STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – RIDERS IMPROVE RECORD – For the second straight week, the Saskatchewan Roughriders were part of the CFL’s most entertaining game as they defeated the Calgary Stampeders 29-26 in overtime.  While the game got off to a slow start in the first half, the second half made up for it and Trevor Harris was once again up to the task.  I listened to one of the post game shows on terrestrial radio and I was amazed at the level of angst from the fans, despite the Riders improving to 2-and-1.  While it’s fair to criticize and question the immediate future of kicker Brett Lauther, who struggled with a missed field goal and extra point, it’s also important to note that Lauther was still 3-for-4 on field goal attempts although the decisions of the head coach maybe makes it appear as though Lauther was worse than he actually was as Craig Dickenson passed up an extra point and a field goal late in the game and it almost cost the Riders the win.  Almost.  

2 – COACH DECISIONS – Dickenson seems to make one or two decisions a game that bring into question his aptitude but I will say most of the time, Dickenson is simply going by the math and the odds.  You can complain about it all you want, but this is how all sports are played now.  It’s called analytics and analytics make many sports coaches look epically stupid (maybe none more so than Kevin Cash of the MLB Tampa Bay Rays).  To me, Dickenson should take into account who are the players he’s asking to execute and what are their individual abilities based on what’s required, what is the team he’s playing doing and are their chances of beating the Riders better or worse than average based on their personnel and the type of game they are having.  A good Rider team should make different decisions than a bad Rider team and regardless of how good the Riders are, those decisions should be different depending on the team you are playing.  But, that’s not really how things go anymore.  Everything is based on ‘average’ and the human element is removed.  

3 – CFL STATS – Thursday night in Winnipeg, CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie defended the league’s embarrassing statistics program failure.  While you can get current game stats on cfl.ca, there is basically nothing available on TSN or Sportsnet.  Ambrosie says the new technology will be worth the wait, but I don’t understand how or why this wasn’t done in the offseason.  Both the XFL and USFL run pretty good stat programs and it didn’t take them half a year to get it established.  What would have made the most sense to me is roll with what you had and also implement the new program, but not making it live for the general public until the kinks are ironed out.  It can be done.  I worked with the SJHL during a technological change over 15-years ago and while it was far from seamless, we still managed to do it without any down time.  Instead, we have a professional football league that seems to refuse to get out of its own way when it comes to maintaining credibility.  

4 – EDMONTON A MESS – If those in charge of Edmonton’s CFL team care at all about the future of their franchise, they’ll admit their mistake and replace Chris Jones this week.  There is absolutely nothing positive for that team to build on and I said after the Riders beat them in week one that I could easily see them losing every single game this season.  I stand by that comment unless they make a change at head coach and quarterback.  Otherwise, games like Sunday versus Toronto are going to be more and more common.  Coaches like Jones don’t have much middle ground.  When things go well, they go very well.  When they don’t, it’s a dumpster fire.  Oh, the stories that are out there about when Jones coached in Regina but never hit the papers….Edmonton would be well served to recognize this now and start over….again.

5 – RATTLERS BACK IN WIN COLUMN – The Saskatchewan Rattlers snapped a five game losing skid with a 79-65 win over the Scarborough Shooting Stars on Sunday at Sasktel Centre.  While I don’t like to take any credit away from the Rattlers, the reality is that this game was won because the Stars were an abysmal 1-for-26 shooting from three point range.  Justin Wright-Foreman, once again, led the team in scoring with 30-points.  The CEBL’s leading scorer nosed up his ppg average to 29.0.  Friday, in a losing effort at Winnipeg, Wright-Foreman scored 24 in what was considered an ‘off night’.  

6 – RATTLERS REVIEW – The Rattlers are 3-6 overall and appear to be a long shot for the playoffs unless they can find a second player to take some of the offensive load off Wright-Foreman.  Michael Nuga, who is a bench player most nights, is second on the team at 13.5-ppg.  Nuga also missed on Sunday due to an undisclosed injury.  Because the scoring is so heavily concentrated on Wright-Foreman, the Rattlers have shown to be a vulnerable team, even with the lead, during Elam Ending time.  The other aspect that would appear to need some fine tuning is on offensive rebounds allowed.  Winnipeg feasted on Friday and that played a big part in the Sea Bears coming from behind in Elam Ending time to defeat the Rattlers.

7 – KIJHL WANTS TO GO JUNIOR ‘A’ – The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League is requesting BC Hockey reclassify its teams as Junior A in light of the BCHL going totally independent from the CHL and, seemingly, putting them more in line to compete with the WHL, USHL, and NAHL.  This could affect the SJHL, as a lot of teams have tapped into the KIJHL in recent years to scoop up 17-year-olds who played Junior B a year before their junior eligibility kicked in.  It’s not clear when BC Hockey will make a decision, but it’s assumed that it won’t be in time for the upcoming season.

8 – NHL THIS WEEK – The NHL Entry Draft takes place this weekend and July 1 is also the date when unrestricted free agents are able to sign with new teams so it figures to be fairly busy.  As far as the Winnipeg Jets are concerned, those expecting a flurry of activity are bound to be disappointed.  I think there is a better than 50-50 chance Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jansen Harkins end up with Los Angeles in exchange for Gabriel Vilardi and Alex Iafallo, but aside from that I wouldn’t be betting on too much else.  There is a deadline of June 30 to issue buyouts and Blake Wheeler is a candidate for that.  I don’t believe he will be traded.  Who would want him?  As far as the draft is concerned, Brandon Wheat King Nate Danielson has to be high on their list, but he may not fall to 18th overall.

9 – FREE ORGY FOR KNIGHTS – Alice Little claims to be the highest grossing sex worker in Nevada history and she’s trying to capitalize on the Vegas Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup win as a means to further garner attention by offering the players a free orgy.  I don’t care what people do in their spare time or who they do it with or how many people they do it with but to see this story written in such a celebratory tone and to see people joking about it and then to have those same people shame teenagers (Canada’s World Junior Team) who may have participated in non-consensual group sex in London in 2018 is a bit rich to me.  Everyone virtue signals over hockey culture and how it needs to change.  Well maybe you shouldn’t promote an orgy offered to your champion.  Just a thought.  But, this is why I have no sympathy for media members who get treated like dirt from their corporate bosses (see next point below).  They are all tone deaf and love to pile on the 2018 World Junior Team as sexual predators and blame the culture of the sport for making them who they are and then at the same time, laugh and carry on about a free orgy.  

10 – BELL RADIO STATIONS – When Bell chopped 1300 jobs last week, they also shut off the power to six radio stations, including TSN 1260 in Edmonton. To a person, I think I could find evidence from just about every on-air person that they supported business closures (or stayed silent about it) and the cancellation of sports during the pandemic. I wrote a few times about the self-unawareness of these folks and the fact I’d have no sympathy if they found themselves out of work because they didn’t seem to have much for those missing paycheques at the time. Well, here we are. Bell Media doesn’t like their bottom line, so they are doing away with entire radio stations. I was told people forced by the government to lose their livelihoods needed to just suck it up for the greater good and I guess my message here is the same. It’s for the greater good.  Do you want to have ‘some’ radio stations or ‘none’? Many in the mainstream media have made comments they cannot take back even though I see several of them are busy scouring Twitter and hitting the delete key to pretend none of this ever happened. I have news for you: those who suffered for 2+ years aren’t forgetting.  I’ve long said all that really needs to happen is an apology and be the best you can be going forward but stubbornness is a common character flaw in most of us. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of you puts a comment on this blog telling me to ‘get over it’ and that’s fine. I will. As soon as you say ‘sorry’. 

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