STACKHOUSE’S 10 SUNDAY THINGS
By: Mike Stackhouse
1 – Not having names on the back of the referee/linesmen jerseys is a real disservice to the folks performing those duties. There are a couple of ways to look at it. The first of which is that it makes it hard to yell at the ref and address him (usually it’s a him) by name if you don’t know who it is and you think he’s doing a bad job. Let’s face it, most fans think a bad job is anytime their favorite team ends up on the short end of the stick. So, you are protecting him a bit by just assigning a number. But, the other aspect that comes into play is that really good officials aren’t recognized for the job they do anymore. I look at the SJHL and we had some tremendous referees in our league back in the days of Keith Mackintosh, Al Smith, Reagan Vetter, Adam Byblow, Nathan Wieler, and others. Now, I am not even sure who does games most nights and it’s too bad because the recent Canalta Cup final was officiated extremely well. Former Weyburn defenseman Mick Pawlyshyn and Jason Bourdon did two of the five games. Mike Langin and Adam Bloski also worked two. Byblow and Sean Dufour did one. If I had to pick a favorite, I’m going with Langin and Bloski.
2 – One final note on officials, Tarrington Wyonzek was selected to work the U18 World Championships. He’s been a staple in the SJHL for years but we wouldn’t hardly know because the name isn’t across the back of his sweater. I should point out this is not an SJHL directive. It comes from higher up. The NHL started it, but I wish we could see who these guys are.
3 – Last Sunday afternoon, I watched baseball silliness burn the Tampa Rays as their manager, Kevin Cash, who’s recognized as being one of the brightest in the game; wreck his team’s second game in a little over a week. Tyler Glasnow had pitched 5 ⅓ and thrown 76 pitches; but Cash removed him with his team ahead 2-1. A handful of batters later, the lead was gone. The other similar example was when Blake Snell was mowing down the Blue Jays with 6 innings of 1 hit ball and 9 strikeouts. He had thrown 80 pitches. Cash
took him out, the Rays lost. How smart is he really? If he left his starter in for 106 pitches in a 0-0 team and the starter allowed a 7th inning homer, the experts would criticize Cash for leaving the starter in too long. If you can go after a manager for sticking with his pitcher for too long once a year, you should be able to go after him for being too trigger happy twice a month too. Note – Astute baseball followers will point out Snell went on the injured list with a fractured toe three days after his Toronto start, but the injury was unrelated to the Toronto game.
4 – There is no evidence to suggest allowing a pitcher to throw 9 innings and over 120 pitches puts his arm at risk. If anything, you’d think pitchers could work longer than ever before when you consider the training regimens and how much more in shape athletes are today as compared to 30 years ago. I don’t know where this all started or why it continues to get stupider with each passing year as more and more pitchers hit the injured list despite more and more ‘care’ for their arms.
5 – Baseball nerds will tell you that the third time through the order is when your starters are susceptible to allowing a big inning. While that may be true if your starter is Ryan Yarborough, it’s not nearly as likely when it’s Cy Young winner Snell or Glasnow, who had a 1.24-ERA entering last Sunday’s game. Let them pitch!
6 – While I won’t use the word ‘impossible’, it remains very unlikely for a football team (NFL or CFL) to win a title without an elite quarterback. Building a team that is sensational in many other areas will win you some games, but I’d rather lose games and search for a franchise quarterback before solidifying the rest of the roster. How you get this player is an imperfect science. It’s extremely hard. But it’s imperative to have. I’m not necessarily referring to the Riders, although you saw how it turned out last year when they were elite at a lot of other positions.
7 – I’m just a dumb tourist, but I was in Regina this week and received a $75 fine for parking in an Impark lot that has direct entry and a kiosk off of Broad Street when, I guess, I was supposed to pay at the Rose Street kiosk on the back side of the lot. It doesn’t seem fair. The fine is really $87 because I paid $12 for, what I thought was, the right to park there. I’ve appealed, but what good is it when you are appealing to a private company that has a monopoly on places to park? The whole thing is a scam for dumb visitors like me. Entry to the Rose Street lot should not be possible off Broad. I never stepped foot on that street, never saw that kiosk, and didn’t know the lot was actually two different ones, both owned by Impark, I may add. I paid my fee, put the parking receipt on my dash and walked back out onto Broad. Come back at the end of the day and have a soothing ticket. Thanks for visiting Regina.
8-What I have learned about Regina traffic, in short order, is that when you have a left turn green light signal that turns to red; it’s commonplace and acceptable for three more vehicles to turn before traffic that is going straight can proceed.
9 – I have no sympathy for the Vegas Golden Knights. That was still a cross check by Cody Eakin, albeit a two minute variety one and not worthy of a major. But, the Knights should have done better than allow a bushel full of powerplay goals. They’ve also been on the good side of bad calls by the officials for most of their two years in the league. So, cry me a river. Also, if you look at the letter of the law, it was the right call. But, the NHL never ever calls penalties by the letter of the law unless it’s a skate lace being offside or a puck flipped over the glass. Everything else, such as goalies being slashed in the face prior to a goal being scored, is discretionary.
10 – Tyreek Hill belongs in a jail cell and nowhere near a football field. I’m not sure if it’s just the media over-reporting bad behaviour in football; but they seem to be in a lot more legal trouble than other athletes in other professional sports. I also have to roll my eyes a bit when the players express their displeasure over supposed injustice by police on black American citizens; but none of them have come to the defense of women or children victimized by dirtbag NFLers who are their brethren and sewering the reputation of all football players to the general public.
(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance Saskatchewan reporter/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)
