Open Letter to the CBC

Outstanding letter...you should be very proud, you voiced in a very erudite and concise manner what many of us feel. I for one want to thank you for taking the time to put to words what needed to be written. Go Chris Go

I think the fact that regional cable broadcasts out-rank nationally televised broadcasts is a clear indication of how irrelevant the CBC and their formatting is. They are an embarrassment to themselves and everyone they know. I hope everyone that is outraged takes the time to write to the CBC and also actively boycotts all of their programming. It's not like the CBC has anything worth watching anyway!

i wonder how long this guy will be on the air for. in addition to being a complete imbecile and brute, he's getting on in his years. go fck yourself mister cherry. and fade away already.

so apparently all the letters you guys sent in made some difference eh. what was posted in the gazette? was it your letter chris? well it looks like cherry will be cheering for our Canadiens now that his beloved bruins and leafs are out and either way, cheering for a team b/c they are canadian team or have the most canadian players is just crap... I say cheer for certain players, style of play, just dont like the whole pick because of nationality

Hey Chris, 1. Get a pencil. 2. Get a piece of paper. 3. Watch the next CBC HNIC broadcast, while holding down your bile. 4. Then, make a list of all the advertisers on that broadcast, 5. Lastly, CC your skillfully crafted letter to the head of the marketing depts. of those sponsors. Ad dollars talk, and in a perfect world, BS walks.

I stopped watching Coaches Corner last year. At that time, I composed a thoughtful email and sent it along to the powers that be at CBC. I could no longer tolerate listening to Mr. Cherry and his racist, red-neck verbiage. There is no place for hearing his way of thinking in my home, nor watching his foolish and bombastic mannerisms. If I want to see a clown in action I'll go to the circus, if I want to listen to a moron I'll view clips of G.W.Bush on CNN. I was born in Toronto 54 years ago and have lived in the GTA all my life. That the CBC employs English-speaking network hockey sportscasters who are biased towards the Toronto Maple Leafs is absolutely true - this has been the CBC's "standard" for as long as I can remember. I've often felt like listing the myriad "proofs" of this bias for a single game between Toronto and Montreal and firing it off to CBC but always decided that it would be a total waste of my time. And indeed it would be. Yes, Bob Cole is an embarrassment to hockey reportage. I can only realize some comfort in that it could be worse - CBC could hire Pierre McGuire. Now THAT would be the final straw...

As a long time Habs fan living in Hamilton, I too have written the CBC about their lack of English speaking coverage of Hab games, and, their obvious Leaf bias in their broadcast of Hab/Leaf games. Their reply I received was that the sheer number of Leaf Fans dictate the necessity/imperative, to cater to them. Leaf fans, the dumbest fans in ALL of sports, makes the CBC/TSN/Sports Net's job easier, since they are so gullible. I replied that they are ignoring what is easily the second largest fan base in all of Canadian Hockey, by not covering more Habs games. To which I received no return reply. Leaf Fans dominate Southern Ontario, and for CBC east of Manitoba, the Leafs are all that matters. Keeping the arrogant and imbecile Don Cherry on Coaches Corner, proves that. It took until the end of the season for them to discontinue broadcasting Leaf games nationally, and show more Hab games. TSN and Sports Net East, directly, and indirectly, kiss up to Leaf Nation, again, because they require the ratings that their numbers provide. But the biggest problem is, as broadcasters, (and this includes the CBC, especially Cherry)they live and work mostly in Toronto, therefore, they know the Leaf players personally. Most lose whatever objectivity they have, by that fact alone. For Southern Ontario hockey fans of other teams, it is just assumed you cheer for the Leafs. In fairness, TSN at least tries to present, what I would term "professional" commentators, who can rise above the fray, such as Bob Makenzie and Darren Dregger. But they are a National Broadcaster, which means they are under more pressure to be fair. In short, Southern Ontario is probably the worst market for a Hab fan to follow hockey, in all of Canada. During the season, I watch Hab games on RDS,(I can pick up enough French to follow the play)or, on US network feeds through the NHL Package. As such, I never get to hear a fairly represented broadcast, in English, by a crew that follows the Habs. It's something you really miss. I'm old enough to remember the great team of Danny Galivan and *** Irvin. Lastly, MLSE which owns the Leafs, and dominates the NHL board of governors by their wieght, will simply not allow another Southern Ontario team to exist in the area, therefore, they have no competion for their product, which keeps their fans in a constant state of frenzy. Ironically, for Leaf fans, a second southern Ontario team, would create the necessity for them to have to compete more rigorously for their fan base, something that do not need to do now, and, have no desire to do in the future. On the plus side, the status quo means they will aways remain a pitifully weak managed team,(they keep players like Tucker and Domi around long after they provide anything useful to the team, simply because the "Fans" love them)on the minus side, they will continue to dominate at the box office and the TV ratings. A double edged dilema for a Habs Fan in Hamilton.

