Last week, a Canadian institution came to an end. You may ask, “Why would you write about something going on in Canada?” Because this same thing could happen right here in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

I’m referring to the firing of Don Cherry, longtime Canadian hockey broadcaster and host of Coach’s Corner, which aired during the first intermission of the Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts. I’ve written about my love of Cherry in the past, and how I was a fan of his weekly interview show, Don Cherry’s Grapevine, which I used to watch every week while growing up in Western New York. He used to have great guests on the program, and would show some videos of fantastic hockey goals or board-rattling checks, and would often give his opinion on a particular subject.

It was his opinion recently that got him fired.

Cherry is a true Canadian patriot. He loves his country, as much as he loves his country’s favorite sport. He is also a big supporter of youth hockey, junior hockey and several charitable organizations. One of the biggest things Cherry is passionate about is support for Canada’s military, Royal Canadian Mounties and veterans.

Canadians honor Veteran’s Day (Remembrance Day) in November, as we do here in the U.S., and in a sign of support for those veterans, people stand on street corners all across Canada and hand out fake poppy flowers for a donation toward veterans’ associations.

Although I don’t see this practice here in Oklahoma, I do remember when I was growing up, veterans would stand on the corners around Jamestown, New York, “selling” poppies. It was an honor for me as a kid, to put a quarter or two in the can and attach a poppy to my coat. Often times, these veterans would be standing out in the snow and frigid temperatures in early-November.

My parents taught me to honor our veterans for their service and remember the sacrifices they made, including standing out in the cold to raise money.

The use of poppies to symbolize Veteran’s Day was inspired by the World War I poem In Flanders Fields, in which the opening lines refer to poppies that were the first flowers to grow in the soil from soldiers’ graves in the Flanders region of Belgium, these small red flowers were adopted by the National American Legion as their official symbol of remembrance in 1920. The Royal British Legion soon after adopted the poppy as their symbol, as did veterans’ groups in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, as well as a host of other countries.

The Poppy Campaign in Canada begins on the last Friday in October and continues through to November 11. The Lapel Poppy can be worn every day of the Poppy Campaign and is removed at the end of the Remembrance Day ceremony. What got Don Cherry in hot water recently, was mentioning that he felt even immigrants in Canada should honor the veterans and wear a poppy. As a part of Coach’s Corner every year, he runs a video of himself walking through a military cemetery in France where soldiers from several countries, are buried. In the video, Cherry kneels and reads the name of a Canadian who lost his life in World War I.

“I was talking to a veteran and said, what’s the sense? I’m not going to run the poppy thing anymore,” Cherry explained on Coach’s Corner on Nov. 9. “I live in Mississauga, and very few people wear a poppy, downtown Toronto, forget it, nobody wears a poppy. This guy says, ‘wait a minute, how about running the video for the people who buy them?’ You know, you people love, you that come here, whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey. At least you can pay a couple of bucks for poppies or something like that. These guys [veterans] paid for your way of life that you enjoy in Canada, these guys paid the biggest price. Anyhow, I’m going to run it [the video] again for you great people and good Canadians that bought a poppy. I’m still going to run it anyhow.”

Then he ran the video. However, it was the use of the words “you people” that got the attention of viewers across Canada who were offended and outrage. Following a meeting with SportsNet executives, Cherry was fired.

Sportsnet called Cherry’s remarks “divisive,” and said they “do not represent our values or what we stand for.”

“I should have used the word ‘everybody’ instead of ‘you people,’” Cherry said in an interview following his firing. “If I had it to do over again, I think I would have used the word ‘everybody’ — that was the big, big thing.”

There you have it. Two words caused a group of people to be offended, and a 38-year veteran broadcaster is fired. It is amazing how you – I mean everybody – is so sensitive these days.

By the way, my Mom was the daughter of Sicilian immigrants and had four brothers who served in the military, and my dad who came from Sicily when he was 20 will be the first person to stand and honor our veterans, every chance he gets. He knows what this country means to him.