Scruffy’s This N That

1 – MITCH RETURNS: Did anyone know that Mitch Marner made his much-ballyhooed return to Toronto Friday night? As expected, the player who dared to leave Toronto after being seen as the whipping boy year after year after year when the Leafs failed to get to a Conference final or beyond was booed everytime he touched the puck. The response from the welcome back video was nothing close to what Jonathan Toews got in Chicago earlier this week.

Marner’s nine years in a Leafs uniform were good for the player—until the playoffs, but bad for the team. He was a part of the “Core 4”. He was just as much to blame for playoff failure as Auston Matthews, John Tavares and William Nylander. You might add Morgan Rielly to that list too. When the criticisms started, Marner was always in the bullseye whether it be right or wrong. Personally, I thought Matthews should have been the one absorbing most of the blame, but whatever. 

We know Toronto tried to trade Marner, but he used his no-trade clause last year to prevent a deal that would have seen Mikko Rantanen end up in Toronto. If that deal had gone through, would he have stayed a Hurricane? We’ll never know.

While some say Marner walked away from the city and its team, I would argue Marner saw that the team did not have him in their future when he was dangled to Carolina. They were willing to walk away from Marner, so he did them a favour and left,

The whipping boy is now a traitor, but Toronto fans need to look at the team and ask if management did the right thing? They also need to ask themselves why boo Marner and not boo the other 3 members of the Core 4 who are still there — especially after getting thumped 6-3 by the Knights.

2 – CARLOS BELTRAN: If you have read this column in the past or if you know me, you know I am a huge baseball fan and I literally detest the Houston Astros — especially the 2017 version of the team. That was the team that cheated the game by letting batters know what type of pitch was coming by banging a garbage can. None of the players in that scheme were ever suspended and instead were given immunity. It is why I literally can’t stand George Springer, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman who is now sadly a member of the Cubs and a guy I won’t be rooting for.  

The mastermind of the garbage can controversy was Carlos Beltran. He had retired by the time baseball came out with its findings on the allegations, but he “stepped down” as manager of the New York Mets without ever managing a game. Beltran is now going to the Hall of Fame??????  I repeat—-?????

Baseball was adamant that Pete Rose should be banned from the sport for gambling. That is so ironic considering the fact that professional sports is in bed with outfits like Bet365, FanDuel and others. Baseball never really wanted to acknowledge what the Astros did and it showed with the lack of punishment those responsible got.   Now, the mastermind of what went down is going to join other immortals of the game. What a joke!

I guess if baseball is going to take this road, they should make sure they get steroid users like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens get in as well because it is obvious now the sport does not care about its past and those who wronged the game. 

3 – DON’T HIT THE PANIC BUTTON: The clock is ticking to CFL free agency. Rider fans have to be satisfied with what GM Jeremy O’Day has done in getting core members of the team back to give it another run as the green-and-white look to make it back-to-back championships. 

Guys like Tevaughn Campbell, Kian Schaeffer-Baker, Trevor Harris and Sam Emilus are back. However, as we inch closer to February 1 when players can talk to teams there are many guys who haven’t got their name on the dotted line yet. The biggest one is A.J Ouellette. I don’t think he is going anywhere. The Riders know what type of value they have in Ouellette and unless he is asking for an obscene amount of money, he will come to terms with the team on a new deal especially when you consider the relationship he has forged with Harris.  

While many of the guys that helped the /=S=/ hoist the Cup high are back, guys like Ouellette, AJ Allen, Malik Carney, Keesean Johnson and Tommy Nield or not. There are a few people wondering if the KSB re-signing means the end of the road for Nield and it wouldn’t surprise if me if that happens. The big money Sam Emilus got has a trickle down effect and that means the dollars just aren’t there for some guys and they don’t want to stick around if they think they can get more elsewhere.  It is the same thing every year and you can’t belittle a player if he ends up moving on. 

4 – CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND: The trend this year is looking back at 2016 in 2026. The NFL has certainly bought in as we will once again have Denver vs New England in the AFC Championship game, but this won’t be Brady vs Manning. I’m not sure how you give Denver a solid chance knowing Jarrett Stidham is replacing the injured Bo Nix, but you have to play the game. 

Meanwhile, the Seattle Seahawks and LA Rams will fight it out in the NFC Championship. In 2013, the Riders won the Grey Cup with Seattle winning the Vince a couple of months later. Is history going to repeat itself? Here are some notes leading you into Sunday’s matchup. 

