Scruffy’s This N That

1 – THEY CAN’T ALL BE MASTERPIECES: It was billed as Christmas in July at Mosaic Stadium. What we got was a lump of coal in our stocking.  Yes, those who bleed green went home happy after a 21-18 win over Edmonton so it will sugarcoat for them what was a brutal football game.  As one person a couple of rows above me said midway through the 3^rd quarter, “I paid for this?!”.  Hey, you get no guarantees when you walk into your venue of choice to watch a game as to what you are going to see, but on this night he was right. 

Just some thoughts on the win:

• I thought Cody Fajardo would get a rougher treatment from those in attendance. I wasn’t expecting the treatment Henry Burris and Bo Levi Mitchell have received, but maybe that just showed you that there are still a lot of Fajardo fans in Riderville. FWIW, I thought he deserved a better outcome and maybe would have gotten it had it not been for an atrocious offensive line and saying atrocious might be kind. 
• I have been a Brett Lauther supporter in the past and I still think when on his game there is no better in the CFL, but he is not on his game right now. 
• Trevor Harris said after the game that they have to start putting teams away and he is 100 percent right. That offence which is very good just seems to stop after three quarters.  That will come back to bite them in the ass at some point. It might have in Toronto had it not been for Mario Alford.
• The late roughing the passer penalty on Tevaughn Campbell was a roughing the passer penalty. You can’t hit the QB in the head and Campbell did so even though it was a late slide. Some of those around me were smart enough to realize that, but others who had their green glasses solidly affixed to their faces were not. Those same people would have been irate had that happened to Harris.

2 – GOING OUT HIS WAY:  I had a former Rider tell me once that you never ever want to get carted off the field if you know that could be your last memory on the field.  I have to think that is what Ka’Deem Carey was thinking Saturday night. Perhaps the only negative of the Riders one-sided win over B.C was Carey going down in a heap after suffering what looks to be a severe and possibly career-ending injury after getting hit by Micah Awe in awkward fashion. 

Carey laid on the turf and the cart came out, but Ka’deem would have none of it.  The sight of him hobbling off the turf to the dressing room with the training staff beside him was admirable and courageous. One can only imagine the thoughts running through his mind at that time, but I have to think there was no way he was letting a cart take him off the field for what might be the last time. 

As many football players have said, you never know when the next play could be your last play. 

3 – GRADING THE GREEN AND WHITE: Before the Riders took the field against Edmonton, head coach Corey Mace was asked if he could grade his team through the first third of the season. He responded with a “B”. That’s being a little harsh isn’t it? Trevor Harris is in the MOP conversation so he gets an “A+”, I also think the receivers deserve an “A” for getting the job done despite injuries to Sam Emilus and Kian Schaeffer-Baker. We haven’t even seen Shawn Bane Junior this year.  The defensive line and special teams have been a weakness this year, but this team is 5-1 so has that really been that big of a problem.  Mace wants to give them a “B”, I will give them a “B+”

4 – HEADSHOTS:  Does the CFL need to get tougher on headshots? Ottawa’s Dru Brown had to leave the game against Hamilton after taking a shot from Dashaun Amos that was very similar to the ferocious hit former Rider Craig Butler gave Buck Pierce at a Banjo Bowl.  Back in those days, there was nothing wrong with that hit, but today Butler would have been flagged for roughing the passer and it would have been a 25-yard penalty.   I thought when you get a 25 yarder you were also ejected, but I guess not.  I was surprised as was others that Amos wasn’t told his day was done.  The question is then does the CFL need to kick guys out for hits like that. In this day where player safety is trumpeted, you would think the answer is yes but as it is with a lot of other things like spearing in the NCAA, it is up to the discretion of the ref.

Meanwhile, we see another starting quarterback go out due to injury as Vernon Adams had to leave Calgary’s loss to Montreal. As we enter the second third of the season you see Adams, Nathan Rourke, Trevor Harris, Zach Collaros, Davis Alexander and Brown miss time due to injury.  Alexander is the only one who didn’t go on the I-L because of a hit.  It isn’t good when the game’s marquee players are on the bench because of injury.  There are times when I think QBs are too pampered on both sides of the border and there are times I think there needs to be a bigger crackdown on dirty headshots. 

5 – WHO IS THE FACE OF THE CFL? Former CFL’er Juwan Brescasin is asking a great question. He went to Twitter to ask, “Who is the face of the CFL?” He says when you look at every pro league, there is a player that comes to mind (McDavid, Ohtani, Mahomes, Lebron) but who is it in the CFL? He then goes on to ask if it is a talent issue or a marketing one. There is no question in my mind it is a marketing one and the CFLPA has to take some blame here too.

