STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – NHL RETURN – I spent a lot of time on the highway this past weekend and listened to more sports radio in two days than I have in the last four months.  It was refreshing to actually listen to sports talk in a way that was centred around sports and the construction of teams as well as potential outlooks.  I have to admit I am excited about the National Hockey League.  I didn’t think I would be but after hearing a couple of the analysts get into the nuts and bolts of a few of the play-in match-ups, I can’t wait for this to start.  I do think we are in for some surprises in so much as some teams are not going to be able to duplicate the emotional drive that is generated from having fans in the seats.  I think it’s going to be weird, especially at first, and teams are going to lose games because they won’t be as ‘into it’. 

2 – GREEN OPTS OUT – Edmonton Oilers defenseman Mike Green has opted out from playing when the NHL returns in a few weeks.  If you are like me, you probably forgot Green was an Oiler.  He was picked up from Detroit for Kyle Brodziak and a draft pick at the deadline to bolster their playoff run.  To me, there should be some form of compensation for the Oilers with Green not playing.  He’s a UFA, and my bet is he’s played his last game ever, perhaps his choice or it may be made for him.  His reasons for not playing are ‘uncertainty with the virus’ and ‘deeply personal reasons’.  Dallas defenseman Roman Polak has also opted out for ‘personal family reasons’.  It should be noted he’s signed a contract in the KHL for next year so those ‘personal family reasons’ are likely that he just can’t be bothered to leave home and fulfill his employment obligations.

3 – OTHER NHL TIDBITS – I admit I’m probably late to the party on these things but just in case I’m not the only one: Jake Guentzel is healthy, Steven Stamkos is not, Dougie Hamilton is healthy, Travis Hamonic is opting out, Lindy Ruff coaches New Jersey, Phase two of the NHL Draft Lottery is August 10th, and Auston Matthews has been deemed fit to play after testing positive for coronavirus last month.  I know getting information on Toronto players is hard, so I thought I’d just let you know I got the scoop on that one.

4 – TEAM NAMES – Since we are on a crusade to change all team names offensive I feel like this may be a good time to point out that the word Cowboys isn’t always used as an endearing term and the word Yankees is actually very commonly used in derogatory fashion by non-American people when talking about Americans.  Nevertheless, I don’t expect this to be an issue and neither of these names will change because the right (actually left) people aren’t offended.

5 – JIMMIE JOHNSON – NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson was cleared to race four days after testing positive for the China-started coronavirus.  Johnson never had any symptoms but he was required to miss last weekend’s race because of the positive test result.  It’s somewhat puzzling actually if you think about it.  He could have driven himself to the track, got into the car, left the garage and headed out for pit row without ever engaging with any of his team or crew.  Also, if he wore a mask wouldn’t he be protecting anyone that did, accidentally, bump into him?

6 – CFL WAITING – I ask for the second straight week, ‘What is the CFL waiting for?’  We have 27,000 active China-started coronavirus cases in Canada.  25,000 of those are in Quebec.  If the CFL can’t get back on the field with partial crowds as of today, then can they ever play?  I think that has to be a fair question.  Another thing to consider is this – Alberta has admitted to conducting 18,000 contact tracing calls.  Assuming ALL of their virus cases are a result of these calls (which they aren’t) you have 8600 total cases, which means it’s far from a sure thing that you will get the virus if you come into contact with someone who does.  It’s time to gather in larger numbers–but at a distance–and for CFL teams that should easily mean 10,000 bums at Mosaic Stadium.  Junior football is already in a proactive mode to try and have a season.  Players are on the field.  Junior football should not be the organization paving the way for professionals and universities.   This is bass ackwards.

7 – U SPORTS – It’s worth repeating the decision by U Sports to just give up on football for this season is unforgivable.  To make matters worse, they are still counting this year as a year of eligibility for all athletes, which means some are done and played the last games of their career last season.  To say this choice shows a complete absence of care for student athletes would be an understatement and I don’t know how anyone in a position of authority at U Sports is allowed to keep their job.  As a reminder, young and physically healthy people are not at risk with this virus.  The evidence is very strong on that front.  School should be in session with classroom learning and student athletes should be on the field.

8 – SPORTS SPREADERS – Have we seen any concrete evidence that playing sports causes spread of the virus?  Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh got into some trouble last week for a politically incorrect statement, “Covid is part of our society.  It wasn’t caused by football or caused by sports.  There’s no expert view right now that I’m aware of that sports is going to make that worse.”

9 – CURLING SAFETY – The sport of curling has joined the irrational and released a 30-page safety document that outlines a number of measures that should help the social distancing front.  Among them, only one sweeper instead of two.  And, no more sweeping beyond the T-line.  Kirk Muyres welcomes the news of hearing curling has a plan but wonders why team members need to physically distance when they share hotel rooms, travel together, and eat in close quarters.  Glad I’m not the only one in this wondering club.  To me, it feels like curling organizers wanted to satisfy the politically correct fear mongering that has gone on with this virus and come up with some unique rule changes that are viewable to the general public to satisfy the one percent of people who want to police the other ninety-nine percent.

10 – THE HUNT FOR ASYMPTOMATICS – This is the first sickness where we have gone out of our way to try and seek out people who are positive for a virus without them knowing they are even ‘sick’.  We’ve, literally, lost our collective minds as a society.  The World Health Organization has said asymptomatic people do not transmit the virus.  Yes, they walked that back and said there is a difference between asymptomatic and presymptomatic but if you are not sick, there should be no reason for you to do anything other than live a normal life.  Yes, you can infect your grandmother.  I get it.  But, you know what?  If you are sick with ANYTHING, you should steer clear of vulnerable people.  That’s good advice even before there was such thing as Covid-19.  And, if you happen to know anyone who works at a long term care home in Saskatchewan, maybe ask that person if we have had anyone pass away from viruses that were not the coronavirus?  I’ll answer for you: the answer is yes but we didn’t worry too much about seeking out how the bug got inside and we certainly haven’t canceled life over it.  I’m willing to bet many at LTCs have died from getting a virus from a visitor that was asymptomatic of something or maybe the visitor did have some minor symptoms but thought nothing of it.  If there is one thing we should learn from this is that if you are sick, stay home.  Don’t be a tough guy and keep working.

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