It's Saturday

It's Saturday. And welcome to another weekend. Here's what's happening....

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Today is August 13th, the 225th day of 2011. There are 140 days left in the year.

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Summer with Stanley 2011 Blog: It's Cam Neely's turn.

Remodled Panthers hope to end playoff drought.

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Today is International Lefthander's Day. (Linky Link)

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Riders fall to 1-6 with 10 point home loss to Calgary

Regina, Saskatchewan -- The Calgary Stampeders rode into Mosaic Stadium for the second time in three weeks Friday night and came away with another win, beating the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-35 in front of 30,048 fans.

The Riders had the ball first, but after running the opening kick to around the 30, the first down snap sailed over Darian Durant's head, resulting in a 16 yard loss. Two plays later, Calgary would start at the Saskatchewan 45, after a punt return and a major no yards penalty. The Stamps quickly moved down field from there, Jabari Arthur made a diving catch of a Henry Burris 23 yard lob pass in the left side of the end zone for the first major score of the game. Rene Paredes kicked the convert and Calgary went up 7-0  4:48 into the opening quarter. After holding the Riders around midfield, Nik Lewis would take a swing pass and scoot into the end zone from 9 yards out, capping a 7 play, 90 yard drive, in which Burris was a perfect 5-for-5 passing. Parades converted with 2:34 left in the first for a 14-0 Stampeders lead. Saskatchewan would respond with long pass plays to Efrem Hill and Weston Dressler to quickly move deep into into Calgary territory. Then, from the 11, Durant would flip a swing pass to Hugh Charles, who would find the end zone from there. Rookie Chris Milo kicked the convert with just :06 on the clock. The points for the Riders, who had been blanked in the first quarter in two of the past three games, would draw Saskatchewan to within 7, at 14-7, after a 4 play, 92 yard drive.

With a successful mix of pass and run, the Stampeders took their third possession of the game deep into Rider territory to open the second quarter, reaching the 20, before a pass interference call on Saskatchewan in the end zone put the ball at the 1. Backup quarterback Drew Tate walked in from there for the major and with the Paredes convert, Calgary had the 14 point lead back, at 21-7 with 10:55 remaining in the first half. Saskatchewan blew down the field quickly on their ensuing possession, reaching the 14 on a pass interference call in the end zone gave them the ball there, instead of the 1. It mattered little as Charles went around left end on the very next play for the major. Milo converted with 8:43 to play in the half, drawing the Roughriders within 7 once again, at 21-14. The lead grew to 10 on the Stamps' next possession, as Paredes kicked a 26 yard field goal with 5:32 left until two quarter time, giving Calgary a 24-14 lead. Saskatchewan move drive the ball across the 30, but Durant was hit as he went to pass, with the ball coming loose. The play survived a challenge and the Stampeders got the football at their own 35 with 2:02 to go in the first half, preserving the 10 point lead. Both teams would go 2-and-out and a 12 yard pass play to Lewis and a 43 yard completion to Johnny Forzani put Calgary in position to hit a 21 yard Burris to Ken-Yon Rambo touchdown pass. Paredes converted with :26 on the clock and the Stampeders would head into halftime with a 31-14 lead.

A pair of pass interference calls would set the Roughriders up with a first down at the Calgary 5 with just under 8 minutes gone in the second half. A first down pass to Terrence Nunn would fall incomplete, then Durant would under throw Chris Getzlaf in the end zone and Keon Raymond would pick the ball off and return it 117 yards for a major score, the fourth longest interception return for touchdown in CFL history and the third Saskatchewan turnover in the game. The Paredes convert boosted the Stampeder lead to 38-14, with 5:03 to play in the third quarter.