It has long been a pet peeve of mine that Corporate Canada and advertisers of the league do not use players in ad campaigns.  Could you not have Willie Jefferson, Bo Levi Mitchell, AJ Ouellette, Nathan Rourke or Vernon Adams Junior doing some national commercials? How about Brady Oliveira or Kenny Lawler?  It can be done! 

6 – THE STATE OF BASEBALL:  While speaking with RP on Monday, the question was asked about where the game of baseball is right now on the global scale.  Obviously in Canada, people are attaching themselves to the state of the Blue Jays, but there is so much more than that.  The game is in a great spot with players like Paul Skenes, Gunnar Henderson, Bobby Witt Junior and Pete Crow-Armstrong.  Those are just four of many stars under the age of 27 that will carry the game into the next decade.  You have guys like Judge, Ohtani, Trout and Harper who are older with no signs of slowing down who are also helping make baseball great again.  I would argue right now that in Canada, MLB is ahead of the NBA with the NHL and football taking the top two spots. In the U-S, I would think it is NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA and those two could switch spots depending on where you are south of the 49^th.

In addition, baseball in Western Canada seems to be thriving as many are coming out for Western Canadian Baseball League games which is nothing but good. 

7 – RATING THE ANNOUNCERS:  The Athletic recently asked hockey fans to rate their respective teams’ broadcasters.  Detroit ended up having the best one, Boston the worst. The combo of Jack Michaels, Louie Debrusk and Gene Principe, who do a great job on Oilers games, came in 5^th. It was an interesting read and if you subscribe to “The Athletic” I highly recommend you check it out. There are people that do games in various sports for their team that want to blow smoke up your ass by citing a bunch of BS (Hello Buck Martinez!!) and there are many that eat that stuff up.  I don’t know about you, but what I want in a broadcast is a pairing that obviously has a decided slant to their approach but is not afraid to give fair criticism of the team they are broadcasting for if something is there that we as fans can all see.  If you can do that, I’m a fan.  If you can’t, I can’t buy what you are trying to sell.  Of course, you must be good at what you’re doing as well and there are some out there that aren’t or haven’t been. 

There are so many Rider fans that seem to hate Glen Suitor for the job he does. Maybe I am looking at it without green-tinged glasses, but I don’t have a problem with Glen’s comments about the Riders. I think there are times he could be more critical of players or the officials but he’s not and that’s fine.  I don’t hear fanbases of other teams’ crow about Suits being negative to their squad so maybe its you if you are a Suitor hater.  Like I say, if you don’t like it, sync it up to the radio broadcast because there you will get the positive messaging you crave.

8 – WHATCHA GONNA DO: Like him or not, we lost a part of our childhood this week when we said goodbye to the legendary Hulk Hogan.  Say what you will about wrestling today, but it would not be where it is were it not for Hulkamania. He made the business what it is.  I forget what year it was, but the Agridome was packed for a WWE event. I was sitting on the floor and when his music came on, the place was maybe the loudest I have ever heard it.  It was a level or six above crazy!  93,000 came to the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan to see Hulk fight Andre at the main event of Wrestlemania 3 and when he bodyslammed Andre, the place went nuts. 

Fast forward to years later when he went from face to heel as he created the NwO in what many people still think is the biggest moment in the history of pro wrestling.  

As the years moved on, a lot of Hulk’s legacy and lustre got tarnished, but as many have said over the past couple of days, Terry Bollea was one thing, but Hulk Hogan was another.  

RANDOM THOUGHTS: 

• Should the Blue Jays make the playoffs and it looks like they will, who starts Game 1 and 2? I would have to go with Gausman and Scherzer if healthy. If he isn’t. then Chris Bassitt would get the nod. Where does Eric Lauer fit in?
• The Flames sent Matthew Tkachuk to Florida three years ago this week. If that trade doesn’t happen, do the Oilers have another one or two Stanley Cups because I don’t think Florida does. 
• It’s getting down to crunch time in the WCBL.  The Regina Red Sox are going to be busy at home as they play doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday because of weather issues earlier this year.  Come spend a few hours at Currie Field. 
• I need to get into a Guillotine Fantasy Football League this year. If you don’t know what that is and you love fantasy football, do some homework. Speaking of which, the NFL pre-season and regular season are on us and college football is coming too. That’s a good thing!

That’s all I got. Have a great weekend!