STACKHOUSE’S 10 MONDAY THOUGHTS

1 – CFL START – I’m going to be the optimist here. I actually like that the CFL is talking firm dates despite things not being OK’d yet. What they are suggesting for timelines makes sense to me. July 2 is when players arrive and they isolate for eight days and start on the 10th with various workouts. There is no reason to believe this won’t be possible in every Canadian province by then.I know you all hate me comparing Canada to the US because the virus is more dangerous for us up here and Canadians just don’t want to assume any risk when compared to the Americans but the facts are these: indoor and outdoor stadiums are now at 100% in many places as far as crowds go in the Land of the Free. I don’t think Canada can continue keeping competitors off the field come August when our southern neighbors are, legit, being normal. I think it’s reasonable to think that by August Long Weekend, we are allowing travel throughout Canada and we are at 50% capacity for outdoor venues and football is allowed to be played. If we aren’t, something has gone horribly wrong with vaccines that hasn’t gone horribly wrong anywhere else and/or governments just simply have decided Canada will operate as a much different country than other ‘free’ nations around the world.  There can be no other explanation. I believe by Labour Day it’s 100% capacity at outdoor venues.

2 – NAOMI OSAKA – Four time grand slam tennis champion, and the current #2 female tennis player in the world, Naomi Osaka ruffled the hornet’s nest this week when she announced she will not be answering questions from the press during the French Open. Her rationale concerns the mental health of athletes and the ‘kick while your down’ type of questions they often get. Osaka is well aware she may be facing heavy fines but all she says to that is, “I hope the considerable amount I get fined will go towards a mental health charity.” I’ve been in media pools asking questions and am also guilty of being stupid with some of my questions but I also wasn’t at the pinnacle of my profession covering the absolute best. To me, if you are an elite media member you had better know your subject matter and do your job with pride and the utmost professionalism. However, what I hear on a regular basis is embarrassing and I don’t blame athletes for not wanting to sit through it. I think of the Edmonton Oilers last week. That was peak level awful some of the questions that came out of those reporters’ mouths.

3 – INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES – Here’s my two cents on how a sports media person should handle questions: If you are in a scrum, get your question out quickly and make sure it’s good. When you are in a learning environment you often hear ‘there is no such thing as a dumb or bad question’. That isn’t applicable in elite sports media reporting. If you are doing a one-on-one interview, the style or method of asking questions may be different. The other monkey wrench would be if you are needing to fill time during a live broadcast and the athlete you are talking to isn’t a good speaker. Rather than embarrass him/her, that may be the time when you can get really wordy with your question to help your subject out but also make sure you phrase it in a way that requires the individual to think and construct a sentence rather than say ‘yes’ or ‘no’.  In my Brandon days, I often clashed with Bob Lowes and Kelly McCrimmon but those two deserve a ton of credit from me when it comes to approaching interviews. They hated having their time wasted with dumb questions and while I resented the attitude, I’m sure they were equally or even less impressed with mine and looking back at it they had every right to be and if I were them I would have lost patience with me in short order but they didn’t. Instead they stood in there and just answered in ways that demanded I be better. For that I say thank-you but also sorry for being such a jerk.

4 – RON MacLEAN – I don’t watch intermission shows anymore so I missed the segment where MacLean offended some viewers with his ‘tarp’ joke. As I suspected, MacLean made a very fast apology to those who were upset at his attempt to humour the audience and everyone moved on. Maybe it’s because I’m not affected by what MacLean said but I’m having a hard time understanding why what he said was so offensive.  I’ve asked around and nobody has been able to tell me while a couple of others have told me that I should just know. I don’t.  

5 – NHL LOSSES – Canadian media doesn’t cover the NHL very well and they haven’t for about ten years but even still, I’m surprised we haven’t heard much about the amount of money lost by teams this season as they soldiered through the pandemic and played most of the year without fans. Commissioner Gary Bettman said this year’s losses would start with a B when assessing the amount of the money the league’s teams would be without but there has been no mention of it since the games started. I wonder if it’s not as bad as originally thought and is it possible for these leagues to do just fine after all without gate revenue or with minimal gate revenue. It would be a great story if someone wanted to tackle it. I look at the NBA where a couple of morons were throwing food on players last week and I wonder if it’s just better to let teams pick and choose who gets to be admitted. The rest of us can stay home since we don’t know how to behave.

