STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – ASTROS PUNISHED – Major League Baseball has come down on the Houston Astros for using video technology to steal signs and it’s highly likely this enabled them to win the 2017 World Series.  They’ve been fined $5-million, which is the maximum according to the MLB constitution. Manager AJ Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow got a one year suspension and then Astros owner Jim Crane announced he was firing them both.  The Astros will also lose their first couple of draft picks this year and next. The only criticism I have for this is that MLB should have nailed some of the players too.

2 – TECHNOLOGY RUINS SPORTS, AGAIN – Why do Major League Baseball teams have a video replay room anyway?  For me, a challenge should be based on the human eyeball. A manager has a set of eyes just like the umpire and if you see it differently than the ump, feel free to challenge.  Having the benefit of a video room to slow things down seems unfair. There may be no more an annoyance in sports than having a baseball manager go to the top of the stairs after a close play and put his hand up to ‘possibly’ challenge.  He waits for his minions to watch on replay and then he opts to retreat or state his case. It’s dumb.

3 – VIDEO REPLAY IS EASY TO FIX – Every sport has this problem now.  Video replay was put in place to fix glaring screw ups, but coaches and managers are using it to circumvent their own team’s mistakes or to hope to catch a break.  They aren’t using it to correct human error. Challenges should be made based on what the human eye sees (or remove the ability to challenge altogether and allow for an ‘eye in the sky neutral official’) and reviews should be done no more than twice on a particular play and those reviews should be conducted at normal speed, not slow motion or zoomed in. 

4 – BAN TECHNOLOGY – I’ve always been uncomfortable with NHL teams using earpieces to communicate with the press box or with iPads on the bench to question the officials.  If you want to communicate with someone not on the bench, that’s what an intermission is for. Baseball shouldn’t be allowed to install video rooms for challenges. Whoever came up with that idea should also get a one year suspension like the Astros management team. 

5 – OR TAKE IT TO THE NEXT STEP – One thing baseball can do if you are going to continue to walk down this stupid street of using technology to its fullest is to put some sort of an earpiece on the pitcher and have the dugout call the game and remove it from the catcher entirely.  That should make it impossible to ever steal signs again unless the pitcher is tipping. Another option is to ban players and team officials from entering the clubhouse once the game starts and have a league official police the halls.

6 – TITANS – If you have been a frequent reader, you know I’ve been a passive optimist on the Tennessee Titans for about two months.  I wish I had a bit more courage and placed bets on them. Oh well, that ship has sailed. I’m reluctant to say they’ll win this weekend although I do feel they are better coached than Kansas City the discrepancy at quarterback between Patrick Mahomes and Ryan Tannehill is just too great for me to have faith in the Titans advancing any further.  Having said that, if they get an early lead and then lean on Derrick Henry the rest of the way, she will be interesting to say the least.

7 – PACKERS/NINERS – Too close to call.  Jimmy Garoppolo has to be better than he was on Saturday for San Francisco to win and I think he will be; although this just feels like it’s Aaron Rodgers’ year.  He will never have a better chance to win a second Super Bowl, but I guess I could say the same thing about Andy Reid and his chance to win his first.

8 – KASSIAN/TKACHUK – I hope you are all happy.  This is what a league with no fighting ends up getting when you have an idiot like Tkachuk skating around doing what he does.  His dad did the same thing and was no better, the only difference was that there was fighting so he either had to answer the bell from time to time or just cut it out.  I’m actually surprised Kassian wasn’t suspended for calling Tkachuk the word ‘p***y’ as the NHL has been fairly aggressive at trying to stamp out the use of hurtful name calling, especially when the names insinuate homophobia or misogyny.  

9 – SJHL TRADE DEADLINE – Based on early returns, I’m calling the Nipawin Hawks as the most improved team from the recent January 10th trade deadline.  They changed the chemistry in their dressing room without lowering the amount of talent on the roster and they’ve won two games very handily over a tough La Ronge Ice Wolves team.  Battlefords still has three goalies, which is almost always a signal that the team isn’t happy with one, let alone two. However, it’s worth noting they carried three all of last year too and won a title with their goalie being playoff MVP.  Flin Flon added a goalie, Yorkton lost their stud goalie, and Melfort pretty much stood pat. Those are the six teams in the race and if I had to rank them today (which I do on the SJHL website) it would go like this: Battlefords, Nipawin, Flin Flon, La Ronge, Melfort, Yorkton. 

10 – TERRIERS GOALTENDING – One thing to point out for Terrier fans who feel the sky is falling because of Ryan Ouellette’s departure is this – since December 1st, Ouellette had a SPCT of .917 while Philippe Bond (who assumes the number one position) has a SPCT of .916.  Essentially, they are the same goalie. What is different is that Bond has faced an average of ten more shots per game than Ouellette and that means he allows one more goal per game than Ouellette. The issue is shots allowed, not who’s in net. Bond stopped 56 of 57 on Saturday in an overtime win over Estevan.  Too many.

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