SCRUFFY’S THIS ‘N THAT

1 – IS THIS TREVOR’S YEAR? If you didn’t see it on CFL.ca, Matt Cauz had a great article saying the winner of CFL free agency might be Trevor Harris. Cauz says the Riders are pushing all their chips into the middle of the table as evidenced by the players they got via free agency because they are in to win it with their 38-year-old quarterback. He says the Riders could have gone out and tried to get someone like McLeod Bethel Thompson or Dru Brown but they did not because of the confidence they have in Harris. 

Trevor Harris has been a good quarterback in his CFL career and he was off to a good start before suffering that gruesome injury against Calgary. However, Harris has not done anything in the playoffs. You add that to his age and where he is at after that injury and I wonder if he is the guy to do what Darian Durant, Kent Austin, Kerry Joseph and Ron Lancaster has done. It’s the same thing I said last year.

This could very well be Harris’s last chance to be a Grey Cup winning quarterback. He has only gotten his team to the big game once and that was in 2018 when despite some MVP-like numbers in the big game, he walked off the field as a member of the losing team while Calgary celebrated a Grey Cup title. It could be his last assignment in the CFL. I don’t know how much interest there would be in him once this season is over if he has an average campaign. 

Jeremy O’Day has added talent in AJ Ouellette, Jemarcus Hardrick and Ryan Sceviour on the offensive side of the ball. I don’t think you can complain about the receivers Harris will have at his disposal and let’s not forget that he will have a healthy Brayden Lenius to throw to which is something he didn’t have last year.

O’Day has shown he is OK in rolling the dice with a quarterback who is close to the end. It will be up to Harris to reward him and maybe extend a career that hasn’t been playoff-friendly.

The play of the starting quarterback is something that is debated in coffee shops and other places throughout Saskatchewan once the season starts and I expect that will be the case this year already. In a way it already has started.

2 – HERE WE GO AGAIN: One of the most mindless debates amongst hockey fans is being renewed.  Instead of the current playoff format, the talk of 1 vs 8 is getting renewed. Going into Wednesday’s play, you had first-round playoff matchups of

• Florida-Detroit
• Rangers-Tampa
• Boston-Toronto
• Carolina-Philly
• Vancouver-St. Louis
• Dallas-LA
• Colorado-Winnipeg
• Vegas-Edmonton

If it was 1 vs 8, your matchups would be

• Florida-Detroit
• Rangers-Tampa
• Boston-Philly
• Toronto-Carolina
• Vancouver-St. Louis
• Dallas-LA
• Colorado-Edmonton
• Winnipeg-Vegas

At the end of the day, you have to beat good teams to get to the Cup. The path doesn’t get any easier no matter which format you use, I would much rather have the format currently in place where 16 teams get in then changing things around so that more teams get into the playoffs.  There had been some chatter about adding four more teams to the playoffs with division winners getting a bye. That chatter was thankfully short-lived.  Leave the playoffs alone.

3 – HMMMM? With talk centring around Auston Matthews being named the Hart Trophy winner this year because of his goal-scoring prowess, I thought I would put up a poll on “X” asking who your choice as the NHL’s MOP is. The four candidates were Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon and Matthews. I was surprised to see McDavid get the most votes. My vote would go to McKinnon right now because he has been by far and away the best player in the league since opening night, but if number 97 could turn it on in the last few weeks of the season and win the scoring title, it would be hard not to pick him.  By the way, he is nine points back of Kucherov who is the leading scorer going into Thursday night.

Goals aren’t everything ya know!

4 – YOU ARE LOOKING LIVE: Thank God for the PVR. Before the Super Bowl, CBS had a show detailing the beginnings of “The NFL Today”. The program, which aired on that network, was the first in-studio pre-game show that had host Brent Musberger, Irv Cross, Phyllis George and Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. It had a black man, a woman and a gambling analyst.  At that time in America, there were many who didn’t like that but the show succeeded.

Brent Musberger’s signature line is “You Are Looking Live”.  Musberger revealed that his producer had a friend who was a bettor who wanted to know what weather looked like as it had a role on over/under bets. The league frowned on betting at that time, but Musberger would help him out by having pre-game shots at stadiums where he would say “You are Looking Live at (insert stadium here)” as he would set up the game and give viewers an opportunity to see the conditions.

So much so that all networks in all sports now have to have one of these shows. If you haven’t see it, go find it if you can because it is a great watch.

5 – NBA ALL-STAR GAME: If the NHL all-star game didn’t prove to you that there is no need for an all-star game, the NBA did in convincing fashion this past Sunday. After months of stressing the importance of having a more competitive product on the court for this weekend’s All-Star Game, NBA commissioner Adam Silver doubled down on that front Saturday night, declaring, “I think we’re going to see a good game” in the NBA’s annual midseason showcase. That statement was a giant air-ball as defence was not an option nor was giving a effort as the East beat the West 211-186 in what was an embarrassment for the league and all of those watching it.

The NBA knows its mid-season game is one that is not desirable for many and the league had the audacity to say going in that getting more effort out of the players involved was a priority.  

I can understand the players not wanting to go full out because there is a risk of injury but if that is the rationale than just scrap the game altogether. Have a weekend with events where fans can interact with players, but just get rid of the game. The same can be said with the NHL. The NFL’s Pro Bowl is also a joke, but that game happens after the season and they admit to not trying as they would rather play flag football and have some laughs. The Major League Baseball all-star game is not great either, but you do see some form of the game that we are used to and not something gimmicky.

There is no spice to an all-star game and there is no competition. It is not what the various leagues want so say its done and figure out something else.

6 – WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Remember Max Paddock?  The goaltender of record for the Pats in the year they hosted the Memorial Cup losing to Acadie Bathurst in the final seemed to just disappear after his WHL career ended as a member of the Prince Albert Raiders.

Max is now a volleyball player for the University of Fraser Valley in a story done for WHL.ca by the outstanding Cami Kepke. If that name sounds familiar, she did sports at Global Regina before moving to Global Calgary.  She is an outstanding person and an even better broadcaster. The work she has done since being hired by the WHL has been a huge plus for both her and the league as a whole. Stories like this about league alumni are fantastic. Keep that stuff up!

7 – WHAT IF? One of the many sportsbooks out there had a great question the other day. What if_______?  What is the biggest what-if moment in the NHL? If Brett Hull’s Stanley Cup winning goal hadn’t happened because he was in the crease, Dallas still wins the Cup as they were up 3-0 in that best of 7. What if Toronto held on to beat Boston when they were up 4-1 in the 3^rd? What if Steve Smith doesn’t score on his own net to stop Edmonton from winning 5 Cups in a row? What if Marty McSorley isn’t called on an illegal stick? There are so many of them. What one is your biggest?

8 – SKYLAR AT THE SCOTTIES: The names you would expect are in the playoffs at the Scotties. Rachel Homan, Jennifer Jones and Kerri Einarsson are looking for another Canadian title. As for Saskatchewan’s Skyler Ackerman, the rink is coming home after what I think has to be looked upon as a pretty positive experience. The rink started strong and was 3-1, but faltered down the stretch and finished pool play at 4-4. That was good for a 5-way tie for 3^rd, but she lost the tiebreaker because of the closest to the button competition.  On Monday, Ackerman lost games to Quebec and Alberta and that is what ultimately sunk her ship, but beating the likes of Scotties vets Kaitlyn Lawes and Krista McCarville is something to be proud of.  If the rink stays together, there is no reason to think Ackerman’s foursome will be back at the Scotties in the near future.  Of course, she has to win what is a very competitive province but the rookie skip showed she wasn’t out of her element on the big stage.

9 – RING THOSE PHONES: It’s Telemiracle weekend in Saskatchewan. Do I have to say anything more if you are reading this and you are a Saskatchewan citizen.  The annual 20-hour telethon begins Saturday night at 9.  Your mission—-RING THOSE PHONES!

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