A copy of a letter sent to CBC yesterday: Dear CBC: I am a Canadian living in the USA. In order to watch Canadian hockey games I have to purchase the NHL package from Comcast. Most of the games this season were the RDS feeds in French (perfectly fine for me as I have to see my Habs play), with only the occasional CBC feed (which I later discovered was because CBC carries much less Habs games than other Canadian teams). Imagine my suprise when, after paying fees above and beyond my cable rates to watch my beloved Habs, I am subjected to very bias comments and coverage by the CBC team, which clearly favours the Leafs. I am distanced enough from the day to day rivalry and comments to be able to listen objectivity, and I was both shocked and embarressed. My American friends, watching the final Habs/Leafs game with me were in total shock at the comments made by Don Cherry concerning Alex Kovalev. This coming from a room of rabid Philadelphia Eagles fans that trash talk every other team in the league, including their own. They posed a question to me which I could not answer, therefore I would like to pass it on to you so you could please explain it to me. Why is the most storied franchise in the NHL, the team that should be the pride of the entire country for the season they laid out on the ice this year treated so poorly by the national Canadian media? Could you please explain this to me? After the Leafs game, I was not planning on writing about this issue, chalking it up to typical Don Cherry stupidity, but watching the first four Bruins games (the third, thankfully was the Boston coverage), it struck both my friends and I that the bias against the Habs was evident. Please do all of us Canadians in the USA a favour; do not renew any of your contracts with US cable companies; we would infinately prefer the local coverages (either RDS or whichever city the Habs are playing in). While I will miss the opening theme song of Hockey Night in Canada, which always brings back memories of my childhood, I can no longer tolerate the biased coverage. Sincerely, One of many, many Habs fans in the "Illadelph" looking forward to the next round!

Great letter Chris but as Timo mentioned the only way the CBC will change is if their ratings really slid but for Coaches Corner you can give it's sponsor , i think it's Moore's Clothes , a little rattle at being anti-Canadian with the Don Cherry anticks and sponsor's like the attention but they hate to be labeled.

Dear CBC; I’ve always tolerated Coach’s Corner for what it is but I no longer wish to do so. I am very upset with Don Cherry’s remarks from the final Habs’/Leafs’ Game on April 5th, 2008. Don Cherry represents that “all boys’ male mentality” that women who love hockey have had to tolerate for so long; indeed men like Cherry seem to be one in keeping with the sport we love so deeply as Canadian women. But on April 5th Cherry crossed the line with Habs’ fans everywhere, of which I am one. Mr. Cherry had no right to make the remarks he did with regards to Alexei Kovalev. Kovalev’s parents were in attendance at the Bell Centre to see their son play for the first time in seven years in the NHL. Cherry had no business taking away from that occasion. Prior to the game, Kovalev was presented with the Canadiens player-of-the-year award and received the sort of standing ovation from the capacity crowd of 21,273 at the Bell Centre usually reserved for legends of the storied franchise. Of course, Kovalev has stepped in to fill the shoes of the Canadiens’ injured Captain, Saku Koivu. Indeed, Kovalev has done everything that has been asked of him this year, and more, and Cherry had no right to bring up what in my opinion was no more than a media witch hunt last year. No one knows what was really said last year by Kovalev, but some in the media ran with a story and they did it to throw the young player off his game last year. They successfully accomplished that in the 2006-2007 season. These European players are far from home and are separated from their loved ones. Life for them is difficult here. Don Cherry cannot appreciate that side of the proverbial coin because to him money and fame is all that matters. To read that they may miss their families overseas, macho Cherry would call them “cry babies” and tell them to go home then. But these men are not machines who are here to simply perform on the ice for our entertainment. They miss their parents and their customs at home. They get worn down like the rest of us when we do not have our loved ones to support us day-to-day. Working women know something about that. The weekly attacks of Cherry on the CBC against NHL European players isn’t helping these young men living on North American soil. Canada is supposed to be a welcoming, multi-cultural nation. Let us dispense with the dumb-and-dumber routine on Coach’s Corner that belies that fact. As for the number of European players in the NHL, does it occur to Cherry that these young men simply hunger for the NHL lifestyle more than Canadian youth? I teach secondary school English in Canada and I will tell you it is the immigrant children in my classes who work harder for their grades than do Canadian students. Many of the Canadian children I teach who are accustomed to having things handed to them will not work for success in the classroom. The children of immigrant families who have received the message that their parents gave up their country, and often their own professions in their countries so their children could have a chance at a better life in Canada, are the students in Canadian classrooms who hunger for an education even against a language barrier. Many immigrant children I teach are separated from their parents just as the NHL players live separated from their parents. Great sacrifices are something immigrants are quite accustomed to. Canadians used to cushy lifestyles are not. Kovalev and other European players like him, make it in the NHL, as opposed to many Canadian players, simply because they strive harder. For them, to return to a country littered with hardships that surely consist of poverty and political injustice, is not an option. These men need to be given credit for what they have achieved and what they have sacrificed to live in a strange country without friends and family to support them, and the CBC can no longer sanction the ‘good ole boy, redneck’, prejudicial comments of Don Cherry on their network. It’s time to evolve beyond that on Hockey Night in Canada. Ron McLean said Al Gore and David Suzuki were in attendance at the Bell Centre and Don Cherry belittled these two men. What has Don Cherry accomplished in his life in comparison to someone like Al Gore for example, that he sees fit to belittle such a man or any man? Why is it funny or acceptable that he should criticize these men on the Canadian broadcasting network? Al Gore was amazed at the spirit of the Habs’ fans. This remark too got under Cherry’s skin. He cannot abide by the passion with which Canadiens’ fans love their team. With regards to Cherry’s outward bias towards the Leafs, this too is in poor taste. When Cherry spoke with several military men before the Ottawa game last week, and one shouted “Go Habs! Go! Eh Don!” I thought Don was going throw up. Cherry responded rather awkwardly, “Eh no. Go Leafs! Go!” It made my night to see him flounder in this manner. The Leafs’ season was over long ago but Cherry had a sulk on him before the game began on April 5th. As a commentator for the CBC he needs to give credit to the Canadian team that did win that game. Why could he not say something positive about the Habs at the end of the game? They finished first in their division and first in scoring this season. They were first on the power play all season. They finished first in their conference when Pittsburg lost to Philly the following night. He works for Hockey Night in Canada, how about praising Canada's premier team in 2007-2008? He couldn’t say anything positive about the Habs. He just wanted to talk about McCabe battering Stewart at the end of the game and then he nattered on about the Leafs. As for the Leafs, in my opinion they showed the country what they are made of at their core on April 5th. When McCabe swung his stick at Gregory Stewart’s groin in the last seconds of play when not only the game but the Leafs’ season was over, it was defined very clearly who the Leafs are in that moment. They are bad sports, poor losers, dirty players, stick swingers and cross checkers. They became all of these things in the final minutes of play as they sat at a 3-1 deficit, their season over four games ago. They tried to injure our players who were advancing to the playoffs out of sheer jealousy. Even Carbonneau had told his players not to be drawn into fights after the whistle blew so there would be no injuries before the playoffs. Carbo brought Stewart up from the minors for that final game knowing the Leafs would try to injure his key players before the playoffs; Stewart is a scrapper. As I watched those final disgusting minutes of play in that match, I thought to myself, “This is the team Cherry loves? This is the team Ontario loves? They can't even leave the ice with class. They can't end their horrendous season with a shred of decency nor any semblance of dignity.” The Leafs don’t have enough class to be in a place like the Bell Centre. And Cherry hasn’t the class to be on the CBC. As an English teacher if he spoke in one of my classes as he does on the CBC airwaves, I wouldn’t advise him to apply for a broadcasting job, I’d send him back to Grade One. “And I’ll tell ya that fer nuttin’ fer sure boy.” The CBC needs to find a new coach for Coach’s Corner. They need a coach with a brain in his head and his foot out of his bigoted mouth. Don’t even get me started on the way he dresses. Get Dave Reid from NHL on the Fly to replace him. Reid is whom the CBC needs. He knows hockey and he possesses looks, charm, class, brains, and dignity. He’s articulate and he knows how to dress. Retire Cherry. Hang him from the rafters of Maple Leaf Gardens in one of his loud jackets. No one will miss him but I’m quite sure all will applaud as he is strung up, as he’s become little more than a mascot and a caricature in Canadian pop culture. Finally, why doesn’t the CBC play Habs’ games for its viewership? I am sick of the bias the CBC shows in its coverage of NHL games throughout the year. The only time I get to see the Habs play on the CBC, with rare exception, is when they play the Leafs. It’s racially motivated programming in my opinion. Maybe Cherry is working for the right network after all – you’re just a bunch of WASP good, old boys. Sincerely yours, Habsgirl

