, I, it’s just a me- memorable moment that, uh, would’ve been maybe a fun way to, to, to cap off the, uh, episode or the, the movie. Tanya, what did you think overall?
Tanya: Yeah. I was gonna say, uh, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em, uh, Matt, um, I, I remember the…
Wasn’t there a commercial or a video with Dom, Don saying, um, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em, like, uh, get it and, and buy? Wasn’t he-
Al: Well, there was a rap that he would do. That
Tanya: should’ve- And it
Al: was like a techno- That should’ve- It’s set to techno music and stuff and-
Tanya: That should’ve been the end.
Al: Yeah, yeah.
Tanya: I, I, I get-
Al: Like him recording that or something
Tanya: I get that it was like this, that sentimental kind of- Mm-hmm … ending of him with the ice and his son and, you know, uh, ending where it all began sort of thing, but, uh, that would’ve been kind of a-
Al: And I mean, [01:16:00] normally I would say maybe it was a music rights issue or whatever, but I, I believe Don and, and Tim’s production company own the rights to Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em, so they should’ve been able to- Yeah
use it or- We’ll have
Tanya: to ask that question to Tim- Yeah … why that wasn’t included. Yeah.
Al: I feel like other biopic movies might have had a, a, a, a, a moment at the end there where Don is, is looking at a picture of Rose and, and thinking back or doing something like that. And I bet, I bet, again, out of respect for Rose’s wishes, they didn’t end it that way.
And again, like, I don’t know. It did… The ending just seemed kind of
Mat: Like even, even if it gone
Al: as like- Tacked on … a
Mat: montage of some of his
Al: best moments- It’s like, yeah, yeah … or something. Anything. Well, that’s the other, the other movies all ended with, like, clips of actual moments, so I was waiting. I was kind of looking forward to seeing- Yeah
the clips of these. I’m with you. And they didn’t happen. They didn’t have any clips. Yeah. It’s like they ran out of money for rights or something. I don’t know. Uh, Victor, what are your initial, uh, uh, thoughts on this?
Victor: I, uh, many similar thoughts, but definitely some [01:17:00] differences. Uh, so the ending, we can start with that.
Uh, I think I started, we started the podcast, I was talking about Breaking Bad. Mm-hmm. I, I feel like the ending of Breaking Bad would be the opposite of this ending that we got here.
Al: Okay.
Victor: Um, one, one is one of the greatest endings of all time- Mm-hmm … ever, and then this. Yeah.
Mat: Yeah, I saw where you were going with, with that.
Yep. As soon as you said that, there’s only one outcome to what you’re describing.
Victor: Yeah. Wah, wah. Uh, and- Yeah … I don’t know. Yeah, I, I totally agree that, uh, they could have done, they could have done something better. Mm-hmm. I, I wish, I wish, you know, uh, as, as, as much as Awesome would have hated it, I wish Tim at least would have had ChatGPT to ask- Is there- Oh, geez
something more creative than this? Um, but, uh, yeah, so, so that was, that was a bit of a letdown. Definitely lunchback letdown. Mm-hmm. Um, I- in terms of the, of, of flashbacks, I, I disagree with that because I think the reason you need them is for this movie to stand on its own, right? So you’re- [01:18:00] Right … right, so you’re looking at it in terms of you’ve learned a lot about him already from the first movie that we watched, but this is not called Part Two.
This is called The Wrath of Grapes. It’s s- it’s supposed to stand on its own, and it’s not a requirement for you to have watched the first movie. And so from that perspective, I think the flashbacks make it a complete story. Um, so, so I think they’re necessary from that, from that point of view if that was the goal, and we can ask Tim if that was the goal.
Sure. But I think that’s why they exist. Um, uh, uh, in terms of the, the, um, uh, Matt, the thing you said about the, uh, the flashback to th- to that punch- Mm-hmm … that wasn’t a fight. That was a dirty play. Right. So I… So when Don is talking about he’s missing fighting, I don’t think he’s talking about that play particular because that’s- Fair
not a fight. That’s just a- Fair, fair … that’s just a dirty… That’s just, that’s a Shoresy.