6 – ETHAN BEAR – I haven’t looked to see what was said to the young man after the Oilers lost their playoff series to Winnipeg but no matter what racism can never ever be tolerated without repercussions. This is why I get upset when the term is thrown around so loosely by people trying to score political points. It lessens the impact and seriousness when ‘real’ racism is encountered and needs to be confronted. I have zero tolerance for racism and, at the same time, it makes my blood boil when it’s fabricated by ideologues. Here’s what I can tell you about Ethan Bear: I don’t know him personally, but a couple of years ago I was coaching a girls softball team and we were playing at Ochapowace. Ethan was home and made an appearance at the ball diamond. Pick the most famous person you can think of. That was the reaction of everyone in the crowd, and it wasn’t just residents of the First Nation. Ethan has an aura. That ‘it’ quality that many desire to have but so few do. He also goes about his business and gives back to his community in a way that lays low and avoids fanfare, which is to say he does things for the right reasons. He’s brought in some very well-known NHL players to help with hockey schools for youth and remains very much engaged with his roots. Here’s the other thing about him: he’s already a damned good hockey player regardless of heritage. And he’s going to get even better. If you are an Oiler fan and you are mad that he gave the puck away and the other team scored, well get over it. Connor McDavid gave the puck away on the series clinching goal. It happens.

7 – NASCAR RACE – The Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte was a much different race than the previous week in Austin, TX when I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Cup Series was making its debut at the Circuit of the Americas’ 3.41-mile road course and it was pouring rain. It was the textbook example of dangerous. I get that the cars were equipped with wet weather tires but there are 20 turns on that ‘track’ and it was still slippery.  The race was called with 14 laps remaining with Chase Elliott getting the victory. I have to admit I turned the channel. I cringed just watching it for a few minutes and can’t imagine what it was like for the drivers. Kevin Harvick ripped the governing body saying, “We don’t have any business being out in the rain, period. All I can say is that this is the worst decision that we’ve ever made in our sport that I’ve been a part of, and I’ve never felt more unsafe in my whole racing career.”  

8 – NASCAR EARNED FANS – Last year when there were no sports, NASCAR and Major League Soccer were the first two to come back and I gave both professional leagues an opportunity to win me over. Soccer didn’t do it, but NASCAR has. Even on a Sunday afternoon when there are other options, I find myself watching about half of the races. Unrelated note–I did a bit of research and couldn’t find much on it, but apparently former NFL/CFL player Josh Bell is the rear tire changer for Austin Dillon. I don’t know if this is the same guy or not, but Bell is listed as the DB coach for the Argos for this upcoming season after having served with Calgary for the last couple of years.

9 – HAIRCUTS – I understand Ontario is in a lockdown and included in that are hair salons so it only stands to reason that your sports talking heads are letting their hair grow out to show the public they are following the rules. However, there are a few of them that look absolutely disgraceful. Do they not have friends who can, at least, do enough of a makeshift job that they don’t look completely uncared for? Also, wouldn’t it stand to reason that TSN and Sportsnet employ people who know a thing or two about hair and maybe they could cut it? Or is it just ‘in style’ to show the public these announcers are suffering just like everyone else?  Any female personality I’ve seen on sports television looks the same as always so it’s only the men this seems to be affecting. Odd.

10 – JLO – I have to sneak a little bit of pop culture in here but it’s sports-related so it should be okay. The New York Post tweeted a photo of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck the other day as the two have rekindled their romance after she dated former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez for a number of years. In the picture, Affleck is seen taking an apparent smoke break from being inside. A couple of days prior to this the same newspaper tweeted a photo of Rodriguez peddling a make-up line for men. So just an observation and no opinion offered as I know what that does to some of you but it’s clear J-Lo prefers a man who lights up the occasional dart over one that is promoting male foundation.

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