STACKHOUSE’S 10 WEEKEND THOUGHTS

1 – DOLEGALA EXCELS – Roughriders QB Jake Dolegala solidified his position as the starter for the rest of the season in the Labour Day Classic as he passed for over 300 yards and set up two Antonio Pipkin goal line plunges in a 32-30 upset win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  Dolegala, in his third career start, didn’t just focus on one receiver.  He spread the ball around to four different receivers regularly and as many as six were threats to catch a pass from him at any given time.  There was even some creativity on the play calling, especially in overtime as running back Jamal Morrow ran a route from out of the backfield and took a Dolegala pass down to the one.  That wasn’t the only wrinkle the coaching staff had for the Bombers.  The Riders started the game with a successful onside kick.  All in all, it was a game with very little to pick apart from the Riders’ perspective, who have to be back on the radar to play for the Grey Cup.

2 – PETE ROBERTSON – The one negative from the game was the brain fart in the fourth quarter by Pete Robertson, where he delivered a, potentially, dangerous head butt to quarterback Zach Collaros that gave the Bombers a new set of downs from the three yard line which ended up giving Winnipeg a 24-20 lead late in the fourth quarter.  Many are calling for Robertson to be suspended or even released (on Monday afternoon he was suspended for one game by the CFL).  I was surprised that head coach Craig Dickenson didn’t pull Robertson off the field for a few plays.  It’s tough to take Dickenson’s words on discipline seriously when he doesn’t follow through with actions to punish on-field stupidity.  Here’s where I will differ from most fans – I don’t think the Riders should’ve suspended Robertson.  Handle it internally and be done with it.  Show me an instance where a team has gotten out in front of the league office and issued their own suspension.  It never happens.  Heck, the Boston Bruins are going to name a player who should have been kicked out of the NHL their captain.  So, the onus wasn’t on the Riders to do anything with Robertson as far as a suspension goes.  The other thing I’d say is that Collaros had his lips flapping most of the game and I’d be curious to know what was said to Robertson before he delivered the head butt.  Some of you will say words don’t matter, but they do.  We live in a time where sports organizations are putting language into the rules that calls for suspensions for hurtful name calling.  I think we should learn what Collaros said to him.

3 – COLLAROS AFTERMATH – After the game, Collaros whined to the media about the lack of protection for quarterbacks.  I would suggest to him that if he keeps his mouth shut and just plays the game, he is at a lesser risk of someone losing his composure and doing something stupid.  And, as far as the virtuous Rider and Bomber fans are concerned that are calling for the Riders to take a hardline stance with Robertson:  I give you the situation earlier in the year when Hamilton’s Chris Edwards faked a hand shake with Montreal’s Austin Mack and threw the Als’ receiver to the ground.  Nobody cared about that, I assume, because Mack wasn’t hurt and Edwards wasn’t a Rider.  But what if he fell awkwardly and injured his knee?  Or banged his head off the ground?  Collaros wasn’t hurt either.  He stayed down to draw attention to the head butt.  That was evident when he threw his hissy fit after concussion spotters pulled him off the field for three plays.  So let’s all just settle down.  Robertson, probably, deserved a fine and that’s it. 

4 – NATHAN ROURKE – I recognize that I’m not an NFL talent evaluator but based on Rourke’s play in the preseason coupled with what we saw in the CFL from him, I’m shocked that every single NFL team has a backup better than him.  In fact, I think he could start for Arizona, but they aren’t even interested in pretending to try.  Having said that, there does seem to be bewilderment amongst CFL fans as to why Rourke would stay on a practice roster down south as opposed to coming back here and dominating.  Well, I know a lot of you will disagree with this but the reality is that he can make $575,000 and not subject his body to injury the way he would in the CFL.  In fact, it’s almost an assurance that if you play quarterback regularly in the CFL, you are going to be hurt at some point and will miss significant time.  He doesn’t have to worry about that.  Any person that says they would rather work harder and make the same amount of money is a liar.  This is no different.  He can collect his paycheque and go home and not have the aches and pains of a CFL starter.  Also, teams can brag about their financial state all they want but I don’t think any of them can afford $700,000 for a QB.  Finally, and this may be the most controversial take on this subject:  NFL practice roster players are better than CFL starters and he will develop just fine by going up against those guys.

5 – HOCKEY RULE CHANGES – The IIHF Champions League has announced three new rule changes the NHL should also adopt immediately with regards to powerplays.  The first of which, and most impactful, is to treat a minor penalty the same as a major as far as scoring as many goals as possible in the two minute window.  They are also saying a minor penalty will still be served even if a goal is scored on a delayed call.  The third wrinkle is that if the shorthanded team scores a goal, the penalty comes off the board and the powerplay is lost.  I’d like to see a fourth rule change that forbids the shorthanded team to freely ice the puck.  Why do you get to ice it when down a man?  The rules shouldn’t change just because you take a penalty.

