It's Thursday

It's Thursday. Here's what's happening....

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Today is June 23rd, the 174th day of 2011. There are 191 days left in the year.

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Perry, Thomas lead honorees at NHL Awards.

Eberle's goal voted best of year on Facebook.

Stamkos named cover athlete of EA NHL '12.

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Todays Birthdays: Actor Ted Shackelford (Gary Ewing on Knots Landing) is 65; Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is 63; American Idol judge Randy Jackson is 55; actress Frances McDormand (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Fargo, Burn After Reading, Wonder Boys) is 54; actress Selma Blair (Hellboy movies) is 39.

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The BC Lions started quick and ended strong, rolling to a 34-6 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders, in CFL pre-season football action last night at Empire Field in Vancouver, British Columbia.

BC got three points on their opening possession, thanks to a 47 yard field goal 1:15 in by Paul McCallum. McCallum missed a 47 yard field goal wide left on the Lions' next possession, but the single gave BC a 4-0 lead with 9:52 to go in the opening quarter. The Riders would get 3 back on their next possession. Set up by a thundering 35 yard scamper by Wes Cates, Eddie Johnson would boot a 16 yard field goal with 5:53 left, cutting the Lion advantage to 1, at 4-3. The lead would grow to 8 moments later, as Korey Banks stepped in front of a Saskatchewan receiver in the left flat, running an interception back 64 yards for a major score. McCallum kicked the convert with 1:58 left, giving BC an 11-3 lead after the opening quarter.

Another field goal by McCallum, this one from 41 yards 66 seconds into the 2nd quarter, stretched the Lions' lead to 11, at 14-3. McCallum kept busy in the 2nd quarter and with 3:15 left in the half, kicked a 23 yard field goal, giving BC a 17-3 lead. The Riders threatened late, but fumbled one chance away on a fumble inside the Lions' 10, but were able to add 2 points later, as after being forced back to their own 1, McCallum conceded a 2-point safety touch 48 seconds from halftime, making the score 17-5 in favor of BC at two-quarter time.

Hugh O'Neill hit a 50 yard field goal with 2:58 left in the third, giving the Lions a 20-5 lead.

In the fourth, Chris Milo would get a single for Saskatchewan on a missed 38 yard field goal attempt with 5:07 to play, making the score 20-6 BC. Leos' quarterback Mike Reilly made a strong case for the number three QB in Vancouver, throwing for a pair of majors in the final quarter. Nick Moore caught a 17 yard strike with 1:59 left, and Tim Brown a 4 yard toss with :51 seconds left, with O'Neill kicking both converts, making BC a 34-6 winner.

For the Lions, Mike Reilly was 8-for-8 passing for 108 yards and 2 touchdowns, Travis Lulay was 11-for-20 for 104 yards, Jarious Jackson was 3-for-5 for 29 yards Corey Leonard was 1-for-7 for 18 yards and an interception. Lulay was the leading rusher with 2 carries for 18 yards. Nick Moore and Tim Brown caught touchdown passes and Korey Banks scored a major on an interception return. Paul McCallum kicked 3 field goals, 1 convert and a single and Hugh O'Neill had a field goal and 2 converts. For the Roughriders, Darian Durant was 19-for-29 passing for 178 yards and 1 interception, Chris Leak was 3-for-8 for 52 yards and Cole Bergquist was 3-for-7 for 20 yards. Wes Cates carried the ball 5 times for 35 yards and Ernie Wheelwright caught 4 passes for 72 yards and Terrence Nunn caught 7 passes for 54 yards. Eddie Johnson kicked a field goal and Chris Milo had a missed field goal single.

Saskatchewan, 1-1 in pre-season, opens the regular season at home against the Edmonton Eskimos on Sunday, July 3rd. Kickoff on 620 CKRM is set for 7:00pm EDT. BC, which finishes the pre-season at 2-0, opens at Montreal on Thursday, June 30th.

Visit the team's official website at http://www.riderville.com/.

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George Clooney and his girlfriend announced that they have split. (They agreed that they both wanted to see other gorgeous people.)

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Early returns: Ticats prevail in pre-season fog.

