I respect your opinion on this. Don't get me wrong, i'm no fan of Burke's. I liked him when he was with the Leafs even though he was a bit of a blowhard, but most of the players would have went through a wall for him. But now that he's no longer with the Leafs organization, i don't give a crap about him and i actually kind of look at him as a clown.There's a difference between being honest and being disrespectful. Burke was very unclassy (as well as inaccurate) in stating his opinion (yes, opinion, NOT fact!) about Ryan. Then, ONLY Poile had the decency to apologize - yes, classy (as you said) of Poile...and Burke was ABSENT in that regard.
Also, Ryan did NOT overreact - HE was merely responding honestly (and very graciously, considering the circumstances) to a reporter's questions.
HNIC could very easily replace Don Cherry with Burke, but Grapes knows more about the game of hockey.
Both Burke and Ryan spoke honestly. But there are times when Burke should keep his mouth shut. I suppose he hasn't figured out why he got fired by George Cope and MLSE.