Happy St. Patrick’s Day

I think Down Goes Brown said it best on Twitter:

The best part of Don Cherry's outfit is that I'm not sure he knows it's St. Patick's Day.

— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) March 17, 2012

And then, as we’ve seen before when Grapes wears green, the CBC crew couldn’t resist a little (somewhat overaggressive) green-screen action:

Apple Bottom Grapes, coat with the fur

So this is from Hockey Day in Canada last month. The day’s festivities were hosted from Whitehorse, Yukon, and they included a WHL game between the Vancouver Giants and the Kamloops Blazers, numerous other hockey- and skating-related activities, and of course, Don Cherry in the Coach’s Corner. And it wouldn’t be a Don Cherry segment if it didn’t have some outrageous fashion, terrible character acting, and highly dubious relevance to anything. Seriously, the “plot” of these segments is so unimportant and unimpressive I don’t even remember what they were supposed to be talking about. I just take still shots from the television, folks. That’s all my brain can handle when it comes to Don Cherry.

But neither Don nor Ron disappointed with their sartorial choices. Don was decked out in some kind of Old Man of the Mountain fur coat and white hat and gloves, which is strangely an improvement of sorts over his usual fare in that the questionable tailoring and loud patterns don’t distract from, or even contribute to, the overall impact. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Ron’s M&M-colour-striped coat and wildly mismatched fur hat.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a Don Cherry segment without the requisite shouting and pointing.

What class, Grapes. What refinement.

Don Cherry: Phantom of the Rink

In which Don Cherry, in his pre-game segment before Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, wears a hat and mask, “plays” the organ and “conducts” his own opera. Or something.

But music, or good goaltending, soothes the soul of this poor, tormented creature. Or something.

Seriously, this guy’s WTF level just keeps going up and up and up, and we haven’t even done Coach’s Corner yet tonight.

Don Cherry and the Bull Shirt

We’re back after a terrific Olympic break, and so are Don Cherry and the Coach’s Corner! Don was in Boston the other night to drop the ceremonial faceoff, and as usual, his clothing did not disappoint:

Of course, any such trip requires a souvenier or two, and Grapes came away with a few trinkets. He put on the hat for a few seconds of tonight’s Coach’s Corner (a good thing, too, since it clashes horribly with the dark blue velvet of his suit jacket), but tonight’s highlight was a great turn of phrase from Ron MacLean, who dubbed the T-shirt (from the Boston TD Garden’s famous “bull gang”) Don Cherry’s “Bull Shirt”. I see what you did there, Ron.

Battle of the Blades

If you haven’t heard of Battle of the Blades, you really should check it out. The show is essentially Dancing with the Stars on ice, with former NHL pros being paired with some of the best Canadian figure skaters, each pair peforming a pairs figure skating routine each week, to a different musical theme. The first season came to a conclusion this week on CBC, with two-time Stanley Cup winner Craig Simpson and Olympic gold medalist Jamie Salé winning the first incarnation of this show.

Of course, no such show is complete without celebrity guest judges, and the second week featured—of course—our favourite Donald S. Cherry. Being freed from the strictures (?) of Hockey Night in Canada, Grapes evidently found himself free to jazz up one of his winter outfits for the occasion. Check out the hat, the bowtie, and the shirt/vest thing with the collar attached. This has got to be the most fabulous wintry 1920s-gangster outfit ever conceived.

Sorry I sat on this one for such a long time before posting it, but I think you’ll agree it was worth it.

The cap makes the outfit

Sorry we’re so late this week, so let’s get right to it. As they say, the right headgear can make or break an outfit (I’m not exactly sure who says it, but somebody must have done), and Grapes is no disappointment. This past Saturday night he took one of his favourite suit jackets and, well, dressed it up a bit:

I know that this beret is part of a standard uniform for the Canadian Forces, but, man, does it look goofy with that jacket. And the pompom on top…

Incidentally, the jacket/sweater/jersey thing hanging on the back wall was part of a special event Don did with his hometown OHL Kingston Frontenacs, and will get its very own special post because, well, with sartorial choices like that, how could we not give it all the attention it’s screaming out for?

Don Cherry and the Orca Hat

Grapes graces us with another plush animal (a sequel to last year’s plush octopus?)—this time, in honour of the Vancouver Canucks, a plush orca! Furthermore, the critter was on his hat! And even furthermore, he kept it on for the first part of the segment!!

Also, note his awful jacket fabric and the usual bizarre triple-breasting.

Also also note that the orca is not a whale at all, but rather a dolphin.

P.S. Sorry about the bad quality of that last image; the camera was zooming out and panning for the entire closeup. Excuses, excuses…

Don Cherry at the World Baseball Classic

Continuing his recent love affair with baseball, Don Cherry threw out the ceremonial first pitch before last week’s World Baseball Classic game in which Italy eliminated Canada by a score of 6-2. The clip was shown during last week’s Coach’s Corner segment; unfortunately Don didn’t turn towards the camera enough to glimpse the full glory of his cap and tie, but at least the crazy red velvet (or whatever) of his suit jacket is visible enough.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

On anybody else, this would rank as one of the most egregious violations of good taste ever to have been perpetrated. On Don Cherry, this is just another Hockey Night in Canada.

Note especially: the amazingly loud yellow shirt, the great St. Patrick’s Day hat (which Don had to take off a few minutes into the segment since it was even preventing himself from concentrating), the terrible triple-breasting on the suit jacket itself, the tie with green beer and shamrocks, and the inferior-quality handkerchief in the breast pocket.

Hockey Day in Canada

It’s Hockey Day in Canada 2009, hosted by the CBC from Campbellton, New Brunswick, and Don graces us with an old favourite suit, spiced up with some local sartorial flavour in the headgear department:

(Sorry about the slightly lower quality of the capture than usual; I don’t think the cameras they were using to shoot Coach’s Corner in the hockey rink in Campbellton are quite as high-definition as the ones they’re accustomed to using in Toronto.)