I wrote a letter too. I mailed my in. I think your letter is brilliant. I'll post mine here too in solidarity to you.

I think Ron Maclean said something about the french resistance a few HNICs ago, maybe that was referring to this (or other CBC complaintS)

So I decided to watch the OTT vs PIT game tonight on CBC, I even waited for Coach's Corner to come on....well well well...Don has just said the best thing I have heard all year, that Carey Price should and deserves to be the Rookie of the Year, then him and Ron go on to praise Brisebois, you think someone told about all the Habs fans being upset? Anyways, good stuff Don, keep it up, all the things you do for our fine soldiers, (whom i wish would all come home for good), and to the fact that you do still "know" great hockey.

Todays Coach's Corner: Price a superstar, praises Brisebois. Honestly, I get as mad as anybody else when he's biased towards the Bruins. But maybe its because I'm a Kingston boy, but I don't necessarily want to impeach Don Cherry. Cherry, Cole, sometimes ignorant but they are passionate Canadian hockey fans like you or I, and I think they should check their agendas as far as Leafs or anti-Canadian antics go, but I find HNIC playoff hockey, or saturday night HNIC soothing as I've grown up with it. Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with this article and I hope CBC takes note, but I think changing the cast of HNIC would be a mistake

I am a life-long Habs fan that spent the first 22 years of my life in Ontario (Leafs Nation) and now live in Montreal (Habs Nation). I feel that I am in a unique position to shed light on this whole controversy about the CBC. Problems with your open letter: 1) The CBC did not make Don Cherry a celebrity. He won the Jack Adams Trophy as Coach of the Year in 1978 and brought Boston to the Stanley Cup final twice (1976 and 1977). He knows hockey. You may not agree with him on everything, but he's more than qualified. 2) Don Cherry is an entertainer. You assume that Don Cherry was hired for his insightful commentary and no one has noticed that he's turned into a raving, bad-suit-wearing, octopus-throwing psycho. His controversial nature and statements (some of which are ridiculous) are precisely WHY he has the job he does. Love him or hate him, people watch him. 3) RDS is NOT a model hockey broadcasting network. Believe me, I grew up watching CBC whenever the Habs would play the Leafs, and I know what a biased network is. RDS is the Habs equivalent to the CBC. It is equally biased, but no one notices because we can't get enough of the Habs. We like RDS precisely BECAUSE they are so pro-habs. In fact, Pierre and Yvon are just as pro-quebecois as Bob Cole and Harry Neale are pro-Toronto. 4) Why, oh why am I subjected to lengthy analysis of the future of Guillaume Latendresse? Why do you not see the same attention paid to Andrei Markov? Mark Streit? Michael Ryder? Chris Higgins? Sure all those players are FAR better than Lats, and yet the coverage of Gui! is endless. I am not saying the CBC is perfect. Far from it. I happen to like Don Cherry a lot. I don't always agree with him, but I respect his bias. Just like I respect Pierre and Yvon's bias. The announcers should be impartial, but the network is free to peddle to it's biggest subscribers: Leafs Nation. We might not like it, but the majority rules. And if you've never been to Ontario to see how far Leafs Nation stretches, then this might be hard to understand, but the whiny voices of Habs fans telling them how much they suck gets old pretty quick. Let's take comfort in the fact that we have a winning team! It's like when Bob Gainey said the biggest problem was the Habs this year was winning faceoffs. Bitching about networks and winning faceoffs are two things only a winning team is concerned about.

