STACKHOUSE’S 10 WEEKEND THOUGHTS

1 – MLB ALL-STAR GAME – This year’s game is slated for July 13th in Atlanta, and the organizers are operating on the assumption they will be allowed to admit 100% capacity for fans. It’s something to watch as the days and weeks draw closer. I know governments have for, whatever reason, kept their plans secret from the general public but I do have a decent source who informs me there is a Saskatchewan plan that is aiming for the majority of the province to be functioning at near normal levels by June 21st. This would bode well for the Saskatchewan Roughriders if that’s the case, however it doesn’t mean all other provinces are thinking the same way and that would be problematic for the other 8 teams. 

2 – CFL TIME IS NOW – On Friday morning, Canada announced approval of Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine. A day earlier, many Canadian provinces announced they are going to spread out the first and second dose of the vaccine from three weeks to four months as this will ensure more people get the first shot in a shorter window of time. In the US, more states are going back to normal by the day. Connecticut is set to remove all restrictions on March 19th, which I think makes them the first Democrat state to understand science the same as Republican ones. Based on this rapidly changing information it’s incumbent for the CFL to move with it and start the process of getting players in their Canadian cities so that they are ready to go at the regularly scheduled time. There needs to be a schedule done up based on a ‘normal’ year and vigorous pushing to get conditional approval from governments based on the situation not worsening from today. I said last week the governments’ position that the CFL is too dangerous to play will only get weaker with each passing day and it’s weaker today than it was last week when I first wrote it.

3 – CHRIS SCHULTZ – Never met him, but always enjoyed listening to his analysis over the years and was disappointed when he vanished from the CFL panel a few years ago. Reading Rod Smith Tweet the news of his death from a heart attack on Friday morning still brought me sadness as I felt like I actually did know him personally. His charisma oozed from the television and into everybody’s living room on a weekly basis and I seldom, maybe actually never, heard a negative comment about his on-air work from fans. That’s not an easy thing to steer clear of. If I will miss him, I can’t even begin to imagine the immense loss for those who were fortunate enough to have known him or been close to him. 

4 – WALTER GRETZKY – Sports have been good to me but perhaps the best that it ever was came on an evening almost 20 years ago when I hosted a banquet for the Waywayseecappo Wolverines with Walter Gretzky as the guest speaker. I got Walter to myself before his speech as the two of us were seated side by side over supper. I could have, honestly, listened to him for days on end. If you’ve heard Walter talk, perhaps you are familiar with the legendary grass story. If not, let me tell it to you now. Walter was sitting in the living room and watched as a strange vehicle kept driving by. Eventually, a couple of young women jumped out and rushed into the front yard where they pulled out clumps of grass and then scurried back to their vehicle, which Walter recognized as having a Nova Scotia plate. He also found the incident to be so very, very odd that he also never forgot their faces. Fast forward to a book signing event in Halifax and this woman gets to the front of the line and tells Walter that she once drove past his house in Brantford. To which Walter asked, “Do you still have my clump of grass?” The Great One isn’t The Great One without the dad of The Great One.  Rest in Peace Mr. Gretzky.

5 – DENNIS HULL – I was thinking about other banquets I’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of and Dennis Hull is someone a lot of frequent attendees have seen at one time or another. I only did one with Dennis as that’s about all my ego could handle. After I turned the program over to him, he took the mic and said, “Well that’s the first time I’ve ever been introduced by an asshole.” Shortly thereafter, he was auctioning off one of his Team Canada jerseys and despite this being a somewhat formal event, there was one individual who was wearing a Blackhawks jersey that was two sizes too small for him at the back of the room and he wanted Dennis’ Canada sweater. Dennis stopped the auction. “Look, I got a bid of $500 from the worst dressed guy in the building. Will someone else give me $480?”

