The father of the most controversial player in hockey wishes everybody would just shut up about his son -- and that everybody includes Don Cherry.
"What really irritated me the most was hearing what (hockey commentator) Cherry said on radio and television," Sean Avery's father, Al, was saying in an interview. "I don't mind him or anyone saying things about Sean if they're accurate.
"If he wants to call him a jerk, that's one thing. But saying he has known him since he was 16 and saying 'once a jerk, always a jerk,' questioning how Sean was raised, saying he really knows him and all. That really gets me.
"You want to know who his elders are? His dad is a school teacher who works with special-needs kids. His mom works for the government. He has a younger brother. We're good people. None of us have ever been arrested.
"For Don Cherry to go on about knowing Sean, I'll tell you how well he knows Sean. Sean played in an OHL all-star game one year and Cherry was an honorary coach or something. In the game, Matt Cooke ran Sean from behind and almost killed him. I'm not kidding you, Sean went to the hospital. After going to the hospital myself, I went back to the hotel. When I walked by Don Cherry, I can tell you he was more interested in his Molson Export than he was in Sean. He never even asked me how he was."
winnipegsun.com - Hockey - What makes Sean Avery tick?