Don Cherry has denied claims that he is retiring, making it clear that he will "definitely" be releasing more episodes of his podcast, The Grapevine.The 91-year-old hockey player, coach, and broadcasting legend was thought to be hanging up the headphones for good following an emotional goodbye in his last episode of the season.. "Well Tim, this is our last show," a frail-sounding Cherry told his son and co-host at the end of the episode, released Saturday.The younger Cherry informed his father that they had recorded 313 episodes together, which came as a surprise to him."We've been listened to all around the world," he added. "It's just amazing how many different countries people download and listen to it. We've had 6.5 million downloads."The elder Cherry signed off by thanking everyone for listening, adding, "toodle-oo!".In an interview with the Toronto Sun's Joe Warmington, however, Cherry put retirement rumours to rest."I'm coming back next season," he said. "We just meant to say goodbye for this year. We always do that at the end the season. There's no more hockey this year so there's no podcast for the summer. I guess we should have said for the season.".Cherry first launched The Grapevine in the 1980s, and resurrected it in 2019 after being fired from Hockey Night in Canada over his comments about those in Canada who don't buy poppies to commemorate Remembrance Day."You people that come here … whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you could pay a couple of bucks for a poppy," he said live on air."Evidently I said something that upset Sportsnet, and they canned me, and now I'm unemployed except for doing this beautiful podcast," Cherry said on the first episode post-firing. "Just two little words just seemed to set everybody off. I lived in a vicious world and I lasted 38 years. If I've got to go, I'm glad I'm going out on my shield."