Great letter Chris. We should all take a deep breath here. 1st, the CBC wont last more than 5 more years. They simply cannot compete with the cable stations in terms of money. CBC also has internal problems. Back in October, I drove down to Pittsburgh and had the priviledge of meeting CBC broadcaster Jim Hughson after the Habs beat the Pens in a shootout. I praised Jim on his announcing skill and how he manages to stay unbiased. I told him how he is a breath of fresh air for us that dare to still endure watching the Habs on CBC. Jim seemed very understanding of this, and raved about how great the Habs fans are. He said he could see why we are frustrated and feel insulted. He said hearing positive feedback like mine really motivates him. Jim said he does not agree with the current approach that the CBC takes with the Habs coverage. I have grown up on RDS my whole life and really enjoy Yvon and Pierre and will continue to watch them. However, it would still be nice to have English announcing on tv from time to time, that doesnt make you want to smash your tv in!

You are completely right Chris. Which is why we need another alternative in English. THE SCORE Television Network have the rights to broadcast all 82 HABS games on their network in ENGLISH, NATIONWIDE, starting as early as NEXT SEASON (HABS' centennial year). The only other issue to take care of is setting up a deal with VIDEOTRON, which would allow THE SCORE to be a part of their cable network, in Montreal. SIGN this petition if you want it to happen: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13452956436&ref=share AND/OR JOIN this group if you want it to happen: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13452956436&ref=share

As a Canadian (and Habs fan)living in Philadelphia I have to purchase the Comcast NHL package in order to get most Canadian games. Right now most of the Habs game feeds we are receiving are the CBC game coverages. During the regular season we were fortunate to occasionally get the RDS games. What a difference! Don Cherry, while initially amusing in a buffoon sort of way, has so outstayed his welcome with true hockey fans. Please post an on-line petition to the CBC - there are thousands of Canadian hockey fans (not just Habs) in the US that would sign the petition!

Very well put Chris, kudos!

Boycot the cbc they ignorded us all season. Most of the nuckleheads at cbc especily don cheeryhead, Can't even pronance the european names properly. RDS does a great job.This is YANK logging in.

I know it's a couple of days since this was posted but I had to add my thoughts.... Great letter!!!! I am an English Canadian living in Nova Scotia who is learning French, THANKS TO RDS. Keep up the good work... It seams that all the CBC staff are cheering for the Bruins. They can do no wrong in the eyes of Bob Cole, Kelly Hurdy and Ron MacLean... CBC should be ashamed of this production!!!!!!

Chris.. excellent. but, sadly, they clearly don't give a $%$#.

great letter, this is just my opinion. the letter sounds like it is coming from a biased habs fan. if you are really going to send it i would try and use other examples than just the bias against the habs and how RDS is better (again a quebec station implying a biased habs fan.) incluse TSN in there, or the west coast CBC play callers, which i find pretty good. what i got from the letter, although all valid points, was a habs fan wanting more habs games not a canadian wanting more canadian games.

Chris Great letter. Don't know what prompted me to do this, but I was on youtube and came across this gem. http://youtube.com/watch?v=b3FwRoBoYuM&feature=related Looks like the US now has their own Don Cherry!

I agree! Another annoying thing is how they (Cole?) keep on saying is that Boston is shooting from the point because Price doesn't look at the puck. How can anybody who 'knows' hockey say that? Embarrassing...really, up there with the glow in the dark FOX puck. Does Price just guess where the puck is and manage to stop all of them (except one?).

The play by play is bad too. They need a house cleaning. It needs to be unbaised. Its that simple.

