With the recent firing of Ron Wilson and his off-ice feud with Canadian icon Don Cherry, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke was in no mood to discuss his job security when host John Moore of Toronto’s News Talk 1010 asked if he felt ‘close to the door’.
Burke responded by stating:
“I wish you’d told me before you asked me to do this interview that that was going to be your last question, he said. A nice little cheap shot before you get off the air.”
After Moore repeated the question, Burke decided he’d had just about enough. Before hanging up, he had this to say:
“No, I don’t. I think it’s an ignorant question, and a gutless one, too.”
Earlier in the interview when Cherry’s March 3rd Coach’s Corner segment was mentioned, Burke brushed it off by stating:
“I didn’t hear it. I don’t listen to Coach’s Corner, “Why would the CBC let the facts get in the way of a good rant.”
During Cherry’s March 3rd segment, Ron Maclean asked him what he thought about Ron Wilson. Cherry went on to say that Burke went behind his back to his bosses to get him off the air for saying something ‘vicious’ about Wilson, who Burke later fired two weeks later.
Cherry then went on to talk about teams with Ontario born players. He mentioned several NHL teams with players from Ontario who have done well over the past few seasons, and who are currently doing well this season.
“Every team in the National Hockey League has a guy from Ontario except one, guess who it is? It’s Ontario’s Toronto Maple Leafs,” stated Cherry.
He later went on to say that the Ontario fans are the ones that pay Burkes salary, while pointing out Burke’s zero playoff appearances since coming to Toronto.
As his segment continued, Cherry later challenged Burke’s attempts to get him off the air by stating:
“I don’t care; you want to take me on? Two years ago you said you were going to do something to me in the playoffs. Remember that? And I said, ‘Oh Brian Burke I’m Saking in my boots, I’m shaking right now, do your best.”
One thing is for sure. Both men don’t appear to be going anywhere at this point.
Don Cherry’s full Coach’s Corner segment can be seen here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQF0Pts4aY
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