Stackhouse’s 10 Thanksgiving Thoughts

2 – CFL ATTENDANCE – Speaking of crowds, there is chatter about the lack of fans showing up throughout the CFL once again.  As the weather turns colder, it’s going to be more difficult to get people off the couch.  Here’s the reality: the CFL has itself to blame for any issues concerning fan interest/engagement/apathy.  They had no choice but to do these rule changes that are on the horizon but even in doing that they failed to do it in the open so that it would drum up chatter and garner feedback as to what may be popular and what may not be.  The one area they really should have addressed is the Command Centre.  There never seems to be a game go by where the Command Centre isn’t meddling and changing calls that are significant and leaving you scratching your head.  Those who bet on sports, frequently, are not shy about telling you what they think is going on and it is not good as far as league credibility is concerned.

3 – ESPN OPENING NIGHT HOCKEY – You won’t see me promoting ESPN very often but when they stick to sports, nobody does it better.  NHL Opening Night, they featured the only three living former players who have a career stat line of 1 game, 1 goal.  They are Dean Morton (who became an NHL referee), Brad Fast, and Samuel Henley.  It was an awesome feature and just another example how American television productions put Canada to shame.  When I watch NHL hockey on American networks, it feels like I’m watching something as big time as the NFL.  When I watch the NHL on Canadian networks, I feel like I’m watching something that could be done so much better but the powers-that-be know you will watch anyway so why even try to put out a quality product?  This is the problem, by and large, with all sports shown on Canada’s two all-sports networks.  It’s just not up to snuff and feels amateurish.  

4 – McDAVID – I give full marks to Connor McDavid.  You will almost never see an athlete or team stay true to their word when it comes to what they are looking for in a team.  McDavid’s willingness to play for $12-million a season for each of the next two years shows me he’s serious about wanting to win in Edmonton but isn’t willing to just sign over the rest of his professional hockey life to do it.  It also shows he’s willing to do his part by leaving plenty of money on the table for the Oilers to go out and support him better with secondary players and a bonafide starting goalie.  The pressure is, squarely, on GM Stan Bowman to deliver.  There aren’t exactly a plethora of players just kicking around that can help the Oilers get over the hump and win a Cup but continuing to run back the goalies is like trying to drive a square peg into a round hole.  When Connor Ingram is ready to join the team, my expectation is that he’s going to get a serious look at the number one job.

5 – NHL YOUNGSTERS – I’m puzzled by the strategy teams use when it comes to their younger players.  You have Jett Luchanko (Philadelphia), Danila Yurov (Minnesota), Easton Cowan (Toronto) and Zane Parekh (Calgary) all making their respective teams and all with fairly high pedigrees as prospects and yet none of them are getting regular shifts.  In the case of Yurov, Cowan, and Parekh, all three of them sat out the first two games of the season as it’s deemed they can develop better by doing nothing other than watching others play rather than toiling in the minors and seeing significant ice.  In my opinion, there is no better way to develop than to play.  Somewhere.  Anywhere.  Sitting really does nothing and I’ve seen lots of careers go by the wayside because teams didn’t trust them enough to be used and then when they were, the leash was so short that even one mistake would result in more ‘learning’ from the pressbox.  Meanwhile, players like Beckett Sennecke, Ivan Demidov, Zeev Buium, and Jani Nyman are playing and getting regular ice time to start the year.  

6 – BASEBALL PLAYOFFS – The Detroit Tigers are out of the playoffs and the Seattle Mariners are lucky they aren’t too but alas only one of them could be eliminated after both teams jumped the gun on removing their top starting pitchers from Friday’s deciding game five of the ALDS.  Kirby was out after 66 pitches and a runner on second while nursing a 1-0 lead.  Kerry Carpenter, promptly, hit a two run homer to greet the inferior reliever and it appeared as though the Tigers would hang on.  However, Tarik Skubal was taken out after 99 pitches and an inferior pitcher was brought in to surrender the lead and the game went to extra innings, where Seattle would eventually win 3-2.   The Tigers went 1-and-4 in Skubal’s last five starts (all of which were dominating) all of which were pre-empted because of this fictional story that allowing him to throw a complete game is going to end his career due to an arm injury.  Nobody has ever produced evidence that I’ve seen to indicate pitch counts somehow are related to injuries.  We used to never even count pitches and hurlers made out just fine.  The manager would remove them when he felt the pitcher was no longer effective rather than this unsubstantiated fear that squeezing another inning is a career ender.  Here’s the truth – seven innings from Skubal and two from Will Vest and the Tigers are playing the Jays today.

7 – UFC FIGHT NIGHT – June 28th, Charles Oliveira was put to sleep in the first round by Ilia Topouria.  He made his return last night and choked out Mateusz Gamrot in the second round to re-establish himself as a top contender in the Lightweight Division.  I’m still new to the UFC world as far as being a fan goes, so maybe there is no reason to feel uneasy about this, but I didn’t really like seeing Oliveira in there so soon after getting his lights turned off from such a devastating blow by Topouria.  The next major event for the UFC is in two weeks with heavyweights Tom Aspinall and Cyril Gane as the headliners.  Aspinall is the champion but hasn’t fought since July 2024.  He’s also only gone more than one round once.  So while he would appear to be a lopsided favorite and there are more than a few out there who think Aspinall could beat Jon Jones, the fact of the matter is that Aspinall may be rusty and all it takes is one punch.

8 – NLL SEASON – It sounds like there is going to be good news on the NLL labour front and their new collective bargaining agreement could be finalized this upcoming week.  It would be a shame to delay or cancel the upcoming season, especially for the Saskatchewan Rush.  The last time we saw the Rush, they pushed the Buffalo Bandits to the brink before losing in the league final 2-games-to-1.  The Rush have everybody back that played an important role on last year’s squad and they are primed to be one of the top teams in the league.  Free agency has been delayed because of the labour strife so it will end up being a whirlwind couple of weeks for signings once an agreement is announced.  I don’t expect the Rush to do anything splashy (such as the Austin Shanks move last year) as their roster tweaks are likely going to be addressed through seeing what their draft picks are capable of once training camp opens in early November.

9 – BELICHICK/UNC – Apparently if Bill Belichick is fired from UNC, he gets $20-million dollars but if he and the school can come to some sort of an agreement, he gets $1-million.  Things are so bad that a mutual parting of the ways is expected in the next couple of weeks.  I think if it wasn’t already obvious, it’s clear that Tom Brady was the reason why Belichick was regarded as one of the best NFL coaches of all-time.  I loved his gimmick of being grouchy at the podium during interviews, and a gimmick is all that was.  Belichick has dabbled with working on television and that’s his likely landing spot when his merciless time at North Carolina comes to its premature end.

10 – NCAA FOOTBALL – I’m going to experience my first NCAA football game next Friday night in Minnesota when the Golden Gophers face the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  I’ve never been one to follow NCAA football on a weekly basis but knowing I was going to be attending this game, I have been paying attention to Nebraska and they improved to 5-and-1 with a thrilling 34-31 win over Maryland on Saturday.  Their QB is regarded as a mini-Patrick Mahomes.  Dylan Raiola wears 15, trains with Mahomes, has a similar hairstyle as Mahomes, and models his game after him.  Raiola had 4 TD and 3 INT in the Maryland game, not one of his finer moments, but there were five lead changes in this one.  Raiola isn’t expected to be drafted until 2027 but he already projects as a first rounder.  If you have been to an NCAA football game, is there anything I should know beforehand?

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