Scruffy’s This N That

1. GAME 18: What has been a tremendous regular season for the Riders comes to an end tonight as the B.C Lions come to town in yet another contest that should be a 33,000-seat sellout but won’t be. As it was last week in Winnipeg, it is a nothing game for Mace’s Men where they already know they are hosting the Western Final. However, I would think this game is being treated with a little more importance.  Trevor Harris and others who missed last week’s game will play in this one, but how much is the question. It’s the old rust vs rest debate. I think the regulars need at least a half. Others think they need more, and others wonder why you would risk injury by having them play. As for sending a message against the Lions should they meet in the Western Final, I don’t buy that. The Lions know what the Riders have, and they also know the scoreboard begins with both teams at zero. 

2 . HEAD COACH HANK?: The Ottawa REDBLACKS finished what has been a disappointing season against Hamilton last night with word coming Saturday morning that the axe has fallen on Bob Dyce. After getting Ottawa to the playoffs last year, his third full season behind the bench was a disaster

While former Ottawa and BC HC Rick Campbell would likely be considered to take over for a second time, I wonder if a call would be made to long-time CFL quarterback Henry Burris, who won a Grey Cup with the REDBLACKS? The 50-year-old (Hank is 50??) is currently the OC and QB coach at Florida A&M. I am sure Hank would love to progress to be a Head Coach at some time but is that time now? Kent Austin returned from the US College rank to quarterback a team that he won the Grey Cup with and we know how that ended so could lightning strike from a bottle again? It’s something to keep an eye on in the off-season. 

3. YEAH, OK!: A Manitoba research firm says 42 percent of people asked won’t watch as much CFL football as usual if the rule changes that have been announced go through. Surrrrrre you won’t! Is this like smokers saying they won’t go to the bar when a no-smoking policy was announced? Is this like people saying they are not renewing their season tickets but they always do? The bottom line is a majority of people against the rule changes are going to watch just as much as they normally have. You know it, I know it and the league knows it. 

4. CHEATIN GEORGE: It amazes me how many so-called baseball fans don’t know the history behind the 2017 Houston Astros garbage can scandal that had now Blue Jays outfielder George Springer front and centre. For those that don’t know, it was revealed that the Astros found a way to let others know what pitch was coming by banging a garbage can or in the case of Jose Altuve by pressing a button that set off a buzzer under his jersey. The four main culprits were Springer, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa. While manager AJ Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were handed a one-year suspension, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred gave the players immunity as they revealed what had went on while expressing very little remorse. Since that day, I have had zero time for all four players including the man who is Canada’s newest hero since his three-run homer on Monday that sent Toronto to the World Series.

In my opinion, those four, who are all good players, should not have seen the diamond for at least a year if not permanently. What they did to me is worse than Pete Rose gambling on the game and what happened to Rose? Oh yeah, he was banished until having that lifted after his death. Guys that were on steroids like Sosa, McGwire, Clemens and Bonds were basically blackballed from the game but cheaters like the Houston four were allowed to go on and when Manfred was asked about it, his response was they couldn’t gut a roster by taking four players off it. UMMMMMMMM!!! Yeah, you can Rob!!

You can say what you want about Springer, but the bottom line is he is a cheater who wasn’t punished. His legacy has been tarnished even though many Blue Jays fans think he is a hero. I wonder how the narrative would change had ol’ George hit a homer to knock Toronto out of the playoffs. Never mind, I know the answer. It’s also interesting to note that while FOX and MLB Network have brought up Springer’s past leading into the World Series, there has never been a mention of it on Sportsnet which brings me back to the point that many don’t even know what he has done. 

As for the Blue Jays being in the World Series, you know I don’t have a lot of time for that team. While I don’t, this is good for baseball in Canada much like the 92 and 93 World Series appearances were and much like the Raptors NBA title run was great for basketball in Canada. The Jays appearance will have many kids wanting to be the next Vladdy, Bo or Yesavage, but in today’s world where we can see any player do his or her thing, there is nothing stopping them from wanting to be the next Freddie Freeman, Bobby Witt Junior or Cal Raleigh. 

I’ve never subscribed to the fact that I have to cheer for a team because they are Canadian much like I don’t have to cheer for a certain football team because I live in this province. If the truth be known, I find that having to cheer for a Canadian team really brings up the insecurity of the Canadian sports fan. It’s like the never-ending desire to have a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup. What matters to me is “CANADA” meaning I want Olympic, World Junior and World Championship gold in hockey and for our baseball team to do well in international events like the upcoming World Baseball Classic. It’s OK to be a Reds fan, it’s OK to be a Mariners fan, it’s OK to be a Red Sox, Cubs or Twins fan. It’s not OK to be an Astros fan!! LOL!

If you are a Jays fan, and a true Jays fan, then enjoy this because it has been a long time and for some of you maybe the first time. If you are one of the many who started following the team on July 1 when word got out that maybe it was cool to watch that team, be with them on Opening Day 2026 and be with them when they are a team struggling to reach .500. It is those fans that make the game great, but please do your homework on certain players (see above!).

5. BAM-BAM BARGER: Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told people after their four-game sweep of the NLCS that they are more than ready to ruin baseball. Many don’t like the fact, and for good reason, that LA is that team that could care less about payroll as they have many big-name players under mammoth contracts. Win or lose, they will be the reason why at this time there likely won’t be a 2027 baseball season as the battle for some kind of salary restraint in the sport will be a long one. 

