Scruffy’s This N That

1 – EXORCISING THE DEMONS:  Princess Auto Stadium is not kind to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.  As the green-and-white head into Winnipeg for the Banjo Bowl, they go in having lost eight of their last nine in the annual back-to-back matchups.  As we know, last week’s game was an exciting affair that came right down to the end. The past would indicate that may not happen today as Winnipeg has dominated on the scoreboard winning by 5, 45, 34, 24 and 25 points.  The crowd will be as intense for their team as it was last weekend.  The Riders can’t let Winnipeg get on an early roll.  If they do, another beatdown may be on the horizon. If they can, we will probably go into the final three minutes not knowing who will win.

2 – KEEP THE RETROS: I have banged on this drum before, and I will keep banging it. The Riders need to make the retro jerseys the primary jersey. Many fans are with me on this one. They looked soooooooo good at the Labour Day Classic and I am guessing the white retro look would look just as phenomenal. I’m not big on the obsidian green and those could be scrapped immediately as far as I’m concerned, but I know some of you like it. Do you really like it more than the retro green though?

3 – DON’T TURN AWAY:  There have been 51 games in the CFL this year. In those 51, 26 have gone down to the last three minutes before being decided.  This is a good thing—a very good thing. The question I have is why doesn’t the league promote this more? It seems that we have a great week of football and we move on. Why? Get the message out there and hammer it home. The diehard CFL fans across the country know how good the game can be, but the casual fan and maybe the younger fan doesn’t because they are more concerned about the NCAA and NFL where there are good games as well. Promote the living h-e double hockeysticks out of the fact we are seeing so many close games. It might mean some of those in or close to CFL venues may want to go to a game to experience it first-hand. The answers seem so simple, but the league furrows its brow when you tell them what to do. A new vision is needed.  I keep hoping new commissioner Stewart Johnston is taking a year to monitor everything before starting to put his stamp on things. He may also be wanting to stay status quo until a new TV deal is reached and when it is, more things will happen. I hope that’s the case and that he isn’t being muzzled by a board that on the surface has no desire to evolve. 

4 – FRIDAY NIGHT FUN: I won’t lie.  When the University of Regina asked me if I was interested in doing the Canada West TV broadcast of their game Friday night at Leibel Field against the University of Alberta, I wasn’t sure if it was something I wanted to do. The reason for that was mainly because I haven’t called a football game in quite a while and I wasn’t sure if I could give everyone a good call or not. But this is the Rams and this is the U of R and those who know me know that there is a special place in my sporting heart for Cougar/Rams athletics so let’s do it and hope for the best.  To say that was accomplished would be an understatement. No broadcast is perfect, but it was a lot of fun working alongside CTV’s Darrell Romuld as we brought you a Rams beatdown of Alberta.  This just in—if you haven’t gotten on board with the 2025 Rams you might want to because this team is good.  It is still Week 2 of the season, but if we don’t see a Hardy Cup rematch between the Huskies and Rams then some other team is going to have show me something because the two Saskie schools appear to be head and shoulders above the rest. 

The running attack led by Marshall Erichsen and Christian Katende, who together became the first in Rams university history to each have 100 yards in a game, are a tremendous 1-2 punch which makes life easier in the passing game for Noah Pelletier.  Add to that an offensive line that might be the best one I’ve seen in all the years I have been following this team and the ingredients are there for a possible home team appearance in the Vanier Cup. It’s a long time between that game and now though, but I would seriously encourage you to get out and support this team whether or not they play at Mosaic or Leibel. 

5 – LET THE BATTLE FOR THE VINCE BEGIN: Like it or not (and I really do), the NFL season is upon us.  This is my time to be an irrational, delusional fan and it will start Sunday at 2 when the Seahawks start what is hopefully the road to an NF C playoff spot with a win against the despicable San Francisco 49ers.  As I said last week, I think we get an Eagles-Ravens Super Bowl and there are many out there agreeing with me.  Here are some predictions with the italicized teams being the final four standing.

AFC Division Winners: Buffalo, Baltimore, Houston, LA Chargers

Wildcards: Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Kansas City 

NFC Division Winners: Philly, Green Bay, Tampa Bay, LA Rams 

Wildcards: Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle

MVP: Joe Burrow

Let’s see how things end up.  Who have you got? 

