GA Russell

Dig this! The Lions have signed a corporate sponsorship agreement with a law firm! Other teams have lawyers placing spots on their radio broadcasts, but I've never heard of anything on this level before. http://www.sportspromedia.com/news/cfls_lions_announce_landmark_mcmillan_tie_up/

Here's his LA Times obit. http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-elmore-leonard-20130821,0,1809904,full.story

Here's something I learned about today for those Amazon shoppers who do not have Prime. http://filleritem.com/ Here's what dailyfinance.com says about it: Amazon: FillerItem.com So you set up your alert on that video game, and today you finally got an email informing you that it had dropped below your $30 threshold. But wait! It went all the way down to $23.90. And since Amazon's free-shipping threshold is $25, that means that you'll have to pay a $4 for shipping. You're faced with the bizarre situation of wishing that the product was a little more expensive so that you could get it for less. Now there's an easy solution: FillerItem.com helps you find small, cheap items to get you to the free-shipping cutoff. Put in how many dollars or cents short of $25 your cart is, and it will return a list of "filler items" of that price or higher. In this case, we're only $1.10 short, and FillerItem offers a list of a hundreds of tiny items. Many, you probably don't need, like pipe adapters and screws; for a buck and change, you could add one to your cart and then throw it away. But if you want something you could use, FillerItem puts in bold any item in your price range that's popular on Amazon. For $1.18, for instance, you can get a 12-pack of Bic pens. So, throw in a box of pens, get your total to $25.08, and save a few bucks on shipping.

The Als made it official today that Calvillo suffered a concussion. He will miss this week's game, and they hope he will return to practice next week. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=430139 ***** The Bombers are going to start Max Hall this week. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=430137 ***** The New Orleans Saints released Seneca Wallace yesterday. When he was in college, I thought that he would make a great CFL quarterback. http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2013/8/19/4636740/seneca-wallace-release-saints

My Funny Valentine

Here's an obit. http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/08/20/elmore-leonard-dies-three-weeks-after-stroke/

Elmore Leonard has died. RIP. So far, my favorite of his is The Switch. Anybody else have a favorite?

Thanks guys!

What website are you guys ordering Japanese CDs from nowadays?

I forgot to point out last night that Mike Reilly passed for 511 yards in a losing cause. ***** Ted Michaels power rankings http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfl/news/news.aspx?id=4617341

Today in History 1951: "The owner of the St. Louis Browns, Bill Veeck, sent in 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel to pinch-hit in a game against Detroit. In his only major league at-bat, Gaedel walked on four pitches and was replaced at first base by a pinch runner."

Toronto Argonauts 36....Edmonton Eskimos 33 http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfl/news/news.aspx?id=4617251 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=430048 Much better game than I expected. The Eskimos played tough. The Argos outscored the Esks 16-0 in the third, but the Esks outscored the Argos 17-3 in the fourth. Ricky Ray completed his first 17 pass attempts, tying the team record set by Mike Ray in the mid 70s.

I forgot to point out that Nik Lewis broke his leg (fibula) last night, so the Stamps are going to have to go with out him for a while.

Saskatchewan Roughriders 24....Montreal Alouettes 21 http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfl/news/news.aspx?id=4617094 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=429961 Great game! Probably the Als' best game of the year so far. Chris Milo won it with a 36-yard field goal on the last play of the game. Calvillo was knocked out of the game in the second quarter with a suspected concussion. Backup Josh Neiswander played surprisingly well. ***** British Columbia Lions 26....Calgary Stampeders 22 http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfl/news/news.aspx?id=4617095 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=429982 Another good game. See-saw battle. I think I read that the Lions are now 18-2 in their last 20 home games. ***** The Bombers have fired Gary Crowton, their offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and replaced him with Marcel Bellefeuille. http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=430025

Happy Birthday Laurie! Looking forward to Widow's Taste's next CD release!

The Lions tonight are wearing black uniforms with black numbers! You can be sure that the Stamps' announcers hate them. For the time being, you can see a photo here: http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/

Here's a story about Taylor Swift. The Italian restaurant chef was so happy to meet her that she left a $500 tip. http://thestir.cafemom.com/food_party/158925/taylor_swifts_tip_to_restaurant?utm_medium=sem2&utm_campaign=prism&utm_source=outbrain&utm_content=0&non_us=

Bert Lance has died. As the obituary suggests, he was the first person I ever heard of to say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-me-passings-20130817,0,179274.story

Hamilton Tiger-Cats 37....Winnipeg Blue Bombers 18 http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=cfl/news/news.aspx?id=4616867 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=429912 The first half was good. Hank was very sharp, but the Ticats led only 17-7 at the break. The second half was not as well played by both teams, and the Bombers seemed to run out of gas.

Here is yesterday's Sporting News article about NASCAR's new television contract. I note that it says that the TV ratings have declined 42%. http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2013-08-15/nascar-tv-coverage-network-contract-fox-sports-1-nbc-deal-ratings

Here's my trivia answer: Doc Cramer, who played for 20 years ending in 1948, and who was with the Tigers when they beat the Cubs in the World Series in '45, the last time the Cubs were in the Series. Cramer finished with 2,705 hits, and a .296 batting average.

Here's a trivia question for you. Who had the most career hits of anyone whose career ended before 1975 who wasn't elected to the Hall of Fame? Answer in my next post.

Lowell Ullrich Week 8 picks http://www.cflblogzone.com/2013/08/week-8-in-the-cfl/

Chris O'Leary Week 8 picks http://www.cflblogzone.com/2013/08/week-8-cfl-picks-esks-seek-consistency-another-big-calgary-game/ ***** Globe Week 8 picks http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/cfl-week-8-picks/article13805012/ ***** CFL.ca Week 8 look http://cfl.ca/article/2013-cflca-game-notes-a-look-at-week-8 ***** The Lions have released Hugh O'Neill. http://www.cfl.ca/article/lions-release-canadian-kicker-oneill

Here is a video of Humpy Wheeler discussing what he feels has gone wrong with NASCAR. I particularly agree with his view that people want to watch a race, not a points race. http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/23127646/humpy-wheeler-on-nascar-weve-messed-it-up-got-too-fancy NASCAR's TV ratings have fallen 32% since 2005. http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2013/08/09/nascar-adapts-to-the-new-normal.html?page=all