STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

BYLINE: Mike Stackhouse

1 – RIDERS WIN – The Saskatchewan Roughriders picked up a much needed win on Sunday, edging the Ottawa RedBlacks 26-24 in a very entertaining game that saw the Riders blow a decent lead, then get the benefit of some atrocious Ottawa coaching strategies, only to then be just as dumb in returning the favour, and then seeing the much-maligned Brett Lauther boot a 54-yard field goal to win it for Sask. I’m not sure about you, but I loved watching this game. I never got a sense it was ever over and the lead changes at the end added to the suspense.

2 – LAUTHER HERO – I wonder where the Brett Lauther naysayers are today. Everyone wanted him cut after week one, but it has been pointed out he’s 10-for-10 on field goals attempted with less than three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. If you are replacing him, who are you replacing him with that has a better pedigree than that? It also sounds like he’s been playing through an injury and all players will have ups and downs within careers and within seasons. Lauther has been an above average kicker for the five years he’s been a Rider and I was happy to see him be the hero. There are those out there, however, who despise being wrong so much that they actually aren’t happy that he won the game. It’s okay to just admit you overreacted after week one. In fact, it’s a Saskatchewan Roughrider fan trait to overreact.

3 – FINE ADEQUATE – Where are the Mason Fine naysayers today? Fine has now produced back to back 300 yard games (I think, but who knows for sure because this is the only professional league in the world that doesn’t run reliable stats for fans and media to follow along) and I still don’t feel as though Fine has been put in the best position to win by his coaching staff and yet he somehow was able to get the win in this one. Fine played well enough that he is going to be the starter for the foreseeable future whether the Jake Dolegala fans out there like it or not and regardless of result (injury notwithstanding).

4 – SHORT YARDAGE – Can someone please tell me the thought process behind  going to your back-up or third string quarterback on short yardage? Think about it this way – the most crucial points of the game are handed over to quarterbacks that you don’t trust to start.  I know there is this notion that you don’t want your starter to get beat up or hurt in the pile-up that usually results on third and short but how many players actually do get hurt on this play? Very few, especially when you consider half the quarterbacks in the league are hurt anyway even without trying to execute third and short. Unless your back up is Chris Streveler, maybe give the ball to your running back. After all, isn’t that their job?  

5 – COACHING COMEDY – Trailing 23-21, Ottawa neglected to kick a short field goal to take the lead late in the fourth and then failed to convert on third and short. Moments later, the Riders performed a ‘hold my beer’ by going for third and short from deep in their own end. Of course they didn’t make it and Ottawa managed to find themselves on the 1-yard line on 3rd down, but this time they did kick the field goal as opposed to trying for the touchdown and putting more pressure on the Riders in the final minute. Truly puzzling decisions by the coaches on both sidelines.

6 – MARCHAND CAPTAIN – The Boston Bruins are set to name Brad Marchand their next captain and it’s widely applauded. Apparently, nobody remembers the Bruins are supposed to be a picture of high moral standards as they signed and then, quickly, released a prospect who was a school bully in grade eight.  Yet, it’s okay to put the C on a guy who once licked another player in a playoff game. I guess licking isn’t that bad because the NHL just told him not to do it again. He wasn’t even suspended for it.  For me, it may be the peak of gross that you can do in the middle of a game.

7 – WILSON CASHES IN – The Washington Capitals have given a long term contract to Tom Wilson.  Again, media have promoted this as a good signing for a player who is a tough competitor and, supposedly, any team would want him. Yet, it wasn’t that long ago when Wilson was injuring people with high hit after high hit that the media wanted him forever banned from the NHL. Can we pick a lane?

8 – FAN KICKED OUT – Game officials involved with Edmonton’s CFL team kicked a fan out for wearing a paper bag as he sat and watched yet another Edmonton loss. The fan claims he was told that if team officials don’t like the color of his shoes, they can evict him. They really don’t need a reason. If they aren’t purposely trying to chase away fans by changing their name, losing every game since they changed the name, kicking out fans who are still willing to pay money to watch some of the worst professional football ever produced, then they have to be the worst run franchise ever in the history of the CFL. I haven’t had any sympathy for them from the get go through all of this, but now I am actually cheering for them to go 0-and-18. They deserve it. For the people who fear actually losing the team entirely, I would say this – let them go. They bring the rest of the league down. You could put a team in Edson and it would be better run than this version of Edmonton. The only thing worse is the league head office insisting that 9 weeks of no game stats is for the best in the long term.

9 – ANGELS SWING AND MISS – The Anaheim Angels are taking heat for not dealing off Shohei Ohtani for prospects at the MLB trade deadline which just goes to show how upside down the thinking has gone when it comes to trying to compete.  Far too often, a star player is dealt for prospects who either never play or don’t make much of a difference when they do play.  I admired the Angels for taking a swing and going for it.  They kept Ohtani, added Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Randall Grichuk, and CJ Cron in an effort to bolster their line-up.  Unfortunately, Mike Trout is injured.  So is Taylor Ward.  Anthony Rendon was a bad signing, and he’s also hurt.  Rookie sparklug shortstop Zach Neto is hurt and promising young catcher Logan O’Hoppe has missed most of the year with a torn labrum. Brandon Drury just came back from lengthy injury layoff and former all-star first baseman Jared Walsh suffered from insomnia and was released. Their bullpen has suffered numerous injuries too.  No team will survive that kind of carnage.  If there is a criticism that I have, it’s the fact they insist on going with a 6-man starting rotation and while I haven’t checked exact statistics, it only stands to reason that 6th spot in the rotation is going to have a record of, approximately, 8-and-17.  If you had the five better starters all take extra turns, it’s not crazy to think you’d get 10 more wins.  But nobody points that out.  Instead, they say you risk injury by not providing adequate rest to the pitchers.  To that I say look around baseball.  The pitchers are hurt anyway.

10 – NO SUCH THING AS CLUTCH – I was listening to a baseball talk show over the weekend and an analyst talked about the Blue Jays and he was at a loss as to why they weren’t playing better.  He said the old school way of thinking would be to say they just don’t have any ‘clutch’ players, but the analyst quickly dismissed it because he says there really is no such thing as ‘clutch’.  In his mind, David Ortiz, Reggie Jackson, Jack Morris, David Freese, and Curt Schilling are just figments of our imagination.  Instead he pointed to things like ‘expected hits’ and other mathematical laws of average that just haven’t gone their way.  I recognize sports probably isn’t moving away from these nerd takes that rely on odds as opposed to the actual talent, make-up, and character of the athlete but if a general manager just decided he was going to build a team based on the human being instead of the law of averages, he’d have a massive head start on everyone else, 

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