2011 CFL Schedule is here.

Donate to the Tony Proudfoot Fund.

Visit the leagues' official website, http://www.cfl.ca/.

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Here's Mr. Toddler.

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A new poll of grandparents over the age of 60 finds 22% are active on social networking sites. Facebook is used by 71 percent of the 60+, versus 34 percent on Twitter and 9 percent on LinkedIn.

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MILWAUKEE --  David Price understood the quality of the team he faced Wednesday afternoon, and dialed his performance up a notch.

Tampa Bay's ace led the way in the rubber game of a three-game series with Milwaukee by holding the Brewers to two runs on five hits in eight innings in a 6-3 victory. Price delivered a 10-strikeout performance en route to his eighth win of the season.

"They're a really good ballclub, playing in their ballpark where they're very good," said Rays manager Joe Maddon. "[Price] understands all of that, and we had to get that kind of pitching performance to beat them."

The Rays moved to 41-34 on the season and are now 6-3 in Interleague games this season, as they travel to Houston to begin a three-game series with the Astros on Friday.

Read the rest here.

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Selectmen in Greenwood, Maine, voted unanimously this week against changing the name of a road after hearing from residents who said they enjoy living there. Several residents of Alcohol Mary Road rallied around the memory of Alcohol Mary and said they were proud of her alcohol-making activity during Prohibition.

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SAN FRANCISCO --   Ryan Vogelsong pitched seven solid innings and Eli Whiteside drove in three runs to help the Giants snap their season-high five-game losing streak with a 5-1 Interleague decision Wednesday night over the Minnesota Twins.

Vogelsong (5-1) allowed only four hits while trimming his ERA to 1.86, which would tie for the Major League lead if he had pitched enough innings to rank among the league leaders. Vogelsong, who didn't join the Giants' starting rotation until late April, is 1 1/3 innings shy of qualifying.

Read the rest here.

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Today in Elvis History:

1968 - Elvis Presley recorded the song "If I Can Dream."

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This new competition reality show, from producer Mark Burnett (Survivor), follows 13 teams as they race across the desert of Morocco. It airs on ABC tonight.

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Today in Beatles History:

1940 - Stuart Sutcliffe was born. He joined an early version of the Beatles on bass in January of 1960.

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William Penn signed a friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania on this date in 1683.

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Today in Sports History:

1904 - The first American motorboat race got underway on the Hudson River in New York.

1917 - Ernie Shore (Boston Red Sox) replaced Babe Ruth and retired all 26 batters he faced. Ruth had been ejected from the game.

1917 - Molla Bjurstedt won the women's U.S. Lawn Tennis Association title for the third straight year.

1922 - Johnny Weissmuller broke his own world records in the 300, 400, 440 and 500 meters in a swim meet in Honolulu, Hawaii.

1972 - U.S. President Nixon signed the Higher Education Act of 1972. Title IX of this congressional act barred sex bias in athletics and other activities at colleges receiving federal assistance.

1991 - A Mazda became the first Japanese car to win the Le Mans 24 hour race.

1996 - Michael Johnson broke the world record for the men's 200 meter race. He ran it in 19.66 seconds.

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Marineland opened near St. Augustine, Florida on this date in 1938.

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Coming Up: 

Tonight --

MLB - San Francisco Giants vs Minnesota Twins 3:45pm EDT

Friday --

MLB - Tampa Bay Rays at Houston Astros 8:05pm EDT

MLB - San Francisco Giants vs Cleveland Indians 10:15pm EDT

Saturday --

MLB - San Francisco Giants vs Cleveland Indians 4:10pm EDT

Nascar Nationwide Series -- Bucyrus 200 at Road America 5:30pm EDT

MLB - Tampa Bay Rays at Houston Astros 7:05pm EDT

Indy Car Series -- Iowa Corn 250 at Iowa Speedway 8:00pm EDT

Sunday --

MLB - Tampa Bay Rays at Houston Astros 2:05pm EDT

Nascar Sprint Cup Series -- Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway 3:00pm EDT

MLB - San Francisco Giants vs Cleveland Indians 8:05pm EDT

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That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by, be sure to tell your friends about this blog. See you tomorrow.