SCRUFFY’S THIS ‘N THAT

1 – FOOTBALLAPALOOZA: The Labour Day weekend is here! That means it is full-time football from now until February.  We all know the CFL is in full-swing and soon Winnipeggers will be making their yearly invasion into Regina for the Labour Day Classic. Those fans who came here and went home with their tail between their legs for so many years have been more vocal the past couple of years and for good reason since their team has come out on top  We all know on the first Sunday in September anything can happen when these two teams meet, but you have to think it will be tough for the green-and-white to beat a Winnipeg team that looked very good against Montreal with Zach Collaros back under center.

While there were a couple of NCAA games last weekend, my television will be full of games this Saturday as we get to see Deion Sanders as head coach of Colorado along with our first look at some of the top-ten teams in Michigan, Ohio State, LSU and the defending two-time national champs from Georgia. In fact, as I type this I have Florida/Utah on TSN and Nebraska/Minnesota on FOX.  Life is good!

Add that to the fact we are now less than a week away from the NFL season starting up and shortly hockey will be upon us and baseball playoffs will be getting underway. It truly is the best time of year for me.

2 – CAN DOLEGALA DELIVER?:  With Mason Fine still recovering from injury, Riders head coach Craig Dickenson had really no choice but to hand the starting quarterback assignment to Jake Dolegala.  Even if Fine was ready to go, Dolegala deserved another start after his effort against BC.  All he has to do is what he did against the Lions and that is find his group of talented receivers and let them do the work. I would expect Kian Schaeffer-Baker to be a bigger part of the offence this week seeing he has a game under his belt and has had time to get more into game shape.  It looked like Dolegala was allowed to use the entire playbook which I don’t think Fine did so let’s see what happens.  The Bombers are favoured by seven to win on Sunday and I will probably take them to cover, but like I’ve already said……. anything can happen on Labour Day.

Still with the Riders, we found out Thursday Brayden Lenius is out for the season after suffering a foot inury shortly after returning from a lacerated kidney suffered in the preseason. What a waste of a year it is for Lenius who was thought to be a key weapon this year.

3 – CFL LIVE:  I know this is just a pipedream, but as I watch shows on TSN during the afternoon that are devoted to the NFL, college football and the NBA I just wonder why TSN couldn’t go in house and give us a 30-minute show on the CFL each day.  Having Farhan Lalji or Dave Naylor take us around the league giving us some information, interviews and features would be a great addition and a show CFL fans would probably embrace.  Its called promoting the product.  Yes, I know this idea will likely never happen, but one can dream can’t they?

4 – THE PLIGHT OF THE STAMPEDERS:  I had a great chat about the CFL and more particularly, the state of the Stampeders with a Calgary friend this week.  It is safe to say the good times are over in Cowtown.  The Stamps were at one time considered the Patriots of the CFL because of their winning record, but much like the Patriots came crashing to earth so have the Stamps.  The winning days are over and while some agreed with the move to move on from Bo Levi Mitchell, it is pretty much agreed that perhaps Dave Dickinson and John Hufnagel made the wrong move in keeping Jake Maier who has struggled.  I certainly didn’t think Calgary would go into the Labour Day weekend sporting a record of 3-8.  With the sudden resurgence of the Elks, Edmonton is in a position where they could sweep the upcoming Battles of Alberta and move ahead of Calgary. Did anyone see the Stampeders in the Western basement at the start of the season? I didn’t.  At some point, Calgary will make some front office changes with John Hufnagel and Dave Dickenson, but I only see that happening when Huf says he has had enough.  I don’t know if that comes at the end of this campaign or not.  What I do know is that when the day comes where changes are made, current QB’s coach Marc Mueller will be a beneficiary and will continue on what I believe is a path to being a CFL head coach someday.  There also seems to be a thought process that the team needs to get out from the under the umbrella of Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation and be sold to someone who can get them a new facility to replace McMahon Stadium. I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

5 – THE LION REMAINS A JAGUAR:  I knew Nathan Rourke would be in tough to get the backup job behind Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville, but I thought he did enough in the preseason to get the number 2 position.  Obviously, Jags HC Doug Pederson didn’t think so as he elected to stay with CJ Beathard as Lawrence’s backup.  With Rourke getting placed on waivers, I thought some team would snap him up but nope!  If you look at some of the backups NFL teams has that is a real head-scratcher and when you consider at the time of writing this that New England only has one quarterback on their active roster it makes you go WTF.  Rourke will stay with the Jags on their practice roster and he will make a good chunk of money doing so.  He could come back if he wants, but at this time it would appear as if he doesn’t want to.  Perhaps he wants to see how this season goes and then decide.  CFL fans are hoping he can return to the league for the start of the 24 season.  I don’t think that happens, but I didn’t think he would get through waivers either which begs so many other questions as to why he didn’t. Meanwhile, it was great news for the CFL to hear Chad Kelly is going to spurn a chance at the NFL by signing a three-year contract extension in Toronto that makes him the CFL’s highest-paid player,  I thought Kelly would be headed south of the border at the end of this season but nope.  Kelly’s play and the play of the Argos seems to have given the team a boost when it comes to fan interest.  That needs to continue.  Maybe Kelly and one of the CFL’s corporate sponsors can get together for an ad campaign as well since he is going to be in the league’s biggest market for a while.  By the way, did you know Kelly’s agent was from Saskatoon  I didn’t!