Al: Yeah.
Victor: That’s a cheap shot. Yeah. That, that, that’s a Shoresy, right? He
Mat: Bobby Clarked him right there.
Victor: Yeah. So, so the… You know, so I’ll give him a pass for that. But yeah, I [01:19:00] mean, uh, you know, we can, we can pick, pick it apart for the various things.
Overall as a movie, it was an enjoyable hockey movie. And again, it gives us… It, it pulls back the cort- uh, the curtain behind what we thought was a caricature on TV and then you realize, “Wait, there’s a, there’s a lot more layers to the guy.” Um, so you know, um, I, I thi- I think overall it was an enjoyable watch.
Al: Mm-hmm. All right, we’ll go on to ratings and, uh, I start. I’m, I’m first of the list. Um, so let’s see. Uh, w- we’ve given these movies, uh, you know, w- pretty good ratings. I think I, I gave the very first, the part one of the first one a clearance, and then fresh is for, for the others. Uh, this one here, again, with the kind of misstep, I think, in telling the, the story of Rose’s death and then this kind of meager ending here, I’m…
I think I’m gonna… This one here is gonna fall as a, a clearance for me. And again, uh, just, just to remind people, [01:20:00] nothing wrong with clearance. Clearance is fine. Fresh is exceptional. I don’t think this last installment was exceptional. I think it was just good. And, and it’s
Victor: too- That’s what I used to tell you when I would give you a three on your performance
Al: review.
Yes. Yeah, and, and, yeah. And I, I hated it then, didn’t I? Wow. Anyway. That just
Tanya: got personal.
Al: So, uh- … I think this- Hey, you know … this one here is a clearance. Matt, what did you think?
Mat: Um, I, I’m gonna agree with you on this one. Um, I, I think had it kept the tone and, and cadence of the first half of this, aside from the couple of flashbacks, I really liked how this, this, uh, one started.
Clip: Mm.
Mat: Yeah. Um, but I agree. I think there was a couple big misses on the latter half, um, in pulling it all together, especially on some real pivotal m- pivotal moments. Um, again, I very much enjoyed it. It was a really interesting story. I think the delivery, um, and the casting on this was s- uh, sensational. Um- Yeah.
Uh, but it’s a g- but it’s a, it’s a high clearance, but I, I, I agree. It’s [01:21:00] not an exceptional take. Um, there’s, there’s some opportunity here, but I still very much enjoyed it and would recommend everyone take a look at it. It’s great. Well,
Al: Tim.
Tanya: Let’s just put it this way. If we had of watched this all the way through, watched it as a movie and not broke it down into- Well, Victor did
two sections. Well, then it will be interesting to get Victor’s point on it, but, uh, I feel like if we watched it as a whole, um, I, I, I don’t think you would have the same feeling that you’re having right now. I think you would’ve, it would’ve had a beginning, a middle, an end, and right now we’re just seeing the end.
And the end, you know, Rose passes, his career is, is shaky and, and hangs on. Um, a- and we, we, we know how things progressed and, and how it truly ended at the end. Um, I think the story showed [01:22:00] his life and, and, and how his career went and, um, how he influenced a lot of things in the hockey world and how a lot of people looked to him and I l- and I loved, and we never talked about the, the moment.
I don’t know whether you showed the scene of it or not. I don’t think you did. I love that moment when they were in the boardroom- Hmm … and he’s drinking the beer. Oh. Yeah. And-
Clip: They’re drinking wine,
Tanya: but- Everyone’s drinking the wine That was a weird
Mat: scene. Yeah.
Clip: It’s
Mat: like Mad Men.
Clip: Yeah.
Tanya: And, and I remember th- thinking, “He’s the only one with a beer.”
Before he says, you know, the, this, “Here’s who I’m talking to. I’m talking to, you know, people that are, are hard workers and, you know, beer drinkers or, or whatever” and, and he has his point and his, in his moment. Um, I, I think you guys are underselling, uh, the, the end part because you’re not watching it as a whole.
I think it’s a fresh.
Al: Okay. Uh, Victor [01:23:00]
Victor: It’s an easy fresh. I mean, I, I, I would almost argue that as a movie from beginning to end, e- e- with, even with the kind of all the nitpicks you have about it, I think it’s a better movie than the f- than, uh, Keep Your Head Up, Kid. Mm. Uh, Keep Your Head Up, Kid, you learn a lot more about Don Cherry’s, uh, career as a hockey player, um, which is, I think, important.
But, uh, in terms of en- entertainment value and seeing Don and Ron come together in this Wrath of Grapes movie, and the, the, the pure joy and entertainment we get out of that mostly, except for that maybe, uh, uh, War, uh, episode- Mm … um, uh, is just, is just gold. It’s gold. And, you know, uh, uh, if, if you, if you can keep yourself from being offended from all the t- you know, crazy, terrible things that Don says, it’s pure entertainment and as f- from beginning to end, I think if you, again, [01:24:00] to Tanya’s point, if you just watch this as a movie from beginning to end, it’s an easy fresh.
It’s an easy fresh, and you can pick it apart, and you can say the ending kind of fizzled. That ending scene was what, like, 30 seconds? You know, you know what I mean? Like- Yeah … if, if, if, if, if the ending, like, was like, “Oh, this is was just a dream,” and, you know, so it’s like, “Wait a second, I just wasted two hours of my life.”
Yeah, no, I get that, how 30 seconds could ruin a movie that way. Mm-hmm. But this was, it didn’t ruin the movie. It was just like, “Wait, that’s it? Uh, can I have another scene? Can I have a montage or something?” Something. It doesn’t-
Al: Yeah …
Victor: it doesn’t dis- di- it doesn’t dismiss everything we just watched, right? Um, but
Al: if you- Right, but every…
Okay, sorry. Yeah.
Victor: Go ahead.
Al: Yeah, so fresh.
Victor: No, and, and just the last thing I was gonna say, like, the other jarring thing, like, you kind of have to give a pass on that just because you have to think that there needed to have been compromises or something that we ended up that way. I agree with you. Maybe there’s something that it could have been done differently.
I, I, I, I’m in 100% agreement with that. Mm-hmm. But it [01:25:00] doesn’t break the st- it doesn’t ruin the movie. It, it’s, it’s just something- Yeah … to nitpick about. I, overall, it’s a fresh. It’s a movie I would recommend in a split second to any hockey fan, uh, and anybody that wants to learn a bit about Don Cherry, and I think it was slightly more entertaining, uh, than the first movie.
Mm-hmm. So there you go.
Al: Okay. We’re moving on to MVPs now and back up to me. Uh, and this is easy, and, uh, um, I, I feel like I’ve a- avoided giving it to him for all, all the first three movies, but I gotta give it to him finally, and that’s Jared Keeso, uh, playing Don Cherry. I mean, he is definitely the MVP here.
Uh, just again, he disappeared, and, and Don Cherry was there. His, his, I, I, I, I don’t want to insult it by saying it was an impersonation. He embodied Don Cherry, uh, not just, you know, wholly, but, like, in, in, like, in young age, old age. He did a great job. And, and I’m, when I heard Tim [01:26:00] talking about it on True- on a mic like that how obvious a choice he was to play the role.
Makes sense. He’s r- he was right. It makes complete sense. And, uh- Yeah … uh, so, uh, definitely my MVP is, is Jared on this. Matt?
Mat: Yeah, I’m not gonna add anymore. It’s, it’s Jared. Um, he needs, he needs the respect on this one, and it was just so much fun to watch, so absolutely. It’s, uh, yeah, Jared Harrison- All right.
Al: And Tam?
Mat: And Don Cherry.
Tanya: Um, I agree with you guys. He did a phenomenal job. I think I gave it to Kesa before. Um, or maybe I didn’t. I know
Al: you
Tanya: wanted
Al: to, but- No.
Tanya: Actually, I think I’ve been giving it to Rose the whole time. Yeah. Ooh. I, I loved Rose in the… I, I, I did. Yeah. I loved Rose in this, so I- She’s
Al: great, and she…
Yeah, I know she got MVPs from, from all of us at, at some point.
Tanya: Yeah.
Al: Um, but yeah.
Tanya: Sorry, Jared. I, I… You did a great job, but it’s gotta go to Rose. She- Oh. She did a phenomenal job, and I love… I just, I love her in this, [01:27:00] in Don’s story.
Al: Mm-hmm.
Mat: Victor?
Victor: Yeah, um, you know, I can’t argue with that, but, uh, uh, Grumpy over here, uh, convinced me and, and I was on the fence, but we both
agreed that- It’s gonna be something dumb … we both agreed that
Clip: it’s-
Victor: It’s gonna be something dumb … we both we both agreed that it’s Blue. It’s gonna be something dumb. It’s Blue. It’s gotta be Blue. Oh, okay. I, I mean, Blue was so good. He was so good. I mean- Such a
Al: good ball- boy.
Victor: S- L- yeah, such a good boy. In that commercial, in that commercial, he was so good.
Al: Mm-hmm.
Victor: Like, you know, when he t- when he comes, comes into the scene, when it’s like, oh, it’s… we thought Don was gonna be the bad guy. No, it was Blue. Uh, and then, y- you know, and then he, and Don comes home and Blue’s sitting on his chair. Like, every scene that Blue has, he’s j- he… And remember, this is not CGI.
Clip: Mm-hmm.
Victor: This is a dog actor, and, uh, and, you know, it’s not actually Blue, but this dog, uh, uh, you know, did a fan-
Al: No, you don’t say. It’s not actually Blue? It…
Victor: Well, well, [01:28:00] some of you, I don’t know, it looks just like Blue. Mm-hmm. And that’s,
Mat: and that’s, you know- He embodied the
Victor: character … he embodied, he embodied Blue and, you know, and I feel like he did a fantastic job, and he’s gotta be called out for it.
A- and e- like, even the Rock ‘Em, like one of the biggest things that- Dawson’s
Al: right. Blue was a girl, by the way.
Victor: So that’s okay. We had, we had a gerbil that we thought was a girl- … the whole time until unfortunately, he, she passed away and then the doctor told us that, “Oh, actually it’s a boy.”
Mat: Whoa.
Victor: Uh, but the good news- Hold on.
Mat: Hold on. You took your dead gerbil to the vet after?
Victor: Well, because it was, we weren’t sure. He was, he was di- she was dying, and so we wa- took, by the time we brought her to the vet, it was-
Mat: Okay, one step further, you took a gerbil to the vet at all?
Victor: Have a heart. Anyway, s-
Mat: Buy a new gerbil.
Victor: Why don’t- An important part of the family.
It was a rescue. Mm-hmm. Uh, my son rescued this gerbil, and, um, but her name was LeBron, uh, or Bronny. And so when [01:29:00] we- LeBron James … so the whole time, we thought w- and we a- … addressed her as a girl. Mm. And then on her death day, we found out that she was a boy, and I guess the name fits, so it’s all right. Um, but where was I going with that?
Uh- How much
Mat: was that vet bill?
Al: We are always asking ourselves that question about you, Victor. Yeah. Where, where are you going with any of this? Anyways, so- Yeah …
Victor: so, so anyway, we both agree that it’s Blue, and by the way, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em, one of the best parts about Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em was Blue. Mm. Mm. You’re wrong.
Very big, very big part, very big part of the opening s- uh, segment, and it was on the show. Uh, I, I believe that- Uh, Blue did pass away, and that was a very sad thing that happened in Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em, ’cause then you started having the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Ems- Yeah … without Blue. But Blue was a very big part of the actual Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em show.
So-
Mat: Yes …
Victor: um, anyway-
Mat: But Blue wasn’t in… We didn’t talk about Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em, so it doesn’t qualify in that
Victor: scenario. Just settle down. I’m saying that it wouldn’t have been great if they… I, I’m agreeing with you that if they ended with a montage of Rock ‘Em [01:30:00] Sock ‘Em at the end, that would’ve been fun. Mm-hmm.