6 – WEEK 1 TIDBITS:  The first Sunday of the NFL season is upon us. Here are some items of interest going into the opening weekend. 

• Entering the 2025 season, every team has hope and here are a few reasons why…

Since 1990 – a streak of 35 consecutive seasons – at least four teams have qualified for the playoffs that were not in the postseason the year before. There were four new playoff teams last season – Denver, the Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota and Washington.

In 26 of the past 29 seasons (1996-2024), at least one team has made the playoffs the season after finishing in last or tied for last place. The Chargers, Vikings and Commanders each accomplished the feat last season.

In six consecutive seasons (2019-24) and in 21 of the past 23 seasons (2002-24), a team that chose in the top five of the NFL Draft has qualified for the postseason. Washington accomplished this feat last season after selecting quarterback Jayden Daniels with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft

• Pittsburgh quarterback Aaron Rodgers enters the 2025 season leading all active players with 503 regular-season touchdown passes and 548 touchdown passes, including the postseason. This season, he needs five touchdown passes to surpass Pro Football Hall of Famer Brett Favre (552 touchdown passes) for the fourth-most touchdown passes, including the postseason, in NFL history and six touchdown passes to surpass Favre (508 touchdown passes) for the fourth-most regular-season touchdown passes all-time.
• Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans can become 1st player ever with 1,000+ rec. yards in each ofhis 1st 12 career seasons. He goes into Sunday’s game leading all active players with 105 career rec. TDs,9th-most in NFL history.

7 – GUILLOTINE FOOTBALL: Have you heard of guillotine football? It is like fantasy football, but it’s a lot more engaging.  Guillotine football are leagues that consist of 16, 17 or 18 teams.  You pick your teams and select your lineups much like fantasy football, but the difference is that you don’t play against another person in the league, you play against everyone and if you have the low score, you are axed.  All of your players go back into the waiver pool and you become a spectator. 

When you have a draft consisting of 18 players with 14 rounds, be prepared to go deep since you don’t have defences or kickers to choose from. At one point, I joked that I might have to take Sam Emilus or Dohnte Meyers. 

You can be a top 5 player for the first three weeks and be the worst team in Week 4 and you are out.  I took Josh Allen, Keon Coleman and Dalton Kincaid from Buffalo in my draft and the Bills face a tough “D” in Baltimore in Week 1.  Am I the first one off the island? Stay tuned my friends!  I think this may be the way fantasy football evolves. Sadly, it is something you still can’t do in a nine-team CFL. 

8 – AN NHL HOT TAKE:  The Montreal Canadiens were a team that wasn’t supposed to be in the Stanley Cup playoffs last season. Many thought they were a year or two away, but they showed that they are back.  This just in—I think the Habs, who were 17 points behind Toronto in the standings last year, will be better than the Leafs this year.  Toronto is trying to figure out life without Mitch Marner and they have seemingly have no desire to overhaul a roster that just isn’t getting it done. Meanwhile, Montreal continues to get better.  Guys like Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson and Slafkovsky are just getting better. Add Noah Dobson and Calder Trophy favourite Ivan Demidov to the squad and we could see Montreal take a big leap this year.  I don’t think you can call them a Stanley Cup favourite, but they are on the fringe.

9 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• FanDuel put out a list of the best college football names on rosters this season. One of them is Colorado State tight end Rocky Beers.  Tell me that guy shouldn’t be a member of the Calgary Stampeders.  There are some absolute doozies on their list.  One name was conveniently forgotten—I’ll just leave it at that. 
• Comment from a Jays fan: Jeff Hoffman won’t be confused with Tom Henke or Duane Ward anytime soon.  Agreed!
• One has a sense of warmth when “The Hockey News” yearbook and fantasy guide arrives in your mailbox. 
• Congratulations to Riley Pollock.  One of the first “Sportscage” producers when RP and I put the show on the map has been named the director of broadcast and communications for the WHL’s newest team—the Penticton Vees.  The kid has come a long way since he worked with us idiots.  Is it too much to send Rod and I some Penticton Vees polos, Riley? 😊

That’s all I got.