I think we should make this into an online petition. I know a handfull of people that would sign it.

Brilliant... absolutely fantastic letter, Chris.

Plain and simple I refuse to watch CBC when the Habs are on. I watch the Habs on RDS and slowly but surely I will understand the French language more and more. Thank goodness for RDS. I am sick and tired of the rhetoric on CBC and their obsessiveness with the Leafs; aka "The Most Conceited Franchise in the NHL" Great letter!!

I have more of a problem with Bob Cole. At least I can change the channel when Cherry comes on. It really ruins the game to have such horrible commentary. Even putting the bias aside, much of what he says is just plain wrong. Passes are shots that miss the net, clearing attempts are turnovers, its like he's often watching a different game. It took him until the third replay to realize that it wasn't Smolinski, but Kostospolous that scored the lone habs goal. It was obvious the first time live.

Great letter chris, i have written a couple of times in the past and have gotten zero response from them. CBC would rather collectivly stick their heads in the sand then acknowledge habs fans concerns/complaints. I guess the only way to shut the yaps of clowns like cherry is for the habs to win.

Great letter Chris. I also wrote the CBC last week with my complaint regarding Bob Cole. Hopefully more people can write in and help get rid of these two guys.

Well put Chris! The only thing that I would add is some praise where praise is due. Ron MacLean has been on HNIC since I can remember, and has been putting up with Don Cherry the entire time. He has less bias than most of the officials in the NHL, and has a knack for politely giving praise where Don does not.

well said...although i do watch HNIC to criticize don cherry...does that make me a hater?

nice letter chris, can the next one be about kicking bob cole out? From the general consent of us fans it seems that most people dont want to watch hnic b/c of him. I love how the links are from well known media sources, great job on that

Good luck to you Chris, and I hope you make a splash, but I have a feeling that when the CBC hires survey companies to do their viewer polling, all the numbers on the telephone list have 416 or 905 area codes. So long as Toronto tunes in, Cherry keeps his job... 1. www.flickeringpictures.com - not a hockey site, but still kinda neat 2. Josh Gorges on Montreal's speed: "They're comin', they're comin' and they keep comin'. Just line after line, wave after wave..."

Complaints to the CBC about the Ron and Don Show usually get short shrift and long silences in return. I have written my own on more than one occasion and have yet to be acknowledged. The best and probably most viable alternative is to lodge a complaint with your local MP. They will probably not listen to one or two messages, but a file folder of complaints (or a petition) from some of their electorate WILL be heard.

GREAT letter Chris - if you get a response I'd love to see it. Born an raised English Canadian who LOVES RDS... right here. CBC is a joke. They should call it the English Canadian Broadcasting Company - cause lets face it... if its out of Quebec they really don't care. Lets face it, TSN does this stuff all the time and it's understandable... it's TSN. But CBC isn't Toronto oriented (or so they say) - it should be Canadian oriented. I wonder how CBC will adjust when/if Habs make the playoffs.

Chris - A well thought out and clearly stated letter. It's about time "the other side" made their thoughts and feelings known on how this man has overstayed his welcome. He may have been original and entertaining when he first arrived on the scene but he has now turned into an antediluvian embarrassment. Time to bring down the curtain and shut off the house lights on this guy's wornout, vaudevillian act. The Original 24.2 Cups

hey chris, nice one, but i think bob cole should get more heat as well. he is nowhere near as abrasive as grapes of course, but he just gets it wrong so many times and is a very poor play by play guy in my opinion.

Well said, Chris. Log your complaints on-line, folks, or all of this will just blow over. Gilbert Remember '71? Remember '86? Now is the time to believe. The Drive for 25 Begins! Go Habs Go!

