STACKHOUSE’S 10 MONDAY THOUGHTS

1 – RUSH LOSE AGAIN – The Saskatchewan Rush blew leads of 6-2 and 7-4 in losing 12-10 to the Colorado Mammoth on Sunday afternoon. Simply put, the goaltending isn’t good enough. The Rush fired 57-shots at Dillon Ward while only allowing 38. Two of Ryan Lee’s five goals came from so far away, it looked like he was in the arena parking lot. I’ve heard it said that in the NLL, you want a SPCT of .800 from your goalie and the Rush, consistently, are not getting that. The problem facing the Rush is that the back-up doesn’t appear to be an improvement based on a cameo appearance last week. The two teams will play again next Saturday night at SaskTel Centre in what will be the first game since the Vax Pass was dropped by the provincial government. Ordinarily, I’d expect an uptick in attendance but the Rush are now 2-and-6 and fading fast from the playoff picture.    

2 – OLYMPICS – I saw a social media post from a Canadian ‘news’ paper and the lead-in was ‘how do we become more interested in the Olympics?’. I didn’t click on it so I’m not sure what they offered for suggestions but here’s what I can tell you from my own personal experience: the non-sports game/competition talk has turned me off and so I don’t watch any mainstream sports media magazine stuff anymore, therefore I have no clue who’s even competing. What I have noticed, in passing, is a little bit of woke’ism seeping into Olympic coverage and that’s not up my alley either. I can’t speak for everyone else who’s not watching. I also saw a viral video posted by an athlete detained for testing positive due to Covid and that didn’t endear me. Let’s keep the Olympics about sports and I think you will see interest go back up.  

3 – BRUINS ATTENDANCE – The Estevan Bruins, who have been averaging in the neighborhood of 600 fans per game this season, drew 2370 Saturday in a 10-0 wipeout of Weyburn. The Centennial Cup hosts may have done a bang up job promoting their game, which from what I gather, was sponsored by SaskPower and was also labeled Coal Miners Night. It’s, typically, their biggest game for fans of any season but that’s a staggering number for them during a season where crowds have been down across the board. The facility holds 2650. It’s also possible that fans who are opposed to vaccine passports were excited to see what their extremely talented team has to offer down the stretch. Four other teams who hosted games on Saturday also outdrew their season average (Melville, Yorkton, Kindersley, and Nipawin). My guess is once the masks come off, you will see another uptick. Stay safe everyone.

4 – YZERMAN – Last week I wrote about Jim Hopson’s passion for the Riders and suggested that I wasn’t sure that there was a similar figure in either the CFL or NHL at the present time. Upon further reflection, Steve Yzerman would fit this same description. Yzerman, a Detroit Red Wing great, has picked that franchise up off the mat and has them in the playoff mix despite going through an incredible rebuild situation. My guess is they are contenders as soon as next season. Yzerman, of course, contended regularly and won a Cup while at the helm of Tampa Bay, however, he belongs in Detroit.

5 – DAYTONA – With Major League Baseball tossing their fans to the side, people like me have to look for other options and it seems every time I do this, I end up watching NASCAR. Austin Cindric took the Daytona 500. He’s a young driver who has assumed Brad Keselowski’s old number 2 Ford with Penske. Keselowski is now the co-owner of a new rebranded team called RFK Racing and his new car number is 6. Keselowski came ninth. Another driver I’m watching closely is Kevin Harvick, who (and I didn’t realize this) failed to win a race in 2021.  That’s stunning to me because it seemed like Harvick won every week when I was a more faithful viewer in 2020 (he won nine races).

6 – BASEBALL TECHNOLOGY – One of the top pitchers from the 1990s was ‘Black’ Jack McDowell, who won a Cy Young in 1993 and twice was a 20 game winner for the White Sox. I think it’s safe to say he would like to stay away from computers calling balls and strikes. “They can get into our technology from Russia, so you don’t think a front office can get into baseball technology that is running the strike zone in their home stadium? It wouldn’t be every pitch. It would be bases loaded, we got to get this pitch right here kind of stuff.”  Hard to argue against that, actually. Although after watching last week’s Super Bowl and the questionable calls late in the fourth quarter, it’s tough not to think about outside influences impacting the humans officiating sports. There’s just so much money involved and so much at stake every single game. Personally, I like human umpires in baseball. Pitching and hitting to an umpire’s strike zone is an art.

7 – RIDERS PLAY BY PLAY – The radio job is open for the second time in three seasons and assuming Rod Pedersen doesn’t want to do it anymore, I am advocating for Michael Ball. Michael has been a long time employee with the company which has the rights and if he’s been good enough to be around for as long as he has, then he is good enough to be the main voice of the CFL Roughriders. His work on the post-game show is top notch and he deserves the opportunity. It’s the right thing to do. In fact, he should have gotten it last time. It’s not too late to undo this wrong.

8 – GREY CUP TICKETS – Apparently sales aren’t progressing as expected. I could be wrong here but I feel there are some serious mending of the fences that need to be done between the Roughriders and its fans in this province. Don’t forget, the Riders implemented the vaccine passport mandate BEFORE the Saskatchewan government did and I believe there are a lot of people who are hoping to receive an apology for this. I see no harm in acknowledging this was a divisive policy and destroyed a lot about what makes the Riders so unique and community oriented. Be humble. Admit you read the room wrong. A massive campaign designed around rebuilding our sense of family within Rider Nation should be in order and there would be no downside to doing that, even if my speculation on sales is totally off the mark. If you go to the team’s website you can see they still have the ‘Know Before You Go’ link where it details their ‘Game Day Verification Program’. This should have been taken down the very moment this past season ended and yet it is still up.  What’s the message here? Regardless, I’ve said it before and I will say it again —  the Roughriders are a major part of Saskatchewan and they should have a role to play in the healing process.

9 – DRUNK DRIVING – Life can change instantly and sometimes it is not at all for the better and it is entirely preventable. Drunk driving is, frankly, a dangerous act of Russian Roulette that you are taking with your life as well as an undeserving person’s life who you may encounter on the road. In Rhode Island last weekend, high school hockey players Kevin MacDonald and Matt Dennison were hit head on by a drunk driver on their way back from visiting a junior hockey program in Connecticut. Both suffered serious injuries.  MacDonald has undergone several surgeries and is currently in stable condition. Dennison was put in a medically induced coma and remains in critical condition. This story, to my knowledge, hasn’t got a lot of press here in Canada but it should.  

10 – CANADA UNATTRACTIVE – Whether you love watching the protesters get beat up and thrown around by police or not isn’t what this Thought is about but rather I wonder what professional athletes think when they see some of what’s going on. Pretend you are a free agent NHLer and there are a few teams competing for your services. Do you go to Canada even if the Canadian team has the best offer? And, what about the Raptors and Blue Jays? I find it hard to believe Canadian teams are going to have any amount of success luring talent when that player has American options. I’m also still concerned about fans and whether or not they come back to the games but that’s another story for another day. Sports isn’t a priority for people in this country and with economic times quickly changing, you may be surprised what some of these sports leagues decide when it comes to franchise locations.

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