Scruffy’s This N That

1 – ROLLIN, ROLLIN, ROLLIN: If your Saskatchewan Roughriders aren’t the overwhelming favourite to win the Grey Cup at this moment than who is? There is no doubt after Saturday’s 29-9 shellacking of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats that Mace’s Men are the best team in the CFL and the gap between 1 & 2 is a wide one.  

Trevor Harris didn’t look sharp to start the game as he threw one interception and just about threw another, but he became the Harris that Rider fans have become familiar with this season after that as he put up his usual numbers in the win. 

This was a game though that was carried by a defence that is getting better. Of course, Scott Milanovich helped the cause by going for it on 3^rd-and-4 late in the first half at midfield and after not getting it seeing Brett Lauther crush a 59-yard field goal to give Saskatchewan a gift field goal and a 13-point lead at the half. 

The “D” really didn’t allow Bo Levi Mitchell and the number one offence in the league when it comes to points scored to get anything going and when Hamilton got the ball after Drae McCray fumbled deep in Rider territory, the “D” got McCray off the hook as Rolan Milligan made an interception at the goal line which basically ended thoughts Hamilton had of winning the game. 

Yes, we are only at the halfway point of the season and a lot can happen between now and November, but Rider fans can get ready to sell out Mosaic for the Western Final. 

Speaking of which, it was good to see that Saturday’s game was sold out. With the Labour Day Classic already sold out, there is no reason to expect that every home game from now until the end of the season should not be a sell-out. As I have said, you didn’t want to go for various reasons but winning can change one’s mind in a big hurry and that is what the team is doing. The excuses are over! Winnipeg is still the number one fan base in the CFL, but it is time to start narrowing that gap. Are you up to that challenge? 

PS: The Riders can schedule as many Saturday 1 p.m. games at home as they want. 

2 – WHY DOES THE CFL HATE THE ARGOS?: The CFL simply has zero time for the Toronto Argonauts, and I wonder if the Argos even care anymore. We can discuss the problems Toronto has ad nauseum, but there are CFL fans in the Six. You would like to see more, but how can you attract fans to your games and get them hooked on the Canadian product when you don’t get a chance to see them live?

I fully understand that the upcoming World Cup of Soccer was going to make life chaotic for the Argos and B.C Lions because of games being played in their stadium. The announcement this week that Toronto would play “home” games in Regina, Winnipeg and Hamilton is just another gut-punch to those who want to support the Argos and must have them asking why do we support the Argos when the league and the club keep doing this to us.

Can someone at the league please explain why Toronto couldn’t play games in southern Ontario at McMaster or Guelph or London or Windsor or somewhere? Didn’t Hamilton play games at McMaster a few years ago when Ivor Wynne Stadium was being renovated? The Ti-Cats didn’t play “home games” in Western Canada. 

It is complete B.S. and it is another reason why this league doesn’t get the credibility it so desperately seeks. Are the suits at the CFL that dense to realize that you have to your team as close as possible to you? I can only imagine the uproar if Mosaic Stadium became unavailable for whatever reason and the team said they are going to play home games in a place that isn’t called Saskatoon. The pitchforks would be out immediately. The CFL should be ashamed of themselves for this and really the Argos should too. You might gain revenue from games in Regina, Winnipeg and Hamilton, but you are losing future revenue by doing this. 

3 – THAT’S WHAT WE WANT: If you are a CFL fan, you got everything you wanted and then some in Week 10.  When was the last time we saw a week like that? All of the games were one-score contests with BC winning in overtime, Calgary on a walk-off field goal, Montreal getting the victory on a last second touchdown and Ottawa coming back from a 22-1 deficit to beat Toronto in the final minute. You had big plays on offence, defence and special teams, good quarterback play, excitement galore. This is what the CFL needs to market. These are the types of games that will draw people to their TV and to the stadiums. It is too much to expect what we saw last weekend every weekend, but it can be done as was proven. There have been and will be bad games in the CFL much like there will be in the NFL and NCAA, but when you have a week like what we saw in the three-down game you celebrate it and promote the hell out of it. 

4 – IS THERE A NEED FOR QB3?: I have said this before and last Saturday as Nick Arbuckle plunged into the endzone for a touchdown, I said it again: I have a lot of respect for CFL teams that use QB1 or QB2 for short yardage situations as I don’t think there is a need for QB3. I can hear Rider fans crying already saying they love Tommy Stevens. Once again, the people saying that need to look at this as a league-wide thing and not if it helps or hurts your team. The CFL needs to eliminate QB3 and tell teams that the 53^rd player on the roster can be an additional Canadian. If that player ends up serving as QB3 because a team has taken a Canadian quarterback that can perhaps develop to move up the depth chart than so be it.

5 – MID-SEASON AWARDS: We are at the midway point of the 2025 CFL season. It’s time to realistically start talking awards. The MOP race is a two man race right now in my mind and the mind of many others as it is between Bo Levi Mitchell and Trevor Harris. Mitchell is the favourite, but Harris likely closed the gap with his performance Saturday. Right now, I would still go with Bo but it’s close. As for the top Canadian, I think Nathan Rourke has to lead the conversation, but there are a lot of Canadian players that have had great seasons. It may be biased because he is playing in my backyard, but Jameer Thurman may have the edge as the top defensive player with the top rookie being either Derek Slywka of Toronto or Hamilton’s Devin Veresuk.  Damian Alford of Calgary is also in the equation, but he has been hurt so his stock has fallen.  As for the top lineman, I have to look at both Logan Ferland and Jamarcus Hardrick, but again there may be bias there because they are close to home. 