Thanks Chris. Thank you for taking action and for writing so elequently. Cherry is well past his prime and is he really the best person to promote the game to our kids or to a new generation of hockey fans? Its time for a change at CBC. Last year I suggested they change the format of Coach's Corner to Coaches Corner. Bring in ex-coaches, like Scotty Bowman and Pat Burns, to discuss the topics of the game. By having more opinons on topics then a curmudgeon like Cherry will be exposed for his antiquated and narrow-minded views. Cherry only coached 6 seasons in the NHL and NEVER won a Stanley cup with both Phil Esposito and Bobby Orr on his team. He hasn't coached a meaningful game in over 20 years yet the CBC keeps throwing him on like a bad suit. Don Cherry's Coaching Record (Source: nhldb.com) Boston 1974-1975 G: 80, W: 40, L: 26, T: 14, Lost in Round 1 1975-1976 G: 80, W: 48, L: 15, T: 17, Lost in Round 1 1976-1977 G: 80, W: 49, L: 23, T: 8, Lost in Finals 1977-1978 G: 80, W: 51, L: 18, T: 11, Lost in Finals 1978-1979 G: 80, W: 43, L: 23, T: 14, Lost in Round 3 Colorado 1979-1980 G: 80, W: 19, L: 47, T: 6

The only way CBC will understand is when their ratings drop well below any sustainable level. Otherwise, I doubt you will get a time of day from them, Chris. Well written though and I support it 100%.

well done Chris will the CBC listen? we can but hope

While I agree in principle with what youre saying, if you really want to make a difference you need to provide them with examples that do not include the habs - otherwise this only looks like a disgruntled habs fan, and not, as you say, a proud canadian. If you have other evidence of his inaccuracy, his racism, his biases, etc, put it in. I would print a thousand copies of this letter and distribute them downtown everywhere to spread awareness. But remove the term blatantly evident - that's redundant. If something is blatant, it is evident. Pick one or the other. Edit: Apologies to chris if this sounded pedantic. It didnt mean to. Just want whatever is sent to be as cogent as possible.

Great letter Chris,and I support you 100% in it but it probably won't do much good. I have written to CBC and complained on numerous occasions to no avail. I've gotten only one reply. Last night was the last straw for me. I will not watch them again, ever. RDS from now on. If the CBC decides some day to do the right thing and fire Cherry and MacLame, then I may start watching again. But...RDS RULES!!!

Great letter, too bad it will appear before closed minds and deaf ears. I also wrote CBC a letter the year after the lockout, complaining of biased commentary by Bob Cole and Harry Neale and the fact that the CBC are ramming the leafs down every Canadians throat. The response I received was a forum one at best thanking me for my continued support of the CBC and that the reason Toronto gets a majority of the CBC games is because they have a larger fans base. Money talks!! As for Cherry, I think the ratings speak for themselves, people are tired of the same thing week after week.

great letter, I agree 100%

Don Cherry, love or hate him he does have a way about him. It's NEVER over til it's OVER!

I'm not Quebecois, I'm not even Canadian, but I find this guy irritating and offensive. Like an old grandfather, who always has simple answer for everything. You have to tolerate him at the table - you don't put him on TV.

thanks for putting this up.. i agree 100%. ______ an expert is someone who learns more and more about less and less, and eventually knows everything about nothing. http://habs-io.myminicity.com/ - click and populate!

Excellent letter Chris. I sent an email to the CBC last year to complain about Ron and Don openly cheering for the Leafs before and during the last game of the season last year. Not too much came of it. Thanks for trying again. A well thought out piece. Glenn Stanton Saint John, NB

Well said!

Great letter Chris. I hope all the posters get a chance to read it. I used to look forward to Coach's Corner one time, but it has been several years since I have even bothered to watch it. I don't find it entertaining at all, or even relevant for that matter.

Bravo Good Sir! --- Chris

This is something that needed to be done for a long time. Congratulations on a great letter. I have occasionally e-mailed CBC with complaints but never got the satisfaction of even a reply. I hope that you sent this to their website.

My God, the comments section from the link you used to back up your claims of Don Cherry's hypocrisy (as if that needed backing up, but I like your approach nonetheless) is really scary. I've always felt the professional sports world is a little behind the times in terms of being open-minded, accepting of all people and trying not to be biased and hateful, but I guess the good people here at HI/O.com are a bit of an exception, because the climate here is a lot saner than whatever would arise should the people commenting on Adam Proteau's article form a similar community. In any case, great letter, Chris. It seems to be a little de rigueur these days to write a letter of complaint to the CBC, but this is truly a shining example for all to read and appreciate. If anyone wants to know how to properly complain about something in writing, look no further...