Scruffy’s This N That
1 – THE WILD, WILD WEST: We are well into Week 19 of the 21-week CFL season and we have no idea who is going to finish where yet — except when it comes to Ottawa.
Around the 306, it’s not who is going to finish where, but where are the Riders are going to finish? I simply have no idea. With two games against a Montreal team that has been head and shoulders the best in the league and a game against an Edmonton team that likely won’t dress their starters for the whole game in the season finale, one could say the Riders have a shot at 2nd, but realistically I think most feel that the green-and-white will have to head to Vancouver for the Western Semifinal.
It’s no secret this team looks nothing like it did at this time last year, but it is also no secret that this team still has what it takes to get back to and maybe win the Grey Cup for a second straight year. A loss in Montreal won’t go over well, but I am expecting the Alouettes to dress their regulars and send the Riders some kind of message should there be a Grey Cup rematch. Let’s just say those leftover turkey sandwiches that many will sit down to on Monday may not go down very well.
Oh yeah, it is simply ludicrous that the Grey Cup rematch happens in Week 19 and that it’s the first of a back-to-back. These two teams should have faced one another a long, long time ago like in Week 1. Imagine the NFL scheduling the Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl rematch in Week 14 of the season. Dumb!
2 – TYSON PHILPOT: Alouettes receiver Tyson Philpot is having one of the greatest ever seasons for a pass-catcher in this league whether they be Canadian or American. Philpot has 119 catches for 1,735 yards and 12 touchdowns with three games to go. It has some thinking Philpot, who is a lock for Top Canadian, should also be up for the Most Outstanding Player. Some have suggested if Philpot is not named the top player that the league should just admit the MOP goes to the best quarterback. As we know, team nominees are voted on by select members of the local media so it will be up to those in Montreal to decide if Philpot or Davis Alexander is the nominee for MOP. Perhaps the CFL needs to take a page out of the NFL’s book if this thought process is going to continue and have a top offensive player award established. If we can have a top defensive player award, why can’t we have a top offensive player?
3 – BLUE RUNS DEEP: Yeah, it’s early but it’s not hard to see that better times are being had at the Brandt Centre.The Regina Pats scored three times in the first and went on to a relatively easy 5-1 win over the defending Eastern Conference champs from Prince Albert on Friday night. Games over the past couple of years have been tomb-like for obvious reasons, but it’s not that way any longer. I thought the crowd might be a little better on the Friday of a long weekend, but those who were there saw what is a pretty good Pats team led by Liam Pue and Maddox Schultz who will be the ones leading the ship over the next couple of years. I’m not going to sit here and say this is a team that could win the East and go to the WHL Final, but this is a very entertaining team that you will want to check out a few times this season. The old adage is interest in the Pats doesn’t really start until the Riders season is over. That’s true to a point, but I would tell the Regina sports fan to maybe start paying attention to the hockey team which is something many haven’t done since the Memorial Cup was here for obvious reasons.
4 – THE FAREWELL TOUR: Alexander Ovechkin told his fellow Washington Capital boys this week this season would be his last. I don’t think that should be a surprise to anyone. The question now is what happens moving forward as Ovie starts his farewell tour. How will teams react when he makes his last appearance? You know when he plays Pittsburgh for the last time in Pittsburgh that there will be a huge pre-game ceremony seeing it will be the end of the Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry. I am guessing Capitals fans in Western Canada are looking to see when they roll through Calgary, Winnipeg and Edmonton if they didn’t already so they can see him play one final time. His final game will certainly be on ESPN or TNT, and you know that when Washington skates off the ice for the final time that the camera will follow him right to the dressing room with the tributes continuing.
Meanwhile, some have to interject politics into the equation again because of his relationship with Vladimir Putin. Can we please try to stop mixing politics into sports? Everything Alex Ovechkin has done over the years should not be tarnished at all because he is a friend of Putin’s. I’ve seen a couple of people refer to him as a traitor. Do these people know what the word traitor means? Do they know the difference between a hockey puck and a frozen cow patty? Like it or not, he is one of the top 10 players all time. He isn’t top 5, but he is top 10. It will be interesting to see what the other teams do as Ovechkin comes in one last time.
5 – GAVIN MCKENNA: Welcome to Toronto, kid. Gavin McKenna is under the microscope and as I predicted the Toronto media has started to chew this kid up and spit him out. McKenna has not had the fabulous start that the Leafs fanbase and the media expected from the 18-year-old.
Over the past week, words like “bust”, and “not ready” have been used and the fact he has not taken part in some optional skates is not helping. If he had seven points in three games, no one would be talking about him but in Toronto you can’t do that. It’s why Connor Bedard has succeeded in Chicago and why Macklin Celebrini has succeeded in San Jose. McKenna has been known to be a slow starter, and one has to think that is what’s happening here but when everything he does is dissected by the group of jackals that the Toronto media are, all they are doing is damaging the kids psyche and we are only two weeks into his NHL career. He silenced his critics by registering his first goal in a two-point night Tuesday against Nashville, but you know those critics are ready to get negative again if he isn’t consistently on the scoresheet.
Good luck, Gavin!
6 – SATURDAY NIGHT HOCKEY: All I saw on social media last Saturday night was people bemoaning the fact the NHL wasn’t on CBC. It wasn’t hard to find. The hullabaloo over the NHL not being on CBC anymore is frankly to this guy over the top. The broadcast is not any different than what it was and really, I think a majority of you were probably watching games on Sportsnet and not CBC. Some I think just wanted to pound their chest on social media to look important and “show their outrage”. The program hasn’t changed, just the network and let’s face the fact the network doesn’t matter much like when you watch an NFL game no matter if its on FOX, CBS, NBC or ESPN or the many different outlets you can get NCAA Football, MLB, NBA and yes, the NHL.
Those crying about streaming perhaps have to go to Access, SaskTel or another cable provider and look into basic cable. Voila, hockey is there! Haters gonna hate though, right?
7 – NFL WEEK 5: On behalf of everyone who had the Dallas Cowboys in Survivor this week, thanks for nothing! Yeah, that was embarrassing no doubt about it! What does this Sunday have in store for us? Here are some tidbits going into Week 5:
- 18 games have featured a game-winning score in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter or in overtime – only one season (1983) had more through the first four weeks.
- Las Vegas is one of two teams, along with Detroit, to score at least 26 points in each of the first four weeks of the season and can win four of their first five games of a season for the first time since 2016. The Patriots, including the postseason, have won nine of their past 10 home games, including a 20-3 win over Pittsburgh in Week 2 this season.
- The Minnesota Vikings will look to go to 5-0 with a win against New Orleans. The Vikings D is allowing an NFL low 12.8 points per game.
- Something has to give when the San Francisco 49ers meet the Seattle Seahawks. San Francisco goes in 6-0 against the spread as a road favourite while the defending Super Bowl champs are 4-0 against the spread in their last 4 against NFC West opponents.
8 – CHICAGO WHITE SOX: I don’t know what team started the “bullpen game” when it comes to who starts, but the Chicago White Sox have taken it to the extreme and it is disgusting as far as I am concerned. Remember the Toronto team that won the World Series in 92 and 93. The rotation was set. You knew barring injury it was going to be Jack Morris, David Cone, Juan Guzman and Jimmy Key starting with Pat Hentgen being the 5th starter. You could basically pencil it in. How about the Atlanta Braves of 1995 when it was Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery coming at you. How about last year’s World Series when both the Dodgers and Blue Jays had “starters” starting the game.
The White Sox is trying to bullpen their way to the World Series and while the White Sox story is great, the way they are trying to do this just bothers me. There is no rotation, there is no plan. It just seems like it’s the team just reaching into a bag and saying its this reliever followed by this one and the next one. The baseball purist in me wants a pitcher to go at least six if he has things working and then put it in the hands of the bullpen. Having a game plan to have six or seven pitchers win you a game consistently just isn’t feasible to me. I guess we will know at the end of Saturday night if the formula is working as a White Sox win means they move on to Tampa for the American League flag series. What scares me is if the White Sox do win that other teams start to emulate what they are doing.
9 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:
- Congrats to one of my favourite all-time Riders, Weston Dressler. Number 7 was enshrined last weekend into the University of North Dakota Hall of Fame. I did not know he had the nickname “Mr. Electricity” at UND and how did that not stick with him when with the green-and-white?
- Rene Paredes won’t go down as one of the top five all-time kickers in the CFL, but is he top 10?
- I wonder if Connor Hellebuyck is sending positive messages to his teammates with the Jets off to a good start.
- The CFL will honor its “fan of the year” during Grey Cup week with each team having a nominee. Should the Ottawa nominee not be an automatic considering what he/she has gone through this year?
That’s all I got. Have a great week!