The Roughriders would drive deep into Calgary territory to open the fourth quarter. On second-and-10 from the 15, Durant would elude a safety blitz and find a wide-open Charles just across the goal line for the score, Charles' third major of the evening. Milo converted with 12:35 left in regulation and Saskatchewan trailed at that point 38-21. The Riders would start their next possession at their own 8 and move steadily into scoring position, where, from just outside the 30, a pass interference penalty would place the ball at the 3 yard line. Two runs by Brandon West got the ball to the 1 and Neal Hughes would finish off the 8 play, 102 yard drive with a plunge over the goal line for the touchdown. Milo converted with 6:30 still to play, cutting the deficit to 38-28. A major unsportsmanlike foul on the touchdown would force the kickoff deep and allow the Stamps to start at centre field. They would drive the ball from there, chewing up yards and time, ending with a 1 yard plunge over left tackle by Joffrey Reynolds, to cap the 9 play, 55 yard drive, that ate 4:34 off the clock. Paredes converted with 1:56 left, increasing the lead to 45-28. Ryan Dinwiddie would come on to finish up the game at quarterback for Saskatchewan , driving the team to a major score on a 3 yard pass to Weston Dressler. Milo converted with 60 seconds left in regulation, drawing the Riders to within 10. Jason Clermont barely missed recovering a short kick and Calgary would hold on from there for the 45-35 win.

For the Stampeders, Henry Burris was 21-for-28 passing for 298 yards and 3 touchdowns. He was sacked once. Jabari Arthur caught 7 passes for 92 yards and 1 touchdown, while Ken-yon Rambo and Nik Lewis also caught touchdown passes. Joffrey Reynolds ran the ball 11 times for 59 yards and a major and backup quarterback Drew Tate added a rushing touchdown and Keon Raymond had that 117 yard interception return for touchdown. Rene Paredes kicked one field goal and 6 converts and Burke Dales punted 6 times for a 45.17 yard average. Devon Claybrooks, Charleston Hughes and Greg Fassit each had 5 tackles, Hughes and Demetrice Morley each had 1 sack. For the Roughriders, Darian Durant was 24-for-34 passing for 325 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, while also getting sacked twice. In a mop-up role, Ryan Dinwiddie went 6-for-6 passing for 109 yards and 1 touchdown. Efrem Hill had a career game, catching 11 balls for 177 yards, Weston Dressler caught 4 passes for 79 yards and a touchdown and Hugh Charles made a big statement for more playing time down the road, catching 7 balls for 60 yards and 2 touchdowns, while also rushing 11 times for 94 yards and 1 touchdown. Chris Milo kicked 4 converts, didn't attempt a field goal and punted 5 times for a 40.4 yard average. Jerrell Freeman had 7 tackles and Shomari Williams had a sack.

Calgary had 92 yards rushing, 298 yards passing and compiled 382 net yards total offence, while not turning the ball over once. They picked up 25 first downs, 10 running, 13 passing and 2 by penalty. The recovered their only fumble and were penalized 16 times for 155 yards. Saskatchewan rushed for 109 yards and passed for 434, gaining 511 net yards total offense. They had 30 first downs, 10 rushing, 17 passing and 3 via penalty and fumbled the ball 3 times, losing 1, ending up with 3 total turnovers. The Riders were penalized 12 times for 98 yards.

With the win, the Stampeders improve to 5-2, 4-0 on the road this season, with their road win streak now at 6 going back to last season. Their three-game win streak has pulled them into a first-place tie in the West with Edmonton. Saskatchewan falls to 1-6, fourth in the CFL West. They're now 0-4 at home and have now lost 10 of their last 12 regular season games going back to last season. Calgary has Week #8 off, returning in Week #9 to host Montreal on August 27th at McMahon Stadium. It'll be a short week for the Riders, as the travel to Toronto on Thursday, August 18th. The Argonauts, who entered play this week at 1-5, play at Hamilton this Saturday night, August 13th. Next Thursday's game from the Rogers Centre in Toronto kicks off at 7:30pm EDT. Follow all the play-by-play action with Rod Pedersen and Carm Carteri on 620 CKRM and the Rider Radio Network.

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

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Today is National Garage Sale Day.

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Prechae Rodriguez signs with Edmonton.

2011 CFL Schedule is here.

Donate to the Tony Proudfoot Fund.

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

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The Battle of Blenheim was fought during the War of the Spanish Succession, resulting in a victory for English and Austrian forces on this date in 1704.

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KANSAS CITY -- The Bucs controlled the action between first-string players in Friday’s preseason-opening 25-0 win in Kansas City, then pulled away when both teams brought in their reserves.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 25-0 on Friday night at Arrowhead Stadium, but the final score was almost incidental.

