STACKHOUSE’S 10 WEEKEND THOUGHTS

1 – BOMBERS THROTTLE RIDERS – The Saskatchewan Roughriders were pummeled to the tune of 51-6 by Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon in a game that brought forth no redeeming qualities whatsoever.  As they say, throw the video tape out and move on to next week. The Riders are 6-and-6 and remain two games in front of Calgary for fourth in the West. Where they are now is probably right where they will finish and they’ll end up with a first round playoff date against BC unless the cocky Blue Bombers give away a couple more games like they did last week in Regina. The downside of being good and arrogant is that you will occasionally lay an egg (such was the case last week). The flipside of that is the next week, usually, results in a merciless beating. Come playoff time, however, there won’t be a next week so the Bombers may have to better harness their confidence if they want to win a Grey Cup.

2 – EDMONTON – About a month ago, Edmonton made a change at Offensive Coordinator and with that came a change at quarterback. Suffice to say, if Tre Ford had been the quarterback on week one, they’d probably be ahead of the Riders at this point. Having a competent quarterback is often the difference between a win and a loss and Edmonton has three victories in their last four games since going to Ford.  Ford, by the way, had a decorated Canadian university career at Waterloo, one of the only schools to commit to using him as a quarterback, so Edmonton isn’t the first team to have doubts about Ford playing the position.  Nevertheless, he’s proved doubters wrong at every level and appears to be the long term answer for a club that badly needs one.  

3 – NFL SEASON – I’ll be parked in front of my television all day Sunday watching week one of the NFL season, which kicked off on Thursday night with Detroit upsetting Kansas City.  The game brought in 26.8 million viewers across the United States and I made a comment on social media that the NFL may be the most watched program in all of television even when you take comedies, dramas, reality tv, and whatever other options there are for people to tune in to. Super Bowls account for 22 of the top 30 most watched tv programs of all-time, but I’d be willing to bet that even on a weekly basis, the NFL outdraws everything else sports and non-sports related. On an unrelated note, I struggle to come to terms with the fact the Chiefs and Royals both play in Kansas City. One is a powerhouse in the best sports league in the world. The other is a joke and claims to be unable to compete because they can’t afford to pay the players.

4 – FULL CAGES – With the Junior ‘A’ hockey season starting up, so too is the grandfathering rule of players born in 2005 and later who must wear full cages instead of the traditional half visors. I watched my first game on Friday night and it was truly bizarre to see the inconsistency out on the ice. I asked a couple of coaches if any of their 2003 and 2004 players have moved into cages of their own choosing and the answer was ‘none of them’. I’ve never been able to figure out why those in charge of this sport are so bent on trying to appease people who hate the game. For the last 30+ years, changes have been made in the name of ‘safety’ and yet we have lower enrollments in minor hockey and smaller crowds watching junior games. Ask fans, coaches, players, parents, etc. and they aren’t shy about telling you why yet those in charge defer to ‘safety’.  For some reason, we can’t just lay out the rules and say this is what they are and if you want to play, great. If you don’t, that’s okay. Nobody will force you to.  

5 – HOCKEY/LACROSSE ATMOSPHERE – A hockey administrator once asked me ‘how do we get the lacrosse atmosphere into junior hockey rinks’.  I replied with, “You can’t because lacrosse is exactly what hockey used to be and that atmosphere used to exist in hockey rinks however the people in charge of the rules have decided they don’t want that.” I didn’t say this, but I believe if lacrosse becomes any more popular it will only be a matter of time before the no fun club comes calling for that game too and you can mark my words on this: the pro level game won’t survive because the intensity and physicality of the sport is what makes it so attractive to those who watch it at a high level. Once you remove that, there’s little reason to watch.

