MIKE STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1. GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION – As a media member in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I have to admit there were stories of abuse that I suppressed. Not because I liked the coach, but because I felt for the players who didn’t wish to put themselves out there and risk being blackballed for speaking out.  It’s entirely possible, in some cases, the players aren’t at all affected by it today. I just remember thinking at the time that it was very troubling behaviour, sometimes bordering on scary. I wasn’t much older than the players themselves. My point is that abuse has always been abuse. I don’t think we need to move the needle as far as what is abuse and what isn’t abuse. We all know what it is. What we need to do is call it when it happens and get rid of it.  What we don’t need to do is decide something is abuse when it isn’t.

2. COACHES CAN BE SELFLESS TOO – I suppressed stories that should have benefitted coaches too, but they were too decent to let me report on situations.  I recall one junior coach who was bound to be fired because he had two bad goalies on his team and for whatever reason refused to trade one or both. The team was solid on the blueline and up front.  They outshot teams almost every night and yet the goaltending was atrocious. I grilled the coach one evening as to why he was so loyal to these bad netminders and he forced me to turn off the microphone and informed me of very real personal situations with both young men and he felt if he moved them to another team, they’d be out of hockey within weeks and then he wasn’t sure what their future would be as people, let alone hockey players. But, I told him I had reliable information that he was going to be fired because fans think you haven’t a foggy clue what to do with your goalies. He said he was willing to live with it. He was, in fact, fired at the end of the year. Neither goalie played the following season anywhere. I don’t know what happened to them, but I hope they are well and I hope they know their coach fell on his sword for their well-being away from hockey.

3. CHUMMY MEDIA – The media has a role to play here. I like Elliotte Friedman as a TV personality. But, I really didn’t like his column last week when he insinuated the Dallas Stars front office didn’t care for how much fun Jim Montgomery had away from the rink. What does that mean? To me, Friedman is throwing an inflammatory comment out there to let us all know that he maybe has the real reason for Montgomery’s dismissal but he isn’t saying it. If there was something specific about how Montgomery behaved away from the team that the Stars didn’t like, the onus is on Friedman to say exactly what it is and not leave the reader to try and figure out if he liked to drink and drive, fornicate with women, snort cocaine off a mirror in his hotel room, or some other dastardly deed I can’t even think of. I think we all have a different definition of ‘fun’.  The other option for Friedman here is to just not say anything about Montgomery’s activities away from the rink at all. Using a generic statement opens it wide up to interpretation and it’s not fair. Maybe Montgomery shared scouting information about a player with a friend of his who is affiliated with another team. That would be unprofessional conduct too.

4. MEDIA HAS DETERIORATED BADLY – The NHL is so poorly covered it’s laughable. In just about any other sport, if a General Manager got up in front of the media and announced he was firing his coach and not revealing the reason, the media would hound the GM until they got a snippet of information to then go and do their own investigation. But, in the NHL all you get are questions and a lot of non-answers from the subjects being talked to and then we move on. For many years I’ve laughed at this notion of upper body and lower body injury being acceptable information. It shouldn’t be. You can say what you want, but fans deserve a right to know what’s happening with their team.  And, if the team is not going to say what the injury is, the media should be able to find out exactly without a lot of effort. And, I assure you they know but they just follow the company team line and don’t report it. The media shouldn’t be an extension of team public relations. Their job is to be the fan’s representative and then get the information out to the fans. If the relationship with the team is a bit stormy, well that’s life. And, if you are a credible media outlet the team can’t just bar you from credentials because they don’t like your stories. If the lower body injury happens to mean a player had to check himself into rehab, then that’s what it is and the media should report it. These athletes make millions of dollars, people knowing your business is part of the territory.

5. NO SECRETS – To this end, I recall a coach telling me one time that his top defenseman was going to be out of the lineup for six weeks with a broken leg, as a result of a stunt gone wrong while drinking.  I asked if it was okay to report it and the coach said go ahead. He made the unwise decision to do it, why should he be protected from everyone knowing what happened?

6. HALL FOR LOTTO TICKETS – The New Jersey Devils dealt Taylor Hall to the (I call them Phoenix) Coyotes on Monday for prospects and draft picks.  Essentially, lottery tickets. Remember when the Calgary Flames traded Jarome Iginla and what a haul of prospects they got for him? Yeah, me either. What about that Jets acquisition of Paul Stastny that cost them a first rounder and Erik Foley? Foley’s career is in limbo after suffering a concussion.  The Blues used the pick on Dominik Bokk (yeah, no idea who he is either) and the Jets picked David Gustafsson with their first pick of the draft in round two.  Gustafsson has played 22 games for them and just got loaned to the World Juniors.

7. BASEBALL ZZZZ – As baseball struggles with ways to keep fans engaged in a sport that moves at a snail’s pace, one suggestion I’d have for any professional sport looking to improve the game is for a committee made up of folks who aren’t focused on wins and losses.  Often, winning and entertainment are not words that go together. I had a debate on the weekend about loogys and specialists in baseball and whether or not the idea of forcing a pitcher to face three hitters as a minimum before being removed from the game is a good idea.  Of course it’s a good idea. It screws up the manager’s formula of just playing lefty-righty match-ups and may create more offense and it may also shave 5-6 minutes off game time. You are not removing strategy, in fact, you are creating deeper thought because it may not be worth taking out your starter as early if he can navigate his way through 1-2 tough hitters in the sixth inning.  It used to be that starting pitchers took pride in being their own bullpen anyways. Turning these guys into 4-5 inning appearances per week is removing the starting pitcher star from the game. They are interchangeable robots and that’s not good. It’s also why Gerrit Cole got $324-million. Because pitchers of his ilk are an endangered species.

8. BREES ONCE A CHARGER – One of the bigger blunders that isn’t often talked about is the San Diego Chargers dealing away Drew Brees because Philip Rivers was their future. By no means was Rivers a bust and there is no way of knowing whether or not Brees could have led the Chargers to a Super Bowl, but Brees is a top five all-timer in my book. 

9. NFL PLAYOFFS WILL BE GREAT – The NFC playoffs are must-see TV for any football fan.  Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas/Philadelphia, New Orleans, Green Bay, and Minnesota will be the six teams involved and I feel like any one of them (except the NFC East winner) could make the Super Bowl and I wouldn’t be surprised.  The AFC’s is Baltimore’s to lose but you can bet New England will be ready. Beyond that, though, I am not sure there are any serious contenders from the AFC. I’ve been bullish on Tennessee but that was a tough loss this weekend.

10. BUY FROM COOP – I admit to not being as informed as I should be when it comes to the labour dispute at the Co-op Refinery.  However, as soon as I read the union was Unifor, which is led by Jerry Dias, I automatically threw my support behind management.  I’ll be using my Co-op gas card a number of times over the Christmas season and may even pick up a turkey from their grocery store.

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