The thrill of a preseason-opening victory will probably have faded by Saturday afternoon, but Buccaneers coaches are going to have a marvelous day reviewing the game tape. Considering the list of Tampa Bay players who had standout nights – a veritable primer on the young men the team is counting on the most this season – one could have hardly asked for a more promising start to the 2011 season.

Read the rest here.

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The United States Legislature met for the final time in Annapolis, Maryland on this date in 1784.

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Jimmy climbs on Foghorn the Umpire.

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The American Flag was raised for the first time in Los Angeles, California on this date in 1846.

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NEW YORK -- Prior to Friday night's game at Yankee Stadium, Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon spoke about the importance of fundamentals and small ball for his team, stressing that the Rays weren't capable of "putting on the big gloves and going toe-to-toe" with opponents in the power department.

In the game that followed, the Rays didn't just go toe-to-toe with the Yankees, they knocked starter CC Sabathia out cold with five solo homers in a 5-1 win.

The five homers were two more than the Rays had hit in any other game this season, and the win cut the Yankees' lead over Tampa Bay to 7 1/2 games in the American League Wild Card race.

Read the rest here.

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A patent for a coin-operated telephone was issued to William Gray on this date in 1889.

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MIAMI -- Matt Cain allowed just two runs over six innings, but Pablo Sandoval's solo homer was the only offense for the Giants as they lost to the Marlins, 2-1, Friday night at Sun Life Stadium.

Cain (9-9), who struck out four batters and walked two on 114 pitches, surrendered three consecutive one-out hits in the first as the Marlins took a 2-1 lead.

Alfredo Amezaga singled to right, Logan Morrison tripled to right-center and Mike Stanton singled on a broken bat to left.

San Francisco had taken a 1-0 lead on Sandoval's shot into the right-field seats off Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco (9-8).

Read the rest here.

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On this date in 1912, the first experimental radio license was issued to St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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Today in Elvis History:

1952 - The original version of "Hound Dog" was recorded by Willie Mae (Big Mama) Thornton.

1963 - The Elvis Presley album "Girls! Girls! Girls!" was certified gold by the RIAA.

1966 - The soundtrack to the Elvis Presley's movie "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" hit #7 in the U.K.

2002 - The Elvis Presley movies "Love Me Tender", "Flaming Star" and "Wild in the Country" were released on DVD.

2003 - Lisa Marie Presley performed on "Live with Regis and Kelly."

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Al Capp's comic strip "L'il Abner" made its debut in newspapers on this date in 1934.

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Today in Beatles History:

1965 - The Beatles album "Help!" was released in the United States.

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The first roller derby match was held at the Coliseum in Chicago, Illinois on this date in 1935.

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Today in Sports History:

1986 - United States Football League standout Herschel Walker signed to play with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League.

1990 - Magic Johnson announced the indefinite postponement of his wedding to fiancé Earletha Kelly.

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Walt Disney's "Bambi" opened at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on this date in 1942.

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Coming up:

Tonight:

Nascar Nationwide Series -- Zippo 200 at the Glen at Watkins Glen International 2:00pm EDT

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees 4:10pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Florida Marlins 7:10pm EDT

Sunday --

Nascar Sprint Car Series -- Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen at Watkins Glen International 1:00pm EDT

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees 1:05pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Florida Marlins 1:10pm EDT

Izod Indy Car Series -- MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course 2:00pm EDT

Monday --

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves 7:00pm EDT

Tuesday --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox 1:05pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves 7:10pm EDT

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox 7:10pm EDT

Wednesday --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays at Boston Red Sox 1:35pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves 7:10pm EDT

Thursday --

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves 7:10pm EDT

CFL Football -- Saskatchewan Roughriders at Toronto Argonauts 7:30pm EDT

NFL Preseason Football -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs New England Patriots 7:30pm EDT

Friday --

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Seattle Mariners 7:10pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Houston Astros  8:05pm EDT

Saturday --

Nascar Nationwide Series -- NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villenueve 2:30pm EDT

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Seattle Mariners 7:10pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Houston Astros  8:05pm EDT

Sunday --

Nascar Sprint Cup Series -- Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway 1:00pm EDT

MLB -- Tampa Bay Rays vs Seattle Mariners 1:40pm EDT

MLB -- San Francisco Giants at Houston Astros  2:05pm EDT

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That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by and be sure to tell your friends about us. See you tomorrow.