STACKHOUSE’S 10 WEEKEND THOUGHTS

1 – CHRISTION JONES RELEASED – The Edmonton Eskimos bid farewell to return man Christion Jones after a series of homophobic tweets last weekend.  Admittedly, I never saw the comments however I find it quite hypocritical for the Edmonton football franchise to pass judgment on their player when they refuse to acknowledge the racist issue of the name Eskimos.  I’m not saying Jones should not have been released.  I’m just saying that if a racially insensitive team cuts a bigoted player, what are we really accomplishing?  Jones is also a P.O.C., so are the Eskimos saying they are choosing sexual orientation over race as far as social issues to tackle?  Esks media cheerleader Dave Campbell tweeted me and told me to ‘deal with today’s issue’.  I guess the issue of the name “Eskimos” hasn’t been an issue for the last ten years or so?  Incredible ignorance.  Less than a week after Jones’ release the Eskimos announced they won’t change their name but they will engage with Inuit communities to assess their views.

2 – CFL TOO SLOW – At this point, I don’t know what the CFL is waiting for.  The Toronto Blue Jays have an exemption as far as border-crossing quarantines are concerned and, soon, there will be 24 NHL teams in Toronto and Edmonton getting ready for resumption of play.  The China-started coronavirus cases are on a steady decline everywhere in Canada, including Quebec.  Ontario, our most populous province, has less than 2,000 active virus cases.  Ontarians have been partying on the beaches since mid-May with no spikes.  The time has arrived for the CFL to get off its administrative duff and order teams back to work and set up for an August 1st weekend start with fans being allowed to attend in each centre.  How many fans is up for debate, but I think 25% capacity would be very reasonable to start and it would mitigate the league’s losses.  I mean if you can’t play as of today … you can’t ever play. 

3 – ANOTHER CFL OPTION – I keep hearing about Winnipeg as a CFL hub.  It makes no sense to me.  If there are no fans, there is no point in playing games.  It’s a gate-driven league.  We know where BC stands on being a hub.  They are scared out of their minds about it.  But, my suspicion is that if you put three teams in Winnipeg, two in Regina, two in Calgary, and two in Edmonton and then opened up those stadiums for 25% capacity you could do a lot worse as far as salvaging a season.  You may even be able to play as many as 12 games if you got going on August 1st and then had a semi-final game and a Grey Cup game to finish it off.

4 – NFL FARM LEAGUE – Most of you who read this despise me anyway, so why not give you another reason to dislike my opinions?  If it came down to the NFL saving the CFL by way of turning it into a feeder league and they have to change the field as well as the rules, so be it as long as we get to see future NFL stars and not a bunch of never-will-bes.  If it means having a chance to watch players like Patrick Mahomes before he gets his opportunity in the NFL, I am more than happy to sacrifice our quirky rules and odd sized field even though I love the CFL game just as much as the NFL one. 

5 – UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL – It sounds like Canadian university football is going to happen, albeit on an unsanctioned level by way of 3-4 exhibition games at neutral sites.  Full marks to the schools who are ignoring edicts from headquarters and still trying to find a means to play and showcase players, especially those who may have a professional future.  It will allow scouting to still occur for the CFL draft.  For what it’s worth, PFC (junior football) is going ahead in September and, at least, one team is commencing workouts on the field as early as July 15th.  It’s possible a couple of clubs will be practicing sooner than that.  

6 – NHL HAS A SHOT – I still have my doubts about sports getting off the ground in the United States in the next couple of weeks and, suddenly, it’s the NHL that appears to have the upper hand because they are going to play in two Canadian hub cities.  The virus is not a serious issue in either Toronto or Edmonton so, assuming protocols are followed, the NHL could end up being the only North American pro league going a month from now.

7 – GREASY BASEBALL OWNERS – I will always put my support in sports labour situations behind the players.  The players are almost always up front with what they want while the owners lie, lie, and lie some more to put more beans in their jeans.  We are already hearing certain baseball team executive members go on the record about being optimistic as far as having partial crowds for some of the season.  This, of course, changes things as far as revenue is concerned and would mean they absolutely could have afforded to play closer to an 80 game season and paid the players their full prorated pay.  I suspect there is no clause in the agreement that allows for the players to share some of this fan attendance revenue.  And that has been my point all along.  Owners don’t profit share with players so why should players be expected to share when the owners lose money?  If you don’t like the risk of owning a baseball team, sell it.

8 – ASYMPTOMATIC ATHLETES – I go back to a quote from WHO Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove from early June where she states in very frank and simplistic terms, “It still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onwards to a secondary individual.  If we follow the symptomatic cases, isolated those cases and quarantined those contacts, we could drastically reduce transmission.”  There was a full two minute clip from Van Kerkhove that is easily accessible online and while her statements were backtracked big time a day later, I have a hard time reconciling her remarks as being out of context.  She gave very solid evidence based on studies WHO has conducted.  Therefore, with all of these athletes testing positive for the virus but showing no symptoms, it makes no sense at all to isolate them.  They are not living with Grammy, so they will not infect her.  And, being asymptomatic means there is a good chance they won’t infect other teammates.  Let’s get on with this.

9 – JIMMIE JOHNSON – NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson has tested positive for the virus and isn’t showing any symptoms.  Yet, he’s being sidelined indefinitely from racing until he can test negative twice in a row twenty-four hours apart.  If Johnson is kept away from his crew, why can’t he race on Sunday?  Stay six feet away from him and wear a mask.  Everyone should be fine.  Remember, he’s not sick.  He will probably be in better health than the guy replacing him.

10 – TRUMP GETTING EVEN – This is one example why Donald Trump is still popular with a large faction of the American population; in a time where crazy and stupid people are allowed to just ran rampant and do whatever they want, burning down buildings and destroying statues, Trump decides to make an announcement that he’s going to be building a massive shrine in the honour of (his words) some of the greatest Americans ever over the course of history.  It’s a big middle finger to these angry rich kid morons and there are a lot of people, that even though they won’t say anything, love the fact Trump is going to retaliate in a very spiteful way.  

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