SCRUFFY’S THIS ‘N THAT

1 – FRENZY:  Yeah, I am way late to the party on this one. Like many of you, I was saddened to hear of the news one week ago that legendary Riders broadcaster John Lynch had passed away at the age of 86. How do you describe that guy? His passion for the green-and-white was unequalled and he was one of the most unique characters I have ever dealt with. This young broadcaster came back to Regina and sat in with him and the legendary Barry Davies for many months at 620 CKCK. What a duo they were. There are so many stories one could tell about Frenzy, but I will share this one:

The Riders had won the 2013 Grey Cup.  It was either the Monday or Tuesday after and Rod and I were hosting Sportscage with John in studio. To no one’s knowledge, GM Brendan Taman came walking into the building carrying the Grey Cup. BT had been driving with the Cup in tow and he was listening.  He decided he would come in to say hi and give John some moments with the Cup. It literally brought the old boy to tears.  For once, Lynch couldn’t speak.

One has to think he is holding court high above us and that he has found Ronnie and George and is asking when the on-field product will get turned around. “Where do we go from here caller?”

2 – THE QB PLAN: New Riders HC Corey Mace and OC Marc Mueller have said they are excited about working with Trevor Harris. The 38-year-old is coming off that devastating knee injury that ended his 2023 season and he has one year left on his contract. With a new staff in place, is it time to build with someone who is younger and can stick around for a while? Would signing Jake Dolegala or Mason Fine to a three-year deal at a price that would be cheaper than what the team is paying Harris be more feasible? In the CFL, you can go from bottom to top in a hurry but I think going through some growing pains with what you have and spending some of the Harris money in other areas might be more beneficial.

3 – CFL NEG LISTS: The CFL, just in time for US College Football Bowl games, is giving us a sneak peek into the neg lists as all nine have released 10 possible CFL’ers. I like the idea, but why does this league hold these lists in such secrecy? This is the time of year where CFL fans from across the league should be able to go to the website and see what players they should keep an eye out for. While we know who 10 players on the neg list are, what about the other 35? While they likely have NFL careers ahead of them, wouldn’t it be something if Washington quarterback Michael Penix Junior or Michigan receiver Cornelius Johnson or some other player in a New Years Bowl game were on the Riders neg list or any team’s list. They may never set foot in Canada, but who knows right?  I never thought Derrick Moncrief after a great career at Oklahoma State would end up in the CFL and having watched Jamal Morrow many times at Washington State, it would have been nice if the CFL fraternity knew he was on Saskatchewan’s neg list. I think current Bengals quarterback Jake Browning was on the Stamps list a couple of years ago when he was a senior at Washington.

One day I would like the CFL to explain why there is so much secrecy with the neg lists. Actually, I would just like the CFL to release the entire list and keep it updated on the website every month.

4 – THE SCHEDULE IS OUT, THE SCHEDULE IS OUT:  Only in Saskatchewan. When the CFL sked comes out, it is like that scene in “The Jerk” when Steve Martin’s character gets excited because his name is in the phone book. All activity ceases for 15-20 minutes while fans start to plan out their summer hoping that a big date doesn’t conflict with a game. People are already angry at the schedule. Rider fans as you know are never happy and the schedule gives them something to bitch about for a few months. It didn’t take long until I got a text criticizing the team for having another Thursday night home game. This just in and it’s old news: The Riders would rather not play Thursday home games, but because the CFL and TSN want to be in every market for Thursday night football, they have to have one. It’s as simple as that. There are four Saturday, two Friday, two Sunday and a Thursday game. Three of the four Saturday games start at 5:00. Start planning your summer and start bitching about why a game has to be played at this time or that time. It is the Saskatchewan way is it not?

5 – THE MAHOMES MELTDOWN:  Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes was a little cranky at the end of his team’s loss to Buffalo last Sunday. Mahomes didn’t like the fact that one of his receivers was called for offside which was the correct call. After the game, Mahomes said “let us play”, coach Andy Reid called it embarrassing for the NFL and Travis Kelce just left with his girlfriend to do whatever. The comments by Mahomes and Reid are just laughable, Kansas City benefitted from a controversial late hit call to win last year’s AFC championship and they certainly benefitted from a controversial defensive holding call to win the Super Bowl. Did Mahomes say “let us play” then? Did Reid call those two plays embarrassing? Of course, they didn’t because they got the call. What was embarrassing was the tantrum Mahomes threw at the end of the game.  Why is it NFL players are allowed to verbally lambaste the ref and not get punished? A 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to players who verbally attack the refs should be made.  Do it and the endless yapping that we see might come to a stop.