6 – ZINGER TIME: When the U of R Rams hit the field at home Friday night against the UBC Thunderbirds to open up the Canada West football season, it will be a great chance for you to take a listen to Sean Kleisinger who is just starting as the team’s p x p man. RP brought Zinger in either 2017 or 2018 to produce the “Sportscage” and it didn’t take long to realize what type of kid he was.  Derek Taylor and I tried to provide him with many opportunities, but those opportunities were squashed by people in charge for whatever reason. Zinger, who also does a fabulous job as the in-house announcer for the Regina Red Sox, just waited for his time patiently without crying, moaning or bitching and when it came time last year to show what he’s got as he did a Thunder game, he excelled.  It isn’t easy doing football play-by-play but Zinger is making it look that way.  Very happy for him and very proud of him as well.  His future is bright.  He is the voice of Regina sports!

7 – PICKLEBALL!! Five years ago, we started finding out about the sport of pickleball.  Its basically a combination of tennis, badminton and ping-pong and while it was a sport for the 50 and over crowd, it is a sport that is growing and growing and growing and while the older demographic is still front and center, younger people are playing it too and they are loving it.  This past week, I helped Access Communications as the Canadian National Pickleball Championships came to Regina with over 600 athletes in many different categories representing all provinces taking part.   To some, it may not look visually appealing and I understand that, but it is a great sport that gives you a good workout.  If you don’t have good reflexes, don’t pick up a pickleball paddle and yes typing that is as difficult as saying it.   As I said, it is a sport that is growing and it is going to get bigger with many younger people getting involved.

The event was also another one where the venue known as “the campus” could shine and it did.  With the Brandt Centre, the Co-Operators Centre, the AffinityPlex, the International Trade Centre and of course Mosaic Stadium, it really is the premier sporting facility in Canada and it has brought a lot of $$$$$ Regina’s way.  Many that I talked to over my time at REAL this week were highly impressed.

8 – BEDARDMANIA: We are getting closer and closer to hockey season.  The eyes of the hockey world will definitely be on Chicago to see how Connor Bedard fares with the Blackhawks in his rookie season.  One of the questions is how many points can he register in year one.  If I were to place a line for an over/under bet, I would put it at 69.5.  I was pleased to see my forecast wasn’t too off-target when “The Hockey News” fantasy guide came out and it had him at 74.  While many want to see what the kid can do in year one, I think the interest level in Regina may be higher than what it has been for other players entering the pro ranks because of how much he captivated Regina during his short-time here.  While there were some jack-wagons that did stupid things like hang out around his house, Bedard did his best to embrace the community by doing a lot of things that potential superstars don’t do.  That says a lot about his upbringing and those fleeting moments he had with fans will pay off as they watch Chicago play now and in the future. I wonder how many Pats fans will make the trips to Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg when the Hawks are there. I wonder how many people in Regina already have a Bedard Blackhawks jersey.  I know one person that does.  That person also got an 8 autographed by the 18-year-old so his uni has been autographed and framed. More NHL talk will be coming in upcoming weeks and throughout the winter.

9 – WE’RE NUMBER 7, WE’RE NUMBER 7!: A recent survey had Regina as the 7^th rudest city in Canada.  Take that for what you will and remind me to never visit Vaughan, Ontario.  I wonder what the results would be if a survey was taken on drivers who don’t use their turn signals.  Guessing Regina would be number 1 there, That survey went on to say that Regina led the way in not letting people merge into traffic (surprise, surprise!) and that Regina is tied for 3^rd when it comes to swearing.  FFS, I thought we wouldn’t be in the top 5. Oops!

10 – RIP:  This was a tough week.   As a wrestling nerd, the death of Terry Funk was a part of my past.  There was never, ever a tougher SOB in the ring than the proprietor of the Doublecross Ranch.  His hardcore matches were unreal and I’m not talking WWE days.  I remember him fighting Brian Pillman at the old Regina Exhibition Auditorium one night in the mid-80’s.  What a bloodbath!  Right on the heels of that came the news that current WWE superstar Bray Wyatt had died.  Wyatt, who made “The Fiend” one of the more popular superstars on the roster was someone who just scraped the surface when it came to what he could do and what type of career he could have had.  I think those who watch WWE, and yes there are still a lot of us that do, would agree

Then on Saturday came the news that Bob Barker had left us.  As many have said, who didn’t spend sick days from school watching “The Price is Right” over a bowl of chicken or tomato soup and some ginger ale.  Bob and “Barker’s Beauties” was must-watch TV in those days and what young man aged 13-30 didn’t love Dian Parkinson.  As we found out later in life, Bob did!  

Have a great long weekend and enjoy the football!