Stackhouse’s 10 Weekend Thoughts

2 – DISAPPOINTING ATTENDANCE – The sparse announced crowd of 25,973 was actually less than the preseason game attendance of 26,293.  Once again, we heard from so-called fans who bemoaned the Thursday night schedule but these nonsensical excuses to not attend are simply that: nonsensical. For a fanbase that is supposed to be the heartland of the CFL, it’s also the only fanbase that will only attend games that start at 4:48pm on a Saturday in +23 degree temperatures with the wind blowing 4km/h N and the Saturday can’t be on a Saturday of a Long Weekend nor can the Humidex exceed 26 and the air quality needs to be below 5.  I mean this is, literally, crazy. Either go or don’t but call it for what it really is, which for me is simply the cost to attend versus the entertainment value that I am getting in return. This is not a Rider problem but rather a CFL one. Maybe Trevor Harris is as good as Kent Austin. Maybe Sam Emilus is as good as Ray Elgaard or Weston Dressler. Maybe AJ Ouellette (when he plays) is better than Kenton Keith and Kory Sheets. But my eyeballs tell me there is a significant dropoff and you can’t charge more to see less. Bottom line.

3 – DRAWING FANS – In-person attendance in just about everything, except the most elite levels of sports (NFL and NHL in particular), is a struggle for various leagues. Habits are hard to break and when everyone just agreed that it was a wonderful thing to lock everyone up in their homes during Covid, nobody thought of how hard it may be to get people off the couch to come back out. People are lazy by nature. Give someone an easy way out of anything and they’ll take it. If you take away the ‘easy way out’ of watching the Riders (television or online streaming) the attendance will either go up or interest will wither away completely. I’m not sure the CFL wants to take a chance on which outcome will occur but that’s the reality. For me, I had the Rider game on but didn’t pay close attention until the fourth quarter. If you told me it’s not going to be on tv, I probably still am not going unless I hear of a superstar that I feel like I need to see. The other thing that, possibly, hurts is that the radio post game shows on both local stations leave a lot to be desired. It used to be can’t miss audio. It’s far from that now.

4 – TAKING A STAND – I have seen in some social media posts that a big reason for some people staying away is that they don’t want to support the current regime in so much as they don’t like who has their hands on the steering wheel of the bus. Fine, if that’s your hill to die on then so be it. But, here’s what I will say on that: the financial health of the team is, ultimately, what matters. While a loss of $1.1-million was recorded last year, the prior season saw them make $7.2-million and they made close to $3.8-million in 2021. They also asked for rent forgiveness during Covid and there was a compromise with the City of Regina on just over $1.3-million but the Riders stressed it wasn’t a financial capacity situation but rather they just felt they shouldn’t have to pay expenses when they were forced to shut down and while just about every other entity that had to close was forced to pay as though they were operating normally, you have to credit the Rider leadership for finding ways to alleviate expenses even if it’s the on the back of the taxpayer because they have shareholders they have to answer to and that’s the prevailing factor here. One person’s popularity level does not matter if the money is being produced.  

5 – UFC316 – Merab Dvalishvili may be the most dominating fighter in the UFC. He choked out Sean O’Malley last night to win the main event of UFC316 and the bantamweight has now won 13-straight fights and hasn’t suffered a loss since 2018. When I look at the rankings, Dvalishvili has already beaten the top contenders and he’s even better now than he was a year ago. I just don’t know who is even close to testing him at this point. The Lightweight Division seems to be where there is the most competition. Islam Makhachev is the champion but there are several challengers who are all close to being ready for a title shot, including Charles Oliveira, Arman Tsarukyan, Justin Gaethje, Max Holloway, Dustin Poirier, and the emerging Paddy Pimblett.  Makhachev has already beaten Oliveira and Poirier. He’s also beaten Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski. The UFC really doesn’t have an English speaking superstar they can market so I’m sure the O’Malley loss, quietly, disappointed Dana White.  Pimblett would be the next closest thing and while there are some doubters, I think he’s the real deal. 

