SCRUFFY’S THIS ‘N THAT

1 – REMEMBERING #34: Where do you start when it comes to the legendary George Reed?  Like all of you, I was stunned to hear the news Sunday night that the man considered by many to be the greatest ever Rider had passed away one day short of his 84^th birthday. Any time with George was time I cherished. I was fortunate enough to be able to talk football with the icon several times including a recent chat while stopping in at Smokin Okies to get some supper.  Little did I know that brief three-minute talk about the state of the Riders would be my last. I have many memories of George, but by far and away the biggest one was in 2006.

At that time, I was hosting the show that you know as “The Green Zone” on CJME. The show came from Winnipeg as we were there for Grey Cup week. On a Friday night while the show was on, the CFL was unveiling its top 50 players at a Winnipeg hotel. I had managed to talk to TSN reps to ask if someone from that list could come on the show and was told that they would try their best.

As the 6 o’clock hour hit, I was about to go back on the air when the TSN rep came walking in and said she had a couple of guests that she thinks my audience would appreciate. I looked up and saw both George and Ron Lancaster being escorted to my location. Sportsnet’s Jamie Campbell, who is a big CFL fan, and I had been talking to one another when they came walking in and safe to say my jaw dropped. I was about to talk Riders and CFL football with the two greatest players to wear the /=S=/. 

Needless to say, plans for the last 60 minutes of the show were scrapped as the focus shifted to Ronnie and George. It was one of the quickest hours of radio I had ever been a part of. When the show was over, others who were doing shows from our location came over hoping to get a few minutes. As one would expect, they did the tour but before I left, they both came over and we shot the you know what for another hour before they had to go. That is one of my all-time favourite memories of the many years in the business. My only regret is that I forgot to tell our operator back in Regina to tape the segment so I could keep it.

Over the years that followed, I had several chances to speak with him whether it be at Taylor Field, Mosaic Stadium or at CKRM. As I said, every moment talking football with him and shaking his hand was a moment to cherish. He will be missed. I know Rider Nation and the organization will salute him in the way he deserves this weekend.

2 – REMEMBERING 2013:  The stars of what most definitely is the greatest night in Saskatchewan sports history will be on display this week as the Riders honour the 2013 Grey Cup winning team. Darian Durant will thankfully be here and he will be joined by Corey Chamblin, Tyron Brackenridge, Kory Sheets and others. I haven’t seen the names of Rob Bagg and Weston Dressler and I hope they are a part of what will be a great weekend. I think many of us know a lot of details about that magical night at Taylor Field/Mosaic Stadium when the Riders won the Grey Cup at Taylor Field beating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. There isn’t a lot I have forgotten about that game. What a wild night. Rod and I were getting set to go on the air one-hour before the game and fans were chanting HENNNNNN-REEEEEEE so hard when Hamilton came out to practice that you could hear it. The two of us stopped our chatter to just let the sound take over. Seeing the Cup get presented and seeing the emotions in that stadium was something I won’t forget.

The same could be said with the scene inside the dressing room after. Brackenridge walked up to me in the room and said you are dry. I responded by saying so far to which he responded “not anymore!!!” as he proceeded to dump some champagne over my head. He got many people in that room that night including former Premier Brad Wall. I managed to get the TSN broadcast of that game put onto a stick for me and every now and then, I check it out. The next day, Rod and I hosted Cage and we just opened up the phone lines for fans to talk about the night and the emotions they felt whether they were inside the park or not. It might have been the 2^nd biggest ever Cage I was a part of. The first one was the day Chris Jones released Weston Dressler and John Chick. That is another story for another time.

3 – RINSE AND REPEAT:  Confession! When Jake Dolegala threw an endzone interception in the 4^th quarter of the Riders game in BC I went to bed knowing the Lions had the two points in a game where they were the far better squad. When I woke up Saturday morning, I see the green-and-white maneuvered a sneaky back-door cover by making the score look more respectable as they lost yet again. As I check my notes, that is their 4^thstraight loss dropping the record to 6-9. The only positives I found in that game was the fact I had Vernon Adams Junior, Keon Hatcher and Kian Schaeffer-Baker on my CFL fantasy team with Adams being the captain meaning 2 times the points.  Hey, I’ve climbed up to 17^th on the Green Zone fantasy league.

Once again, the defence looked lost and Nic Marshall looked terrible again especially on the Alex Hollins 71 yard touchdown. Someone tell me again how good of a job Jason Shivers has done with this defence?

