STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – DIDN’T WATCH – I wasn’t sure that I could do it. I’ve missed watching Saskatchewan Roughriders games because I’ve had other commitments but I’ve never missed a game (in about 15 years) because I’ve been so turned off that I just simply never bothered to check it out. But, that’s what I did on Saturday. I kept the TV off for no reason other than I just didn’t want to watch. I’m told they gave up an 85-yard quarterback sneak for a touchdown and the stats show they allowed nearly 300-yards on the ground total, over 160 of those to a third string quarterback on a handful of carries.How fitting. This is a disgrace and I’m not going to spend any more of my time on it beyond this article unless they make wholesale changes from top to bottom and make some sort of an effort to eat humble pie and get back the fans they’ve alienated. Also, make of it what you will, but they didn’t win a game after getting rid of Garrett Marino.

2 – HOLE AT QUARTERBACK – The stats also show Mason Fine is not only not an improvement over Cody Fajardo, but bringing him back to be the starter puts the team in considerably worse hands than what it was in when the fans and organization chased Fajardo out of here. I don’t want to say I told you so, but I told you so. Sure, Fajardo could have handled this a lot better than he did. In fact, it would be hard to say he could have handled it worse. Maybe Bo Levi Mitchell is the answer. Everyone seems to think his signing with Saskatchewan is a foregone conclusion, but I wouldn’t be in a hurry if I were Mitchell. You can bet he will want to see professionalism restored to this organization first and foremost. But, also, the life of a quarterback here is a nightmare for just about every single one. Who was the last to leave on a positive note?  Kerry Joseph (the second time when he came out of retirement as a last ditch attempt to salvage something), maybe. Darian Durant STILL isn’t in the Plaza. Perhaps it will be different for Bo-Levi, but I wouldn’t count on it.

3 – FAJARDO – One more comment on Fajardo. When things were going well, the guy did everything right as far as embracing the community and trying to win over the fan base. I think of the Twitter scavenger hunts and Queen City Exhibition corn dog episode. Things could have been and should have been a lot different. I’m actually sad to see how everything unraveled.  

4 – DON’T GET HOPES UP – While the stove runs exceptionally hot for Mitchell coming to Saskatchewan, I’m also old enough to remember when James Franklin was coming to save the franchise and he never did. I even recall when Dave Dickenson was going to sign here because his ties to Montana made it a no brainer. He never came either. Something tells me that if the window opens for Mitchell to sign somewhere else, that’s exactly what he is going to do. If he comes here, it’s because he has no other place to play and if he has no other place to play, what exactly are the Riders getting?

5 – SALARY CAP FOR NON PLAYERS – I did listen to one of the radio post game shows and I found it somewhat intriguing to hear them discuss the coach/manager salary cap and the fact that will be an impediment to doing a full sweep through the front office. Leave it to the CFL to put a rule in place that forces you to keep people who are bad at their jobs. I think the Riders should still fire the entire lot and then put the onus on the league. It would be the CFL and not the Riders that would be embarrassed in the event the Riders can’t hire enough coaches and managers to operate in a credible way next year. By the way, I’m not absolving the players here either. It’s never acceptable to quit. Many of them did. For that, they should all get a black mark and either no contract next year or one that pays the minimum.  

6 – FULL CAGES – Hockey Canada has picked the middle of December to switch junior hockey players from visors to full cages. Forget the fact this is a controversial decision. How about the timing? The season will be over ⅓ complete. Shouldn’t this be an off-season change? I’m having a hard time coming up with a decision Hockey Canada has made that has actually helped junior hockey. I understand there are insurance premium issues at hand but surely there haven’t been that many claims that insurance companies are being taken to the cleaners. My guess is insurance companies make a lot of money on hockey every year. This isn’t a money losing venture for them or we’d have heard about it. The other factor you will hear a lot about is player safety.  One could argue this will actually make players less safe instead of more safe. The Centennial Cup proved that last year with Pickering skating around with sticks up around the ear lobes. But even if you accept this makes the game ‘safer’, has anyone asked the players if they want to be kept ‘more safe’? Their opinions, surely, have to count. One argument I heard is that if junior players are looking towards the NCAA, they may as well adopt the NCAA full cage at the junior level so that they are ready. Okay, fine. So, then introduce body contact at age 5 since that’s what all players are eventually working towards.

7 – ONE FIGHT RULE – When Hockey Canada brought in the ‘One Fight Rule’, it immediately resulted in a more dangerous game at the junior level because dirty players no longer had to answer for their behavior. It also resulted in less fans because fans want to see fights. Sorry if that offends you, but it’s the truth. Also, the majority of these players are 18-19-20 and are allowed to drink and vote. So let them decide if they also want to fight during a hockey game. What we needed to weed out of the game was the barbarian coaching where players were intimidated to fight in order to provide ‘a spark’.  

8 – DIMINISHED INTEREST – At the junior level, fan attendance is lower now than it was fifteen years ago. Beyond the junior level, we have fewer kids than ever actually playing. Let’s get to the bottom of why.  Hockey Canada may tell you it’s because the game isn’t safe enough and I would say, judging from lacrosse enrollment, nothing could be further from the truth. This is why I said in a previous column that I fear the changes coming to the upper levels of Hockey Canada will not at all be for the better. Executives have spent years trying to appease screaming people who hate the game instead of just saying ‘here is our game, we will let the participation and fan numbers speak for themselves’. Sorry you don’t like fighting. Sorry you don’t like hard hits that, occasionally, result in head contact. Nobody is forcing anyone to go out there and get hurt against their will. It’s like bungee jumping. I know the risks. I don’t do it. Others still do. That’s up to them.  Imagine thirty years ago telling a fellow hockey fan that it will be okay to skate with your head down and if you get decked, it will not be your fault. I’ve seen mixed martial arts matches where guys are punched in the head several times after they’ve been knocked out and nobody says a word. Well, that’s a risk of being in the sport, I’m told. Well, hockey should be hockey and part of the risk of playing hockey always used to be that you may have to fight and you will need to keep your head up or you will get clocked. People have continually changed the game to the point I don’t recognize it much anymore. 

9 – JUST WIN – Dave Dombrowski won a World Series with the Florida Marlins. He came close with the Detroit Tigers and won with the Boston Red Sox. He’s now in control of the Philadelphia Phillies and has them in the World Series. The Red Sox got rid of him, in part, because he raided their precious farm system of coveted prospects. Baseball is, already, broken because of analytics but when fans demand a strong farm over a championship (which they do), I’m not sure there is any way to repair it.  Forget Dombrowski. The Blue Jays got rid of Alex Anthopolous for much the same reason. He made the ALCS, but because he gave up prospects for Josh Johnson, RA Dickey, Troy Tulowitzki, and David Price he needed to go.

10 – PODCASTS – I read a great article on The Athletic this week about sports podcasts and how they’ve replaced mainstream radio for both employees and listeners. Enjoy it while it lasts. Many of the major podcast companies are run by former mainstream radio/tv suits and they very seldom make decisions that are in the best interest of actual content. Bob McCown is one of the only ones that has done it the right way.  He’s his own boss. He has two partners (John Shannon and a producer in Nova Scotia). Other than that, he answers to nobody and if his sponsors don’t like it, they can go somewhere else.  

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