6 – RATTLERS WIN AGAIN – As far as I’m concerned Elam Ending is the best thing to happen to basketball.  The Calgary-Saskatchewan game on Friday night was the poster child for why it’s great. The Surge carried a 77-71 lead with four minutes remaining, putting the target score at 86. They led 84-76 and appeared to be on the brink of sending the Rattlers to their fifth loss in six games but Greg Brown fouled out and then Nate Pierre-Louis slammed down a dunk and after that the Rattlers nailed back to back to back three-pointers from Cody John, Jamir Chaplin, and then John again and the game was over. Stunning. Rattlers 87, Surge 84.  What makes the comeback all the more improbable was that the Rattlers were an infuriating 5-for-40 from behind the arc before hitting three in a row to end the game. Most of those 40 shots were good looks but everybody was cold.  Grant Anticevitch was 1-for-10, John 1-for-9 before hitting his last two. Jordan Bowden was 1-for-7, and Chaplin was 1-for-8 before he made his timely shot. Pierre-Louis was again the star with 23-points, 12-rebounds, 6-assists, and 3-steals.  Saskatchewan goes 2-and-1 on a three game road trip and are in the mix now as they sit in third place in the West Division and aside from one game against Edmonton (a three point loss) they have gone up against top teams in every contest (Calgary 5-and-2, Vancouver 6-and-1, Niagara twice and they are defending champs, and Scarborough 3-and-1).  They host the Bandits, who beat them by forty in the season opener, Sunday at 4pm.

7 – CLEARING UP GENDER ISSUES – One of the developmental players on the Rattlers roster is Easton Thimm of the U of S Huskies.  I wanted to learn more about him (or her, I guess), so I clicked on his (or her) bio on the university team’s website and I was surprised to see that on a MEN’s basketball roster, the school felt it was necessary to stipulate he/him pronouns for most of the players on the team.  Am I the only one that assumes that men on a male basketball team are probably also he/him in the event of using a sentence where those pronouns may be required?  Tell me again that universities aren’t left wing social engineering programs.  Oh well, we voted for it so we want it, I guess.

8 – HARRIS TO WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Sea Bears have been slow out of the gate, losers in five of six to start the year but they made a major signing this week by bringing in former Rattler Jalen Harris.  Harris scored 17-points in his first game with Winnipeg, a loss to Brampton on Friday.  It’s the second year in a row Winnipeg has poached a top player from Saskatchewan as Justin Wright-Foreman played for them last year after dominating the league as a Rattler in 2023.  The Rattlers and Sea Bears play in Winnipeg on Sunday, June 15th and meet in Saskatoon on Friday, July 11th.  I get that a lot of you are still watching the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the CEBL has captured my interest and I’m starting to watch games that don’t even involve the Rattlers, including last night’s exciting win for Winnipeg over Scarborough in which Harris led a 15-point comeback rally.

9 – JUNIOR HOCKEY RECRUITING – It’s recruiting season for junior hockey and once again the Melville Millionaires and Flin Flon Bombers have been affected by the BCHL not having to abide by Hockey Canada regulations as both teams have, apparently, lost top players for the upcoming year without compensation. Koen Senft, who is entering his 19-year-old season, is slated to play for Salmon Arm after playing at near a point-per-game pace for the Bombers last season. Iyogun, who already has an NCAA scholarship, will go to Spruce Grove after leading Melville in scoring during both the regular season and playoffs. Players leaving the SJHL for the BCHL have had mixed results and I’m a little surprised both have opted to go this route. The Bombers gave a prominent roster spot to Senft as a 17-year-old and allowed for him to grow last year as an 18 and while he has shown improvement he hasn’t actually dominated. Top player Carter Anderson left Flin Flon in December and went on to score 17 goals in 22 games with Chilliwack and then was a solid contributor for them in a deep playoff run as well. Iyogun turned a corner in February and became a bonafide top line player but he has everything to lose and nothing to gain by going. His former linemate, Caden Drury, went to the BCHL midseason despite leading the entire SJHL in scoring and ended up not even being a regular in the Brooks line-up, finishing with just 1 goal and 0 assists in 11 playoff games. Although he does get a championship ring out of it so there is that.  

10 – ELBOWS UP – A lot of people are pretty jazzed about cheering for the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup final. I see quite a few folks have their elbows up, including Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe. I’m not saying Moe can’t throw on his favorite Oiler player’s jersey and cheer away while he’s sitting in his basement but it’s a bad look to get amped up over hockey on your social media page when large numbers of people in our province’s north have been evacuated from their homes due to wildfires and are living minute by minute wondering if they will even have a home to go back to whenever it is that they will be allowed to return. It comes off as out of touch to those who could use a bit more government support. We pay enough taxes in this country that nobody should have to worry about where the next dollar is coming from in the event of a natural disaster. Here’s the other thing I would say about natural disasters for all you climate change loyalists: if we are going to pay a bunch of money to politicians with the hope that it will somehow put an end to extreme weather, why don’t we demand that the extra money we submit to people like Moe and the federal government go towards better support for those affected by fires, flooding, tropical storms, etc. through equipment purchases, better wages for emergency workers, more training, and a fund that folks could draw from to help pay for expenses in the event of being displaced?  

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster)