MIKE STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – BOMBERS WIN GREY CUP – I guess we have to finally take the Winnipeg Blue Bombers seriously.  Congratulations to the team for their win, it was well-deserved. I don’t think there was any doubt they had the best team other than the fact their quarterback play was, at times, holding them back.  Zach Collaros gave them credible production at the position near the end of the season and it paved the way for them to go the distance.  

2 – ANDREW HARRIS – He shouldn’t have been eligible to play the game.  One of the things baseball does that I agree with is that if you are found guilty of using an illegal substance during the season, you are not eligible for playoffs in the event your suspension is up before playoffs begin.  Harris can be as mad as he wants about what he feels are snubs with regards to regular season awards, but the cold hard truth is this – don’t do illegal performance enhancing drugs. In fact, don’t do drugs at all. I saw his interview after the game and I have less respect for him now than I ever have.  Good on him for winning. He played a fantastic game on Sunday. But, he will be forever tainted in my view.

3 – NFL POWER RANKINGS – I have New England #1 despite the fact they’ve had an easy schedule.  Until someone knocks them off the top of the mountain, they are the team to beat. Baltimore is #2 and many people should raise their hand and say they were wrong about Lamar Jackson.  The guy didn’t look like he could throw a ball five yards last year. San Francisco, Seattle, New Orleans, Kansas City, Green Bay, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Dallas round out my top ten.

4 – BABCOCK – Professional sports, and in particular, the NHL is so poorly covered by media now.  Now that Mike Babcock has been shown the door, we have all these expose style stories about him.  Where were these stories when they happened? The most damaging one is about Babcock asking rookie Mitch Marner to compile a list of the roster from hardest working to the least hardest working.  Not wanting to disappoint the coach, Marner did it and then Babcock took the list and told the team who Marner thought didn’t work hard. Babcock, who is being paid more money than any coach in NHL history, says he was trying to impress work ethic with Marner and this exercise was something he regrets.  No kidding. On what planet did Babcock think this would be effective? I think of last year and watching one of the broadcast networks boast about their mental health day and Babcock was actually interviewed and talked about mental wellness. Yet, he did this to Marner? It’s inexcusable.

5 – TRADE DEADLINE TREATMENT – One team I was somewhat close to in years past used to bring all the players together and have them wait in the dressing room during the last final hours of trade deadline.  All of them sat in their stall and waited for a possible call to the office to learn they’ve been traded. I thought it was mentally cruel at the time and even more so today.

6 – ROOKIES – Which brings me to my next point and one that I have never been able to understand when it comes to sports and I’ve been a fan or personally involved with sports for most of my life.  I don’t get the idea of hazing or humiliating rookies and yet athletes (and some coaches apparently) love to do it. Some things I get. The rookies have to sit at the front of the bus, unload the equipment, pick up pucks after practice, things of that nature that I would call ‘paying your dues’ is more than fine.  Asking a rookie to list everyone on the roster from hardest working to least hardest working is straight up abuse and ANY coach should know this let alone one who is paid more money than any other hockey coach on the planet. To me, if it’s embarrassing, degrading, hurtful, or if any other negative emotion is attached to it, it’s wrong.  Simple stuff.

7 – TEAM BONDING – One argument that has been put to me is that various forms of ‘light hazing’ will actually bring a team together.  I don’t buy it. Sure, if the players want to dye their hair orange for a playoff run or all grow beards or do something quirky as a unit, that can be something that galvanizes a group.  But, I’ve witnessed countless examples where rookies are often their own clique within a team because none of them enjoy being humiliated or treated poorly when compared to veterans. Furthermore, it’s also more likely rookies who are hazed become even worse offenders down the road because they want to make sure the next rookie has to suffer a bit more than what he did. 

8 – MORE COACH/PLAYERS RELATIONSHIPS – In business, I’ve always followed the basic principle that if you need to give someone heck, you need to find a way to do it so that when the conversation is over, the employee still wants to do the job.  If you are disrespectful with criticism that leaves the employee feeling like he/she doesn’t care then what good was the meeting? As a coach, the same should apply. I’ve been at banquets with Chris Getzlaf and Weston Dressler where both have told me that despite Ken Miller not being a great tactician, the fact remains the players loved their coach to pieces and would have run through a wall for the man.  When you coach at high levels like this Mike Babcock isn’t going to fool Jon Cooper or Alain Vigneault with some fancy piece of strategy. It comes down to who has the better players and which players want to win more. The majority of clubs are close to equal in talent so it’s finding a way to get the most out of that talent that is the key. In Miller’s case, he made up for ‘in game errors’ by having a group of men who would follow him off a cliff.  It matters and makes a big difference.

9 – UNIVERSITIES ABUSIVE COACHES – Sportsnet had an interesting article over the weekend about universities not protecting their student athletes from abusive coaches.  Always a skeptic, I read the article and tried to form a more fair opinion because these things are always reported with a slant. It’s easy to go after a coach for abuse, in a vindictive way, after you’ve been cut or had a drastic reduction in playing time because of off-ice behaviour or because of a lack of effort or some other issue that the player isn’t willing to be accountable for.  I am of the belief that coaches want to win. They aren’t about to, purposely, sabotage their team just because they don’t like someone. Having said that, it is reasonable to believe that some coaches are out of touch with reality and feel militaristic methods are the best way to motivate their players and nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, there are a select few who feed on ‘tough love’ but the way society has evolved, you need to be a good communicator and explain the whys, hows, and what fors in order to get maximum potential from your player.  There is onus on the player though too. Admittedly, it must be very frustrating to see a player with oodles of talent willing to waste it away by putting forth minimal effort. What is a coach to do? I don’t think there is a cut and dry ‘one size fits all’ approach to it and that’s why coaching is so hard. I can tell you that having your team vote on whether or not to allow another player who attempted suicide to return to the group is unacceptable and an offense that, to me, is fire-able.

10 – TERRIERS NEED DEFENSE – My hometown team, the Yorkton Terriers, are an excellent SJHL club and a lot of fun to watch.  They have the best forward in the league (Chantz Petruic) and the best goaltender (Ryan Ouellette) as well. What they don’t have is a bonafide horse number one defenseman.  Yesterday, Jake Hobson was dealt by Melfort and there have been other marquee names move teams – Chase Felgueiras, Dane Hirst, Troy Quinn, Dylan Thackeray, Zach Ziegler, James Philpott, and Kyle Robinson come immediately to mind.  There is a card reduction deadline on December 1st and the Terriers may need to overpay to get what they covet.

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