STACKHOUSE’S 10 WEEKEND THOUGHTS

1 – RIDERS POSITIVES IN A LOSS – I don’t recall the last time the Saskatchewan Roughriders lost a game by multiple scores and yet the fans felt good about what they witnessed.  I have to concur on this one even though the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were 45-27 victors on Friday night.  Trevor Harris threw for over 400 yards and tossed three touchdowns to Samuel Emilus, who’s three receiving majors tied a team record that was most recently achieved by Weston Dressler in 2012.  In addition to that, Tevin Jones and Shawn Bane were both over 100 yards receiving and Harris, as I figured when the Riders signed him, is the undisputed second best quarterback in the CFL.  That, by itself, means the Riders have a very good chance at turning around last year’s disaster of a season.

2 – ENTERTAINING GAME – The game between the Bombers and Riders was the most entertaining CFL game of the year to date, by far.  It’s, perhaps, the most exciting Rider game that we’ve witnessed since the 2019 playoff game loss to Winnipeg.  The league badly needed this game to be a good one and the Riders and Bombers delivered.  Perhaps this is what Saskatchewan needed to rejuvenate some fan interest.  Time will tell.

3 – TICKET PRICES – I was perusing the social media comments on a story written by one of the Saskatchewan newspapers regarding the Riders’ dwindling attendance and there is a common theme – Cost.  Whether it’s the increasing cost coupled with the fact people don’t have as much disposable income or whether it’s increasing cost for a product that isn’t as good as it once was or whether it’s increasing cost with fewer perks for those who buy season tickets or whether the cost simply just has reached a point where it outweighs even the potential of entertainment level, the recurring theme is that the ticket prices are too high.  The people have spoken but is anyone in a position to do anything about it listening?

4 – AMERICAN RULES – During the pandemic, there was a lot of talk about the CFL adopting NFL rules and hitching its wagon to the NFL as a feeder/development league.  I, for one, was opposed to that thinking but I’m maybe coming around however the ship has probably already sailed on this.  The XFL has decided that’s the way it wants to go and there maybe isn’t room for two leagues to do it.  I didn’t realize this, but in the province of BC, their high school and midget levels of football play by American rules.  There is no doubting the talent in the CFL has taken a hit in recent years and while we can criticize the CFL, the simple math of expanded NFL practice rosters and the creation of two spring leagues contribute greatly to this.  If you followed the XFL, you know that if even three of those starting QBs were in the CFL, it would improve what we watch up here a great deal.

5 – EDMONTON IN LOTS OF TROUBLE – Let’s talk about Edmonton.  That team is a total dumpster fire and I’m not sure Chris Jones survives until the end of July.  They are so bad I could see them going the entire season without a win.  While, competitively, that may be hilarious and there should be no sympathy from anyone that’s a Rider fan, the reality is that this team is going to have no fans left should they fail to get things straightened out in short order.  They’ve alienated many of their long time supporters and losing isn’t the way to get them back.  In a league that has a quarterback problem, Edmonton is the worst by a country mile and they have a coach who, typically, isn’t known for squeezing a lot of juice out of the position.  

6 – RATTLERS DROP ANOTHER – The Saskatchewan Rattlers are a league worst 2-and-5 after dropping a 92-89 decision to the Vancouver Bandits on Saturday.  Back from an NBA tryout with the New York Knicks, Justin Wright-Foreman kept his team in the game with 35-points and 12-rebounds.  Wright-Foreman, earlier this season, tied the Rattlers’ franchise record for points in a game with 36 and he came up one short of matching it again.  It’s safe to say, at this point, the Rattlers are a one man team.  They are in bad need of a second offensive threat.  It would be a sin to squander a season in which the Rattlers have, perhaps, the best player the CEBL has seen in five years on their roster.  Wright-Foreman leads the league with a 29.8-ppg average.

7 – DIVISIVE ISSUES – A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Dodgers having Pride Night and Clayton Kershaw voiced his opposition to a satirical group that was going to be honored.  Well that game has come and gone and fan attendance did take a hit.  The Dodgers not only lost that game, but they also lost 15-0 the next night, which was the worst home shutout loss in franchise history.  Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays are 3-and-5 since they DFA’d reliever Anthony Bass.  Let me also just say that while having Trevor Harris makes a world of difference for the Riders, so too does a season without divisive matters that cause turmoil in the locker room.  They really weren’t that bad a team at the midway point of the year last season and then off-field matters sent things sideways.  I think we forget that they were 4-and-1 after the first five games and then went 2-and-11 the rest of the way after the embarrassing game in the Maritimes and all that happened afterwards.

8 – MILS HIRE JOHNSON – The Melville Millionaires have hired long-time Nipawin Hawks coach Doug Johnson to right a ship that has been taking in water ever since they let Jamie Fiesel go eight years ago.  Johnson led the Hawks to an SJHL title in 2018.  Last season, he was hired by the MJHL’s OCN Blizzard in late August and took a club that had suffered three straight losing seasons and turned them into a 33-win team instantly.  I’m not saying Johnson turns the Mils around that quickly, but SJHL fans in Melville have every reason to feel good about where their club is heading.  Johnson is also, in my opinion, the last standing coach in junior hockey that I also consider to be a ‘character’. 

9 – FULL FACE SHIELDS – Hockey Canada is moving forward with its plan to have all players of all ages, including junior players, in full face shields.  I won’t go too far into detail on how I feel about this because I’m not a junior aged player so maybe there is an appetite for this that I’m not seeing but I do just want to say hockey is the one sport where changes are made continually and almost all of the changes result in griping from players, parents, coaches, and others involved with actually playing.  I understand the notion that all these changes are ‘for the better’, but we have a sport that has diminished participation enrollment and diminished attendance (at the junior level) despite all of these wonderful changes that are designed to make the game better, more safe, and more inclusive.  

10 – QUINN MATHEWS – Stanford’s Quinn Mathews threw 156 pitches in a playoff game that saved his NCAA school’s season over the weekend.  It was a complete game, 16-strikeout performance.  Mathews has thrown, at least, 100 pitches in 15 of his 17 starts this season.  He’s the 119th best prospect for the 2023 MLB Draft.  While I’m sure he will be injured at some point because of the make-up (arsenal) he has, the reality is that the number of pitches doesn’t seem to have any bearing on Mathews’ immediate health.

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