STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – TENNIS SHUTDOWN – Novak Djokovic created the Adria Tour to run from June 12th – July 5th and it was designed to be a spectacle of sorts with some of the top players competing for money that would be donated back to charity. Last weekend, Dominic Thiem won in Serbia and gave his winnings to St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research in Vienna as well as Brittle Bone Disease Charity. Some funds raised from ticket sales went to the construction of a new National Tennis Centre in Zagreb. On June 18th, Djokovic competed in a match with 4,000 fans on hand. The second leg of the event was slated to wrap up this past Sunday, but it was cancelled before the tournament finale because former number three player in the world, Grigor Dmitrov, tested positive for the virus. Dmitrov wasn’t feeling well on Saturday and returned home to Monaco where his positive virus result was confirmed. Dmitrov is not in the hospital and he’s not in danger of passing away. However, it is a reminder of how easily the virus can be contracted in these types of environments.  Djokovic is getting hammered on social media for being irresponsible. Apparently he rounded up all the players and fans by gun point and made them take part and attend? Or maybe everyone did this, willingly, knowing the risks. It should be noted that precautions that could have been taken were not. Nevertheless, it’s an example of a sport that tried to go forward and couldn’t.

2 – OTHER SPORTS – Which brings us to the NBA and NHL and their plans to restart in hub cities. There is a great deal of “panic porn” out there concerning the NBA trying to restart in Florida, where the virus is out of control with cases spiking. A closer look would indicate Orlando hasn’t had any problems at all.  It’s the Miami area that has been, particularly, hard hit. Miami and Orlando are almost 400km apart. Having said that, if you use the Djokovic tennis situation as an example, there is absolutely no way this restart gets off the ground. None. The NHL is in the same boat. They’ve had 11 cases out of 200 tests so far (which is a small number but that doesn’t matter) turn out to be positive for the virus. It doesn’t sound like anyone is in the hospital, but I will reiterate my stance that I’ve been quite consistent on all along – unless health experts change their opinion on living with the virus, sports cannot and will not happen. If the Tampa Bay Lightning have half a dozen players come down with the virus, are they automatically eliminated from the playoffs? Do they use minor leaguers to ice a team? There’s no avenue to play unless we opt to live with the virus and only isolate people who are ‘sick’ and not ‘positive’. 

3 – MLB INFECTIONS – On Sunday, USA Today was reporting as many as 60 positive virus cases amongst Major League Baseball players or staff. At the time of this writing, players and owners can’t even agree on the color of the sky let alone a financial and health agreement that would set them on track to try and return. My guess is that many virus cases will put an end to the discussions altogether and the season is over before it even begins.

4 – NOT ALL TEAMS WILL SURVIVE – As we’ve seen with universities canceling sports programs, not all sports teams are going to survive this. Last week, the Nipawin Hawks were forced to shut down their fishing derby which normally nets them about $30,000. As damaging as that is, to my knowledge, all twelve SJHL teams are committed (as is the league) for 2020-21. In the PJHL, the Assiniboia Southern Rebels have announced they won’t play this upcoming season even though the PJHL is planning on forging ahead.  Depending on how long this pandemic lasts, and there is no sure thing that when the calendar flips to 2021 all will be well, you can expect teams in various leagues will announce they will have to fold. This goes over and above junior hockey. I’m talking major junior hockey, professional sports, and maybe even professional leagues. Is the National Lacrosse League, for example, strong enough to withstand a 2 or 3 year wipeout?  What about the newly formed CEBL (Canadian Elite Basketball League)? CFL speculation is something I don’t need to review.

5 – SPORTS MEDIA – I’ve seen lots of panic porn style stories on sports media sites like The Athletic, Sportsnet, and TSN over the last little while and it makes me wonder if they can be successful at overblowing this pandemic to the point where they report themselves right out of work and on to the unemployment line.  The longer this pandemic goes, the greater the chance that, at least, one of Canada’s sports networks has to close up shop entirely. If there’s a network left, what would be the point of having anchors, reporters, and play by play staff? The Athletic has already laid off a significant number of their workers and it’s only a matter of time before another round of job cuts are announced as there just isn’t enough content when sports isn’t active. It’s not bad right now with leagues trying to restart, but once they all deal with reality that there can be no playing until there is a vaccine or a change in philosophy from health experts, there is going to be nothing left for sports media to do.

6 – AUSTON MATTHEWS – One such story that qualifies as overblown is the one I saw where a Toronto area reporter opined that since Toronto Maple Leaf Auston Matthews tested positive for the virus, the NHL really needs to reevaluate their restart. I didn’t read the full story because something that shallow isn’t worth it but it had me wonder if Auston Matthews’ life is more important than a player’s life who happens to wear a sweater for another team and isn’t a superstar?

7 – MORE MATTHEWS – Speaking of Matthews, I applaud Steve Simmons for unearthing the story of his China-started coronavirus test result. Simmons shouldn’t have allegiances to the teams he covers but I see he’s on an island with this one. If you are one of these people who think the media doesn’t use their own discretion with what they tell us, the Matthews story should be a wake up call. TSN even scrubbed the first hour of their podcast with Simmons talking about it so it’s as if it never occured. Don’t get me wrong, I have been just as guilty during my media career. I recall a time in Brandon where we all suppressed a story about a player serving time in a youth correctional facility. 

8 – NOT DOOM AND GLOOM – One has to wonder, though, why we are having such a hard time returning to normality when it comes to professional team sports. If you look at NASCAR, they are planning for upwards of 30,000 fans at their race in Tennessee (Bristol) next month. This past Sunday was to be raced in front of 5,000 but it was rained out. Over in Europe, soccer has been going for a month at empty stadiums without major flare ups. France is set to allow 5000 fans to attend games as of July 10. So three weeks before North American team sports even begin, professional leagues in Europe are beginning to let fans back into the building.

9 – ALREADY TRAINED – I may already be brainwashed as far as thinking fans in attendance at games is normal. I’ve really tried to avoid watching all these reruns of games from yesteryear, but I do catch a few minutes here and there of a random game and when I see all the fans in the seats cheering, there’s something that resonates inside me for a split second that makes me think ‘this isn’t normal’ or ‘I can’t believe so many people are there’.  

10 – NOT SPORTS RELATED – Apparently, UNIFOR and Co-op came to a deal this week. I’m not too interested in the details other than it’s good for everyone this is finally over. Hopefully both sides are happy enough they consider the 7 month stand off to be worth it upon reflection…I don’t care about statues being torn down. Go ahead. If that’s what makes you feel good about curing racism, have at it. Let’s remember though that there are universities named Yale, Brown, Georgetown, and Columbia that have a strong racist tie to them. But, alas, it wouldn’t be leftist if it wasn’t hypocritical. Just go look at the celebrity list of those who have dressed up in blackface. All of them are lefties. And, for you socialists out there, why is it that socialist leaders aren’t interested in living the modest lifestyles they aggressively promote? … This whole CHOP thing in Seattle is great comedic relief at a time we need it most. I see they’ve erected borders. So much for globalism. I see they also had a murder of a black man inside their new ‘country’. Yet, it’s police free so I wonder how this happened.

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