I would hope this team can ride the emotion that will be in the building to beat Hamilton, but I don’t know if they have it in them. I think a lot of you agree.

4 – GREEN DAY:  Wait a minute, the CFL announced the halftime act for this year’s Grey Cup almost two months before the game? On the last day of September, the musical act that asks you to wake me up when September ends was named the halftime act as Green Day will perform. I heard that and went 1) at least something green will be on the field Grey Cup Sunday and 2) those who went to Grey Cup last year simply got jobbed with the halftime act that was cobbled together at the last second. We will never know who the CFL wanted to perform last year and why it didn’t happen but at this point, its too late.   

Give credit to the league and the local Hamilton committee for getting Green Day.  I would argue that perhaps the GC halftime show will be better than the Super Bowl’s as I have zero desire in watching Usher.

5 – SEE YA! I am not a Blue Jays fan and haven’t been since the Jose Bautista era. Like the Leafs, the Toronto media wants to shovel it down your throat as to how good this team is and like the Leafs, they just fail AGAIN!

When Buck Martinez starts to talk negatively about the club and the organization, you know Toronto was bad and he and others certainly didn’t hold back Wednesday once Daulton Varsho struck out to end the season and give the Minnesota Twins the ALDS. Bo Bichette was not wrong when he said that you can’t win if you can’t score runs and that everyone needs to reflect on what had transpired at Target Field.

Back in April when so many were saying the World Series could come back to Canada and that the Blue Jays were the best team in the American League, I could do nothing but laugh. I told people Toronto would be at best 3^rd in the East behind Tampa and Baltimore, they might not win 90 games and they would be lucky to get a wild-card spot.  Most said my Jays hate was coming out. They finished 3^rd in the East, they won 89 games and they backed their way into a playoff spot. That backing in called for a champagne celebration which was just a joke albeit other teams did it as well.

All season long, we saw Sportsnet and TSN people try to stay positive when it was obvious this team had a lot of warts that they didn’t want to admit.

The performance of that team in the playoffs was laughable as were the coaching decisions.  Chris Bassitt leads the American League wins and does not throw one pitch in the playoffs. Were they saving him for opening day?

Vladimir Guerrero Junior and Bichette had game-changing boneheaded plays on the basepaths and while credit does have to go to Carlos Correa for his play in throwing out Bichette in Game 1, it was obvious all season this team did not know how to run the bases.  They were 2^nd in the American League in having runners thrown out on the bases at 57.  As for Vladdy, there is no excuse for getting picked off in Game 2.  None!   The same could be said for removing Jose Berrios when he was not struggling for Yusei Kikuchi. I could go on and on and on, but that Toronto team was once again not as good as the one as the 2019 squad that had Marcus Semien and Robbie Ray on it.  

That team will not look the same next year as guys like Chapman, Ryu, Merrifield and Kiermaier are probably not back and John Schneider, Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro can probably hit the road too. They can say what they want and blame it on analytics which is ruining sports, but the reality is John Schneider wears this and needs to take the fall. That being said, it says a lot about both Shapiro and Atkins when they make the decision and then remain silent after it was over leaving Schneider to answer all the questions.  Talk about throwing someone under the bus.  Can you say accountability boys and girls? With the Yankees needing to retool and Baltimore and Tampa not going anywhere, the window has closed significantly.

6 – BEST RIVALRY IN SPORTS COMING TO SASK:  No, I’m not talking about the Labour Day Classic, the Leafs and Habs or the Yankees and Red Sox. Both Regina and Saskatoon will be hosting games between the Canadian and American national womens hockey teams in February. If you know hockey, you know how intense this rivalry is. It wouldn’t surprise me to see both the Brandt Centre and SaskTel Centre sold out for this event and it won’t surprise me if those watching will see a couple of great games.

7 – START THE BATTLE FOR STANLEY:  The puck has dropped on the 23/24 NHL season. The narrative of “is this the season the Cup comes home to Canada” is so tiring to me, but many believe this is the year Connor McDavid gets the Oilers back to the top of the mountain. Weren’t they saying that last year too? Those who know me know I am a big Oilers fan and certainly they are right in the mix, but that Western Conference is lethal with the Knights, Avalanche, Stars and Kings and everything will have to go your way to win the West.  As for the East, it is wide-open IMO and became even more wide-open with the news Andrei Vasilevskiy will miss the first couple of months after undergoing hip surgery. An investment in the New Jersey Devils might turn out to be profitable. They may just be a goaltender away—-hello Connor Hellebuyck!

