Morning Briefing - Saturday June 5th

Fin big in Game 4, Jays radio host suspended

-Ville Leino scored a lucky little goal off of the back of Kris Versteeg, and his Flyers survived a late charge to win 5-3 in Game 4, tying the series at two, bringing us back to Chicago. Patrick Kane finally got an assist in this one, but Jonathan Toews is still held off the scoresheet.

Captain Obvious sez: If the Chicago top line doesn't get it together, Philadelphia win this series. Joel Quenneville is making himself look stupid by continually allowing Philly to match up Chris Pronger with Dustin Byfuglien. Put Patrick Sharp back up on that line, make the line faster and skate around the guy.

Or, just keep doing what you're doing. You're the coach.

Also to note, how great has this series been?

-Here's a dissapointing story out of Toronto (surprisingly, that doesn't even involve the Leafs). Wilner, a host for the Toronto Blue Jays radio station, Fan 950, has the weekend off due to comments made about Cito Gaston after Gaston brutally mis-managed the final two games of the Tampa Bay series. Rogers Communications own the Blue Jays, the stadium, the Fan 950 and Rogers Sportsnet, who show every Blue Jays game this year.

Convergence is a wonderful thing. Oftentimes in sports we forget how important basic beat reporters are. People who cover the team and question decisions. This is a case of the Toronto Blue Jays attempting to control their communications, which they're fine to do, but the radio network and the Jays should work at arms length from each other.

Whether it's pro sports, amateur sports, or collegiate sports, no reporter who has been granted access should ever be barred from attending, asking questions, or reporting games. Newspapers and radio stations are not free advertising space for sports organizations, though it often works out that way.

I dislike Rogers Communications, and part of it comes from the way they have a monopoly on pro baseball in Canada. TSN and CBC no longer have the odd weekend games to show.

-Meanwhile, the Jays managed to hold onto a 9th inning lead for a change, winning 6-1 over the Yankees. Jose Bautista had two more home runs, and at one point was a trending topic on Twitter. Brett Cecil went eight strong, allowing just five hits.

I'm scared to write anything negative about the game, since the Jays might cut off my access to the team.

-Gibdan Hamdan, apparently a former NFL quarterback, retired from football at Argos camp today apparently after looking at himself in the mirror and decided he couldn't offer "100% dedication to the team."

Following his lead, the rest of the Argos left, citing the same problem. Like you would want to dress in powder blue on national TV and lose 15 games a year.

The development just means that we are ever so close to Glen Suitor publicly fellating Danny Brannagan when he throws a completion.

-Finally, Toronto's Laura Newcombe tied for 5th at the Scripps Spelling Bee after missing 'confiserie'. I can't really complain about her performance, because it took me three times to type the word with a cheet sheet on my other tab. There's a joke about the Canada's performances at international sporting events (specifically, the Olympics) somewhere in here, but I haven't found it yet.

At 11, the youngest speller in the final, it seems as if we have a child prodigy on our hands.

===

This is the Eh Factor, the 100% green-efficient sports blog. Suck it, BP.

Morning Briefing - Friday, June 3rd

CFL camps open, Morneau continues to roll

-Training camps are open for rookies around the CFL. One of them in Toronto will become the new starting quarterback. In a world where former Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks run amok searching for software engineering jobs, you'd think one of them would be able to spend a few months throwing to wide open defensive backs in the CFL East Division. It's not like it's a job that will carry over into November.

-Justin Morneau singled last night in Seattle, increasing his hit streak to a modest six games, briefly taking over the top spot in the American League batting race before he went 0-fer in his last three at bats. The Twins won 4-1, giving them three out of four games in the series. The Twins move on to play Oakland to actually face Dallas Braden tonight. Remember him? He pitched a perfect game about a month ago.

-After a pair of blown 9th inning leads, the Jays kick off a three-game set against the Yankees tonight. Brett Cecil (5-2) goes up against former Jay A.J. Burnett (6-2). Until Cecil spells 'laodician' correctly, I'll have my butt firmly planted in my seat cheering on Toronto's Laura Olivia Newcombe.

-Meanwhile, your required reading today comes from Jack Bogoch, who investigated a Regina hockey school of fighting with an open mind. [Deadspin.com] Given that somebody has died doing this and it's not leaving the game anytime soon, shouldn't schools like this be more commonplace?

==

Quick. What are your favourite drinking games to play when watching the spelling bee? It's easier to watch than Jeopardy, because the solutions are right there on the screen. All you have to do is watch and hope the 11-year old kid doesn't screw up. Like parents taking their kids on Toddlers and Tiaras.

The next true north hope

This weekend is the Scripps National Spelling Bee. There is only one Canadian contestant, but, after finishing 17th last year, the seasoned veteran is hungry and eager to spell.

Toronto's Laura Olivia Newcombe, who goes to Deer Park Elementary School, is from a family of spellers. Sister Leslie competed back in 2006 at the event.

Here's her profile on the official Scripps website. No stats are listed yet, but you can bet we'll all be huddled around our television boxes cheering on the #24 speller.

Go Laura!