STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – NHL CAMPS OPEN – The National Hockey League has announced full training camps will resume on July 10th.  Canadian federal regulations require anyone coming from another country to self-isolate for 14 days before doing anything else, so that means Winnipeg Jets players will have to be back in town no later than June 25th.  The Jets have 11 Canadians on their roster that would not be subjected to the self-isolation requirement however it’s believed almost all 11 of those are also in the States somewhere.  One of my favorite holes in a hockey player’s argument about how much he loves his country is seeing how few of them choose to live here.  Those that work here also head south at the first opportunity and when was the last time you heard of a Canadian hockey player insisting he play in his home country?  There’s many reasons for this, taxes and weather being the main ones I’m sure.  For all the criticism of the United States being an awful place, it still remains the number one option for people to call home if given the choice.  Funny how that works.

2- UNIVERSITY SPORTS CANCELED – The most irresponsible sports decision of all during this pandemic was the cancellation of university sports.  I wish I could say it surprised me, but it doesn’t.  I have no expectations from those in charge.  I don’t even know where to begin with this one.  My first finger is pointed at an incredibly flawed education system which I won’t go into great detail over, but they are in no rush to put young people back on campus so that is a problem for sports.  My second finger is pointed at those who run post secondary sports.  The Canadian university sports system has been mismanaged for as long as I’ve been alive.  They don’t sell it to the general public at all so I can’t even try to say they do a bad job at it.  I want to slam this decision so bad and yet there is so much wrong with the organizational side of Canadian university sports that I think I could spend my entire space on it this week.  From a football perspective, if I look at this fairly, I think it’s okay for displaced university players to go to the CJFL.  Having said that, it sucks for a lot of regular junior players (perhaps also my son) who are going to end up royally screwed through no fault of their own because academic leaders at our educational institutions are cowards.  And, what did I tell you months ago about crowds for junior football?  They are going to be forced to turn people away at the gates.

3 – MOVE THEM TO NCAA  – Maybe there is some way to allow U-Sports (it is even named poorly and has changed names so many times most have no idea what to call it) to amalgamate with the NCAA.  Perhaps amalgamating with the NCAA can bring some prestige to Canadian university sports.  Let them promote and market things.  Would it be more costly to face schools in North Dakota, Montana, and Minnesota than it is to go to Vancouver?  There are some other hurdles with regards to scholarships especially when it comes to hockey and the WHL’s money they give to players who move on to U-Sports because the NCAA is a competing organization to the WHL.  Sports isn’t a priority in Canada like it is in the States.  It wouldn’t shock me if we’ve seen the end of it.  Schools could say, as soon as the Fall of 2021, they are broke and can’t afford the programs anymore.  

4 – HOCKEY IN CANADA – I will admit after reading Tom Renney’s interview in The Athletic earlier this week, I had a bit of a mental breakdown.  Renney concedes health officials will decide what is allowed for minor hockey and if they say you can’t play without a vaccine, the article indicates Hockey Canada isn’t going to fight it despite very real evidence that kids are not at serious risk.  It could mean no child plays actual hockey games with a scoreboard for years.  Literally, the chances of a youth under the age of 15 being struck by lightning are greater than the chances of dying from the China-started coronavirus.  Renney cautions people who are expecting to watch their children play real hockey.  He says the focus will be on exercise and allowing kids an opportunity to enjoy their time on the ice.  Out of town tournaments are almost already ruled out entirely.  Don’t kids enjoy competition through game play?  This was Renney’s quote and maybe I’m reading too much into this:  “I don’t know that we’ll play bona fide games.  That remains to be seen, but I’m very optimistic that your child will get on the ice this year.”  It’s troubling, to me, that we are letting health officials (wrong at every turn so far) decide if we can play minor hockey or not.  Let’s put that power into hockey officials, who already are super aware of safety and are ahead of the curve in this area.

5- NASCAR UPDATE – Martin Truex won at Martinsville on Wednesday night.  I have to admit I didn’t care for the short track race in Bristol last month, but I loved this one.  It was bumper to bumper with plenty of traffic obstructing the lead cars throughout the race.  Seeing teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski risk a crash and, potentially, eliminating both drivers was both fascinating and puzzling for me as a new, novice fan.  While they were jostling, Truex charged from the middle of the pack and ended up, eventually, overtaking Keselowski who had sneaked by Logano during a slow down in traffic. 

6 – NASCAR FANS – Not only was NASCAR the first sport back, they are going to be the first sport to allow fans.  1,000 service members will attend this Sunday’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 in Miami and then 5,000 will be allowed next week at Talladega.

7 – BASEBALL – Seeing what’s happening with NASCAR is why Major League Baseball is beyond crazy to continue their labour spat.  It’s too late now too even if someone was to knock some sense into these dummies.  People who don’t usually watch car racing are watching it.  And, liking it.  Baseball has missed its chance to regain some fans or earn new ones.  In fact, they are losing the few existing ones left.  Owners should not have concerned themselves with short term loss and players should have recognized the potential opportunities down the road too through personal marketing deals.  Both sides are going to make less money and there is no Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa type of home run drama to lure casual viewers this time.  You have 5 inning pitchers and a game dominated by analytics, which is no fun to watch at all unless you truly love baseball and are willing to look beyond its warts.  There are fewer of us left who can do that.

8 – NBA GETS IT – If you look at the NBA’s plan to return from a competitive point of view, having 22 teams return doesn’t make any sense.  However, their most marketable star is Zion Williamson and he plays for the 10th place New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference.  Don’t kid yourselves.  They want Zion on full display and this is the way to do it.  The Pelicans are only one game behind Portland for 9th place and after an 8-game regular season, the NBA is having a 9th vs 8th play-in to determine who makes the real playoffs.  New Orleans had injuries early in the year.  They won’t now and they’ve got a very real chance of being in the playoffs based on the format Commissioner Adam Silver worked on.  It’s brilliant. 

9 – THE WHO – I am not a fan of The World Health Organization and I don’t like that our government parrots everything that comes out of that corrupt body.  But, alas, the government isn’t exactly following all WHO suggestions after all.  Just the ones that suck fun out of everything.  If you go to the WHO website, you will find that on April 29th the recommendation for social distancing is 1 metre or 3.3 feet.  Canada, Spain, and the United States are operating at 6 feet or 2 metres (which is actually 6.5 feet).  Almost every other country is at 1.5 metres or 1 metre.  If we’d change to 1 metre, like WHO says then a lot more things can happen.  I guess I’m also wondering about the science in all of this where countries decide on three very different distances as being ‘safe’ from catching the virus.  Sports stadiums with staggered times for each section to use concessions as well as putting bums in every second or third seat becomes a very real scenario with 1 metre as the standard for social distancing.

10 – DEFUND POLICE – I’ve yet to hear from someone who steers clear of legal trouble having a strong opinion on why it’s a good idea to defund police services.  Maybe this is too hard, but don’t break the law and you will have nothing to worry about.  In the event of a situation where you are treated unfairly, just be compliant and file your complaint afterwards.

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