STACKHOUSE’S 10 WEEKEND THOUGHTS

1 – CFL – The CFL doesn’t have to cancel their season and it’s well beyond time they started a massive public relations campaign pointing out federal and provincial governments are responsible for the destruction of a decades long institution. Football was played in front of fans last Fall in the United States and my guess is that most stadiums will be close to capacity down there come September for the next NFL season. Yet, in Canada, we can’t even figure out a way to put participants on the field. I know some of you are feeling peachy that governments are keeping you safe by blocking sports but this isn’t about health in this country and hasn’t been since last May, when it became abundantly clear what we were facing as far as the virus is concerned.

2 – LAWLESS ON CFL – Long time CFL commentator Gary Lawless thinks discussions between the CFL and XFL are quite a ways down the road already and feels as though we may not see anything in the way of professional football until the new amalgamated league emerges in time for some sort of a season in 2022.  “There will be an 18-team league, playing four-down football, no ratio. What the league is called I wouldn’t know but that’s what they are striving to do,” says Lawless. I’m not an expert and I have nothing to base it on but my guess is that Canadians overwhelmingly reject this. Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are not going to support minor league NFL football any more than they supported the CFL. I have my doubts on whether or not Saskatchewan will even support it. If the university ranks still play the Canadian game, the support will just go there. I don’t think you will see 30,000 fans at a Rams game, but it wouldn’t shock me to see 15,000.

3 – SIMILAR INSTANCE – When I was a youngster, I used to go watch the American Hockey League in my hometown city of Fredericton but overall the fans simply would not support minor league hockey. While there were some great players go through there in the final years of the AHL Canadiens (John LeClair, Sean Hill, Benoit Brunet, Jesse Belanger, Donald Brashear, Valeri Bure, and Craig Conroy to name a few), they had trouble drawing more than 2500 fans to a game. Meanwhile, the UNB Red Devils university hockey team was a national contender year in and year out and would put 3500 fans in the place on a weekly basis. It was a special brand that was unique to the city and it was supported in a big way. I believe in the CFL markets that are successful, the same principle can be applied. Give them minor league football that is the same but not as good as the NFL and charge $50-$75 a head…it’s going to be a very tough sell. As CFL fans, we accept that you are seeing superstars who will never play in the NFL in most instances but what we are watching isn’t the NFL anyway so it doesn’t matter. Give us NFL Lite and some quarterback that will never even be good enough to hold an NFL clipboard — hard pass. Todd Sparks, Dax MacLean, and Toby Burkitt filled the arena in Fredericton for a reason and their NHL futures (of which there were none) had nothing to do with it.

4 – WCBL SEASON – I don’t think it’s too early to discuss the chances of a Western Canadian Baseball League season and the reality for me is that because a lot of the players come from the United States and because the league is gate dependent, there is no chance this goes ahead. What’s the future here? Yorkton and Melville are already done, not the fault of Covid, but rather the fault of not being able to attract fans even when they were allowed. If you can’t make money from game tickets (fans), it’s nearly impossible to survive.  In some of the smaller communities, I think it’s plausible to assume people will have formed new habits over the two years and it will be tough to win fans back to the park. Regina may have an advantage because if there is no such thing as CFL football anymore, there will be sports fans looking for something to do and the city is big enough that even though some will have moved on, others will be looking for a void to fill. The real losers here are the players. During a pandemic where the goal has been to protect the vulnerable, the reality is that we’ve done none of that as quite a few from long term care homes and others with health issues have passed away. What we’ve also done while failing to protect the vulnerable is we’ve also managed to destroy the perfectly young and healthy but yet many of you out there still think following government policy is a better avenue than your own common sense as far as ‘staying safe’ is concerned. Amazing.      

5 – SJHL BUBBLE – I was encouraged reading Jamie’s blog post about the Weyburn bubble for the SJHL season but as Friday came and went without an announcement, I can’t help but feel much more pessimistic about it. One team’s official has told me he thinks his team has to give up at this point as hanging on to false hope is very damaging as far as mental health goes for both players and coaches. The one thing governments have excelled at during this pandemic is angling how they do things so that you end up cancelling or closing yourself and they get to extend their sympathies saying they did their best to keep you open. Reminder – Minot is 190 km away from Estevan and they play to full rinks. We can’t even put players on the ice in empty buildings.

6 – WHL BUBBLE – With the skyrocketing cases in Regina, I’m nervous about the Western Hockey League season. We’ve seen governments shut things down with no evidence before, using fear of what could potentially happen as the reason. Successfully following rules doesn’t matter one iota. So I’m nervous.

7 – BEDARD – As far as the actual hockey goes, Connor Bedard is the major story. He has 5 goals and 9 points in 5 games and he’s in grade ten. The kid is a 2005 born player dominating in a league made up of players born in 2000, 2001, and 2002. I’m not saying he’s Wayne Gretzky, but has anyone outside of Gretzky done something like this? Mario Lemieux had 96 points in 64 games during his first season with Laval.  Gretzky had 182-points in 64-games with Sault Ste Marie as a 16-year-old. Bedard is 15. It’s early. We are five games in, but I think it’s safe to say he’s already exceeded lofty expectations. Let’s not forget it’s also harder to put up points in hockey in 2021 than it was in 1977. If fans are ever allowed back into the Brandt Centre and Bedard is playing, there is no reason that place shouldn’t be sold out for every single game.

8 – INEPTITUDE – Fact: Canada is a bigger geographical country than the United States with 1/10 of the population. This means it’s easier for us to social distance. If normality can be restored to America, it surely can here in Canada too without issue. I have started listening to various radio broadcasts in the States and Covid is hardly even mentioned anymore. Meanwhile, up here, we are fear mongering over a third wave. As far as our youth and sports are concerned, I could see a time where our kids grow up to be 30-40 years-old and as they reflect on their childhood they come to the conclusion (rightfully) that their parents were very weak and screwed them over in 2020 and beyond for being passive and not fighting for their livelihoods. In addition to wrecking their present and putting their future health at risk, we are also setting them up for financial ruin. Some of you probably haven’t noticed but prices on everything are already skyrocketing and we haven’t even begun to try and pay back the money borrowed to ‘fight’ the pandemic. This is going to be ugly and it’s going to be ugly for a very long time. What’s most maddening is that it was all preventable.  Sports didn’t need to be cancelled. Businesses didn’t need to be closed. Airports didn’t need to lose air traffic controllers or International status. People didn’t need to miss their cancer surgeries. The carnage we are just starting to learn about (and STILL doing nothing about) is going to be beyond comprehension. I know politicians in Saskatchewan have been sensitive to feeling as though there is ‘blood on their hands’ when a person dies of Covid because there is that social media mob out there that feels as though the government isn’t protecting us like they are supposed to. But, the reality is that there are going to be so many more non-Covid deaths and a great many of them will be a result of government actions and those will, rightfully, be the fault of governments and the people in charge. You know who you are.  

9 – GORD MILLER – I’m not sure what provoked Gord Miller to go ‘holy’ with his opinion of Barstool Sports but it’s tough to take him seriously when he works for Bell Media, an outfit that inflicts mental anguish on employees and then hides behind a special day to recognize mental health all in an effort to promote the company’s brand. If you are going to talk the talk, you should probably walk the walk. He also seemed to express a bit of discontent with society’s inequality yet I don’t see him removing himself from his prominent play by play role so that a female or a person of color could move into that enviable position. I guess it’s enough to be virtuous, express sympathy for those less fortunate and then do nothing about it.  People love that. Barstool can give $20-million to small business and still get lambasted for whatever it is they supposedly stand for. Miller can throw out some touchy feely sentences and do next to nothing as far as real action and he’s the good guy.

10 – TORTORELLA – Columbus coach John Tortorella has been long painted in media circles and through the public as a ‘bad guy’ because he can be confrontational and hard on his players. Yet, Tortorella is a strong advocate for protecting children, animals, and our environment from harm. Tortorella and his wife are raising four rescue dogs and two horses on their farm outside Columbus. He is also a staunch promoter of encouraging people to adopt animals from shelters, promotes low-cost and free clinics, and enlightens the public on the cruelty and neglect of dogs. Yet I’ve heard people say that just because he does this, it doesn’t make him a good human. Bad people can do good things. The flipside seems to be that you can say nice things but do almost nothing as far as action, and that will get you further ahead in society’s approval.

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