Meanwhile, ESPN is taking a page from the NFL and is instituting its own “Red Zone” type of programming calling it “Frozen Frenzy”.  Yeah, I see that and think the logo should be of Lynch sitting on his front step in the middle of January but I digress.  I just wonder how it is ESPN comes up with this idea first and not those at Sportsnet.  I seem to remember a few years ago, a certain radio sportstalk co-host, who writes a weekly column for this website,  brought up this idea and I think I may have mentioned it in my blog.  I wonder if Sportsnet will pick it up.  I also wonder if Sportsnet will pick up some NHL Network programming as it did in the playoffs. The more hockey chatter the better I say.

8 – 2500:  The Regina Pats beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-2 Wednesday night at the Brandt Centre to improve their record to 3-2-1. I didn’t know until receiving the game-ending release from outstanding p x p/media relations man Dante De Caria was that it was franchise win 2500. I’ll be honest. With the longstanding history of the Pats, I thought that mark had been passed a long time ago. I would have to guess and Pats historian Kevin Shaw can likely find this out (Kevin, do you read this?) that in a world where junior hockey franchises change homes often that no team in the Canadian Hockey League is at this level. That is certainly a milestone victory with many great players having been a part of it wearing the iconic Pats logo on their chest. The march for 3000 begins Friday in Saskatoon.

Meanwhile, the Vancouver Giants announced Thursday they will wear black and white striped jerseys for a game later this month in an effort to acknowledge and show support for the thousands of ice hockey officials in British Columbia and across Canada. There has been a Canada-wide shortage of referees in many sports, including hockey since March of 2020. With the Giants wearing black and white, the on-ice officials for the game will be special jerseys as well. I LOVE THIS!!  Bravo Vancouver!! Bravo!!

9 – NFL WEEK 5:  Just a couple of notes for you as you settle in to watch some NFL action on Sunday.

• 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey leads the NFL with 600 scrimmage yards and ranks tied for first in scrimmage touchdowns (seven) through the first four weeks of the season. In Week 5, he can become the fourth player in NFL history with at least 100 scrimmage yards and a touchdown in each of his team’s first five games of a season, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Jim Brown (1958) and O.J. Simpson (1975) as well as Jamaal Charles (2013).
• Dating back to Week 13 of the 2022 season and including the postseason, McCaffrey has recorded at least one scrimmage touchdown in 13 consecutive games. With a touchdown on Sunday Night Football, he would become the fifth player in NFL history to register a touchdown in 14 consecutive games, including the postseason, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Lenny Moore (17 consecutive games from 1963-64), John Riggins(15 consecutive games from 1982-83), O.J. Simpson (15 consecutive games from 1974-75) and Emmitt Smith (14 consecutive games in 1995).
• Minnesota wide receiver Justin Jefferson leads the league with 543 receiving yards, while Los Angeles Rams rookie PUKA NACUA ranks second with 501. They can become the fifth and sixth players in NFL history with at least 650 receiving yards through their team’s first five games of a season, joining Wes Welker (740 receiving yards in 2011), Charlie Hennigan (704 in 1961), Bob Boyd (686 in 1954), and Pro Football Hall of Famer Elroy Hirsch (663 in 1951).. Nacua also leads the NFL with 39 receptions this season. With 11 receptions against Philadelphia on Sunday, he will become the first player ever with 50 receptions through his team’s first five games of a season.

10 – ????:  Hockey Canada might be the most dysfunctional sports organization out there.  If you haven’t heard, HC has now enacted new dressing room policies that essentially state those under 18 can’t get dressed or undressed in dressing rooms. You can’t get dressed or undressed in a dressing room? Hockey Canada is asking players who want to shower to use a private restroom stall to change out of their base layer and into their swimwear prior to using the shower which brings up other questions. They could also dress in a private restroom stall after they have completed their shower.

Coaches and team staff must supervise the dressing room while participants are showering.

For hockey players who don’t want to wear the base layer, such as shorts and T-shirt, compression shorts and shirt or sports bra, under their hockey equipment, they will be required to change into one inside a private space like a washroom stall or another dressing room where they are the only one in the room.

Might just be me, but this seems to be searching for a problem when there is no problem. 

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

MB