But, uh, and Blue, again, would’ve played a fantastic role doing that. But Blue definitely gets the MVP. Uh- Matt,
Al: Awesome wants to remind Matt- You’ve
Mat: convinced all of us …
Al: Matt, Awesome wants to remind you that you’re talking to a man who has befriended and named an entire lineage of squirrels, so.
Victor: Oh, yeah, we have Fred and Wilma right
Al: now- There you go
uh,
Victor: visiting us.
Mat: Yeah. That’s a good point. Doesn’t make it right,
but
Al: it’s
Mat: a good point.
Al: Before we move on- Like you have
Mat: out-of-towners
Tanya: visiting you,
Al: Fred Before we move on to final comments, Matt, do you have,
Tanya: uh- From the
Al: other neighborhood over … the Patreon roll call?
Mat: Yeah, sorry, I got really lost. I’m still- I’m still stuck on the idea of taking a gerbil to the fucking vet.
Listen, I, I have a heart. I
Tanya: love animals. Oh, you don’t wanna know what I did with a two-week-old, or two-day
Al: Yeah, it was a- Two day- … it’s a hatchling of a, of a bird … bird Anyway, yeah
Mat: Of a, of a what?
Tanya: It was
Al: a bird that- Of a bird What
Mat: kind of bird?
Al: It was probably… I don’t know if it was a robin [01:31:00] or something. It was…
Yeah.
Tanya: I swear to
Mat: God.
Tanya: It was a baby bird. I, I fed it. You guys must be making money, like- I took care of it for two, for, for two days I took care of it, and then I found it a rescue home.
Mat: Yeah, the trash bag. What? Sorry. I, I just, I can’t. No. Heartless. Oh, my God. I know. I know. I, I… Unpopular opinion, I get it.
Victor: All right.
Save yourself with this
Al: roll call. Yes, go. All right. Bitch Roll, kind of,
Mat: yeah. Go ahead
Al: and roll. Let’s let the monster thank our listeners. Go.
Mat: So to our lovely patrons, I’m gonna read it in reverse today ’cause that’s just how I’m feeling. So welcome back, Danielle to Ontario, and we’ll see you next week. I can’t wait to say hello. Theresa from Texas, Charlie from Massachusetts, Dave from Michigan, Battle from Rhode Island, PJ from Pennsylvania, Tobias out there in Missouri, and Catherine in Texas, Jeremy in Perth, Australia.
That was terrible. I’m sorry. I’m, I’m sorry. I take it back, Jeremy. Jez, [01:32:00] I owe you a text by the way. Um, Jay from Edmonton, Casey from North Carolina, Sarah from Wisconsin, Dennis down in Michigan, Cassie in Simcoe, Scott from… God, Scott, where the fuck are you? Like-
Clip: Tell us …
Mat: I know you’re out, I know you’re out there.
Tell us. You’re making crop circles somewhere. Goddammit, Scott. Noah up in upstate New York, Jen in Virginia, Dennis from the UK, Gordon, Toronto, Aaron in Chicago, Nick in Vegas, Miriam and Juan from Toronto, Jeff from Maine, Casey from Virginia, Joey down in Colorado, Mike in New Jersey, Robbie in Idaho. He was chirping me the other day about something I said.
I think I put a post together about The Rock and, uh, Kevin Hart, and-
Clip: Mm-hmm …
Mat: Robbie didn’t agree.
Clip: Oh.
Mat: Fuck you, Robbie. I love you, Robbie, but fuck you. Um, Michelle up in Sudbury, myself in Toronto. I really gotta… I, I’m still paying us a buck every month. You are, yeah. That’s nice of me. That’s so [01:33:00] nice of me, guys.
Uh, Ryan in Maryland, Justin from the UK, Jason in Indianapolis, Liz in Michigan, Awesome from California, Adrian in Maine, Chad in Minnesota, Josh in Pennsylvania, and our good old friend Melbourne Jack. We love you all. Thank you all. We appreciate you all.
