Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

1 – TAILGATING – The Saskatchewan Roughriders are off this week but made some headlines midweek with the announcement that tailgating could become a regular feature as soon as next season.  While this is excellent news for any fan who has also been to an American sporting event, the reality is that this is just more evidence that we are ruled by people who couldn’t organize a one-car parade.  The Riders say they are in discussions with the government on how to make this happen but there is a blueprint for it already.  Go to any NASCAR event or American football game and you will see tailgating for miles.  Years ago, I went to a NASCAR race in Atlanta and ended up making friends and having a burger and a beer with people I’ve never met and will never see again.  It was a blast.  You can blow smoke up the wazoo of people all day long discussing legalities and safety but this is a decision that is decades overdue and something that should be rubber-stamped rather than scrutinized from now until next Spring.  If we were truly football-crazed fans, a Rider game at 7pm on a Friday night should actually be a complete party from about 3pm onward and as long as you aren’t acting in a lewd manner, there should be no problem with drinking a beer or two out in the open.  Just allow authorities to use discretion to keep it all civil.  I’d argue letting people get bombed and agitated while they await announcements on whether smoke is going to cancel a game is far more ‘unsafe’ than fans yucking it up for a few hours beforehand.  

2 – ANALYTICS – Analytics have become a staple in sports and it’s become totally acceptable to blame analytics when a coach makes a boneheaded decision.  Take last week’s Jacksonville-Cincinnati NFL game, for example.  The Jaguars are leading 27-24 late in the fourth and could kick a field goal and force back-up Jake Browning to march the full length of the field and get a touchdown or they could gamble on fourth down and go for a major and put the game out of reach entirely if successful.  If unsuccessful, the field is a short one for Browning, who only needs to get close enough for a Bengals field goal to tie.  What ended up happening was the Jaguars failed on fourth down, Browning ended up leading his team to a touchdown anyway but Coen defended the decision saying, “It’s 100% a go.  In all analytics, in all data.  It’s 100% a go.”  Maybe if you are facing Joe Burrow, it’s a go.  But, analytics doesn’t take into account who the players are or how certain players are playing at the time.  It’s also fair to wonder if Browning would have led the Bengals to a touchdown if his mindset coming on the field was that he needed it in order to win.  I’d argue that him knowing he just needed the field goal took some pressure off and allowed him to play more relaxed on the final drive.

3 – MORE ANALYTICS – Coen isn’t the first nor will he be the last coach to deflect a bad decision onto analytics.  If analytics is going to be the fallback for all decisions, why do we need coaches at all?  We live in a world where all situations have various data to determine probable outcomes so just have a robot telegraph the decision to the players and go from there.  Baseball has become especially bad when it comes to analytics.  I’ve written in previous columns about how pitchers are used and games are, frequently, lost because a manager has data that goes against what the manager’s eyes are seeing and yet managers are, basically, told by nerds who run formulas for a living that they need to ignore their gut and feel for the game in exchange for ratios and probabilities.  Again, why do we need coaches anymore?

4 – RED SOX GIVE GAME AWAY – Baseball, while being wrecked by analytics, is also paralyzed to change how pitchers are used and there is zero criticism when it comes to losing games because of a fear that throwing an extra pitch or two is going to result in a year-long injury.  The Boston Red Sox, in a tight playoff race, removed rookie Connelly Early after 80 pitches and 5 ⅓ innings in a game against Oakland where the Red Sox were leading 1-0.  Reliever Greg Weissert entered, gave up two hits and two runs and the A’s won the game 2-1.  There was no reason whatsoever to take Early out of the game.  I’ve challenged many people who disagree with me on pitcher injuries to prove where the breaking point is for pitchers when it comes to throwing too many pitches and nobody can.  For the longest time, the fictional magic number has been 100 but even that is slowly coming down to between 80 and 100.  Pitchers are going to get hurt and the number of bullets thrown has very little to do with it.  If the number of pitches thrown was the predominating factor for injuries, relievers wouldn’t ever have to go for Tommy John Surgery.  

5 – TATIS LAWSUIT – San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis is going through legal proceedings to void an agreement he made as a 17-year-old with a company called Big League Advance, which fronted Tatis $2-million in exchange for 10% of his future earnings.  Tatis signed a $340-million long term contract with San Diego in 2021 and the company has come calling for $34-million.  Tatis calls the arrangement with Big League Advance ‘predatory’ and his lawyer is arguing the company wasn’t licensed in California.  I tend to side with Tatis on this one.  The deal is predatory but (on the surface) doesn’t strike me as illegal so much as it’s greasy, but if he never made it as a Big Leaguer, he would not be required to repay any of the $2-million.  Big League Advance is, essentially, hedging their bet on Tatis to be a superstar. That’s their business.  I would also say Tatis should have known better.  His dad played in the Majors from 1997-2010 so he would have had more exposure to these outfits than your standard up and coming athlete.  

6 – PATS DERKATCH – It’s not a great look, in my opinion, and it maybe puts a lot of pressure on the kid but that didn’t stop the Regina Pats from making a trade to acquire Dayce Derkatch (son of General Manager Dale Derkatch) earlier this week from the Prince Albert Raiders in exchange for a third round pick.  Derkatch had 4-points in 2-games with the Warman Wolverines (SJHL) in the preseason and maybe he stays there, but the comments from his dad indicate Derkatch is headed to the Pats to, “compliment our forward group”.  There’s a similar situation in Brandon where 17-year-old Jaxon Jacobson is playing for the Wheat Kings, who are owned by his dad Jared.  Jaxon was a first round pick by the Wheats in the bantam draft to ensure he played with Brandon.  One league scout told me the choice by Brandon was too early but that he also wouldn’t have been there come round two when it was their next turn.  Jaxon put up 15-goals and 44-points in 51-games as a 16-year-old so he’s on the right path to this point but you can’t help but wonder if it ever gets dicey for coach Marty Murray.  

7 – LOVE ON LEAVE – Former Saskatoon Blades head coach Mitch Love has been placed on leave from his position as an assistant coach with the Washington Capitals after a troubling matter was revealed while Love interviewed for head coaching positions this summer.  Nobody seems to have details on what the issue is but NHL Insider (who’s not a very good one) Frank Seravelli is reporting a cryptic sentence that would indicate it involves a woman Love dated prior to his time with the Caps.  Basically, Seravelli knows what it is or thinks he knows what it is but he doesn’t want to jeopardize his cozy relationships so he sticks to the code and drops just enough to let you think he knows exactly what’s going on but he’s not going to do anything to alleviate suspense.

8 – KALIYEV SWINDLES – Ottawa Senator Arthur Kaliyev is facing allegations from Instagram model Lauren Mochen that he scammed her out of $50,000 that he used to gamble.  Mochen made an elaborate 33-part post on TikTok detailing how Kaliyev told her his family stole his money.  This isn’t the first controversy for Kaliyev.  When he was playing junior, there were questions surrounding his birthdate and birthplace before the 2019 draft.  Is he worth the trouble?  He only played 14-games last year and the year previous to that he posted 15-points in 51-games with the Los Angeles Kings. 

9 – UNDESIRABLE CANADA – I know this isn’t going to make some of you happy, but when Carter Hart comes back to play on December 1st it will not be with the Edmonton Oilers and it will not be with a Canadian team of any kind.  He’s already said as much.  I’ve written about Connor McDavid in previous articles.  McDavid signed a long term deal with the Oilers before and if we were anything resembling a serious country he would again.  Professional athletes are not going to get involved in politics.  They will simply leave and keep their mouths shut.  They can skirt the issue by talking about wanting a better opportunity to win or come up with some other excuse.  Consider the fact there are whispers in financial circles now about Capital Control.  If you aren’t familiar with that, it’s when the government recognizes a mass exodus of money from the banking system and so they prohibit the transfer of savings to an out-of-country financial institution.  How’s that going to work for professional athletes who live in Canada and have millions in the bank?  I’ll tell you:  it doesn’t.  So the only solution is to make sure you aren’t here when that happens.  Maybe McDavid still re-ups with the Oilers but he’s had an eternity to evaluate the organization as far as commitment to winning.  What more could he want from them?

10 – DAVIS CUP – There can be no denying how far we’ve fallen as a country when you consider the Davis Cup tennis match between Canada and Israel, played in Halifax, had to be done so without spectators or media due to concerns over public safety.  The spokesperson for the protesters represents a group called Palestinian Solidarity Halifax.  Excuse me, what?  I guess the most striking thing to me over the last few years is just how little resistance there has been to the complete makeover Canada has undergone.  When I was in the Maritimes last week, I made a day trip to Houlton, Maine.  It’s mere minutes away from Woodstock, New Brunswick.  In the 1990s when I lived in Woodstock, I would cross into Houlton regularly and you would never know it was a different country aside from the money currency.  Last week, it was instantly a different country through everything I experienced.  Roads, customer service, overall public atmosphere, state of the downtown, and more.

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