6 – MADRONIC DEALT – Speaking of lacrosse, the Saskatchewan Rush have made a plethora of moves this offseason. If you looked at it from an NHL perspective and how the Winnipeg Jets do business, Derek Keenan has executed more player changes in three months than what Kevin Cheveldayoff has in ten years.  Up until this week, I have been supportive of every Rush trade they’ve announced. However, I’m left scratching my head on the latest one that sees promising scorer Austin Madronic go to New York in a three-team trade that also involved Buffalo and has Nathanial Kozevnikov come to the Rush.  Kozevnikov should be viewed as a bit of a project. He played in only three games last year and had three points. The NLL is a professional league, but players don’t earn enough to hang out in the city they play in full-time; so there could be some logistical matters on this where it’s easier to get Kozevnikov into town than it is for Madronic.  It could also be with the other offseason moves made, the Rush may have wanted a right hand shot. Either way, I haven’t been a lacrosse fan long enough to feel as though my opinion on this is educated but it does leave me wondering.

7 – MANN CUP – The Western Lacrosse Association is a senior box lacrosse league in British Columbia and the league is also hosting the 2023 Mann Cup, which is the national championship.  Of note, new Rush forward Zach Manns led the league in scoring and Rush veteran Robert Church was third.  The New Westminster Salmonbellies are taking on the Six Nations Chiefs and the series started this weekend. Lyle Thompson (Georgia Swam) and Austin Staats (San Diego Seals) are the top players on Six Nations.  Now former Rush defender Kyle Rubisch played 13 of 21 games for the Chiefs.  For the Salmonbellies, they recently added Rush face-off specialist Mike Messenger to the roster after his field lacrosse team was eliminated from the playoffs and former Rush defender Jeff Cornwall was also picked-up.  Cornwall has, for the last few years, coached junior lacrosse during the summer months.  The Chiefs lead the best of seven 1-0 going into game two on Saturday night.

8 – SOFT BASEBALL PLAYERS – Seattle Mariners pitcher George Kirby cried a river following his start on Friday night, whining that his manager should not have allowed him to go out for the 7th inning in a game the Mariners lost to Tampa 7-4, thanks to a four run seventh by the Rays.  “I wish I wasn’t out there for the seventh, to be honest.  I was at 90 pitches (it’s incredible his arm is still attached after such abuse) and I didn’t think I needed to go anymore, but, you know, it is what it is.  It’ll be a conversation soon.”  For what it’s worth, Kirby threw 8 pitches in the 7th and allowed a game-tying homer before giving way to a reliever who was even worse, surrendering a walk and a two-run homer that sealed the game.  On Saturday, star Blue Jay shortstop Bo Bichette was given the day off despite the fact the Jays are in a dogfight with Texas and Seattle for a wildcard playoff berth.  Bichette has been on the injured list a couple of times in the last five weeks, nursing a quad problem, and his manager didn’t want to risk Bichette re-injuring.  Is Bichette healthy or not?  The manager said he’s perfectly fine but this weekend is a ‘buildup’.  Then, you have the Anaheim Angels, who used a body double for Shohei Ohtani in the team photo because he was receiving treatment for his injured oblique.  How much more ridiculous can we get?  I think we are about to find out.

9 – CRITICISM TOO PERSONAL – There’s been the usual social media shrieking this week over the head butt delivered by Pete Robertson to Zach Collaros at the Labour Day Classic. Some of the vitriol has been targeted at Rider play by play man Michael Ball. Whether you agree with Ball’s takes or not doesn’t matter and whether you think he’s ‘professional’ or not also doesn’t matter but you should never ever make it personal when criticizing one’s sports opinions. Especially if you are a so-called media member. I, originally, wrote a bit more on this topic but I’ve decided to delete the rest of it and just say everyone needs to behave better.  

10 – LEFT WING NIGHTMARE – Unvaccinated Novak Djokovic will face Russian Daniel Medvedev for the US Open Men’s Tennis Championship on Sunday. Who are you cheering for?  I’m assuming most will say Medvedev and pretend he’s not really Russian since the tv networks aren’t showing the Russian national flag next to his name on the scoreboard at the bottom of the screen.  After all, the reason for letting Russians compete on the Tour is because they are doing so as ‘individuals’ and not as a representative of their country.  That hasn’t stopped other players from treating the Russian players like lepers by not shaking hands after matches, but a good virtue signal is often all it takes to clear one’s conscience.

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