Wherein Don Cherry dismisses the metric system as ‘Commie stuff’ (VIDEO)

Don Cherry is a divisive personality. There are those that feel he's an untouchable Canadian icon. There are others that feel he's dangerously nationalistic. But every now and then, it's important for those that find Cherry's views off-putting to be reminded that, often times, the man isn't pushing a dangerous agenda -- he's just spewing hot nonsense.

Keep that in mind in this clip, via @jonkit, from the postgame wrap-up of Game 5 between the Los Angeles Kings and the New Jersey Devils, where Cherry dismisses the metric system as "commie stuff".

To recap: Ron Maclean speculates on whether the Kings are slowing down because their travel over the year is beginning to catch up to them. They've traveled, he says, over 100,000 kilometers this season. But Cherry demands Maclean convert the numbers behind his speculation to miles because, "Don't give me that commie stuff."

That's correct, the metric system, the system introduced by France in 1799 and used all over the free world since, is commie stuff. Oh, what's that? You find it easier to keep track of things in powers of ten? Communist.

The face Maclean makes when Cherry says it is priceless. Here's that special moment, captured in time forever:

Now, it's possible that Cherry actually believes this, I guess. Canada was metricated in the mid-1970s by Pierre Trudeau's liberal government, and it met resistance from the right wing, the farthest right of whom actually did feel metrication was part of a communist plot. His famed "pinkos" speech is evidence that Cherry's pretty far right-wing. But is he "the metric system is a communist plot" right wing?

If you're wondering what that might sound like, here's a great interview from the CBC archives with a guy that truly believes this.

For a host of reasons, Canada never fully metricated, and we effectively use both systems North of the border. But our official unit of measurement has been metric for about 40 years now without a Communist takeover, so I'd respectfully disagree with the notion that it's commie stuff.

Like I said. Hot nonsense.