Don Cherry's a jerk. Plus a Penguins Podcast and Ronald "Lights Out" Petrovicky:

In this week's Hear & Now Sports Podcast, Penguins beat writer Shelly Anderson and reporter Mark Belko discuss the Penguins and the arena situation with online sports editor Dan Gigler, and Seth Rorabaugh tells us what Empty-Netters is all about:

Hear & Now: Penguins

Peter Diana, Post-Gazette
You can't stop the Russian.
You can only hope to contain him.

Squished Grapes

After watching Ronald Petrovicky take out some frustrations on the skull of Toronto Maple Leaf Kris Newbury Saturday, the talk to the Penguins acquiring an enforcer such as Georges Laraque to protect Sidney Crosby and company was quelled somewhat. But what not a lot of folks realized, Petrovicky wasn't the first to lay a smackdown on a Canadian that day.

According to the Toronto Globe and Mail, Penguins' PR guy Frank Buonomo confronted blowhard Don Cherry on the set of Coach's Corner, Cherry's popular segment that airs between periods during Hockey Night in Canada. Cherry (A.K.A. Grapes) had charged that the Penguins threatened not permit HNIC a pregame interview with Crosby.

Cherry claimed the team cited prior criticism by HNIC broadcasters of Crosby as a reason to withhold access to the superstar, who did the interview.

"There's a city that can't sell out with the three best hockey players maybe in the league, giving the tickets away," Cherry said during the intermission show. "And then they come here and Crosby's all excited to come on Hockey Night in Canada and this dumdum says he's not going to have an interview. You wonder why some teams are in trouble?"

Apparently Cherry never read that the Penguins have had 17 sellouts this season. But hey, they probably would have sold out EVERY home game this year if they had given a clown with a Canadian accent and bad suits a chance to talk to Crosby. And a new arena would be done by now. And it wouldn't have snowed and sleeted here for the last two days. And Josef Melichar would spell his name with a "ph." Life would just be better all around for the Penguins if things were easier for Don Cherry.

Petrovicky, auditioning for Ultimate Fighting: