STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – TRADE VALUE – If I ran a professional sports team I would be forever in last place because I’m far too stubborn and competitive to accept lotto tickets (prospects) for superstars when making trades. Major League Baseball teams are the worst offenders at this and their trade deadline that just passed has to be maddening for fans of certain teams. The Washington Nationals, in their quest to build for the future, dealt away a 28 year old stud shortstop (Trea Turner) and a multiple Cy Young Award winner (Max Scherzer) for four prospects. Two of those prospects are pitchers, which means it’s highly likely one of them will miss a year and a half of action within the next few seasons with a serious arm injury. Another one is a catcher who may or may not be an all-star. The reality is we just don’t know. The Nationals should have demanded Gavin Lux and Tony Gonsolin and then a couple of prospects and if the Dodgers don’t like it, you keep Scherzer and Turner. FYI – A day after I wrote this paragraph, Gonsolin hit the IL with a shoulder injury. Will someone please teach pitchers how to actually pitch?

2 – BETTS TRADE – At least when Boston sent Mookie Betts to the Dodgers, they got an established player-in Alex Verdugo, back. That’s the safety net in the event the prospects fizzle out. At the moment, Jeter Downs has struggled to bat .200 at AAA and Connor Wong looks like he may be a potential back-up catcher. Big deal. Meanwhile, nobody knew who Jarren Duran was three months ago and here he is playing centre field for the Red Sox and his manager calls him ‘a game changer’. Prospects are simply a dice roll. Why trade for them when you have a cupboard full of your own?  Remember Jarred Kelenic? He’s the guy the media crucified the New York Mets over for dealing to Seattle in the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz trade. Well Kelenic has looked downright terrible and it’s embarrassing to see him trying to hit Major League pitching. Maybe he comes around but he sure hasn’t taken anything by storm.

3 – GLASNOW INJURY – It turns out Tampa Bay babying prized possession Tyler Glasnow didn’t prolong his career as Glasnow has missed half of this year with an arm injury and is now set to undergo Tommy John Surgery, which will put him out until early in the 2023 season (perhaps longer if the Rays want to continue to be careful with him). Glasnow surpassed 100 pitches only twice in 11 starts last year. Seven times he didn’t even hit 90. All in the name of preservation for the future. In five of his last seven starts prior to hitting the DL this year, he surpassed 100 pitches. I’m a non-expert, but I’m going with they babied him so much that when they finally cut him loose he couldn’t handle it. How many more arms are we going to destroy and how many more millions will be wasted on careers that are, needlessly, too short?

4 – SPORTS GAMBLING – I’m not a big sports gambling guy, which is a bit odd because I have done fantasy drafts ever since I was old enough to organize them. In fact, I created some fairly elaborate keeper leagues thirty years ago before they were ever commonplace. I will admit I don’t necessarily understand all the ins and outs and dos and don’ts when it comes to sports gambling but as far as issues like Pete Rose and now Evander Kane I find myself in a weird position as far as my opinion. We often say athletes should ‘bet on themselves’ as far as getting a big contract but then if they actually do place bets on themselves, our first instinct is to ban them for life. I mean if all the players on the San Jose Sharks bet on themselves to win every night, wouldn’t that ensure you get the best effort? It’s when they bet on themselves to lose is where things like integrity come into play. 

5 – SPORTS CHEATING – When there is money involved and sports gambling is big time money, you are more susceptible to seeing cheating and integrity being compromised. In 1979, the mafia bribed several college players on the Boston College men’s basketball team to ensure the team would not win by the required margin so that gamblers could bet against the odds and cash in. Then there was NBA referee Tim Donaghy, who was forced to resign in 2007 after it was revealed he was the subject of an FBI investigation where it was alleged he bet on games he officiated that affected the point spread. Maybe this is why I don’t gamble much. Will we ever learn the truth on Michael Jordan’s ‘retirement’ when he played baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization? I tend to be quite jaded on most things and I never assume anything is really on the up and up and I just feel like there is so much more to this type of cheating that will never be public. I’ve always felt the Tom Brady ‘tuck rule’ had something to do with sports gambling. 

6 – PROTECTING SPORTS GAMBLING – I think if you are working in the sports industry that you should be prohibited from participating in sports gambling. I think it’s fine to promote sports gambling companies for advertising because fans are the ones who should be placing bets and fans are the ones watching you but for those employed in sports to actually be involved placing bets should be a major no-no.  This goes for athletes, referees, management, ownership, media, you name it. If you are employed in sports, I see nothing wrong with using your position to promote sports gambling but it stops there.

7 – MEDIA MEMBER CASHES IN – On Monday, Rick Westhead tweeted about ESPN’s Doug Kezirian, who got a tip before this year’s NFL Draft about a player likely to be selected much sooner than anticipated.  He drove to the Bellagio in Vegas and placed a dozen $200 bets and ended up winning $300,000. Fair or not? You can say ‘it is only the SJHL’, but I can tell you I was aware of many things over the years in that league before they ever happened and if I had the opportunity to bet on them and make a quick buck you are darn right I would do it if it wasn’t illegal. It only stands to reason professional sports beat reporters would have similar inside access to their teams so if it’s not forbidden to place a bet on it, why wouldn’t they?

8 – A TIE – In case you needed further evidence that ultra competitive emotions are being taken out of sports you can look no further than men’s high jump at the Olympics, where they decided to award two gold medals because of a tie.

9 – REWARD TRYING – Which leads me to an opinion I’ve had for many years but nobody will ever go along with it because it further promotes being as competitive as possible: give the top draft picks in each sport to the top team who misses the playoffs. Why are we rewarding the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers for being dumpster fire organizations year after year? Yeah I know there is a lottery but your chances of getting the top pick for being the worst team in the league is still greater than anyone else. The argument that teams at the bottom will never ever be good unless they can get a top pick doesn’t hold water either.  How many top picks has Edmonton had over the last 30 years and what have they done with them? There are other ways to build a team than the draft. The draft just happens to be the cheapest method to do it so it’s the most popular.

10 – TIDBITS – I’m not trying to predict the outcome of the CFL season. There are just way too many uncertain variables to try and tackle that…The NHL survived their season without admitting fans. So much for the theory this is a gate driven league…The Saskatchewan Rattlers had a ten point lead on the first place Edmonton Stingers at halftime and were tied with them going into Elam Time but lost by seven on Monday night. It spoiled a heckuva game from JaKeenan Gant, who had 27 points and 6 rebounds.