STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – RIDERS LACKLUSTRE -I remember the point in the season last year when I said the Saskatchewan Roughriders won’t win another game.  I was proven right on that, sadly.  I don’t want to make such proclamations this time around but there is a lot to be worried about after losing 36-28 (misleading score) to Ottawa on Friday night.  Coach Craig Dickenson has been under a lot of pressure for most of the season as he is viewed as a lame duck coach (final year of contract). I don’t want to join the mob but it would be hard not to absolve him of the current flaws on this team, not the least of which centers around overall effort.

2 – ATTENDANCE CHALLENGES – It will be a challenge to get bums in the seats for their next home game on October 7th against Hamilton.  Perhaps the Riders can pull one out of the fire this week at BC and give the fans some reason for optimism going into their next home date, but the fans are becoming more and more disenchanted and I think it’s going to take major changes at the top and a home run hire or two in order for them to come back.  That won’t be an easy decision for whoever is tasked with making it and I don’t know that I even have a short list of names that the fans would get behind.  The only one that comes immediately to mind is Henry Burris.  I’m not sure if he can coach or not, but I think bringing him in would generate some excitement.  The last home game produced a little more than 25,000 fans.  I would expect that number to be lower for the Hamilton game.

3 – BABCOCK – This one still gets on my nerves, to the point that I made sure I took in no podcasts whatsoever to listen to holy media members pile on while offering no real substance to the situation.  As I look back at this, why was everything done in secret?  If Babcock’s invasion of privacy was so egregious, why can’t the affected player put his name behind it and just come out and say exactly what went down?  The player doesn’t have to show the world his camera roll, he just needs to put an end to the speculation and lay it out there as to what happened that was so violating.  If it was really that bad, the player will have widespread sympathy and there will be no questioning as to whether the right decision was made.  Here’s the other thing that bothers me:  Babcock has friends in hockey.  None of them have come to his defense.  Some of you will say he is indefensible.  I will say the world is full of cowards and it’s really easy to be Craig Button and slag a guy when it’s cool to do so.

4 – HOLDING PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE – I did see some social media posts from virtuous reporters who suggested the league needs to come down hard on the Blue Jackets organization for hiring Babcock in the first place.  I would love for that to happen, actually.  Because maybe then someone would point out that Babcock also coached his former boss, Maple Leafs President Brendan Shanahan, and even thought enough of Shanahan-the player- to give him an A for his sweater.  Shanahan would have been very well aware of Babcock’s coaching tactics when he hired the latter as Toronto’s coach and when reports surfaced over ‘bullying’ poor Mitch Marner, Shanahan should have been held accountable at that point.  Instead, nobody has issued even one question to Shanahan over what it was like to play for Babcock, why did he hire him if Babcock was such a bully, and why did he not scrutinize Babcock knowing he may try to humiliate these young kids (Leaf players).

5 – CHELIOS – Chris Chelios joined in on the Babcock criticism by saying it was one of the worst things he ever witnessed when Babcock ‘verbally abused’ Johan Franzen.  I wish the people who are so openly discussing how bad Babcock is had more credibility.  Chelios was a major participant in one of the worst showings of disrespect to an NHL head coach that I have ever heard of.  I can remember sitting in a WHL media room and listening to a junior coach who had also been in the NHL, detail a dressing room incident that involved Chelios and one of his head coaches.  At the time, I was in my early 20s and somewhat naive as to what may go on inside the dressing room.  Even though this incident happened about 25 years ago I found it troubling even at the time I learned of it and so you will have to forgive me for scoffing at anything Chelios happens to offer up as far as what is and what isn’t an acceptable interaction between coach and player.

