STACKHOUSE’S 10 WEEKEND THOUGHTS

1 – ATTAINABLE TO PLAY – This is what I want to know and I think it’s a fair question to ask: What would it take to green light some of these sports to proceed in a somewhat normal manner with people watching? Do we need to be at zero cases nationwide for a period of time, say 6 weeks straight? What triggers a pandemic to be declared over? I have people screaming at me on social media saying ‘every life matters’ and while that’s great in theory the reality is that people will die every single day. Go look at the obituaries in the Leader-Post. There will be about half a dozen each day so when we have 3 deaths in an entire country due to Covid, I’m sorry to come off heartless but unless you are connected with the person it is just an insignificant number.  

2 – SPORTS IS VERY SAFE – Major League Soccer, NASCAR, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, National Basketball Association, and the Canadian Elite Basketball League have all resumed play in a manner that has proven over the last month that the actual act of playing sports does not transmit the virus.  No matter how hard you want to try and argue with me on that, the results are clear. Yes, MLB had an outbreak with Florida and St. Louis players but they did not contract or spread while playing the game, it was done outside the confines of the game and they broke the rules put in place. In the case of other teams who played against those clubs, nobody got infected. Some of you will say it’s because of the bubble and yet you are probably the same people who said playing at all was too dangerous or going to Orlando was just asking for trouble, etc. etc. etc. The fear mongering has to stop. Especially amongst sports fans and media. Do you want your sport to die or not? Assuming you don’t, then be a part of the solution and recognize what works and start promoting it because the doom and gloom crowd is large and loud for reasons I can’t figure out for the life of me.

3 – DEATHS – Here are the daily death totals in Canada, daily, over the last four weeks: 12, 10, 14, 10, 7, 8, 12, 17, 12, 9, 4, 6, 4, 8, 4, 7, 4, 5, 11, 11, 5, 12, 6, 6, 4, 2, 11, 4. People – the evidence couldn’t be more plain in front of your eyes. This is not a major crisis at the moment. Does that mean it won’t have some sort of a rebound? Of course not. But is this the accepted norm now?  It’s also worth mentioning our peak of 200 deaths a day that hit for about two weeks in early May was also considered to be on the low end of the spectrum as far as deaths related to a pandemic is concerned. We will just live scared on the ‘what if’ forever?  I mean what do we do if this ever clears up? Will we have to consider that perhaps another virus will be released in the near future so why don’t we just stay confined to be safe and then if another virus hits, it’s got nowhere to go to take hold in society? Make sense? Everyone on board for that?  Maybe you are. I am not. In March it was smart to be scared. In April it was still understandable even though things were trending in the right direction. It’s August and if you are still as worried as you were in March, I’m sorry to inform you but there is no basis for it however I don’t wish to make anyone do anything they don’t feel safe doing. Surely enough of us feel safe for life to return to normal. If you don’t, the onus is on you to take the necessary precautions. It’s not my responsibility to ensure your safety and you are not responsible for mine. The best advocate for you will always be you. Don’t rely on someone else.

4 – CJFL JOINS THE CANCEL CLUB – Which brings me to the cancelation of the CJFL season. In a press release issued on Thursday, it said, “…our priority is the health and safety of our players, coaches, staff, and team administrators.” But, there are some teams who have been practicing for almost a month without issue.  We have a month’s worth of examples across Canada that deaths per day are in the single digits and I’m going to hazard a guess none of the deaths involve athletes in the 18-22 age range. And, again, I go back to my comment above that the actual act of playing sports does not transmit the virus. The only reason for cancelling is because it’s the politically correct thing to do. Political correctness, in itself, is a worse virus than Covid-19. Seeing what works with regards to sports, the next step in the process is the admittance of fans. It couldn’t be more obvious. A league like the CJFL is a perfect situation to test it. Several of the teams play in large stadiums for pro teams that seat 30,000 people and those buildings are not being used. Why can’t we try a crowd of 2,500 in these places? If it doesn’t work, we shut it down for fans immediately. If it does, we inch forward. I’m also informed that ball hockey is being played in Saskatoon and the athletes aren’t getting sick. Not only that but the spectators aren’t counted at the door and they don’t wear masks. Guess what? No cases.

