STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – AFC PLAYOFFS – I am not sure I understand the rationale behind making the Bills and Bengals play a neutral site game if their match up was for the AFC title but since it’s not, the Bills are the home team.  Regardless, I believe this game features the two best teams in the NFL and it’s too bad one of them will lose.  My guess is that the Bills will come out on top.  They’ve got Damar Hamlin behind them, home field advantage, and the Bengals have three offensive line starters on the injured list.  I do believe Joe Burrow has elevated himself to number two in the NFL as far as quarterbacks go but the Bills are my pick to win this game.

2 – AFC PLAYOFFS II – The Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Chargers last week and I watched this game while on vacation on the east coast, so my first instinct was to go to bed at half time when the Chargers opened up their big lead.  However, I’ve been down this road before with the Chargers and with their league worst head coach ‘guiding’ them, I knew I had to stay up and watch the train wreck.  The Jags are a nice story, but Patrick Mahomes is the best QB in the league and I will never bet against that.

3 – NFC PLAYOFFS – There’s just something whispering to me that this is the year of the Cowboys.  They may not win the Super Bowl, but they might.  I don’t think I’d bet against them if they face the Bills.  The Niners are absolutely stacked.  But, Brock Purdy can’t run the table can he?  Can he?  The Niners are who I’m rooting for because Purdy is a great story but the clock has to strike twelve.  I can’t see a 7th round rookie going undefeated and leading a team to a Super Bowl.

4 – NFC PLAYOFFS II – I’m going with the Giants.  The head coach and his support staff are near the top of the league and this is not the same Eagles team that waltzed through the first dozen games of the season.  Daniel Jones is the perfect example of what a quarterback can be with a bad coaching staff and what that same quarterback can be when blessed with actual competence.

5 – RUSH LOSS – The Saskatchewan Rush are into their second bye week and sit at 2-and-2 but are two bounces away from being 4-and-0.  They suffered an 11-10 overtime loss to Colorado on Saturday, their second extra time one-goal loss of the year.  Dan Lintner stepped up with four and the Rush did outshoot the Mammoth 54-46.  Next game for the Rush is next Saturday when they welcome Las Vegas for the first time in the expansion franchise’s young tenure.

6 – JETS – My hat is off to Rick Bowness and he should be the NHL Coach Of The Year and I won’t even entertain suggestions for someone to get the nod over him.  With a less talented roster than the one that missed the playoffs a year ago, Bowness has the Jets contending for first place in the division.  Furthermore, he has taken a defense group that was one of the worst in the league and is using the same personnel to get them into the upper echelon of the league.  Even the penalty kill is a total 180 from a year ago, ranked 2nd overall.  There is a storm on the horizon when Pierre Luc Dubois forces his way to Montreal in the offseason, but the Jets and their fans may as well enjoy it while it lasts.

7 – PROVOROV – Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov is taking heat for his Switzerland style neutral stance on wearing a Pride jersey during warmup for a game earlier this week.  His coach, John Tortorella, has defended him saying he’s done nothing wrong.  Meanwhile, media people are in total overdrive calling Provorov a homophobe and saying he should be sent back to Russia.  Personally, I think with how woke the NHL has gotten, all Russians should be sent home but that would cost the owners too much money and we can’t let profits get in the way of a good virtue signal.  Nevertheless, all I will say on this is that I have friends in the homosexual community who do not wish to force t-shirts on people.  They simply want to be left alone to live their lives based on the lifestyle chosen and do not want barriers set up to prevent them from participating in society the way everyone else does.  To me, anyone can wear a shirt.  But, where are you in the event you are in a situation where discrimination is happening and you can do something to stop it but you are too scared to get into a confrontation?  Your t-shirt isn’t going to help who’s being victimized.

8 – AVERY SUPPORT – Because I’m not a consumer of mainstream sports media, I’m not sure if this is getting any attention or not but Sean Avery has come out and condemned virtue signaling media members for their onslaught of abuse they’ve hurled at Provorov.  Avery has been a long time advocate for gay rights, including gay marriage and he has been a REAL advocate.  He’s done it all on his own without any coaxing from a third party.  By the way, my experience when it comes to these divisive social issues is that there really isn’t much divisiveness at all if you just let everyone be and keep the media, politicians, and corporations out of it. 

9 – RACIST JOB FAIR – I guess because it’s the right group of people being discriminated against the NHL thought there was nothing wrong to advertise and conduct a job fair in Florida that was open to everyone except white males.  You can’t make this up.  Nevertheless, the Governor of Florida stepped in and the matter was rectified.  The NHL, perhaps more than any other sport except NASCAR, has a fan base that is far from woke yet the NHL has chosen this path.  I will watch with great interest to see how that goes over.  The CFL is doing it and there are less fans watching the games.  I’m not saying the two are related, but there’s definitely not more fans coming out due to the CFL taking on every social justice cause it can get behind. 

10 – TREVOR BAUER – The Los Angeles Dodgers have released former Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer.  Bauer last pitched in 2021 and went 8-and-5 with a 2.59-ERA with 137-strikeouts in 107-innings.  He’s been found guilty of absolutely nothing despite horrific allegations.  But, they are just that:  allegations.  It’s gone through the legal system and it’s been determined there’s nothing worth trying him over.  He’s available for a league minimum salary and will collect the final season of his 3-year, $102-million deal in 2023.  Yet, nobody seems to want him.  It’s great to be virtuous.

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