Both Reid and Mahomes were rather contrite in the days following the game, but the damage had already been done.

6 – NFL WEEK 15:  Here are a few nuggets of info to store away as you are watching the NFL this weekend:

• New York Giants rookie quarterback Tommy Devito signed by the team as an undrafted free agent, has won three consecutive games, with a passer rating of 100-or-higher and no interceptions in each win. ​With a win at New Orleans on Sunday DeVito would become the first undrafted rookie quarterback in the common-draft era to win four overall games as a starter.
• Denver wide receiver Courtland Sutton ranks tied for second in the league with a career-high 10 touchdown receptions and is the first Broncos player with at least 10 touchdown receptions in a season since Julius Thomas (12) and Demariyus Thomas (11). Sutton has caught a touchdown in each of Denver’s six road games this season. With a touchdown reception at Detroit on Saturday night,Sutton will become the fifth player in NFL history with a touchdown reception in each of his team’s first seven road games of a season, joining Pro Football Hall of Famers Randy Moss and Lance Alworth along with Davante Adams and Dante Stallworth.
• Only four teams in the Super Bowl era (1966-present) have made the playoffs after beginning a season 1-5. This year, there could be three. In addition to the Giants, Chicago (5-8) and Denver (7-6) see roads to the postseason after 1-5 starts. In fact, 30 teams are still in Super Bowl contention, the most with four weeks to play since 2018. And 24 of those clubs are either sitting in a playoff spot or within one game of that group. ​

7 – CONNOR VS CON (YAWWWN) NOR: Tuesday night was a big night for the NHL. It was the first ever meeting between the Connor of now and the Connor of tomorrow as McDavid met Bedard in Edmonton. It was a game that was on ESPN, but it was a game that didn’t start until 10 o’clock Eastern time. Two of the biggest stars are facing one another for the first time and the league schedules it for an 8 PM start in Edmonton and a 10 PM start in the Eastern time zone. I am guessing not many stayed up late for the whole thing especially if they had to be up for work in the morning while in Saskatchewan, we would have had to stay up until 11:30 which makes the next morning come rather quickly,

I wonder how many parents had to tell their kids that they couldn’t stay up to watch two of the biggest stars of the game thus disappointing them because they wanted to see the game.  I realize you can’t be starting games at 7 EST ( 5 Edmonton time) because it doesn’t do the home market any good, but the NHL needs to look at having marquee games like this one start at 8 EST or at the latest 830.  The audience they could have had for a game like this and what they ended up with are two different things.

8 – NHL ALL-STAR SKILLS COMPETITION: The NHL is revamping its all-star skills competition yet again. This time the league met with Connor McDavid on multiple occasions to his thoughts on what the skills competition should look like. McDavid gave feedback on what the players wanted out of the events and helped the NHL create a skills competition that has more hockey skill testing and less gimmickry than in previous editions. Connor should have just said scrap the game and give us five days off to relax. Who’s kidding who, the NHL all-star game is not the worst all-star game out there, but when no one who plays even puts out 30 percent, why should I be engaged in it. Even young fans have to realize this isn’t the type of game we want.

9 – SHOHEI ME THE MONEY:  Blue Jays fans were hoping and the Toronto media certainly got duped last Friday with that plane that everyone thought contained Shohei Ohtani. Did no reporter actually try and verify who was on that plane? Talk about having egg on your face! As expected, Shohei signed with the LA Dodgers and while Toronto said they offered him a similar package, one wonders if they truly did or did they say that just to try and save face. At the end of the day as much as Torontonians hate it, they are small fish compared to Los Angeles. They are the big fish in Canada, but not so much in North America. Toronto needs to overpay to get a quality free agent.  Word is they are now trying to get Cody Bellinger with the race being between him and Bellinger’s club last year—the Chicago Cubs. Toronto or Chicago? For an American like Bellinger, I am guessing there is no choice unless Rogers and the Blue Jays throw him a massive overpayment. Don’t be surprised if he stays in Wrigleyville. As for the Dodgers, they have the money and when Ohtani defers 68 million of his 70 million a year it tells you that baseball really needs a salary cap.

10 – A BROWN CHRISTMAS: I know to many that having the ground covered in snow is good for their business, but I have zero problem with the temperature being what it is and the fact there is no snow. We have gotten through November and December meaning the winter will hopefully be short with spring-like temperatures in mid-March.  Yes, January and February might be bitter, but I’m not complaining with what we have had.  Yes, we can revisit this if it’s -20 and there is snow on the ground on May 1.

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