6 – BILL PETERS – The Lethbridge Hurricanes ruffled some feathers this week by hiring Bill Peters to be their next head coach.  Peters, who was banished from the NHL after it was revealed he made racist remarks to one of his players many years earlier, has been given a second chance and the Hurricanes say Peters is remorseful and has taken the appropriate education and sensitivity training that will allow him to return to coaching.  As far as I’m concerned, that’s good enough.  Having said that, if something similar happens again, then I would hold everyone who had a hand in hiring Peters accountable.  I don’t feel as though certain sensitivity training classes make a racist a non-racist but I am open to being wrong on that.  I would also say this – Peters must be a damned good coach to have this kind of baggage and still be the absolute, hands down, best candidate for the job.  It’s that, or someone owes someone else a favor. 

7 – RUSSIANS IN TENNIS – Sports used to be an outlet for athletes and fans to put their personal differences aside but that’s not the case anymore, thanks to divisive politicians.  At the US Open last week, Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk refused to shake hands with Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka after their match because Azarenka has not spoken publicly to denounce the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Belarus has been sanctioned by the US for supporting Russia).  Kostyuk said Azarenka is a great player, but that doesn’t mean she’s a good person and therefore there will be no hand shaking.  I think it’s time to just ban hand shaking altogether.  There are lots of reasons why an athlete may be a bad person, why is it just a political affiliation that determines it?  And, if we all feel that strongly about Russian athletes, just ban all of them from all sports.  There’s too much money at stake for that to happen, though.  It’s way easier to just refuse to shake hands, throw out some platitudes and express sympathy for the poor people of Ukraine but otherwise just do business as usual and collect the profits, right?  It was peak level childish when I noticed during one of the broadcasts, that the American network didn’t bother to assign the tennis player’s flag to his name when showing the score at the bottom of the screen.  Apparently, this justifies allowing players from Belarus and Russia to compete because they are doing so as ‘individuals’ and not as representatives of their country.  So, why are we not shaking hands if that player is not representing his/her country?

8 – DEION SANDERS COLORADO – I’m not one to pay a lot of attention to NCAA football, but how could you not be drawn to Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes, who posted a major upset win 45-42 over the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday afternoon.  Much has been made about Sanders taking over the Buffaloes program and installing 86 new players during the offseason for a club that won just once last year.  TCU was the second best team in the nation for most of last season and were 20-point favorites in this game.  Typically, I’m no fan of nepotism in high level sports, but Shedeur Sanders (Deion’s son) showed he belongs by throwing for an astounding 510-yards and 4-touchdowns, three of which went to dynamic running back Dylan Edwards (no relation to the Hamilton linebacker).  Receiver Travis Hunter caught 11 for 119 and he also played defensive back, making a red zone interception as well.  With temperatures in the triple digits, Hunter barely left the field on offense and defense.  Call me interested in the Colorado Buffalos and it’s must-watch TV for any football fan.  As for Coach Prime, it’s only a matter of time before he’s in the NFL—possibly at the helm of the Dallas Cowboys.

9 – CANADA FIBA – Canada is going to the 2024 Olympics after they erased a 12-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat Spain 88-85 on Sunday.  Shai Gilgeous-Alexander either scored or assisted on 14-straight points to spark the comeback.  Between Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks, the two accounted for 24 of Canada’s 27 points in the fourth.  This was, arguably, Canada’s biggest win ever on the international scene.  Canada can still win this year’s World Cup (Spain was the defending champion) but first they need to defeat Luca Doncic and Slovenia on Wednesday in the quarters.  They’d then play the winner of Lithuania and Serbia in the semi-finals.

10 – ROGAN HOGAN – I listened to Joe Rogan’s podcast with Hulk Hogan over the weekend.  By most accounts, the second hand reports on Hogan, as a person, are unflattering to say the least; however I found him to be extremely charismatic, kind, somewhat modest despite his stature in the wrestling world, and he was very complimentary to many of the other wrestlers he has worked with over the last 40+ years.  He’s had the same agent for 40-years so he can’t be all that bad.  Hogan guest starred on The A-Team twice and told Rogan that co-stars Mr T and George Peppard did not like each other.  He refused to say who was most at fault for that fractured relationship, but it does put a bit of a different spin on watching The A-Team reruns (which I do almost daily) for me.  

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