Good afternoon, I'm Andrew Zwarych with this CSM Sports Update...

The Toronto Blue Jays are back home tonight after their road trip from hell.

Casey Janssen takes to the mound for the Blue Birds, he goes up against Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

Wakefield handed the Jays their first of nine straight losses just 10 days ago.

The AL East leading Red Soxs are coming off a series split with the Twins.

If the Jays are able to sweep the Soxs, they jump back into first in the division.


Game 6 of the NBA Western Conference finals go tonight.

The Lakers are looking to close out their series against the Nuggets.

Kobe Bryant had 22 points and 8 assists in LA's big 103-94, game 5 win.

On paper the Lakers have the advantage over Denver.

Head Coach Phil Jackson is 49-1 lifetime, when holding any lead in the playoffs.

While the Lakers haven't lost a best of seven series after being tied 2-2 and winning game 5 since 1969, when they lost to the Celtics in the NBA finals.


The French Open is underway at Rolland Garros, so far this morning Rafael Nadal defeated Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets.

Nikolay Davydenko defeated 17th ranked Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

In Women's action;

Number seeded Dinara Safina has a two set lead over 27th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

While Venus Williams lost her first two sets too 29th ranked Agnes Szavay.


Steve Stricker has a two shot lead at -5, over Jason Day at the Colonial.

Bright Grove, Ontario's Mike Weir shot an opening round 69 and is one under par, he is set to tee off just after 1:30.


Keeping with Bright Grove golfers, Matt Hill captured the NCAA Division I men's golf championship yesterday.

The Stanley Cup Finals kick off this weekend.

The Penguins will travel to Detroit for game 1 saturday in a rematch of last years finals.

For CSM Sports, I'm Andrew Zwarych

Scrumbs after the Whistle

During NHL playoffs the amount of scrums that come after a whistle increase ten-fold and its ridiculous. 

No matter the play, what has happened prior or what will happen later on in the game expect to see after most whistles a scrum of three to five players which not only wastes time but it is a serious deterrent to the game. 

When the whistle is blown it is suppose to allow for a line change and a quick break for the players on the ice, but in the NHL playoffs when the whistle blows it acts as a bell in a boxing match and signals the start of the bout. With this ridiculous notion of what the whistle means it not only causes problems but increasingly wastes time. A normal-couple second whistle break turns into a full out brawl and the time spanning from the actual game will be a few minutes. Not only does the brawling last however long it takes for it to be broken up, officials have to figure out what to do once the fighting has stopped.

Once everything has calmed down, before the whistle is blown to indicate the start of the game again, decisions have to be made with regards to the scrums. A defenceman strolled in from the blueline and joined in on the ru-ha-ha, the officials have to come to a conclusion on what sort of discipline should be used. It is this kind of penalty that comes back to haunt teams, and cost them games, series and championships. 

Even if there are no penalties handed out during a skirmish between players, they can be more costly if some happens to get injuried. A somewhat small argument arrupts over the away teams unwillingness to stop swarming the goalie after the whistle, so the home team takes acception and a scrum ensues. In all of the commotion a player losses his footing and falls. Not only could he be injured but he could injur someone else. The post whistle scrum has become a breeding ground for injuries, most of which are pointless and could have been avoided. 

The NHL will have to take a good long look at what they aren't stopping, thus allowing, pointless scrums post whistle. It is time for the league to stop these before they become out of hand, before a tragedy errupts through the sport, the way Don Sanderson's tragedy did with fighting in the sport. Stop the issue before it becomes a serious problem. Do Not Allow Post Whistle Scrums.