STACKHOUSE’S 10 THOUGHTS

1 – HOPSON/MARINO/MASOLI – Former Saskatchewan Roughriders President Jim Hopson defended the team on The Rod Pedersen Show hanging on to lineman Garrett Marino following the much publicized hit/racist allegation against Ottawa QB and resident softie Jeremiah Masoli by saying ‘You need some guys with an edge’.  This is something Masoli, himself, would probably admit to if asked about his silence when Simoni Lawrence was in everyone’s crosshairs for dirty play as the two were once teammates.  That hasn’t stopped Masoli from whining on Twitter about Hopson defending Marino and trying to make it sound like Masoli is an angel and the Riders are heathens for hanging on to a really good player who has some baggage but has also said ‘sorry’.  Clearly, Masoli hasn’t accepted the apology but that’s on him, not anyone else. 

2 – MASOLI HYPOCRITE – While Masoli hasn’t been silent at all on the Marino hit; he’s been rather secretive about his injury which is ‘bone based’.  What does that mean?  It comes off rather coy.  But, then again coy or playing victim is something Masoli specializes in.  Masoli was expelled from a private high school for robbery and while he was at Oregon, he pled guilty to burglary.  Both instances, Masoli argues wrong place, wrong time.  Gee, what incredible bad luck. Either way, I don’t see him coming back and leading a CFL team to a title any time soon. Quarterbacks who have committed criminal acts (even if they were the victim both times while doing so), and deflect personal responsibility don’t usually make for good leaders and it’s not like Masoli is Nathan Rourke or anything.  Heck, he’s not even Cody Fajardo and that’s what is forgotten in all of this.  The Ottawa Redblacks may still be in last place even if Masoli wasn’t hurt. I bet Masoli is a believer in second and third chances too, just as long as it’s him that gets the chances.  Bold prediction – Garrett Marino outlasts Jeremiah Masoli as a CFL player.  

3 – BETTER PLAYER SUPPORT – Why is Jim Hopson speaking for the Riders and Garrett Marino?  Shouldn’t the current President be doing that?  Maybe I missed it, but beyond a July 21st press conference where Craig Reynolds admitted the suspensions look bad for the team and that it’s been a ‘tough couple of weeks’, not a lot of support was put behind his player.  Such is life though when you are an organization and a media group more worried about optics amongst people that will never give you a dime than you are about actual fans and players who are passionate about the team.

4 – ROURKE EXCELS – Another week and another jaw dropping performance from BC’s Nathan Rourke.  Rourke threw all of 3 incomplete passes in the Lions’ win over Edmonton on Saturday and approached 500 yards passing with 5 passing TDs.  Many are already writing him off for a second tour of duty in the CFL as it’s being speculated he will be snatched up by an NFL team.  While I’m not trying to throw cold water on that (it would be great to see him go and play at that level), I would caution that there have been many great CFL quarterbacks who tried their hand in the NFL and couldn’t do it.  Playing that position has to be the hardest in all of pro sports.

5 – WATSON CASE – The NFL and it’s PA agree on an independent disciplinary officer so she gets jointly appointed to hear the Deshaun Watson case and rules a 6 game suspension (remember, he’s already missed a full year) is appropriate for his sexual assault allegations.  The league, seeing public outrage, decides to appeal and will seek a year.  Meanwhile, the PA says they’ll sue the league over the matter.  I just don’t understand the point of a jointly appointed official if you can appeal the decision.  Both sides agreed to her, so her decision should be binding.  Move on.  Oh, and this is not a joke:  Cleveland is hosting a national massage therapist conference.  Serious.

6 – JUNIOR ALLEGATIONS – I don’t know how much mainstream press it received, but a lawyer representing seven players associated with the 2018 Canadian World Junior Team’s sexual assault allegations released a transcript of text messages sent and received by one of the players to the victim the following day.  I won’t go into great detail, but it appears as though the player was encouraging the woman to talk to the police and the woman declined.  Lawyers don’t release information to the public unless they feel it helps their case so they, obviously, think they have a strong rebuttal.  This is far from over and we’ve seen from previous situations that being found not guilty in a court of law doesn’t mean you escape severe penalties as far as your playing career is concerned.  We know a number of these eight players are current NHLers.  I’d be stunned if any of them saw the ice this season.  

7 – RATTLERS SEASON OVER – The Saskatchewan Rattlers lost by twelve to the Scarborough Shooting Stars on Sunday, bringing their Cinderella season to a close.  The Rattlers, just 1-and-13 a season ago, ended up 12-and-10 (including playoffs) this year and finished middle of the pack.  In the end, they didn’t have the depth to go any further than they did but the five starters who logged heavy minutes on Sunday deserve a standing ovation.  Tony Carr became the first CEBL player to register a triple double (21 points, 13 rebounds, 15 assists) in a playoff game in league history despite the loss.  Malik Benlevi, Davonte Bandoo, Scottie Lindsay, and Jordy Tshimanga also played their hearts out on Sunday and I can say, as a fan, I was proud.

8 – RATTLERS ROSTER – Lindsay left the team a few weeks ago for personal reasons and the Rattlers replaced him with Bruce Massey, a standout from their 2019 team, but Massey went down with a shoulder injury in the quarter-final game against Edmonton and that created a huge hole in the line-up.  Lindsay’s number was on speed dial and he agreed to come back and played like he hadn’t missed a day.  Meanwhile, Carr is up for MVP against Khalil Ahmad of Niagara.  Bandoo picked up where he left off a season ago, Benlevi would be my pick as the team’s most improved player over the two months, and Tshimanga was a difference maker as a big man.  The team was clearly different when he was on the bench.  Here’s to hoping the core of this team returns next year.  

9 – CEBL CALIBRE – The best player on the floor on Sunday was Carr.  The second best was Jalen Harris of the Stars.  Harris was a draft pick of the Toronto Raptors and would, perhaps, be on their roster if not for a suspension due to illegal drug use.  He’s eligible to be reinstated for the upcoming season and Raptors coach Nick Nurse was in attendance on Sunday.  Harris, while one of the top players in the league, is not the best player so that should tell us where the CEBL is at as far as calibre.  The NBA G League is the top ‘minor league’ that feeds the NBA future players and the CEBL has to be pretty much on par with that based on some of the numbers players are putting up who have played in both of those leagues.  Five players have graduated from the CEBL to the NBA over the last year and one of them, Guelph’s Cat Barber, came back to play in the CEBL this year and he led the Nighthawks with a 19.6 ppg average.  I’m not sure many people truly understand just how good this league is. 

10 – VIN SCULLY – For 67 years, Vin Scully was a gift to baseball fans on TV and radio.  The man was sharp as a tack into his late 80s calling Dodger games, often not even needing a color commentator.  Scully passed away on Tuesday at the age of 94, having retired in 2016.  Perhaps what made Scully the greatest was his ability to actually say nothing in the big moments.  I think of Joe Carter’s World Series winning homer in the early 90s and Kirk Gibson’s legendary pinch hit homer in the World Series against Dennis Eckersley as two obvious examples.  He had an uncanny sense of knowing when to allow the crowd and player reactions to speak for themselves.  We live in an era where announcers love to immerse themselves as part of the story with fake sounding signature calls rather than be natural, so Scully is one of the last of his kind.  RIP.  

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