Al: All right, uh, just down to final comments now. Guys, this was a lot of fun.
Uh, we will have one more, uh, egg haul next Friday to bring our listeners in and hear what they thought of our reviews and recaps and, and, and of the movies. Because, uh, hopefully they’ve been following along and, and they’ll have some things to say. But more importantly, I can’t wait to have Tin- Tim on next Thursday and ask him all the questions we promised we would ask.
We just have to remember what they were. Yeah,
Mat: again, if you know them- … please message us, ’cause we have not been taking notes.
Al: Uh, great job here again tonight, g- guys, and I can’t wait to, uh, to start our next-
Tanya: You,
Al: you
Tanya: What? You were the kinda kid that asked [01:34:00] other people for their notes ’cause you did not take them in school.
I
Mat: still do that.
Al: Yeah, yeah. At work. Yeah, he does that at work.
Tanya: Oh, my God. I still do that.
Al: Well, that’s why he uses ChatGPT now, just so that, to listen to him- There you go … and then he’s gonna listen. Oh,
Tanya: my God.
Mat: It’s changing my whole world.
Al: Um, anyway, uh, thanks guys for this. Looking forward to what we’re doing next, which I believe is going to be Heated Rivalry, so stay tuned for that.
Ooh. That’s hot. That’s gonna be-
Tanya: That is so hot …
Al: it’s gonna be a lot of fun. Um- Matt
Victor: How, how many episodes was that show?
Al: I think it’s six. Six? Yeah, six I feel like six. Oh, six episodes Oh, that’s not bad. I think they’re, like, 40 minutes a piece. It’s- Oh, my … it’s not, it’s not a big lift. But, uh, Matt, your-
Mat: Matt what?
Al: final comments.
Mat: Oh, we’re still talking.
Al: Yes.
Mat: Um, this was fun.
Al: Mm-hmm.
Mat: I really enjoyed this series, actually, so I’m glad we did this. Um, I like that we’re getting a little… We’re finding new content to cover, um, outside the regular shows. And, and let’s, let’s do more. I mean, Heat River I’m excited for. Um, I don’t know what else there is out there, [01:35:00] but, um, I’m open to recommendations, ’cause this was, this was fun.
I’m being introduced to things I wouldn’t normally have watched. Um, and this one I didn’t even know how to find it, so I’m very glad. And thank you, Os, for helping us out with this, um, and getting some access to this one. And, uh, yeah, I’m looking forward to the others.
Al: Well, we also have the Patreon review, produced reviews that I’ve, I’ve been promising.
So Charlie’s been waiting for us to do, uh, our review of Back to the Futures with him. So that might be- Ooh, I mean- … something we can do in between. I’m
Mat: in. Which
Victor: one?
Al: Uh, the first one. The first one. Oh,
Mat: what? Yeah, I haven’t touched the other ones. So…
Al: Well, the third one wasn’t bad either. It was the second one that was kind of- Ted Lasso.
Yeah. Uh, but-
Victor: Ted Lasso. Uh, there’s probably a podcast on that
Al: Oh, I’m- Yeah … I’m sure there’s a million podcasts … I mean, I,
Mat: I, I would love to, but I think that’s… We’re, we’re more, uh-
Victor: Yeah, yeah.
Mat: Okay … in- indie.
Al: Well, and it’s not universal. It’s, it’s gotta be, it’s gotta be somehow- Yeah Adjacent somehow … uh, adjacent, so yeah.
Mat: You know what I wouldn’t mind doing, and I haven’t seen it yet, but because it’s connected to New Metric, was the Ben Johnson Story one.
Al: Yeah, I wanna do that one. Yeah. I, [01:36:00] and I talked to, um, Mark Montefiore about that. Okay. I wanna do it once they get US distribution. They still don’t have it.
Mat: Okay.
Al: Okay. But he said it’s coming.
So once our- Yeah, yeah … American listeners can, can watch it, then yeah. I, I’ve heard
Mat: that’s great.