On paper, the Blue Jays shouldn’t have a chance against the high-rollin’ Dodgers, but this isn’t Strat-O-Matic. The one area where Toronto does have a distinct advantage is the bullpen and that might be a statement that makes you shake your head considering where the Toronto bullpen has been this year. The other area is that anyone on Toronto can bite you. It was Andres Gimenez coming through with big hits against the Mariners and on Friday night, it was Addison Barger. 

Toronto did enough to get Blake Snell out of the ballgame and once that happened it was advantage Blue Jays. The bullpen came in and Addison Barger ended any thoughts of LA taking Game 1 with a grand slam that shook Rogers Centre to its foundation. We haven’t really seen how John Schneider is going to manage his bullpen in a close game, but in Dave Roberts’ first chance, he failed.  The pressure is on the starters to throw six or seven strong innings to reduce those decisions.  

Toronto got the first punch in against LA and I think they stunned the baseball world with what happened Friday night. Let’s see what Game 2 brings. 

By the way, if Americans say the greatest version of the Star-Spangled Banner was Whitney Houston’s performance at Super Bowl 25, one has to think there has been no better rendition of O’Canada than what we saw before Game 1. If you haven’t seen it, which I hadn’t until Saturday morning, visit the Jays Facebook page. 

6. THE WHL’S GOLDEN AGE: I don’t know if the WHL was in a better spot when you had guys like Mike Modano, Theoren Fleury, Joe Sakic and others rolling through your building in the 80’s, but I heard the question get asked this week. Yes, Gavin McKenna is now a member of the Penn State Nittany Lions, but we could see the next three number one draft picks in the NHL having a WHL pedigree. McKenna should be number one this year with Everett’s Landon Dupont being the favourite to go number 1 in 2027 and Maddox Schultz of the Pats being the guy that many expect will be taken with the first selection of the 28 draft. Add to that some of the other players that will be high picks and you wonder if this is the best group of talent the WHL has ever produced. I will still lean back to the 80’s. 

7. NFL WEEK 8: Are we going to see something like what we saw in Denver last Sunday? Every week seemingly has one game in the NFL that has everyone talking because of what happened.  Here are some items of interest going into this weekend’s action. 

• Jordan Love faces Aaron Rodgers in a battle of current vs past Packers quarterback when Green Bay plays Pittsburgh Sunday night. In 39 games, Love is 22-16-1 with 68 TD’s and 25 INT’s. Rodgers in the same time frame had a W-L record of 21-18 with 70 TD’s and 29 INT’s. 
• With a win in Week 8 against his former team, Rodgers can become the fifth starting quarterback ever record a win against each of the 32 teams, along with Pro Football Hall of Famers Brett Favre and Peyton Manning as well as Tom Brady and Drew Brees.
• Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor leads the NFL with 10 rushing touchdowns this season and has 61 rushing touchdowns in 74 career games, the third-most since he entered the league in 2020. With a rushing touchdown against Tennessee on Sunday in his 75th career game, Taylor can surpass Pro Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson (61 rushing touchdowns) for the fifth-most rushing touchdowns by a player in his first 75 career games in the Super Bowl era.
• The Chicago Bears look for their 5^th straight win in Baltimore. The Bears haven’t won five in a row since 2018. 

8. CHAOS IN CALGARY: Safe to say the start of the NHL season has not gone the way the Calgary Flames thought it would go. Friday’s loss in Winnipeg dropped the team to 1-7-1 with that only win coming on opening night. After a 2-1 loss to Montreal on Wednesday, goaltender Dustin Wolf told reporters that he can’t generate offence. Those were comments that probably weren’t needed, but he’s not wrong. Despite the fact Calgary scored three times Friday, they still have a league-low 16 goals. 

While we all wondered if Calgary could get into the playoffs after being oh-so-close last year, we seemed to have forgotten that the Flames weren’t very good offensively last year being in the bottom 5 of goals scored. Calgary needs a legitimate scorer if not more. Can we add them to the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes? I think fans of the Flames would gladly take a year of pain if they knew they could get McKenna, but some ping-pong balls will make that determination,

9. RAMS/THUNDER: No room for error now. The U of R Rams will stumble into the Canada West playoffs after blowing a chance to win seven games for the first time in their Canada West history after gagging on a late lead and losing to UBC in overtime on Friday. Mark McConkey’s group has had a tough time closing out games. If they are going to play at the Vanier Cup, that obviously has to change.

As for the Thunder, they are taking on the Hilltops as expected in the PJFC final with the game going Sunday at Mosaic. I don’t think anything more can be said about this rivalry which might be the best one in all of Canadian football. Let the best team win and don’t let it come down to the third team on the field.

10. RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• With the start to the season that he has had is Islanders defenceman Matthew Schaefer getting himself onto Team Canada’s radar for the Winter Olympics?  He would be a pretty good 6^th or 7^th defenceman and give you a few minutes.
• The Jets and Flames need to take a page from what Carolina and Colorado did Thursday night and go retro against one another. Imagine the Thrashers vs the Flames in a homage to Atlanta! 
• Did the Colts play the Savannah Bananas or the L-A Chargers last weekend? Those jerseys the Chargers came out with were ugggggggggly! Not as bad as Seattle’s lime-greens, but uggggggggggly! 
• TSN CFL p x p man (and overall good schmuck) Dustin Nielson asked on Twitter this week how much money would you need to be paid/win to live at West Edmonton Mall for a year and you couldn’t leave the facility.  Dusty says you get free accommodations at the hotel and your food bill is paid for. As someone in his late 50’s with a family, I don’t know if it could realistically be done even if I was paid handsomely for it. If I was in that 18-30 age range, sign me up with the dollar amount to be negotiated. Would you try that?

That’s all I got. Have a great week!