You see, back at Christmas my mom put a gift wrapped book under the tree. All of us kids (yes, I know, I'm 31) were to guess what the book was. If we guessed it correctly, the book was ours. The only hint we were given was: "His favourite picture is a picture of Jesus," Needless to say, we didn't have a clue. We were guessing books by Pope Francis, or Benedict, or even Mr. Perfect, Raymond Arroyo. But after Midnight Mass, sure enough, we were shocked to uncover Cherry's book. And yes, there is a picture in the book of Grapes (Cherry) holding his favourite picture, that of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Here is a very brief review for you: the book is excellent and you should read it.
Love him or hate him, he is anything but boring. The book is more or less Don telling stories of the past. The stories are clean (he always does this, just in case kids pick up his book). Did you know that Bobby Orr's dad gave up an NHL career in order to join the army during WWII? Or that Coach's Corner once saved a guy's life? He was supposed to go to the barn to check on the animals, but delayed it by five minutes in order to watch Coach's Corner... and the barn collapsed at that very moment he should've been out there had he not watched it.
A neat part for me in the book was when Cherry, who has played or coached in something like 57 different cities, was asked who is the greatest player to ever play without making the NHL. You see, back in the old days, with only 6 NHL teams, there were awful good hockey players who never made the big show. Often some of these guys had the potential to be superstars, but for whatever reason (usually a spat with a coach), they would be exiled to the minor leagues. Well the greatest non-NHL player, according to Cherry, "was a nifty player called Guyle Fielder. He was born in the U.S., I remember, but grew up in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. I have to say, he was a sensational hockey player. He ticked somebody off - again, I never found out who ticked off, but he was one of us in the minor leagues his whole life. [...] Imagine! He won eleven scoring titles, nine in the WHL, which is just a step below the NHL, and never got a shot."
A quick google search reveals that Fielder, who is still alive, is third all time in professional hockey points scored, behind only two guys by the name of Gretzky and Howe. Also, the Guyle Fielder award is handed out annually to the top point getter in the WHL. Yep, Guyle Fielder, raised in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. Now I grew reading hockey history in Nipawin, Saskatchewan, but I had never heard of him before. I feel ashamed. Maybe I'll teach my students about him at school.
Anyway, clearly this has been some edifying lenten reading. Truth be told, though, if there is one underlying theme throughout the whole book it is this: the good Lord takes what are supposed to be downers in life and makes good come from it. As Don says: "As I look back on all of my firings and misfortune, I know the Lord was helping me through. I did not realize it at the time. God works in mysterious ways. He's a wonder to behold."
Amen Grapes.
Amen.