• In the AFC Championship game since 2000, the Patriots are 9-2 against teams other than Denver.  They are 0-2 against the Broncos. 
• Since Mike Macdonald was hired in 2024, the Seahawks are 7-0 when facing an opponent they have already played that season
• In their all-time history against each other, the Seahawks are 29-28 against the Rams. Seattle has scored 1,223 in those games. LA has scored 1,222.
• Denver led the NFL in sacks this season with 68. They got to Josh Allen three times in last week’s win over the Bills

5 – CATCH OR NO CATCH: Once again officiating is in the spotlight after the controversial overtime play in the Denver-Buffalo game involving Brandon Cooks and whether or not he caught a pass that could have sent the Bills to the AFC Championship and cost Sean McDermott his job. 

First off, I laugh when these calls result in narrow-minded people screaming into the night that the league is rigged. Uhhhhhh—no it’s not but if that’s what gets you through the night you go at it. Is officiating a problem? Yes, it is as it seems that every week we are hearing about something and yes, you could probably call a penalty on every play but how much fun would that be. These guys don’t have it easy especially in the day of instant replay which has gotten to be over the top.  It doesn’t matter the sport, you can’t go frame-by-frame to determine what has happened. 

For what it is worth, I thought watching the game live that Cooks made the catch. Having watched the replay of it from the backside, I honestly can’t tell.  I could watch it 100 times and think it’s a catch 50 times and an interception 50 times. The play should have been reviewed and for whatever reason it wasn’t. That was wrong!

Bengals QB Joe Burrow decided it was time to weigh in on Twitter when he broke his Twitter silence saying the call of an interception was right. Those who thought it was a catch automatically accused Joe of wanting refs to give him the benefit of the doubt next year. 

NFL officials, much like CFL ones, aren’t full-time employees.  That should probably change in both leagues but how does it make it better? NHL officials are full-time employees and there is a lot of controversy in games.  By the way, do the same people that think the NFL is rigged think the NHL is fixed too? 

Technology has made it tougher on the on-field officials. A look at that technology and whether it is helping or harming the job of those officials is needed.  Some of it yes, some of it no.  At the end of the day, no matter the sport the officiating won’t be perfect and fans of a team or those that placed a bet on a team that loses when they could have won will be upset.  At the end of the day, I still have confidence that 98 percent of the calls are right and am OK with it. 

6 – AARON RODGERS:  With Mike Tomlin leaving Pittsburgh, it has a lot of people wondering if we have seen the last of Aaron Rodgers.  Say what you will about the 42-year-old, but his team was a division winner this year. He did say going into the season that this was probably his last year, but he is once again keeping his future plans quiet with many wondering if Rodgers has thrown his last pass.  I don’t think he wants to stay in Pittsburgh after Tomlin’s departure, but who would want him?  Does Minnesota, who obviously erred in letting Sam Darnold go, have any interest as JJ McCarthy continues to develop? Would Miami be interested seeing they have parted ways with Tua? Does he still want to play with the Steelers even though Tomlin is gone? I think he ends up with one of the networks myself and I think he would be great as you know he isn’t going to sugarcoat anything.  Again, say what you will about Rodgers but we all know that once he retires there is a gold jacket in his future.

7 – HURRY, HURRY HARD! It is time for the dulcet tones of Vic Rauter to grace our TV’s for the next few weeks as the Scotties Tournament of Hearts begins.  Rachel Homan is representing Canada at the Olympics so she is not there, but Kerri Einarson is and should be favoured.  Saskatchewan’s Jolene Campbell is in tough, but I think she can make the playoffs and perhaps pull off an upset or two. Both Campbell and Robyn Silvernagle know what the Scotties is all about. 

At the end of the day, I expect Einarson to be victorious but if you are looking for a first-time champion, I am going with Alberta’s Selena Sturmay. 

8 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• Is Josh Allen the NFL’s version of Connor McDavid. 
• To be successful in the NFL, do you have to have a head coach with the first name of Mike (McDonald, Vrabel) or Sean (Payton, McVay).  Maybe not if a Buffalo fan. 
• What Ryan has had the better career in Edmonton – Smyth or Nugent-Hopkins? Still with the Oilers, Mark Messier is 65?  I’m old! 
• How have Jon Cooper or Paul Maurice never won the NHL’s Coach of the Year award? They are the best two bench bosses in the game and its not even close in my opinion.

That’s all I got.  Have a great week!