He's a BEAUTY!!

Loyal, loyal Leyzerites,

I'm dedicating today's blog to Grapes. Don Cherry. Grapes Al-fuckin-mighty. Canadian legend. God. Whatever you wanna call him. Mostly because I saw him downtown today, and he gave me his patented "thumbs up" sign, but also because he's the fucking man.

Look at that handsome face. What a beauty.
He was old today when I saw him. He didn't look unwell or anything like that, but I could tell he was knocking on 80's door. Healthy, charismatic, but old.
Funny how everyone ages right before our eyes, and we just don't notice it all the time. As far as I was concerned, Grapes has looked the same since I started watching him at Norman Hockey School in Flin Flon when I was like 8 years old. He started to rock a goatee, but other than that, I never really noticed a change. I wonder if it's like that with lots of people we see in our day-to-day lives, then we look at an old picture and think, "whoa! time flew by fast!"
I love Don Cherry. I went through a brief period of time in my mid-20's where I didn't like him, but I was shitfaced everytime I watched him, so naturally, I just disagreed with everything he said because, well, I was shitfaced. Now, almost everytime he speaks I think, "ya....you're right. Again. Grapes."
I dig a guy that speaks his opinion, albeit sometimes obnoxiously loud, but stands by what he says. He never backs down from a fight, he's romantic, and he loved his dog. He's got an infinite wisdom about the game of hockey, more than even, say, myself.
All of those things I love about him, but I mostly love how proud he is about being Canadian. Loud and proud. It's a bit stereotypically "American" to be loud and proud in regards to your patriotism, but damnit, it looks good on Grapes. about as good as a finely-tailored, custom-made suit. I think it could look good on more Canadians, too. I suppose it did look good on us last February during the Olympics. We all had a little Grapes in us for those 16 days, and that was fucking fun. Waving those Canadian flags around like maniacs.
I imagine there'll be some city pride of similar proportions if we get THREE MORE WINS here in Vancouver.
Glad Burrows wasn't suspended. I don't think it warranted one. Think about it: you drive a guys skull into boards at 50 km/h, and you get one game. You're really gonna give a guy a game suspension for biting down on another guys finger that is expertly and annoyingly placed inside buddy's mouth? naaah...come on, we're in the cup finals.
I bet Burrows has a game on Saturday. That whole first line, actually. Buhlee dat shit.
I texted a friend today this: How come Luongo hasn't been getting any buzz for the Conn Smythe? If he keeps playing as steady as he did in game 1, I think it's a foregone conclusion. Skeptics will keel over and die, for good!

xoxo, Grapes.

xosmlxo