STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – RIDERS WIN, FANS DON’T LIKE HOW – The Saskatchewan Roughriders improved to 3-1 with a 41-20 win over the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday night. You’d think Cody Fajardo answered his critics by gutting out a solid performance that saw him plunge in for a one-yard score, throw for a TD, and finish with 229 yards and no interceptions despite being clearly hobbled by a knee injury that limited him to just the one goal line carry and no other rushing attempts. However, in typical Roughrider fan fashion, the masses are unimpressed. I mean if you have nothing to complain about but you love complaining it can be rather unsatisfying. Eventually, Fajardo will be run out of town much the same way many others before him have been chased undeservedly, so he’ll be in good company with nothing to be ashamed of. I’ve lived in this province for over 20 years and can think of only three quarterbacks that were ever relatively immune to criticism: Henry Burris (who was still run out of here by management), Tino Sunseri, and Brandon Bridge.

2 – FAJARDO WHIPPING BOY – There is no reasoning with Rider fans once they are focused on a whipping boy. But, the reality is this: Fajardo was better than Dane Evans in Week 1, he was better than Nick Arbuckle in Week 2, and he was better than Trevor Harris in Week 4. Personally, what I see in Fajardo is this:  a player who isn’t as good as what he showed in 2019 but he’s not nearly the dud some of you seem to think he is. Let’s see if his knee can get better and if that will help him become more of a threat. Also, for a team that is supposedly stacked at wide receiver I sure don’t see much to be excited about. I see several players who are pretty good but nobody that gets me out of my seat the way Weston Dressler or Matt Dominguez did in recent years. There’s potential with Kian Schaffer-Baker to be sure.

3 – RIDERS PENALTIES – I think I saw somewhere that Na’Ty Rodgers, the starting right tackle, has a league-leading eight penalties. He had three on Saturday and was lucky not to be called for another when Montreal linebacker Michael Wakefield got ejected. The Riders, as a team, took 16 penalties for 155 yards.  They are never going to get it unless someone gets cut or someone gets fired and even then I have my doubts. I’m not trying to single anyone out but Rodgers leads the league in this category and his coach isn’t going anywhere. Craig Dickenson (and GM Jeremy O’Day for that matter) is as solidified in his position as anyone in the league and so I think  you have to look at the pitiful play of the offensive line in pass protection (they were pretty good against the run when asked to simplify) and couple that with the unacceptable number of penalties and make a statement.

4 – USFL CHAMPIONSHIP – As I type up this article, I’m watching the USFL Championship game between Birmingham and Philadelphia. Admittedly, this league lost me after Week 2 because of poor play, but this game is pretty good as far as entertainment is concerned. Let’s see if they can build on it next year. Meanwhile, Paxton Lynch, who was never really welcomed as a Roughrider because of his vaccination status, started Michigan’s last game of the season and threw for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns in a win over Pittsburgh back on June 19th. The USFL played all of its games in Birmingham but then took the playoffs to Canton, Ohio. The title game did seem to have a decent number of fans in attendance judging from the few camera angles I saw. Next year, between 2 and 4 hub cities will be used during the regular season and that may help in-person crowds a bit but this seems to be the league’s biggest issue moving forward.  

5 – RATTLERS –  Saskatchewan Rattlers had their four game winning streak snapped on Sunday as they were hammered by 23 points at the hands of the previously winless Newfoundland Growlers. The 7-5 Rattlers are just 1-4 on the road after taking this defeat. It was clear they missed league MVP candidate Tony Carr, who has missed the last two games (I assume due to injury but player news is one of the complaints I have about this league). They’ve got a good chance to get back in the win column on Tuesday as they go to Ottawa to face the 3-8 Blackjacks.  An interesting stat is that the Rattlers are 3-0 against Niagara. The River Lions are 8-1 against the rest of the league. If Carr comes back, this team has the ability to win another championship.

6 – HOUCK UNVAXXED – Boston Red Sox closer Tanner Houck isn’t vaccinated, so that makes him a second class citizen and unable to enter Canada. That also means the Red Sox can blame last Tuesday’s ninth inning meltdown on him for being selfish as he was unable to come to his teammates’ rescue and save the game against the Blue Jays. The media had a field day crucifying him for his personal choice (which should remain private, by the way) completely ignoring the fact he’s being discriminated against while also ignoring the fact Covid vaccines, at this point, are worthless-at best, for a healthy professional athlete such as Houck.  You can bet if every single team had a Tanner Houck on their roster, the narrative would very quickly shift to how brutally authoritarian Canada is and Major League Baseball would speak up for civil rights but the reality is that not enough are affected so it’s okay to hammer away at a brave young man who has a lot more personal conviction than the rest of us.

7 – JETS COACH – In what has to be the biggest non-player decision since the Winnipeg Jets returned to Manitoba in 2011, the Jets have underwhelmed and hired Rick Bowness, who once coached the Jets prior to moving to Phoenix in the late 1980s. The 62-year-old Bowness, recently, was coach of the Dallas Stars but stepped down at the end of the season, saying he wasn’t interested in coaching unless he was approached by a team that was going for a Stanley Cup and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Does this sound like the Jets to you? Bowness-coached teams either missed the playoffs or lost in round one 9/10 times from 1988-97. In the last three years with Dallas, Bowness went to the finals (by fluke), then missed the playoffs, and lost in round one this year. The Jets are coming off a year where they missed the playoffs and based on what they have at the moment and how they are handling things upstairs, I can guarantee they will miss again. It will be a long year.

8 – MORE JETS – What’s maddening about the Jets is how stuck they are on finding people who have past ties to the city of Winnipeg. Barry Trotz, who was the only legitimate candidate with a Manitoba connection, said no to them and that left a hodge podge of Scott Arniel, Pascal Vincent, Jim Montgomery (who played for the Manitoba Moose), Alain Vigneault (who coached the Moose) and Bowness. The thought process behind that is because Winnipeg is such a unique market and going there would be like going to Inuvik for most players and coaches. It is simply too hard for an outsider to understand what it’s like to live in Winnipeg. What a challenge it must be to hang your hat in Winnipeg.

9 – JETS MEDIA – Like most hockey media, it’s littered with unqualified journalists who don’t know what they are talking about. To proclaiming Trotz was on the verge of signing within two days to reporting that they were finalizing details with Rick Tocchet, to not even having Bowness on their short lists, it does nobody any good to pay attention to these scribes. I don’t think any of them break actual news or provide scoops that are of any use to fans. They simply gossip with baseless speculation that is no more valuable than something I would write in this column and I’m over five hours away with zero connection. Having said that, maybe someone should look a little deeper into the Cole Perfetti injury or delve more into the dressing room culture.  Meh, it’s probably nothing. 

10 – GARDINER MACDOUGALL – He’s never coached a game in the National Hockey League, but I’d bet my life savings he’d be more successful than half of the current NHL bench bosses if someone were to hire him. MacDougall, who long ago coached in the SJHL and later the MJHL, has been at UNB (Fredericton) for the last 23-years, in charge of, arguably, the top Canadian university hockey program. MacDougall, during his tenure, has led UNB to nine conference championships and seven national titles. For those completely unaware, the Atlantic University Conference is the toughest in Canada to win and he’s dominated for 20+ years. This Spring when the Saint John Sea Dogs decided to fire their coach after a first round QMJHL upset, the Sea Dogs came calling on MacDougall to lead their team for the Memorial Cup, which the Sea Dogs did end up winning last week. Simply put, MacDougall is a coaching legend and one of the best in the world. He’s 62-years-old so the odds of an NHL team looking his way are long but the man simply wins. If I was in charge of an NHL program, I’d be calling him. University players are the same age as a lot of NHL players. He’d figure it out, I have no doubt.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)