STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1. RIDERS BYE WEEK – I’ve seen some complaining about Cody Fajardo not sticking around town to work with his receivers, namely his new one (Duke Williams).  I have to say, though, that sometimes when I am frustrated with a project at work the best medicine is to leave it and come back with a different mindset later.  My guess is that if Fajardo, Williams, Shaq Evans, etc are true professionals they won’t need more than this week to get on the same page and start to right the ship.  Saskatchewan’s problems don’t start with Fajardo.  They are penalty based and offensive line based.  Fix those and I think you will see everything else get rectified rather quickly but I have no faith in the discipline issue being sorted out.  They’ve had two seasons to do it and there hasn’t been an iota of improvement.

2. TREVOR HARRIS – The mighty have fallen.  Harris is 35 years-old so it’s possible he’s on a sharp decline as far as his performance is concerned but this is a guy who threw 30 touchdown passes as recently as 2017 and over 5000 yards as recently as 2018.  His first year with Edmonton 2019 was more than fine as he would have come close to 5000 yards had he played all 18 games.  He also had a career high 6 rushing scores.  But here we sit in 2021 and Harris is no sure thing to take over the starting job in Montreal where his only competition is Matthew Shiltz.  Shiltz has made all of three career starts and has 6 touchdowns and 10 interceptions to show for it.

3. JETS GROUNDED – At the time of this writing, the Winnipeg Jets are 0-and-3 to start the year.  They’ve won just seven of their last 23 overall and 3 of their last 19 if you throw out the Edmonton sweep in the first round of the playoffs.  The division they are in will be very tough and ultra competitive so it will be interesting to see how patient Kevin Cheveldayoff is before he decides to pull the trigger on a coaching change.  The Jets have ‘improved’ their defense but they’ve given up a ton of goals and scoring opportunities through the early going and their penalty kill has been an issue for many years.  Either Cheveldayoff has to admit he has screwed up in acquiring talent or his coach isn’t getting the most from it.

4. COACH/MANAGEMENT STRENGTHS – It’s probably not fair to say but the reality is that some coaches and managers are much better suited to build teams from scratch however when it comes time to get them over the hump and into full blown contender status a different type of personality is needed.  To me, Paul Maurice and Cheveldayoff are cut from the development cloth.  The Jets have been considered Stanley Cup contenders for about 4 years running but they’ve never really been close beyond 1 year.  It would be interesting to see what a guy like Mike Babcock could get from this group.  Cheveldayoff has done a great job drafting and building a team that should be in the mix year after year but he hasn’t hit the home run trade that puts this team over the edge.  Someone needs to take charge and remind Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler that while they are good players, they aren’t siamese twins and also aren’t the boss.

5. SALARY CAP – The Toronto Maple Leafs are so close to the cap they couldn’t recall a goalie for their game last weekend.  It’s caused some people to scream for changes to the salary cap system but the cap is the cap.  Everyone knows the rules and has to play by them.  If Toronto opted not to have a bit of a buffer in place that’s their problem.  The cap is tied to hockey related revenue and with empty arenas last year, it’s not surprising the cap stayed flat.  I actually think some teams are lucky there wasn’t a real market correction take place because quite a few of them would have been up to their necks in hot water.

6. SENIOR HOCKEY – I’m curious to see what happens as far as attendance and participation is concerned at the senior hockey level once it gets going in a few weeks.  In my area, Hudson Bay recently announced they can’t ice a team because they have too many players who aren’t vaccinated.  Just about every team has lost a player or two or three because of the policy and some teams have lost volunteers and you can’t run clubs without those wonderful folks who give their valuable time for nothing in return.  For those unfamiliar, the rule is simply this – everyone gets vaccinated in order to play or else everyone has to wear masks when they play.  It’s an ‘all or nothing’ choice.  There was a misconception out there that if you aren’t vaccinated, you can play in a mask.  Not true.  Everyone has to do the same thing.  There is a third option – don’t play at all.  Some have opted for door number three.  

7. ROD BLACK – I won’t proclaim to ‘know’ him but I have ‘met’ him and the impression he left with me was that he was one of the friendliest men in broadcasting that another broadcaster could ever meet.  I hope whatever he wants to do in life from now on is successful and I wish him nothing but the best.  Frankly, Bell Media and the other conventional mainstream media outlets in this country don’t deserve him.  I know there was some criticism of Black’s CFL play by play work but who out there is better that isn’t already doing games?  Black had the ability that very few have in that he can change gears on the fly.  He’s versatile and it doesn’t matter what sport it is, he can get the job done.  He’s not fake.  He, genuinely, loves every single sport.

8. FOOTBALL PLAY BY PLAY – There is a real shortage of quality football play by play announcers in Canada.  I hate to say it but the quality being delivered behind the mic does impact my level of enjoyment.  Joe Buck, for example, can make a bad game good in any sport he calls.  Chris Cuthbert can do the same thing but Cuthbert isn’t calling CFL anymore.  I don’t know where we are going to find better football announcers because there are so few of them compared to hockey but if someone has a passion for it and wants to practice into his (or her) phone at a junior or university game, I would highly advise it.

9. REGINA THUNDER – There would be no better place for an aspiring football play by play person to go than Leibel Field on Sunday afternoon where the PFC leading Regina Thunder play host to the Calgary Colts.  The Thunder are undefeated and clear cut favorites to win the conference and unseat the long time powerhouse Saskatoon Hilltops.  Carter Shewchuk, depending on who you talk to, is the best QB in the league and, statistically, the Thunder have three of the best WR (Ryan Sokul, Isaac Ford, Isaiah Woodley) in the conference.  Because football is an outdoor sport it isn’t as restricted as far as health measures are concerned and I foresee a day where junior football becomes the minor league sport of choice for people to watch in person simply because the hassle is minimal compared to indoor minor league sports.  I also think there is a lot of talent that remains unmined and there are cities that could easily support a team…they just need the people to organize something.

10. BAD SPORT – I haven’t had much time for television beyond actual game play with the NFL, CFL, MLB, and now NHL all having something on each day for me to watch but upon a recommendation from a friend, I have checked out Bad Sport on Netflix and I’m two episodes in and it’s right up my alley as far as a docuseries is concerned.  The first show featured the point shaving scandal at Arizona State from 1994 involving Stevin ‘Hedeke’ Smith.  I don’t recall this at all and it doesn’t surprise me what happened, but it still blows my mind.  Episode two is about mega drug dealer Randy Lanier, who started the 1986 Indy 500 on the inside of Row 5.  I remember the Lanier situation because also on Row 5 of that race was fellow rookie and Canadian Jacques Villeneuve. Lanier would be named that race’s Rookie Of The Year but would later serve 27 years in jail for his drug crimes.