Stackhouse’s Weekend Thoughts

1 – RIDER SLIDE: For the fifth time in seven games, the Saskatchewan Roughriders lost a game and there is widespread panic amongst Rider fans.  The outlandish criticism of head coach Corey Mace is ridiculous and reminds me why this organization, sometimes, struggles to land marquee names.  Not many people want to subject themselves to criticism and even fewer want to hear criticism from crazy people.  The reality is this:  Trevor Harris has had one bad game out of five.  The Riders are still very much in the mix for a division title and/or a home playoff game.  If they get swept by the Bombers this weekend and next, then count me in as concerned.  But the team has been ravaged by injuries to the offensive line as well as other positions and they’ve managed to stay afloat.  It’s only a matter of time before the tide turns.  I’d also say this to Rider faithful who can’t see the forest through the trees:  Corey Mace is the best thing to happen to Saskatchewan since Kent Austin/Ken Miller.  

2 – COACH MILLER: Miller passed away this week at the age of 83 and after a bout with cancer.  I’ve learned a lot about how to coach elite athletes from listening to those who were coached by Miller.  For the most part, once you get to high levels in sports, a coach’s job is to uncover the most potential from the players on his team.  Just about every coach knows strategies, has access to the film room to dissect intricacies of the game, and there are only so many surprise plays you can spring on an opponent.  These coaches have seen it all.  Several former Rider players have told me that while Miller wasn’t the top technical coach they’ve ever played for, he was the most respected and loved.  I’ve never heard one bad story about a player who didn’t like him and, to a man, each one said he’d have gone through a wall for him.  Coaches who try to motivate through being a bad guy or coaches who feel as though it’s not their job to invest legit care and concern for their players are not long for the career, especially in today’s day and age.  I’m actually astounded to see a former player of Miller’s, who’s now a coach in the junior ranks, employ old school methods of yelling, screaming, burning playbooks during instructional sessions, and insulting players during practice and thinking that’s the path to success. Miller was a true gentleman and any coach should want to emulate him as a coach and a person.  May he, truly, rest in peace.

3 – SINGLE POINT: There has been much talk about the rouge after Toronto won the game against Saskatchewan this week, 20-19, on a missed field goal that wasn’t returned.  I haven’t seen this discussed anywhere and I had no idea myself until a fellow fan pointed it out to me, but the end zone in Toronto is about 3 yards too short from being regulation size.  What kind of a league is this?  I rewatched the field goal attempt and the ball bounced off the face of the first row of the stands.  If the Rider returner had three more yards at his disposal to step back, perhaps he has a chance to make a return.  I don’t understand why the league has rules and regulations when they don’t need to be followed.  If they can’t have a 20-yard end zone then they need to find a new field.  Or, get rid of the rule and let stadiums do whatever they want for an end zone.  I’m also wondering, because of the rule, if the Toronto kicker was more focused on power with his kick than he was on accuracy.  He knows the game is over if he kicks it out of the back of the end zone and whether it’s a field goal or a rouge doesn’t matter.  I’m inclined to believe the Argo kicker knew the rule and it didn’t matter to him if the ball went through the uprights.  He just wanted to make sure it couldn’t get returned.

4 – HARRIS SLIPPING: At the start of the season, I would have said Trevor Harris was the best quarterback in the CFL by a wide margin.  After 11 games, I have to rank him no higher than third.  I’m going to assume Nathan Rourke gets it together after a disastrous season debut so I will put Rourke above Harris.  I will also put Chad Kelly ahead of both Rourke and Harris.  For all the gushing about Rourke being the best talent since Doug Flutie, I can’t help but wonder why there has been almost no chatter at all about how good Kelly is.  Kelly is a legit NFL talent who isn’t in the league because his personal baggage is too heavy for a team to take a chance on him. It may even get to a point where the CFL abandons him too, but I have Kelly as the top QB in the league and I’m not sure that it’s even close.

5 – CHAD KELLY RETURNS: People really show how uninformed and ignorant they are when I see posts about Kelly and that he should be banned for life because he was verbally aggressive at pursuing a woman who was on staff with the Toronto Argos.  Is Kelly in the wrong?  Yes.  Is what Kelly did all that uncommon in the world of sports?  Sadly, No, despite all the outrage and shock that we see from so-called fans.  If you are going to ban Kelly for life or put him on a ‘last chance’ clause, then you better be prepared to do this for a lot of other players too.  I’d also submit that leagues better bring the hammer down on organizations who turn blind eyes to this kind of behaviour.  In the Kelly case, it certainly seems as though the Argos were aware of what was happening but didn’t deem it to be serious enough to intervene and the league, apparently, agrees as the Argos were not sanctioned at all.  Also, the Argos were quite public in their defense of Kelly when all of this came to light.  So the team has no responsibility for the culture that was fostered?

