Scruffy’s This N That

1 – C’MON ED: Edmonton Elks GM Ed Hervey is invited to his opinion as he sees fit. The CFL community is free to let Ed Hervey know exactly what they think of his opinion and they are. How dumb can ya be? To say that there are no superstars in the CFL is an insult to every player who is currently on a CFL team and every player who has been in one. I guess Warren Moon, Doug Flutie and Damon Allen were never superstars and either were current players like Willie Jefferson, Bo Levi Mitchell or Micah Johnson who are all headed to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame when their playing days are over. What Hervey said has drawn the ire of many including the Players Association, who is demanding an apology. Does the league with a lame-duck commissioner right now step into this dispute? They should, but I am guessing they won’t.

The CFL has its share of superstars. No, to be fair they aren’t in the same stratosphere as “superstars” in the NFL, but they have them and they always have.

It will be interesting to see how not only the league reacts, but the Elks themselves as these comments will do nothing when it comes to attracting players to an organization that desperately needs to once again be relevant. Perhaps Hervey should be shown the door for his ignorance. 

2 – HARD PASS FOR ME: The future of the CFL is in Regina this weekend as the annual combine takes place. I know this is a big deal for scouts and general managers, but for me it’s a solid MEH. 

Yeah, there are one-on-one drills that is good to see, but like the NFL combine, I don’t care how fast a guy’s 40 is or what his bench press or vertical is. I want to know his football smarts, his read and recognition etc. etc. 

Players in attendance will be showing teams what they can do and getting a chance to showcase themselves to those who are interested both on and off the field. That is the one area where the combine is great as teams have for the most part all players that they are interested in all under one roof.  

Some have referred to combines as “The Underwear Olympics” and I can see why.  It’s not my cup of tea but what I think, and you think are two different things so if you are going or if you’ve been, enjoy it! 

3 – NOT BIG ENOUGH FOR TWO: I don’t know who belongs to the Twitter account @CFL_expansion but this week the person that runs it put up a Tweet listing Canadian cities that would have a franchise if they had a 25,000-seat stadium. One of the cities listed was Saskatoon which isn’t a surprise. 

As a Rider fan, do you think Saskatchewan could support two CFL franchises? I do not. While Saskatchewan is growing, we still aren’t that big as a Saskatoon team would decimate the crazy and passionate fan base that is Rider Nation. 

As for places like Halifax, Victoria and Quebec City. Absolutely!

4 – SJ PLAYOFFS: The time has come for the SJHL playoffs as they are getting underway this weekend with eight teams looking to get their hands on the Canterra Seeds Cup. One has to think this will come down to the league’s top two teams — Melfort and Flin Flon, but we all know playoffs are a different animal. 

Guessing it will be fun in and around Yorkton and Melville as the Highway 10 rivalry gets some gas thrown on the fire in what arguably is the best hockey rivalry in Saskatchewan. Buckle up!

5 – THE STATE OF THE PATS: The WHL regular season ends this weekend and once again the Regina Pats will miss the playoffs. How long of a playoff drought are Regina hockey fans – who are already upset about prices they pay to go to games – going to put up with? I have said in this space and to many that I think GM Al Millar is doing a good job and I maintain that. There is some talent on that team to work with, but there are problems. There are reasons why some players just stopped playing and asked to go elsewhere. I have heard several stories. One of them must be true but I’m not going into what might be and what might not be the truth. 

Reese Hamilton might be the best defenceman in the league before his junior career is over and I like Matt Paranych as well. There will be some talented forwards in Jace Egland, Julien Maze, Connor Bear and Sam Failler coming back next year too. We won’t know for a while yet if Maddox Schultz will be a Pat and if he is, the agenda likely changes somewhat but I would think Millar knows it is imperative that this team be one that is playing more than 68 games next season. 

What is of more importance is the team finding a way to get people back inside to the rink and that might be the toughest challenge of all because apathy is high. 

6 – LEAVE THE PLAYOFFS BE: Why is there such a desire to change the NHL playoff format? If you look at either the current format or the 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7 etc etc format that some want to see, you find out there is no difference. The top two seeds should be division champs. Toronto fans and media seem to be the one once again leading the charge. This just in: current format or in 1 vs 8, they are still playing Tampa as it stands right now in the first round. 

7 – KILL THE ALL-STAR GAME: I didn’t think the NHL was going to have an All-Star game next season because of the Winter Olympics. I was surprised to hear talk of what the league will do next year when New York is scheduled to be the host just before players head to Italy.  

There is no need for a game when the Olympics are on deck. Players will go back to exerting very little or no energy. This is an opportunity for the NHL to be involved yet not be. Have maybe a two-game series with one of them being Canadian born CHL players against American ones and the second game being Canadian NCAA players against American ones. Perhaps this is an opportunity for the NHL to get behind the PWHL the way the NBA incorporates the WNBA into its feeble excuse for all-star weekend.  

You don’t need a game, but you can have a strong league presence with the top players being front and center in one place in what will be a precursor to an Olympics all hockey fans are looking forward to after the 4 Nations Cup.

Speaking of which, it has been said that the NHL will do the same thing with rosters as it did for the Four Nations which is release the names of six players on each team. McDavid, McKinnon and Makar are three automatics for Team Canada. Who are your other three? 

8 – WHAT’S JAPANESE FOR PLAY BALL? The LA Dodgers and Chicago Cubs got the 2025 baseball season going in Tokyo Tuesday. Why those two teams you may ask? If you are a baseball fan, you know the answer. Shohei Ohtani is the most recognizable baseball player on the planet right now and it is a chance for him to go home and play two games. The first pitching matchup had Yoshinubu Yamamoto for the Dodgers against Chicago’s Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki is in right field for the Cubs. It just made sense. Add to that that former Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki is about to become the first Japanese-born player to go into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Like other sports, MLB wants to expand its international presence and this was a tremendous way to do it. They have been to Japan to open the season several times before, but the hype around the Cubs-Dodgers was second to none. MLB says they need to build on what happened this week, but you can’t send Ohtani and the Dodgers back every year to open the season so good luck with whatever you are thinking. 

9 – THE BEST BOOTH: Here’s a question for you. No matter the sport, what is the best broadcast booth for you.  You only get one choice. The website “Awful Announcing” is doing that this week in conjunction with “March Madness”. What a great question. There are so many good ones out there. Maybe it is because he has called a Seahawks Super Bowl and a Cubs World Series, I lean towards Joe Buck and Troy Aikman but there are SOOOOOO many good ones. Where would you put Chris Cuthbert and Craig Simpson? There really is no wrong answer here, but what a great question. 

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS:

• The San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates are going to sell 98-ounce popcorn bats at games this season.  This needs to happen at Currie Field for Regina Red Sox games this year. 
• My final four for March Madness are Florida (winner), Duke, Tennessee, Michigan State (please don’t let Luc Mullinder know I have taken the Spartans)
• The news from the WHL that you will be able to watch this year’s playoffs and regular season games next year for free through the streaming service Victory+ is great news for fans and the league. Hope there are no snags with the delivery.  
• Scottie Scheffler’s champions dinner at the Masters is making the rounds. What would your champions dinner feature? There is no wrong answer here!

That’s all I got! Have a great week!