Al: I definitely wanna cover
Mat: it. And I would really like
Al: to watch it. Yeah. So definitely doing that. So, uh, are you done your, your final comments? Yes, yes, yes. Tam?
Tanya: Um, I recall that there was rumors on, um, extra content for the, uh, Don Cherry shows.
Al: Oh, those interview… Maybe we’ll, we’ll, we’ll do those at the Ag Hall If they’re not too long. How long are they?
Victor: No, they’re short. They’re very short.
Al: Oh, perfect. So
Victor: it’s not… We couldn’t do a whole show about it-
Al: No. So- … because it’s too short … we’ll save them for the egg haul. You’d be surprised what we can
Victor: do a whole show
Al: about.
I know, right? It’s so true.
Tanya: I know. Have you met us? Yeah. Um, um, w- is there content there, or does the content, um… Would it, would it be good to watch it before the interview with Tim, or-
Al: Oh, yeah. That’s a good point. Yeah, maybe we… Well, we can do that. I would,
Victor: I would [01:37:00] recommend you do a little homework before- Yeah
the interview with him.
Al: Yeah.
Tanya: So let’s watch it before Tim.
Al: We will. We will. Okay. But we’ll also watch it with our listeners on, on, on next Friday.
Tanya: And then maybe some Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em, I think should be part of our egg haul.
Al: Sure. We can-
Victor: Oh, we can review Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em. Oh, boy.
Al: How many- Wouldn’t that be fun?
How many, uh, editions of those are, were there? Like, 20 or 30 of them? Like, there was one every year for- A lot … many, many years. Yeah.
Tanya: It was the stocking stuffer.
Al: Yeah.
Tanya: And we could buy it at Zellers. Kmart. It was all Kmart.
Al: Final
Tanya: comment on- Pretty sure it was Kmart … on Kmart. Um, this was- There were
Mat: 23 official volumes.
Al: Yikes.
Tanya: Where were they sold? I don’t know. HMV.
Mat: And Zellers. Zellers.
Al: Yeah, yeah. I
Mat: feel like what?
Al: I feel like they’re all a- available on YouTube now.
Tanya: Maybe BuyWay back then. Mm-hmm. Um, this was fantastic, awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, this was really great, and if it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t be doing it.
So, um, uh, yeah, you get the [01:38:00] MVP. Um, I think this was a lot of fun. Um, I love seeing Jared in this, um, role. And, uh, again, no offense, Jared, that I pick Rose, but, um- … um, yeah, you did a great job. And, uh, it w- this was, this was a lot of fun. Can’t wait to do more stuff like this.
Al: Victor, final comment goes to you.
Victor: I bought the Sega Genesis at Zellers.
Thank you for your
Tanya: content.
Victor: Ta-da.
Al: And that’s all we have. It’s time- Ta-da … let’s get inebriated for the after party. No? Oh, I’m just kidding. All right, that’s it.
Mat: No, no, you should end it right there.
Al: I should have.
Victor: No, I’m good. I have nothing else.
Al: No?
Victor: That’s it.
Al: Okay. It’s time to get inebriated at the after party.
That’s all we have for this episode. Next week, we will welcome Tim Cherry to The Produce Stand on Thursday night, and then our listeners will join us [01:39:00] for an AG Call Friday. So we hope to see you all there. Until then, if you’d like to support the podcast, become a patron. You’ll get a shout-out on the show, exclusive bonus content, early access to interviews, and your own ad-free podcast feed.
Another great way to support us is by telling a friend about the podcast or leaving us a review, and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky at Produce Stand Pod. Shout-outs as always to our buddy, Ian Service, for the live stream, and to our friends at the Sonar Network. Our intro and outro themes are by Poised for the Worm.
You can find their music on all major streaming platforms. Thanks for joining us. We’re headed to the after-party. On behalf of Grumpy Cat, Victor, Tanya, Matt, and myself, thank you for listening, and have a great week.[01:40:00]
Clip: Wisconsin
What are you thinking?