STACKHOUSE’S 10 CHRISTMAS THINGS

1 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers RB Gio Bernard, who has been injured most of the season, took some criticism from an ESPN Reporter named Jenna Laine for not wanting to talk to the media after Sunday’s loss to the Bengals. Bernard wasn’t interested in talking to Laine or another unnamed male reporter but they continued to dog him until he finally started to answer. On the very first question, Bernard said it was ‘all on me’ and ‘I take full responsibility’ for not executing the play. Once upon a time that would be good enough but these two reporters didn’t seem to grasp the comprehension of what that answer means, so they continued to ask the same question, just in a different phrasing, over and over again. At some point, I hope to see interview subjects simply decline interviews. No conflict, no rudeness. Just a simple ‘no thank you’ and keep walking. That’s the only way to render these people irrelevant. 

2 – When I worked in Brandon in the late 1990s, Wheat Kings GM Kelly McCrimmon and Head Coach Bob Lowes were not easy people to interview. They hated dumb questions and didn’t hesitate to tell you when the question was a waste of their time. In the moment, I didn’t appreciate it at all but looking back it was, perhaps, the single best skill I learned from them. Many years later, I once had another media person comment on how much they enjoyed my interviews and I give all the credit in the world to Kelly and Bobby because I treated all subjects the way I treated them and if the question was only a filler or not worth asking, keep it to yourself and don’t bore everyone watching or waste the person’s valuable time who is gracious enough to give you their thoughts.

3 – To this day, I’m sure neither Kelly or Bobby would want to sit down and have a coffee with me as we ended on less than great terms. In a nutshell, I wish they had trusted me more with sensitive information but because they didn’t, we (at the TV station) ended up doing a less than flattering story and it soured everything for the final year or so. Having said that, I’ve come to admire both of them over the years from afar. Bobby’s a straight shooter, which I like in people. He and I had it out pretty good one year at the SJHL Showcase while he was working as a scout. I had badmouthed him publicly while he was bench boss of the Regina Pats and it got back to him. It resulted in a great deal of reflection by me, after the fact, on how immature I was and he was 100% right. As far as Kelly goes, I highly doubt there is a smarter General Manager in hockey. Even as I have listened to some criticize how he’s running Vegas, I look at the standings and there they are near the top. He was the Assistant GM when George McPhee made the rest of the league look like fools in the expansion draft and Kelly’s fingerprints were all over some of those selections. Even as an early 20-year-old punk working in Brandon, I couldn’t figure out why a rival WHL GM would even pick up the phone to talk to Kelly about trades. It’s like getting into a boxing ring with your hands at your waist and asking Mike Tyson to punch you.  

4 – On the subject of sports media, Pierre Lebrun (I am not sure which Canadian outfit he works for) posted on social media that the Toronto Maple Leafs have possibly discussed internally the idea of acquiring Ryan O’Reilly of the St. Louis Blues. Think about what that means for a second. An internal discussion that may or may not have occurred. How’s this news? Wouldn’t all NHL teams have internal discussions about dozens, if not, hundreds of players? Leburn is even saying that it’s possible the Leafs didn’t internally discuss it too.  They may be talked about acquiring O’Reilly amongst their own group but maybe they didn’t and they, for sure, didn’t ask St. Louis about him if it’s only a maybe that they discussed it amongst themselves. Big news.

5 – Here’s another one that I came across on social media. Elliotte Friedman was on some sort of panel and proclaimed the Vancouver Canucks have all players available to trade except for Elias Pettersson. He followed that up by saying the asking price would be huge for Quinn Hughes. If Wayne Gretzky is available, aren’t all players? How can a reporter say Pettersson isn’t available? I’m sure if some team wanted him badly enough and the offer was ridiculous, Pettersson would be traded. Just like Hughes would be traded if the offer is too good to be true. Therefore, all players are on the block or all players except Pettersson AND Hughes are available. Yet, this somehow passes for news in the NHL and I guess it’s Friedman’s job to make people think Hughes is getting traded, when he’s not.

6 – The San Francisco Giants offered Carlos Correa over $300-million only to back out over concerns with his medical records and now the New York Mets, who are also giving him north of $300-million are expressing similar sentiments as far as his surgically repaired knee. When it comes to that amount of money and if there is even a 1% chance you are worried about him being able to play up to his ability, how about moving on and paying someone else? For me, I look at Correa’s character and how he came off during the whole Astros cheating scandal and I wonder why any ball player would want him in their clubhouse. Also, for what it’s worth, he isn’t that good. He’s good, yes. $300-million good? No. He’s been injury prone his entire career and once billed as the next A-Rod, he’s a far cry from that. I’m not sure I’d rank him in the top half dozen shortstops in MLB.

7 – The Toronto Blue Jays acquired outfield Daulton Varsho from Arizona for prospect catcher Gabriel Moreno and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. It’s an interesting deal as the Jays were in bad need of adding a lefthanded bat and they did have a surplus at catcher. Varsho, by the way, can also play catcher in the event the team suffers from the injury bug so I chalk this up as being a very good trade and I like where the Jays are at. There should be no reason why they aren’t playing baseball well into October 2023.

8 – It’s Christmas and that means the World Junior Hockey Championship is just around the corner. I am super curious to see if interest in this event is revived after it tanked in 2021 when the tournament was held in the summer. There’s no Russia so Canada should have a much easier path to winning gold. I don’t watch non-game sports television anymore so I’m not sure if there is a tremendous amount of buzz or not. We shall see.

9 – The NFL is suspending a New York Jets coach for a year after an investigation that determined Miles Austin was gambling on sports other than the NFL. I’m wondering what’s the big deal? Someone pointed out to me that if Austin was in huge debt over his NBA wagers, perhaps he’d be in a position to fix games he’s involved with in the NFL as a trade-off for what he owes in relation to other sports. That’s a reach as far as I’m concerned. Let’s say Austin doesn’t bet at all but has a brother that does and he ends up in financial trouble and needs Austin to fix a game or two. There is no end to the slippery slope but I find it interesting that we are now inundated with advertisements from sports gambling websites and while Austin can probably have a fantasy baseball team with his buds, he can’t bet on the New York Mets.

10 – I’ve lost a lot of hope for humanity over the last two years and many ‘nice’ people have revealed themselves to be not so nice, however the crisis felt by thousands as a result of a snow storm in Ontario and canceled flights throughout western Canada does give me a bit of hope for mankind. I saw on social media people offering up their homes in southwestern Ontario to complete strangers stranded on the highway and there have been stories of people not knowing one another but getting together and renting vehicles (carpooling) to drive home upon learning they had been abandoned by WestJet at various airports. By the way, there is no excuse you could give me that makes what has gone on with WestJet this week even a little bit forgivable. I understand weather can throw monkey wrenches into plans but to not have customer service people available to deal with folks looking for luggage or places to stay or even have a contingency plan for those stuck on the tarmac is just appalling and how they can get away with it is a mystery to me.

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