6 – BEST EVER – When Patrick Kane scored his 400th career goal the other night, the Hawks television broadcast crew started discussing his place amongst the organization’s all-time greats. It’s an interesting debate but who is the best Blackhawk of all-time? Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Kane, or someone else? My vote goes to Kane. How about Detroit? Gordie Howe or Steve Yzerman? It’s an interesting thought because Howe is widely considered a top three of all-time type of player but my guess is Yzerman would get some votes as the top Wing ever. The best Winnipeg Jet of all-time has to be Dale Hawerchuk, but Teemu Selanne would get a lot of love from voters as well. Blake Wheeler and Mark Scheifele stand to be in the conversation years from now as well. Maybe in a future column I’ll list my choices for each team …. I’d need to run out of Covid topics though.

7 – FLAMES CHANGE – An hour or so after Calgary blitzed Ottawa 7-3 on Thursday night, the Flames announced a coaching change as they go back to the future with Darryl Sutter. It’ll be interesting to see if Sutter still has the ability to squeeze maximum performance from a roster. He’s old school and not known to be much of a coddler so this move tends to go in the opposite direction of what everyone else is doing when it comes to coaching young millionaire athletes, who tend to shut down if their egos aren’t stroked perfectly or if a hurtful word is used when offering criticism. I’m actually not sure how much better the Flames are then what their record shows. I guess that would depend on whether or not you think Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan are under-performing.

8 – CALLAWAY TYPES – I probably shouldn’t go there but I will anyway because it’s what I do. Mickey Callaway is a creep based on what we’ve got coming out with regards to reports on how he treated women and I’d include that description to most of his enablers too. He should never ever work in Major League Baseball again. I also have to say I’m skeptical that current Jays GM Ross Atkins was completely unaware of Callaway’s behaviour while Atkins was his superior in Cleveland. There is no excusing behaviour from Callaway types. I actually would take it one step further and say there should be very specific rules in place when it comes to relationships between reporters and the people reporters are assigned to cover. NESN, rightfully, removed Jenny Dell when it came to light she was dating Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks. While that may temporarily suck for Dell’s career, she and Middlebrooks are married today and have children. It has worked out great for both of them on a personal level. There was also a bit of an ‘affair’ type scandal with Red Sox Manager John Farrell and sports reporter Jessica Moran. Relationships of a sexual nature between reporters and athletes/managers/coaches aren’t as uncommon as they should be. If I was in charge of a sports team or a media outlet I would have a policy that should such relationships develop, it needs to be brought to light immediately and the employee in question is re-assigned. In the case of the athlete, yes it may mean a trade despite the possibility of it negatively impacting the club as far as wins and losses are concerned.

9 – BERNIE LYNCH – Disturbing news from the SIJHL’s Fort Frances Lakers as long time junior coach Bernie Lynch has been suspended for inappropriate texts and emails to one of his current players. There are always two sides to each story, but the texts revealed by the player are incredibly damning and if they are legitimate, there can be no way of explaining them rationally and innocently. In this day and age of canceling people who have good intentions but use a word that offends 1% of the population, I find it beyond unfathomable that we aren’t more determined to rid sports of coaches who manipulate and groom vulnerable young people for untoward reasons in a very deliberate way. I would give no mercy to any coach found to be doing this type of thing. 

10 – GREAT RESPONSIBILITY – After the Humboldt bus crash in 2018, I had some extremely serious and real conversations with coaches about how they all felt emotionally and one particular coach who I won’t reveal a name but I knew right then and there this is a coach I would want in charge of a program (because he cares deeply) told me he sought help for anxiety many years earlier because of the overwhelming sense of responsibility he felt for all of the young people under his care. To paraphrase, “It was snowing and the players were having a great time on the bus behind me, oblivious to the road conditions. It just hit me out of nowhere that I was responsible for these guys and I just wasn’t ready for that. Every single trip after that night started to wear on me and I had to seek help for it.” This same coach also said he felt some guilt from his time as a player when he never once thought about what his coach at the front of the bus may have been going through while heading home from a game in the middle of a snow storm.

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