Don Cherry in Monocle. Monocle?!

Whoa. Good thing I didn't read the whole October issue of Monocle before blogging about the Tokyo City Survey. It might never have seen the light of day had I seen the profile of Don Cherry on page 50. Talk about being wrong on so many levels.

First of all, if you go back to issue one of my favourite magazine, you will find their fourth commandment in Editor in Chief Tyler Brûlé's "Observation" column: "Be an oasis from celebrities and low production values." Try to ignore that Cherry is a walking low production value long enough to do a quick Google search of "Don Cherry" AND celebrity, and see if you get the same 28 100 results I did.

Then consider that Monocle embodies such values as intelligence, style, and an open-minded sense of internationalism--essentially everything Cherry is not--and the surprise at finding a two page profile of him on their pages is complete. Unless they are trying to increase sales by appealing to hockey enforcers and puck bunnies, there is just no comprehensible explanation for his presence in the magazine.

Wait. I just thought of something. Let me check to see if they are starting a new series of profiles on nationalistic blowhards.

Nope. His profile has been filed under "National Icons." Granted, he is that, but that still doesn't explain what he is doing in an Affairs section normally devoted to politics. Business, maybe. He has made a considerable amount of money selling repackaged highlights of hockey fights. Culture? No comment. Design? This is a man who has his suits made to order from curtain fabric. Sorry Monocle, but you made your first editorial misstep here. Considering it's the first one in twenty-seven issues spread out over two and a half years, I guess we have to let it go.