SCRUFFY’S THIS ‘N THAT

1 – RIDERS WINNING FREE AGENCY: I think it is safe to say that your Saskatchewan Roughriders have done a very good job in attracting some big free-agents to Regina. The Jeremy O’Day haters must eat some crow after he managed to lure Jemarcus Hardrick back to Saskatchewan for a second term while getting running back AJ Ouellette to leave the Grey Cup champs to come to the prairies. That move has delighted many who were hoping Ouellette would trade double blue for green. Adding those two, and yes pen hasn’t officially hit paper yet, is huge for the football team. The same can be said with linebacker Jameer Thurman and defensive back Jalon Edwards-Cooper who might just be a diamond in the rough as he can play and quietly had an impressive season in BC. Let’s not forget Malik Carney who will likely make fans forget about Pete Robertson in a big hurry. I don’t see Robertson being back with Carney’s arrival.

Hardrick and Ouellette certainly bring big salaries with them with reports being Hardrick is now the highest paid offensive lineman in the league. I think that means guys like Matthieu Betts and Tim White won’t be making the 306 home but who knows. While O’Day is getting players to agree to contracts, there is no doubt Corey Mace has played a factor as well as he has gotten players that he was familiar with in Toronto and Calgary to join his squad,

I still think it is far too early to start reserving seats for a home playoff game, but I do think this team will win a game after the Labour Day Classic unlike the last two years with the way things are progressing.

2 – PLANS FOR LIONS & ARGOS: The CFL doesn’t have to worry about it for a couple of years, but when the 2026 schedule comes out, it will be interesting to see what the league does with the BC Lions and Toronto Argonauts seeing their stadiums will be taken over by the World Cup of Soccer. The first World Cup game on Canadian soil will go June 12 at BMO Field with 12 others to follow at BMO and BC Place. This either means both the Lions and Argos will have big road-trips to start the season or they play some neutral site home games. I would have to think Touchdown Pacific will be revived if this year’s game is a success so that the Lions can play in Victoria and maybe Touchdown Atlantic comes back with an Argos home game. 

By the way, I am hoping someone in Regina has started to make a bid for a couple of World Cup friendly games to go at Mosaic Stadium before the tournament begins. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Canada play a friendly at Commonwealth but you could put several marquee teams in Regina for people to enjoy.  Imagine an England or an Argentina or a Spain playing here.  That would be fun!

3 – WHO WINS THE VINCE?: Sadly, the football season ends Sunday night as we will see our last game until CFL pre-season games begin. Who’s kidding who, the last couple of Saturdays have been tough with no Countdown or College GameDay on.

It’s the 49ers and the Chiefs. I could care less if Taylor Swift gets there in time and while I don’t have the problem that others have with her, I don’t need to see her on camera so many times. Truth be known, I don’t think TSwift likes all the attention on her either as I am sure she would just like to enter a stadium to watch her man much like other wives and girlfriends do without cameras clicking in her face. I digress.

I am taking the Chiefs. If you read last week’s column, you know I think the Niners were gifted this appearance due to Dan Campbell’s stupidity.  They didn’t deserve to win that game but they did and they aren’t making any apologies. You could say that they maybe didn’t deserve to beat the Packers either but they did.

Patrick Mahomes is the new Tom Brady although Brock Purdy continues to write a great story. I see this game coming down to San Francisco’s defence and how they can and if they can stop the run. The Packers had success on the ground and so did Detroit. With all respect to Aaron Jones, David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, Isaiah Pacheco is an absolute beast who is the king of angry runs. I see Pacheco having a big night that not only gets him the MVP trophy, but his team winning the Vince. Final score KC 26 SF 17.

4 – SUPER BOWL TIDBITS! Here is a little information for you as you get ready for the Super Bowl.

• Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have an opportunity to break the longest stretch of seasons without a repeat champion in NFL history. There were eight repeat winners over the first 39 Super Bowls, but none over the last 18.
• Sunday features one of the best defensive matchups in Super Bowl history. During the regular season, Kansas City allowed just 17.3 points per game, second in the league behind Baltimore. San Francisco’s defense (17.5) ranked third.
• San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy entered the league as the final choice in the 2022 NFL Draft, held in Las Vegas. Since that day, Purdy has an .808 winning percentage as a starter, has passed for 9.2 yards per attempt, has compiled a 47-14 touchdown-to-interception ratio and owns a 111.2 passer rating – all the best marks in the NFL among quarterbacks with a minimum of 20 starts (including the postseason).
• CBS Sports is set to present its 22nd Super Bowl – the most by any network – with multiplatform coverage of Super Bowl LVIII from Las Vegas, featuring CBS Sports’ presentation on CBS and Paramount+, and a slime-filled telecast exclusively on Nickelodeon. For the third time as an announce team, Jim Nantz and Tony Romo will have the television call

5 – FINALLY! The best news about the all-star weekend in Toronto is that there will be no all-star game next year and that the NHL is going back to the Olympics. Before that happens, we will see a best-on-best international tournament. It only involves Canada, the U-S, Finland and Sweden which is too bad because it would be great to see Russia involved although I do understand why. I also think you would have enough players from other countries to have a “world team” because players like Leon Draisaitl, David Pastrnak, Tim Stutzle and Petr Mrazek should be showcased as well.  At the end of the day, this event will be a little appetizer for what will be the main course in 2026.

While watching highlights of last Friday night’s skills competition, there was a shot of the bench while William Nylander was on the ice. Connor McDavid was sitting besides Nathan McKinnon, Sidney Crosby and Cale Makar. Auston Matthews was also in the shot. Imagine the first four wearing the red-and-white Canada jersey and Matthews wearing the USA jersey for the first time since 2016.  Let the debate begin as to who will and who won’t be on the four teams next winter and the Olympic teams.

6 – KUCH KOULDN’T KARE: I told you last week I had no interest in the NHL all-star game. I didn’t see any of the skills competition, but I did see video of Nikita Kucherov being a complete jackass at the event with his effort. I’m not sure what the reason for that display was and I would hope it wouldn’t be playing the heel in Toronto. Whatever it was, it was just embarrassing to not only himself but the NHL. There were a lot of kids at the rink Friday night and they came to see their favourite players do their thing.  To many, Kucherov is someone they came to see and this is how he thanks them. If you didn’t want to go to Toronto for festivities, just say no and let someone else take your spot. Don’t be that guy!

7 – THE MIGHTY WASCANA WIENER DOGS:  The Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Stampede of the USHL are rebranding for one night. They will be known as the Sioux Falls Fighting Wiener Dogs for an upcoming game. The Swift Current Broncos came out for a game last year as the Slough Sharks with the Prince Albert Raiders being the Cobra Chickens earlier this year. We need to see the Mighty Wascana Wiener Dogs at the Brandt Centre soon don’t we? I think we do!!

8 – SENIORS NIGHT AT THE U:  The last home weekend of the season for the Cougar basketball teams is this one and sadly is also the last time you will get a chance to see them play this year unless you are taking a roadie. 

I don’t like it, but Canada West is getting all of its teams together in one venue for both men and women to determine who the conference champs are and who is headed to Nationals so there will be no home-court playoff action.

That being said, Dave Taylor and Steve Burrows will lead their teams onto the floor against Winnipeg this weekend with both looking to finish with a record of 15-5,  It will also be seniors night on Saturday as the 5^th year players are recognized. I’ve seen many players who have worn the Cougars uniform proudly and the same can be said this weekend when brothers Matt and Nick Barnard are celebrated.  These two have been great ambassadors for the program and they will continue to be as alumni.  They are two of many players that have come from Leboldus  It would be great to see the last games of the year be the best-attended games of the year,  Hope to see you there!  The womens game starts at 6 both nights with the mens game following.

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