Scruffy’s This N That

1 – MAKE IT MANDATORY: When a hockey player was killed last year in Great Britain after a skate blade accidentally sliced his throat, there was talk about neck guards being made mandatory. Hockey Saskatchewan mandated neck guards for all minor hockey teams and officials and the WHL and SJHL did the same. 

Senior hockey was inexplicably left off that list and that just about became a tragic decision this past weekend when a player suffered a horrific cut during a game and had to be rushed to hospital.

If anyone should be wearing neckguards, it should be senior hockey players. These guys are only playing because they want to keep their careers going even though many have good jobs. They should be the ones being told to wear neckguards. Don’t give them an option!

It’s an idea that should be done in the NHL as well, but Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr don’t have the stones to upset the apple cart because for whatever reason, NHL’ers won’t do it. That tone would change if an NHL player lost his life because of an inadvertent accident.

2 – ASSINIBOIA’S GAIN IS REGINA’S LOSS: Full credit to the town of Assiniboia for stepping up and allowing the Weyburn Red Wings to make a move since their rink is unavailable due to an ammonia leak. I have to wonder though if putting the Wings in Regina might have been a better move for the league. I have believed for a long time that for many reasons, the SJHL should have a team in Regina. I think it would create some great exposure for the league and I think many would come to the Co-Operators Centre to check it out.

This would have been an opportunity to gauge if the SJHL and WHL could work in the same market.

As was told to me earlier this week, maybe just maybe this leads to Assiniboia getting an SJHL team. They certainly have a facility that could do that.

3 – CURLING CHANGES: In an attempt to boost scoring, the Grand Slam of Curling’s “Masters” event is going to feature a new rule.

Organizers are looking at testing a setup that will see a team lose hammer after a second consecutive blank end with an evaluation being done after that to see if the move should be permanent at Grand Slam events.

Some like the idea and other’s don’t. Surprise surprise! It will change the strategy. The question I have is do curling fans want to see games that end up 8-7 or 9-8? Or would they rather see some 5-4 or 4-3 games?

Is this really a major issue for curling?

4 – OH ROSS! For the 2^nd straight year, the Toronto Blue Jays and GM Ross Atkins were used. Last year, it was Shohei Ohtani and this year, it was Juan Soto. Did anyone really think the outfielder was coming to Toronto? Atkins did.

When asked by Hazel Mae what his thoughts were about what a successful winter meeting would be, Atkins responded by saying we will just keep doing what we have been doing. Ummmmm, that is nothing!

Hours later, he landed second baseman Andres Gimenez in a trade with Cleveland. It cost the team prospect Spencer Horwitz. Gimenez is one of the best defensive second basemen in the majors, but his prowess at the plate has disappeared over the past couple of seasons. If he hits .250, will this deal be a success?

One also has to ask after Cleveland shipped Horwitz to Pittsburgh just what type of package Toronto could have gotten from the Pirates. On the surface, it seems Ross Atkins got fleeced.

To be fair, I don’t think it’s easy to get prime free agents to come to Toronto although guys like Kevin Gausman and George Springer didn’t think so. The club’s biggest move is one they are seemingly reluctant to do and that is sign Vladimir Guerrero to a contract extension.

Any free agent looking to come to Toronto will want to know if they will be playing with Guerrero and some might want to know about Bo Bichette as well. If one or both leave, you aren’t going to be a team contending for a playoff spot. Guerrero probably has to be wondering how much cash the Jays have for him if they were willing to give 700 million to Soto and whatever it was for Ohtani last year.

If the Jays had the money for those two, they certainly have it for number 27.  If he doesn’t have a deal by the time spring training comes, I don’t think Vladdy lasts the season in a Jays uniform.  Who will you have to blame for that. Ross Atkins!

5 – PEELING THE CURTAIN BACK: It’s that time of year again where CFL teams are graciously allowing the fans to see 10 members of their neg list. For Rider fans, perhaps the only guy to be interested in as US College Bowl season starts is Washington Huskies quarterback Will Rodgers. He will lead his team into a Sun Bowl appearance against Louisville on New Year’s Eve. The other quarterback, that played this season, is Auburn’s Payton Thorne. His Tigers are done for the year. While it is nice to see some players that could become CFL’ers, I would rather have the league tell us what players playing in the bowl games are A) Canadian and B) belong to this team or that.

It would create a little more interest for the league in my opinion. I had a chance to watch Montana State play Idaho in an FCS quarterfinal last night. Very impressed with Montana State QB Tommy Mellott.  He is on Calgary’s neg list for what its worth.

6 – BACK TO SCHOOL: Bill Belichick is now the head coach at North Carolina. How is that going to work? Like Deion Sanders at Colorado, North Carolina games will now be must-watch TV to see how arguably the NFL’s best-ever coach can do in the college ranks. It makes me wonder how much of an appetite NFL teams have for Belichick when he could have applied for several jobs that are going to open up in weeks.? Did he know he wouldn’t get back in the NFL coaching fraternity so he took the first lucrative opportunity he could find or has he had enough of the NFL?

7 – NFL WEEK 15: Here are some tidbits of info for this weekend’s NFL games:

• Buffalo can become the fifth team all-time to score 30 points in eight consecutive games within a single season, joining the 2013 Denver Broncos, the 2007 and 2010 New England Patriots, and the 2000 St. Louis Rams. The Bills are in Detroit in what on paper could be the game of the year.
• Seattle enters Week 15 on a four-game winning streak and in first place in the NFC West after missing the postseason last year. In each of the past 46 seasons (1977-2023, excluding 1982 when divisional play did not occur), at least one team has won its division the season after missing the playoffs. Since Week 11, the Seahawks have allowed the third-fewest points per game (15.5) and fourth-fewest yards per game (297.3) in the NFL.
• Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow leads the NFL with 3,706 passing yards and 33 touchdown passes this season and has passed for at least 300 yards and three touchdowns in each of his past four games. On Sunday at Tennessee, Burrow can join Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young (1998) as the only players in NFL history with at least 300 passing yards and three touchdown passes in five consecutive games.In Week 15, Burrow can become the fifth player all-time with at least three touchdown passes in six consecutive games, joining Tom Brady (10 consecutive games in 2007) and Andrew Luck (eight in 2018) as well as Pro Football Hall of Famers Peyton Manning (eight in 2004) and Dan Marino (seven from 1986-87).

8 – COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF: A 12-team college football playoff is better than a four-team one. Everyone knew that expanding to 12 would still leave good teams out in the cold, but that would be the case no matter how large the field was. Fans of certain schools can find something to bitch and moan about, but the bottom line is the committee got it right when it comes to what teams got in. Clemson has three losses, but they won a conference title. Alabama is on the outside looking in, but they didn’t even get to a conference final so even though they had three losses like Clemson, they don’t deserve a spot.

The only thing that irks me is Notre Dame getting a home game. They should be the 12 seed and get no home game seeing they aren’t in a conference.

9 – CAITLIN CLARK: Why does a league hate the player that has given them more exposure than ever before? Without Caitlin Clark, the WNBA would not have the added revenues and exposure that it has enjoyed.  It doesn’t stop many from within the league from taking potshots at her both on and off the court. I can understand some of the on-court stuff for a variety of reasons, but when the owner of the Washington Mystics goes after Clark and Time Magazine for naming her athlete of the year, it just makes me go what? Sheila Johnson says the WNBA should have been recognized as a whole and not Clark. This just in: the WNBA is NOT an athlete. You aren’t voting for league of the year.

The WNBA would still be in existence if Clark wasn’t playing in it.  Her arrival made college women’s basketball a thing for people to watch and watch they did. That trend has not stopped since Clark left Iowa and TV numbers for the WNBA are now up mainly because of her.  It is like Wayne Gretzky moving to LA. The NHL wasn’t what it was until Gretzky started playing for the Kings.

It’s a real bad look for the league when she continues to internally get criticized.  She is not a me-me-me person like so many other athletes are.  She is legit and she should have a lot more respect thrown her way.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• ESPN having a Simpsons-themed Monday Night Football game between the Bengals and Cowboys was great. If you are a Simpsons fan though, you have to ask why the Denver Broncos wouldn’t have been one of the teams playing.
• Why are the Buffalo Sabres so bad?
• It’s always good when you see some things happen that validate what you have thought for years and makes you laugh. In fact, it leaves “one” with an extremely big smile. Sometimes kids, you get exactly what you deserve and you have no one to blame but yourself. 

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