6 – WHAT A NIGHT: I will be honest. I thought when the Regina Red Sox walked off the field having lost Game 2 to the Saskatoon Berries in the WMBL East Final that they had blown their shot at getting to the championship series. After upsetting the highly favoured Berries in the opener in Saskatoon, I thought it would be a tough mountain to climb to beat them in Game 3. I was wrong! 

After seeing Currie Field basically stretched to its limits for Game 2, I wondered going into Game 1 of the WMBL Final what Currie would look like as the Red Sox captured the imagination of the city. If you were there, you know what type of atmosphere it was when I clicked on the mic to welcome those inside and outside the park on the hill in right field to what was a great night of baseball on a perfect night. The energy was flowing. 

Just over 2000 people watched the game and I think it is safe to say that although the home team lost in 11 innings, they were thoroughly entertained. As I looked around the congested park, you couldn’t help but wonder what it might have been like in a brand-new downtown facility. Some downtown businesses would have surely seen some pre-game activity and some post-game activity. Someone described Currie Field as baseball’s version of a dive bar this week. What a great description. Like Taylor Field, there is only so much you can do before you have to find a new facility. Hopefully, ground can be broken on that facility soon so that Regina baseball fans can enjoy more nights like what we saw on Thursday. 

As for the series itself, it has been playoff baseball at its best. Sylvan Lake won the opener 3-2 in 11 with Regina staging a furious comeback in Game 2 as they scored six runs in the 9^th and then held on to win 10-7. I am told the boxes were just waiting to be opened with championship hats ready to be given to the Gulls as there were two outs when the floodgates opened. Game 3 is Saturday night so some of you may be seeing this after that game is over.  GO RED SOX!

7 – BUCKLE UP BASEBALL FANS: Some baseball purists hated the fact that MLB expanded the playoff system to have three wild-card teams in each league. I don’t like some of the things baseball does, but they got it right with this one. There is no guarantee at this time as we head into the final six weeks of the season who will finish where.  I think the Blue Jays have done enough to be one of the six teams in the American League, but there are a lot of teams looking to be in one of those spots and I don’t think Toronto has heard the last of Boston and New York.

The Jays, Red Sox, Yankees, Tigers, Guardians, Mariners, Astros, Royals and Rangers are all fighting it out. In the National League, Milwaukee may never lose again, and one has to think they are safe, but the high-spending Dodgers any my Cubs are scuffling with teams like San Diego, Cincinnati, the Mets, St. Louis and Philadelphia still battling it out. There is no clear-cut favourite in either league right now as we head into September and with the wild-card spots, fanbases of those still in the running have a reason to be excited. Bring it on! 

8 – THE FUTURE HAS ARRIVED: I don’t think it was any surprise, but the Regina Pats made it official this week as both Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue have officially signed with the team. The biggest challenge for Regina this year will be how to incorporate both into the lineup this year seeing they can only play so many games and how do you build around them so that when they become full-time players for the 2026-27 season that the squad hits the team running. There is some concern amongst Pats followers that both will pull off what Gavin McKenna and other WHL players have done and bolt for a US college as soon as they can. Who knows what happens between now and then and yes, those concerns are warranted but let’s just enjoy these two and the Pats for the next few years. Dare I say there may be more excitement for Schultz than there was for Connor Bedard? To be fair, that Bedard buzz was quieted because of COVID and fans not being allowed in the rink, but the Brandt Centre should be the place to be for the next few winters on game night. 

9 – THE TRADE: Just moments after hitting send on last week’s column, I was reminded that August 9^th, 1988, was the day for me that I realized sports was not a game, but a business. I remember the CTV 12 o’clock news was on (remember that boys and girls) and the legendary Dale Isaac was doing sports (remember a dedicated sportscast on local TV boys and girls) and he came on and said there was a rumour that Wayne Gretzky was going to be traded. I couldn’t believe it. As I made my way to 620 CKCK (remember that station boys and girls), I walked in and asked if it was true and it was. 

How could Peter Pocklington trade Wayne Gretzky? Why? We all found out as the days moved on. As I look back at that trade now, it might have been the best thing for the NHL. Wayne got eyes on the game in LA and the United States. Without that trade, do we have the Sharks, Kraken, Panthers, Lightning, Hurricanes and others? What was a definite punch to the gut that day turned out maybe to be a day that made the NHL legit on a worldwide scale.  That being said, I will always wonder how many more championships Edmonton would have won and what the league would look like today.  Yeah, the drought in Toronto wouldn’t have ended.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• Why isn’t there a Dr. Pepper Ice Cream!
• A tip of the hat to CTV Regina’s Donovan Maess. I had the chance to watch him grow as the play-by-play guy for the Regina Red Sox this year and he certainly did as you could see the quality of his games, which were good going into the season, get even better. Baseball is not the easiest sport to call because of all the dead time, but booth he and Elliott Wagner did a fantastic job. 
• The U of R have refreshed the logos for both the Cougars and Rams. I like it! It’s something that was long overdue. They decided not to refresh the in-house announcer for volleyball and basketball though.  Take that for what you will. 😊
• A big sound no to a 20+ team field for the US College Football Championship. I understand TV money and the egos of schools that just miss getting in are key factors but having it at 12 works. I would be OK with 16 but that’s it. 

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