MIKE STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1- BISONS/DINOS – I am, possibly, in the minority here but I loved Manitoba going for two at the end of the game to try and win 48-47 over Calgary in the Hardy Cup semi-final.  I know some of you math/sports whiz kids out there will want to discuss probabilities, chances of success rate, etc. but I think Brian Dobie looked at the fact he has 1 chance to end the game or he can kick an extra point and roll the dice on a back and forth overtime in hopes they come out on top.  He has a really good quarterback, confidence in his receivers, and he put the game in their hands to execute one play to advance. I love it. It didn’t work so the critics are out. If the play is made, nobody is talking about anything other than what a great finish and what a great ballsy call. I wish we had more of this in sports.  Far too often we play not to lose as opposed to trying to win. Dobie went for the win. His team lost. It happens. It’s still a great call to prevent your opponent from having a chance to beat you when you can end the game by making one play.

2 -CFL PLAYOFF GAMES – I’m going to pick the better coaches in the two games this weekend.  Which is to say Montreal defeats Edmonton and Calgary will win over Winnipeg. It wouldn’t come as a shock to learn the two losing teams fire their coaches by this time next week. In fact, I’m stunned Jason Maas still has a job even at this point.  However, now that Rick Campbell has made himself a free agent, the temptation to remove Maas and replace him with Campbell has to be great no matter what happens in the playoffs going forward.

3 -FAJARDO INJURY – Cody Fajardo says he will be on the field no matter how painful his injury is.  I’ve trumpeted Fajardo all season, but if he isn’t in good enough shape to be an asset to this football team or if he isn’t healthy enough to play better than Isaac Harker, then he needs to sit on the sidelines.  The Roughriders need their stud quarterback on the field but they don’t need him out there as a liability because he’s just not healthy enough to play the game the way we’ve come to know this season.

4 -MARNER AND TAVARES – I admit to abusing my social media privileges by refusing to take life as seriously as some of you and that’s the downfall of it.  I believe the acceptable term is ‘trolling’. However, social media can also work tremendous positive wonders and we saw that on the weekend when the father of an 11-year-old Newfoundland boy posted a picture of his son with a Leafs cake for his birthday and the mention that nobody showed up for his party.  Makes me wonder how can everyone be busy that day? Were invitations sent out and some people said they were coming and then just didn’t bother? What kind of parents are you? Nevertheless, John Tavares and Mitch Marner got wind of this and both Tweeted a Happy Birthday message to the boy and now it sounds like the two superstars are putting together a nice birthday package for the youngster.  That’s awesome stuff and only made possible through the power of social media. Full marks to Tavares and Marner on that.

5 – MARLEAU GAMES STREAK – Apparently Patrick Marleau played in his 800th straight game earlier this week.  The NHL doesn’t recognize games missed due to not having a contract. But, let’s be honest on this. He missed four games this year while he waited for a contract offer.  If you want to say Patrick Marleau hasn’t missed a game due to injury since 2009, that would be the more accurate statement to make.

6 – FIGHT DEBATE LONG OVER – College hockey writer Brad Elliott Schlossman tweeted this week ‘How many former fighters have to die before junior hockey, pro hockey, officials care?  We all know what’s happening to these guys, yet owners/commissioners continue to view 30-second sideshows as more important than people’s lives’. Maybe Brad is a retired college hockey writer or perhaps his tunnel vision doesn’t extend beyond college hockey.  But, fighting is pretty much gone from the game of hockey and I don’t know why he feels more needs to be done. The other thing I will say about fighting in hockey is this: players at the junior level and older know the risks. They should be allowed to make their own decisions accordingly.  Nobody is forcing hockey players to fight and if you even tried to do something like that in today’s world, you’d find yourself on the coaching unemployment line in a hurry.

7 – WINNIPEG DREADED CITY – Winnipeg has been named the road city NHL players dread the most, according to a recent poll of 50 NHL players.  Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa, Buffalo, Raleigh, and Columbus also received votes. I’d like to know what goes into determining these bad road cities.  I’m not an expert on travel, but I’ve visited a number of big cities for sporting events and I have to say I find very little difference between Winnipeg, Chicago, or Minneapolis for example.  They are all big cities with similar climates and it’s not like there is an opportunity to do a lot on the social scene when you are only there for one night. Aside from the fact, the weather sucks, I see no real way you can make a determination of one city being better than the other when you are only there for one night.  Having said that, I guess Winnipeg is having a problem with their liquor stores being looted in broad daylight because it’s widely known that you can get away with it. It’s a strange situation to just let crime occur, but that’s happening in Winnipeg and because of that, I’d agree it’s a very unsafe city but that shouldn’t impact how a visiting hockey player thinks.  

8 – GERRIT COLE – Following Houston’s World Series game seven loss to Washington, Cole emerged from the locker room wearing his agent’s hat and proclaimed he was ‘not an employee of the team’.  A real classy move that has me hoping he signs with the New York Yankees in the offseason and enjoys some AJ Burnett level of success in the upcoming years.

9 – BETTS OUT – All signs are pointing towards the Boston Red Sox making next to no effort to re-sign Mookie Betts, one of the best players in baseball.  You have to really wonder what the state of the game is when one of the richest franchises in Major League Baseball takes a ho hum approach to trying to win.  There is every reason to think a labour stoppage is coming.

10 – HILLTOPS PLAY FOR NATIONAL TITLE – The Saskatoon Hilltops beat the London Beefeaters 51-1 last weekend and will play the Langley Rams for the national junior football title.  You have to wonder how strong the Ontario conference actually is when their best team gets blown out like that. Meanwhile, this is the fourth time in eight years the Hilltops and Rams have met in the national title game.  Saskatoon is 3-0 against Langley in the previous three.

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