6 – JETS TRAINING CAMP – Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness held a media scrum on the weekend and, basically, revealed his entire line-up to everybody thus ending any suspense for roster spots.  This is an example of how times have changed.  It used to be that training camp and exhibition season was meant to give players an opportunity to show what they can do and maybe play their way onto the team, but now it’s precisely the opposite of that.  The team is already picked and you have to play your way off it.  The Jets blueline is one that is constantly leaving me scratching my head.  The group is so ironclad that players like Jonathan Kovacevic (lost on waivers last September), Ville Heinola, and Declan Chisholm can’t crack it.  We hear of how loaded the team is as far as depth and capable players.  Nevertheless, at the end of every season we hear about how weak the defense is.  Heinola is ticketed for the AHL again because he can pass through waivers.  Chisholm can’t.  So, he will either be a freebie for some other team or GM Kevin Cheveldayoff will have to venture in from the cottage and make a trade.

7 – HAMLIN – For the third straight week, the Buffalo Bills made Safety Damar Hamlin a ‘healthy’ inactive.  Hamlin, of course, can’t possibly be ‘healthy’.  He started 13 of the 15 games he played in last year, so even if he’s not starter material due to the Bills having upgraded their defense, he should be good enough to be dressed and get into the rotation at DB.  Personally, I have doubts about him ever playing again and the fact he’s even alive is a miracle in itself.  However, let’s stop the charade that he’s ‘healthy’.

8 –  SCHILLING/KIRBY/SNELL – I watched some highlights from the 2004 Boston Red Sox comeback ALCS victory over the New York Yankees and was reminded about Curt Schilling throwing 7 innings with torn tendons in his ankle.  Fast forward to 2023 and Seattle’s George Kirby throws a hissy fit because his manager sent him out for the 7th after throwing 90 pitches through six.  How times have changed.   Blake Snell may win the NL Cy Young Award and he’s had a great season on the surface.  A closer look, however, shows that he’s pretty much a 5 ⅔ innings hurler.  You can’t expect to get any more than that out of him.  Having said that, Snell went 7 against Colorado this week and was working on a no hitter.  But, he also threw 104 pitches and to let him throw more would probably mean Tommy John Surgery so he was hooked.  Baseball has, essentially, killed the starting pitcher and it’s too bad.  I loved watching dominant starts but they’ve gone the way of the dinosaur.  

9 – SJHL OPENING WEEKEND – Estevan paced the league through the opening weekend, drawing almost 1500 fans for their one-goal victory over Melville on Friday.  Somewhat surprisingly, Kindersley comes second at over 1200 going through the gate for their game against Battlefords.  The North Stars got over 1000 one night later against the Klippers.  Three other clubs approached 1000 on opening night and that has to be encouraging considering the economic climate of the last few years.  My first takeaway is that there are a number of good goalies in the league this year as there were four shutouts in twelve total games.

10 – COP CARS – I know some of you like my non-sports hot takes so I will end this week with one that is going to make my friends in the RCMP a little cranky with me.  Twice this week when I was traveling, I found myself in a long line of slow moving traffic and at the front of the line was a police cruiser.  On the first occasion, the cop car was doing 102 in a 100 and the reality (whether anyone admits it or not) is that everybody goes, at least, 105 and most will go 109-112.  The vehicle directly behind the cruiser went out to pass and didn’t go faster than 105 in doing so.  Yet, the lights flashed on and the cruiser pulled him over.  The good news is that it freed up the logjam of traffic and everybody started driving 110. The second instance was a bit more dangerous.  I was the one behind the cruiser this time and a semi-truck pulled out to utilize the passing lane.  Again, the cruiser was doing about 100-102.  The semi got going up to 105 or so but there wasn’t enough time to pass me so I had to pull over on the shoulder of the road or risk an accident.  To me, if you are behind the wheel of a cop car and driving 102 in a 100, your intentions for doing so are to bait someone into getting a ticket but impeding traffic is dangerous.  On an unrelated note, I did pass a cop car one time many years ago.  He was doing 95 in a 100 and I sped up to about 105 to get around him.  He immediately pulled me over and told me to never pass a police cruiser but he also issued a warning and didn’t ticket me.  Still, I find that cheesy.

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