5 – PFC VOTES – I’ll contribute to the problem of the media just running with rumours as fact and tell you I’m told that among the teams in the PFC, only Calgary and Regina were willing to play. The Colts have been running practices since July 15th without any cases. Equipment wasn’t allowed and there were other protocols in place and all of them were working just fine. Waivers were signed by the players and everyone was of the same understanding as to potential risks.  

6 – CFL PLAYERS BIG LOSERS IN THIS – I really feel badly for the CFL players. There will be a chunk of them that will never play again because of this overreaction to the virus. The amount of money being made isn’t enough for some to try and hang on. They need to get on with life and support their families. Others just can’t sustain that high level when you knock off a year. It’s heart-wrenching really because their lives as they knew them and their careers have been absolutely stolen by power hungry governments who have no idea how to deal with this pandemic, mainly because the multiple playbooks left for them by scientists were thrown out when they locked us all up. Now there is no set method on how to come out of it and valuable years are being lost and I just don’t think that aspect has sunk in for many. If it has, I can’t figure out why we are okay with this kind of destruction to people and yet we will stop at nothing to ensure 3 Covid deaths a day in Canada becomes 0. I guess you all think ‘well at least CFL players aren’t dead’ is good enough.

7 – DEVELOPMENT STUNTED – The whole development aspect is screwed up now too. Let’s say some sports make a concession and allow current players to play one more year, like with university sports. That’s great for the seniors, but it also hurts rookies from coming in. I also think the longer this goes, some athletes are just going to quit and give up. Some of you don’t care and say it’s a small price to pay for killing the virus to ensure 3 Canadian deaths are 0 but this is unhealthy. Sports isn’t just ‘your entertainment’. It’s a job just like anyone else who isn’t an essential service. As I’ve also said numerous times, sports is also crucial for many who eventually end up in mainstream life whenever their careers are over. Whether you like it or not, most athletes who play at a high level have a lot of intangible traits developed from teamwork, competitive play, leadership influences, etc that go a long way towards their value in other professions.

8 – ONE TIME ONLY – I love the return to play so far with the NHL, MLB, and NBA. But these leagues are not going to do this again. They all need fans. Even the invincible NFL will, eventually, need fans in the seats in order to remain viable. Hockey, Baseball, and Basketball pro leagues are admitting the television ratings are less than anticipated. It tells me that their projections were never attainable, because I don’t know anybody who is a hockey fan that is not actually watching. But, perhaps there are fans who are just too stressed out about dying from the virus that they can’t watch or maybe the sports have been out of their lives long enough they’ve found other ways to pass their leisurely time.  Either way, unless you are going to have fans in the building, these next few weeks of NHL will be all we get for a good long time unless we drastically change our way of thinking on how to handle this.

9 – JETS NEVER GOT OFF GROUND – Four minutes into the first game of the Winnipeg Jets-Calgary Flames play-in series I knew it was over. Mark Scheifele suffered a lower leg injury on a play where if it was anyone other than Matthew Tkachuk, I’d chalk it up to an accident. Later in the game, Patrik Laine left with a sprained wrist and then Mason Appleton was also lost to a shoulder injury. Jets fans also were well aware that second line centre Bryan Little hadn’t played all year due to injury and top defenseman Dustin Byfuglien had screwed them over with an injury dispute that prevented the Jets from spending money on his cap hit.  So, they never really had a chance after the 4 minute mark of game one. It actually felt ruined to me to wait all that time and then to have Scheifele get hurt.

10 – BASEBALL PROTOCOLS – It’s worth noting that Major League Baseball changed their policy on how to handle positive virus cases. Originally, the 60 player pool was for the purpose of ensuring you had lots of bodies on hand in the event there was a team outbreak; but now they’ve decided to sideline multiple teams for days on end as soon as one positive case is uncovered, symptoms be damned. Again, it’s worth noting that teams the Marlins played and teams the Cardinals have played didn’t get any positive cases which is further evidence the virus isn’t spread through the actual playing of a game. If you are hanging out at crowded nightclubs, well the evidence is quite clear on what is going to happen there. I’ve long supported players in their spats with owners, but if baseball is shut down because players are unable to follow the rules, I will be more than happy to see the owners crush the union and push for rollbacks and a salary cap. 

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