6 – WHAT DID YOU EXPECT: This may surprise some of you, but personal relationships between athletes and reporters/staffers is quite common and the only way for them to develop is through one of the two pursuing the other, sometimes by asking more than once.  Justin Herbert didn’t start dating Taylor Bisciotti by accident.  Christian and Samantha Ponder didn’t find each other on a dating app.  Those are just two, of many, examples.  

7 – SIGN OF THE TIMES: With more and more women working in sports and being in the company of male athletes, it only stands to reason we see more and more relationships as a result.  It also stands to reason we will see more and more conflict when relationships either don’t work out or when one of the two isn’t interested from the get go.  I would also go so far as to tell you that if you uncover this topic and go a bit more deeper into it, you will find there are a lot of Chad Kellys out there.  Put them all on half-season suspensions and then bring them back on a ‘last chance’ clause?  You tell me.  In my opinion, if you want to take this seriously, every single team and league should offer training sessions on how to handle the word ‘no’ in every facet of life.  The complication, of course, is that organizations enable the entitlement through their own actions of luring the player to wanting to play or stay with their franchise.  The other, seldom talked about subject, are the women who refuse to take ‘no’ for an answer when pursuing the athlete but that’s a topic for another day and one that is bound to make you holy folks rather uncomfortable.

8 – RED SOX DON’T MESS AROUND: The one sports team that seems to take these relationships seriously are the Boston Red Sox.  In 2016, a sports reporter quit after stories surfaced over her having an affair with manager John Farrell.  In 2012, Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks started dating Jenny Dell, who was working with the team as a dugout reporter.  Dell was, promptly, reassigned. In order for these relationships to develop, one of the two people involved has to pursue the other and sometimes that pursuit may require a bit more effort or persistence than a simple asking out on a date.  So, where’s the line?  Hypothetically, if Dell turned down Middlebrooks because of the professional relationship even though she wanted to date him, should Middlebrooks get suspended for asking a second time?  Nobody has really established what the line is and I, personally, feel it shouldn’t have to wait until a complaint is filed.  If the policy is no dating amongst employees and/or media then that’s the policy whether the parties are consenting or not.  In the case of Middlebrooks/Dell; Middlebrooks should have received 81-games and Dell keeps the job.  Twelve years later, the two are happily married but for violating a policy maybe someone should have been punished and put on a last chance clause anyway?

9 – YAGER TO WINNIPEG: The Winnipeg Jets have traded first round, 14th overall draft pick from 2022, Rutger McGroarty to the Pittsburgh Penguins for first round, 14th overall draft pick from 2023, Braden Yager.  McGroarty hasn’t provided any reasons why but he did inform the Jets he didn’t want to play for them after attending one of their development camps.  There’s a feeling in NHL circles that NCAA players wield too much power and control when it comes to determining where they will play.  As the rules currently stand, an NCAA player can go through four years of college hockey and if still unsigned, he ends up a free agent.  I’m in the minority on this one but I think the Jets should have just let him head back to the NCAA for two more years and let him play it out.  McGroarty suffered a fractured rib and punctured lung this past season and there are no guarantees in life so making him play two more years at Michigan isn’t necessarily a meal ticket to him hand picking his NHL home.  There’s a lot that can happen and we aren’t exactly talking about a generation of players where patience is a character trait.  McGroarty wants to be in the NHL as soon as possible.  Refusing the trade demand and sending him back to the NCAA could result in the Jets watching him leave the organization and getting nothing in return but it also sends a strong message to future players that the tail does not wag the dog.

10 – NLL TEAM TO FOLD: We should know more this week on what’s going on in the National Lacrosse League as far as delaying the start of free agency, which was supposed to commence on August 1.  It has been bumped back to August 28 and speculation is that it’s due to a contraction (possibly Panther City) and, therefore, there will have to be a dispersal draft.  In the event of such a thing, I would assume the Rush would get the 6th pick based on last year’s standings.  That would mean they have no shot at Will Malcom or Callum Crawford but I do wonder about young Ronin Pusch, who won 44.3% of his faceoffs (he took the second most draws on the team despite only playing in 5 of 18 contests).  Pusch won 12 of 22 draws against Saskatchewan in an early February game.  Mike Messenger is expected to return and finished the year at 41.9% on faceoffs, but that was bolstered by three excellent showings at the end of the season.  More often than not, the Rush’s biggest weakness was on faceoffs and Messenger had 9 games where he was under 30%.

(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster)