Scruffy’s This N That

1 – THE TIME HAS COME: The road to the Grey Cup officially begins this weekend and the Ridermobile is not in the ditch as it was for the past two seasons. The question now is will the Green Machine roll down Highway 1 into Manitoba next weekend or be parked for the winter on Saturday night around 8.

When the BC Lions came into Mosaic a few weeks ago and got clobbered 39-8, they did not look right. They haven’t looked right since Nathan Rourke returned to the surprise of many.  The BC Lions are a better football team with Vernon Adams Junior under centre. The BC Lions will not get beat 39-8 by the Riders this time around. Will they walk out as the winners of the Western Semi-Final.  They could if the Rider D doesn’t come through with an A plus effort on what should be a great night for football with the weather providing no excuse.

The obsidian green and white (WEAR THE RETROS!!) will be much better than they were against Calgary. While I won’t dispute the effort and the fact Calgary dominated the season finale, I was surprised to see the backlash the team received in a game that meant nothing thanks to what had happened in Montreal.

This just in.  Calgary probably doesn’t win that football game with Trevor Harris, Sam Emilus, Rolan Milligan and AJ Ouellette in the lineup.  If they had, you would have legitimate concerns.  All the fire that team had was extinguished by the Sergio Castillo field goal in Montreal to give the Bombers first,

Bettors went to their favourite book and put money down on Calgary to win straight up. They had easy cash in their pockets when they went to bed Saturday night.  The Riders are three point favourites. The books usually give home teams a three point advantage right off the bat meaning this game is basically a pick em.  I think the spread should be about 4 or 5 for the Riders, but I do think the presence of Adams makes this a game that will be in doubt going into the final three minutes. Who makes the play?

As for the East game, Toronto is getting better and better and Ottawa is going the other way.  I see Toronto with a double-digit win. 

2 – NO COWTOWN CHANGES:  I can certainly understand the appetite for change in Calgary after a terrible season from the Stampeders—one that saw them end with the worst record in the CFL, but it isn’t happening.

I think it is safe to say that Dave Dickenson has earned himself a pretty long leash after the track record he has helped put together. You can’t ignore what that organization has done for the last 20 years.  Am I surprised that Dickenson will be back as head coach and general manager?  Yeah, I am.  It might be time to let Dave hand the coaching reins over to someone else and concentrate on being the GM but that isn’t going to happen.

While he has earned himself a mulligan, he simply can’t let have a repeat of this season happen.  If it does, the Stamps will likely need a new HC and GM next year. They already need some new assistants and I wouldn’t be surprised if Mark Kilam, Brent Monson or both end up on Corey Mace’s coaching staff in some capacity seeing he has familiarity with both.

Unless they traded it away, I believe Calgary has the first overall pick. Would they take a flier on Canadian Kurtis Rourke? He has been tearing it up at Indiana and there has been some talk of him being nominated for the Heisman Trophy.  Some believe he will be better coming out of college than big brother Nathan. Like big brother Nathan, I am guessing he won’t get a fair shake in trying to make the NFL so should Calgary get him now.  Hmmmmmmm!

3 – THANKS, BUT NO THANKS: In reading RP’s “10 Weekend Things” Column, he threw it out there that oil and gas magnate and Saskatchewan businessman Brett Wilson would like a CFL expansion team in Saskatoon.  It’s the first I’ve heard of it. That might excite some in the Bridge City, and I understand why, but put me down as a firm no to that idea.  We are not Alberta. We do not have cities the size of Calgary and Edmonton.  The Riders are a provincial team and if a team was based in Saskatoon, the already dwindling fan base would be reduced even more.  I am all for a CFL team in Victoria, the Maritimes and Quebec City, but I am not down with one in Saskatoon.  Thoughts?

4 – CFL ATTENDANCE:  Some interesting year-end attendance numbers when it comes to the CFL. The three biggest increases from this year to last were the league’s three biggest markets.  BC saw an increase of over 33,000 from last year which says a lot about what Amar Doman and the Lions are doing to get people in Vancouver and the province talking about the CFL and the Lions again. Montreal had an increase of 32,000 and believe it or not, Toronto saw an uptick with almost 7,400 more fans going to games than in 2023. That being said, the Argos were still last in total attendance at 136, 192 but it’s a start isn’t it?

As for the Riders, they were basically flat. While they were 2nd in the league with just under 250,000 tickets sold or distributed, that only accounted for an increase of just over 300 people from last season.  I thought there would be more than that with the arrival of Corey Mace as head coach and the great start and finish the team had to the regular season.  As it stands right now, the team will be looking to get type of crowd that they got to Mosaic for the Lions-Riders game a few weeks ago.  They likely won’t get to 30,000 unless there is a huge walkup, and they certainly aren’t selling it out.  That is disappointing but there are reasons right?

5 – WHY??: It happened again Thursday night.  New York Jets receiver Malachi Conley has a touchdown, but to start celebrating he drops the ball before crossing the goal-line.  Why do players do this?  WHY??? Are they that focused on dancing and celebrating that they can’t take a step or two into the endzone WITH THE BALL before doing so.

 When Desean Jackson of the Eagles did it on a Monday night many years ago, many asked the same question.  Everyone saw the play.  Does it stop players from doing this? The answer is seemingly no because we see it every week whether it be an NFL or an NCAA game. I don’t know if I have ever seen it in the CFL.  If it has happened, I don’t remember.

6 – NFL WEEK 9: Here are some tidbits of information for you as you plop yourself down on the couch to watch the NFL on Sunday.

• Detroit quarterback Jared Goff, in Weeks 4 and 6-8 with a bye in Week 5, became the third player in NFL history with a passer rating of 125-or-higher in four consecutive games (minimum 15 attempts per game), joining Russell Wilson (five straight games in 2015) and Ryan Tannehill (four in 2019). On Sunday at Green Bay, Goff can become the fourth quarterback since 2000 with at least two touchdown passes and a passer rating of 110-or-higher in six consecutive games, joining Aaron Rodgers (11 straight games in 2011), Tom Brady (six in 2010) and Patrick Mahomes (six in 2018). In his past five, Goff has completed 88 of 106 pass attempts (83 percent) with a 146.5 passer rating. On Sunday, he can set the marks for the highest completion percentage and highest passer rating by a player in a six-game span within a season in NFL history, minimum 100 attempts in each category.
• The Chargers lead the NFL in scoring defense through Week 8 (13 points allowed per game) and have allowed 20-or-fewer points in each of its first seven games this season. On Sunday, the Chargers can become the sixth team since 1990 to allow 20-or-fewer points in each of its first eight games of a season, joining the 1990 New York Giants (first 10 games), 2013 Kansas City Chiefs (nine), 1999 Jacksonville Jaguars (nine), 2019 New England Patriots (eight) and 1991 Kansas City Chiefs (eight).
• Since being named the Bills head coach in 2017, Sean McDermott has won 79 regular-season games and with a win on Sunday, can become the 13th head coach all-time to win 80 regular-season games in his first eight seasons. With nine games remaining this season, he has a chance to surpass Mike Holmgren (84) for the second-most regular-season wins by a head coach in his first eight seasons, trailing only George Seifert (98).

7 – THE YANKEE YAHOOS: Did those two idiots that assaulted Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts in Game 4 of the World Series really think they would be back in their seats for Game 5? If the answer is yes, they are stupider than I thought. What is funny is that someone from the Yankees apparently said yes until MLB stepped in and said no.  Some think they should get a lifetime ban from Yankee Stadium.  Even if this world of technology, I can’t see that happening even if they tried but the season tickets that Austin Capobianco and his buddy have should be revoked. That situation could have been much uglier than it was.  Fans like that are simply not needed.  It’s as simple as that.

8 – NOT PANICKING:  Being an Oilers fan, it is safe to say the first month of the NHL season has not been a good one.  From losing 6-0 opening night at home to Winnipeg to Stuart Skinner being terrible to Zach Hyman unable to find the scoresheet despite many opportunities to Connor McDavid’s ankle injury, October has not been kind.  This is perhaps the hockey gods saying Edmonton’s choice to hire Stan Bowman as GM was not a wise one.  I digress.

McDavid will be out two-to-three weeks.  Some believe that could be a death sentence for a team that was one game away from hoisting the trophy last year and a team that many thought would hoist the trophy this year.

There is a lot of season to go yet and we all know that when it comes to the Stanley Cup playoffs, all you need to do is get in.  I am confident Edmonton will make the playoffs as we hit the start of November.  Come talk to me in mid-January.

9 – BACK AT IT: Time to spend my weekends at the U of R for another year.  The Canada West volleyball and basketball seasons begin this weekend with the women’s volleyball team home to Calgary and the basketball teams in Lethbridge. As many of you know, I have been the in-house voice for Cougars basketball for what I believe is 20 plus years and this will be year two of volleyball.  Those who know me know how much of a Cougar/Rams supporter I am. It’s not hard when dealing with great people which is what I have done for the past many years.  Looking forward to it.  I know the crowd for volleyball probably won’t be great Saturday since the game starts at 6 and there is this football game happening at Mosaic, but hopefully there’s a nice crowd Friday night for a team that is young and inexperienced but getting better.  I know the crowds will be there when the basketball teams have their home openers on the November 8^th weekend against Brandon,

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• The sports world is buzzing over Jayden Daniels’ hail-mary throw at the end of last Sunday’s game between the Commanders and Bears giving Washington the win.  The questions I have on that play are 1) How many holding calls did Washington get away with on that play? To be fair, if you go back at other hail-marys that do or don’t succeed, you could say the same thing. 2) How and why did the Bears not release Tyrique Washington who spent the start of the last play beaking fans instead of doing his job and 3) I don’t recall a CFL game ending on a hail-mary but I’m sure there has been.  I guess we are content with having kicks go out of the endzone for a rouge.
• Just me or was there no energy or buzz surrounding the PLAYOFF GAME at Mosaic this weekend in Regina. The times have changed!
• Do those in Regina remember Tim’s Souvlaki in the Golden Mile Food Court? Might be the best mall court food spot I’ve ever been to, but China Bistro in Vic Square is close. You don’t get cheated at that place.

Have a great weekend everyone!