Scruffy’s This N That

1 – OFF TO STEELTOWN: I don’t know about you, but I have a bad feeling about the Riders-Hamilton game on Saturday (7 pm ET, TSN). We know Saskatchewan struggles in Hamilton for whatever reason and with Harrison Frost having a game under his belt, he should be better.  With the Rider secondary allowing some big games to opposition QB’s, one would have to think Kenny Lawler and Kiondre Smith will have some big games and with the offence being riddled with injury, I can see Hamilton keeping it close and perhaps winning if they make a play or two on both sides of the ball in the 4^th quarter.  Let’s just say this one won’t be the slamdunk that last week was for the /=S=/.

2 – CFL AWARDS CHATTER:  Week 11 of the CFL season has started meaning we are now on the back nine of the 2026 campaign. It might still be a little early to start talking about league awards, but as we hit the halfway point of the season, here is who I would have 

MOP: Davis Alexander 

Top Canadian: Tyson Philpot 

Top Defensive Player: Mattieu Betts

Top Offensive Lineman:  Payton Collins 

Top Special Teams Player: Tyreik McAllister

Top Rookie: TJ Luther

Head Coach of Year:  Mark Kilam

3 – KURTIS ROURKE: Are you watching the San Francisco 49ers camp? If so, you know Kurtis Rourke is competing for the QB3 job.  If you are a Riders fan, you also know he is property of the green-and-white. There is talk he won’t be successful so does that mean Rourke, much like brother Nathan, will end up continuing his career north of the border?  I remember when he was drafted by the Riders, I thought it was a great move by Jeremy O’Day as the team needed to find a replacement for Trevor Harris.  While Harris shows no signs of slowing down despite his age, the team knows that they need to get younger. Some have said Kurtis may be better than his brother. If that is the case, the Riders have themselves a player that could be QB1 for years and he could be a guy that is in Saskatchewan before the end of the year. Kurtis had a nice showing against the Titans in San Fran’s first pre-season game, but he had to be taken to hospital after suffering a rib injury. How much that hurts his chances of sticking is yet to be known. 

4 – FUTURE RETIRED #’S: The Riders haven’t retired many numbers over the years. Eight to be exact. Is it time for more? I think it is.  While having a Twitter conversation this week, I said no Rider should be wearing 81 or 5. Ray Elgaard and Kent Austin are two Riders who I think should have their numbers retired. Who else? Should Darian Durant’s #4 be retired? How about Gene Makowsky’s number 60? Would you retire Jim Hopson’s 52? I would! If the team retired two numbers in the 2027 season, who would you want? 

5 – WCBL FINAL: Either the Saskatoon Berries or the Sylvan Lake Gulls will be winning the WCBL Championship for the first time as the two teams will meet starting tonight in Game 1 of the best-of-3 final in Sylvan Lake tonight. 

Saskatoon comes off a surprising sweep of Moose Jaw. Not surprising in the fact they won, but the fact the series didn’t go three. Both of those teams were very good teams and while it was a small sample size, I thought Moose Jaw had the better squad in seeing them at Currie Field this year. 

As for Currie Field, the Red Sox didn’t have the season they had in 2025, but when you are the defending champs there is nowhere to go but down.  The wins/losses record certainly isn’t what it should have been and once again players leaving midway through the season hurt.  That being said it was an enjoyable season once again doing public address and I thank the Red Sox for the opportunity.  A lot of great nights (and hot afternoons) watching this team with a lot of people showing up to see the Sox play win or lose.  Would have been nice to see a TV camera or someone carrying a microphone show up a couple of times, but changes from above mean there is basically zero sports coverage in this town anymore which is a crock of you know what but hey, the suits in Toronto know more than we do right? 

5 – 1994: A lot was made this week about the 1994 baseball season being called off by Major League Baseball because of labour unrest. It came at a time when the Montreal Expos were 74-40, having some believe the Expos would have gone on to win the World Series with ease.  They had the best record in the game, and they were six games up in the National League East. This just in.  You can say the Expos would have won the World Series, but there is no guarantee that they would have. A lot can happen in six weeks. We will never know if Atlanta could have caught Montreal and we will never know if Montreal would have even gotten to the World Series as the Reds and Astros were also very good. If they had gone to the World Series, would they have taken on the mighty Yankees. What a story that would have been. 

The 2001 Seattle Mariners won 116 games, and they didn’t get to the World Series so you can’t tell me Montreal would have gotten there.  You can romanticize about it all you want, but you can’t definitively say yes or no. 

6 – ???:  The Phillies and Twins played the Field of Dreams Game in Iowa Thursday night. The game, which was on Sportsnet and Netflix, was fantastic but can someone from MLB please explain why you would schedule this game on the same night as the first night of NFL preseason? You had all summer to do it and you chose that date. Why? 

7 – PETER MAHER: We lost another broadcasting legend this week as the long-time voice of the Calgary Flames passed away. Peter Maher and Rod Phillips provided the soundtrack for many in Alberta or Western Canada who got Flames or Oilers games on their radio when the Battle of Alberta was at its best. 

When CJME went to Newstalk, they had Calgary Flames go on at night and I was the operator so I had a chance to listen to Peter on a far more regular basis and it wasn’t hard to see just why the man was considered a legend.  I don’t know where he would rank when it comes to great broadcasting voices in Canada, but he would be right up there. 

8 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• Who is the first NFL head coach to be fired? Don’t be surprised if its Nick Sirianni in Philly. 
• A high school football player practiced for an hour in Arkansas not knowing a venomous snake was hidden inside his helmet. That kid might have set a record for the 40-yard dash when he found out. I can’t even imagine what would be going through his mind. 
• Who is your starting goalie for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final if you can’t have Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek or Marty Brodeur?  It’s Carey Price for me! 
• There is a place in South Carolina called “Sugar Tit”. Do I want to know how that place got its name? To think there are people that make fun of Regina’s name when this is out there. 
• As much as I would love to give you random thought number 5, Jayden Daniels won’t allow it. 

That’s all I got.  Have a great week!