OTTAWA (CIS) - The countdown is on for the 16th Annual BLG Awards honouring the top Canadian Interuniversity Sport female and male athletes for the 2007-08 season.
The two BLG Award winners, who receive a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship, will be announced at a ceremony on Monday, April 28th at 7:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary. The event will premier on TSN on Sunday, May 18 at 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Canadian Interuniversity Sport has highlighted one female and one male finalists daily during this week leading up to the gala. Today, the final nominees, Lani Gibbons and Ben Schellenberg from the Canada West Universities Athletic Association.
Canada West Universities Athletic Association nominees
Simon Fraser University
Year of eligibility in 2007-08: 5
Lani Gibbons was named CIS women’s basketball player of the year as the Clan led all 14 national coaches polls in 2007-08, kept the best regular-season record in the nation at 22-1, captured the Canada West Pacific Division title, claimed bronze at the conference Final Four and won the consolation final at the CIS championship. The five-foot-four guard, a two-time CIS champion (2006-07, ‘04-05), led the country in assists for the third straight season (5.7 apg), finished second in steals (3.7 spg) and contributed 12.0 points per game as Simon Fraser finished second in CIS scoring with 82.0 points per duel.
Gibbons’ sister Erin played basketball at the University of Utah, while her grandfather played one NHL season with the New York Rangers.
“Lani provided our team with an experienced leader, a poised and confident player who is able to score or distribute the ball to others at the appropriate times. She has an uncanny ability to get rebounds for a small player as well; she just has a nose for the ball,” said Simon Fraser head coach Bruce Langford.

universitysport.ca

MONTREAL (AFP) — National Hockey League scoring king Alex Ovechkin scored two third-period goals Monday, giving Washington a 4-2 victory over Philadelphia to keep the Capitals alive in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Overdue Ovechkin netted 65 goals in the regular season but had gone four games without scoring against the tight-checking Flyers until a breakaway 2:46 into the third period to give the Capitals their first lead of the game at 3-2.
“I didn’t put pressure on myself. I just played hard and played for a victory. Sometimes you just have to try something different to score goals,” Ovechkin said.
Ovechkin added a power play goal with 9:19 remaining and the Capitals hung on level their best-of-seven opening-round series at three wins each, forcing game seven in Washington on Tuesday.
“Tomorrow will be the biggest game of our career,” Ovechkin said. “We just don’t want to stop. We’re playing really good right now.”
So are the Montreal Canadiens, the Eastern Conference top seeds who blasted visiting Boston 5-0 Monday to win their first-round series four games to three.
The Canadiens joined Pittsburgh and the New York Rangers in the second round with pairings to be decided depending on whether Washington or Philadelphia advances.
“We haven’t won anything yet,” Captials coach Bruce Boudreau said. “If we think we’ve won it we’re in for a bad shock because we’re going to have to lay it on the line tomorrow night.”
The Western Conference playoffs also conclude Tuesday with game seven between Calgary and host San Jose. The winner joins Colorado, Dallas and regular-season leader Detroit in the West second round.
The Capitals, who trailed the Flyers 3-1, have not won a playoff series in 10 years, since reaching the 1998 Stanley Cup finals where they were swept by Detroit.
Washington had not met the Flyers in the playoffs in 20 years, since rallying from a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate Philadelphia.

afp.google.com

Borrowers with credit scores that are a few points from qualifying for a loan may be tempted to resort to credit-repair agencies for quick help in raising their scores. In some cases, the move can pay significant dividends. But industry executives and regulators say that it can often be a waste of money.
“Credit repair is sort of a pejorative term,” said Norman Magnuson, a spokesman for the Consumer Data Industry Association, a trade group for companies that track consumer credit. This is because many credit-repair agencies promise more than they deliver, Magnuson and others said.
There is no industry association for credit-repair services that could reply to these allegations.
A borrower’s credit score - also known as the FICO score, which was created by Fair Isaac Corp. in the mid-1990s - is the chief determinant of eligibility for loans. Lately, many borrowers are finding it difficult to qualify for loans unless their scores are at least 680. (The scores range from 300 to 850; the average score is 692.)
Creditors send information about consumer accounts to the three major credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion - which rely on complex and closely held formulas for devising their scores, using the Fair Isaac scoring method but tweaking it as they see fit. The two biggest components are consumers’ payment histories and the extent to which they are using their available credit card debt, credit counselors say.
A credit report is a list of your creditors and payment history; a credit score is a numerical reflection of that history. You can get free copies of your credit reports from all three agencies at AnnualCreditReport.com.
Loan officers and brokers say it is typical to find errors or inconsistencies in a credit report, and consumers can challenge such things by sending a letter to the credit bureau. Magnuson says the bureaus will forward the letter to the creditor in question. If the creditor does not answer the letter within 20 or 25 days, he said, the bureaus will pull that item.

sfgate.com

The news that the Premier League are seriously considering plans to stage regular fixtures in foreign countries will alert a number of potential bidding cities.
With England’s top flight already the most watched football league in the world the clamour to actually host a live game is expected to be great, with some destinations already on well worn pre-season paths and others on the fringes of the Premier League sphere of influence.
If some Liverpool fans have their wishes granted this would be a home tie of sorts for Rafa Benitez’s side. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the benign dictator of the Emirate, has very deep pockets and has in the past used sport as a way of promoting his country.
Aside from attempts to buy Liverpool, Maktoum is a major player in horse racing and the Dubai desert classic brings the best golf players of the world to the gulf state.
One member of the United Arab Emirates, who made their only World Cup appearance in 1990 (where players were reputedly given the incentive of a brand new Rolls Royce for every goal they scored), Dubai, unlike some of the other Gulf States, does not have a huge supply of oil or gas to fuel its incredible growth and relies on its position as a transport hub, for freight and people, and tourism for its income.
A muted Olympic or World Cup bid some time in the future could only be enhanced by successful hosting of Premier League matches.
A large ex-pat community would be enough to fill any of the city’s shiny new stadiums.
Liverpool v Newcastle United
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum could run the rule over his new plaything and discuss racing tips with Michael Owen over a lemonade in the bar afterwards.
“The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukam, or Bangkok to you and me, is the capital of one of the most football mad nations in Asia.
Games are beamed to most homes and bars every week, icons like David Beckham are idolised and shirts of all the big Premier League teams readily on show and available for suspiciously low prices at Bangkok’s sprawling weekend market.
Before the 2002 World Cup Thailand was the first country to announce that every game would be shown live on free to air television, and though they could not match some of their oil rich competitors in financial terms, a population of 8 million means there would be no fear selling tickets.
Recently co-hosted the Asian Championship.
Everton v Manchester City
City currently have three members of the Thai national team on their books - Teerasil Dangda, Kiatprawut Saiwaeo and Suree Sukha - though their owner and erstwhile Prime Minister of the country may not be universally popular; whilst Everton wear the name of the country’s finest fall down juice on their chests every week. Which may explain Andy Johnson.
More children play football in Australia than both codes of rugby and Aussie Rules combined, and the country’s nascent football culture received a major shot in the arm with their creditable showing at the last World Cup, losing in the second round to a contested penalty to eventual; winners Italy.
As adept at hosting sporting events as they are cooking dead animals over open fires, the Australians would be excellent hosts and have the facilities and organisation to put on a match tomorrow if called on.
English football, understandably, is the most watched in the country but the time difference makes for kick off times even less convenient than those foisted upon us already by the schedulers at Sky and Setanta.
The chance to have Premier League games in the afternoon would appeal.
Blackburn v West Ham
With Liverpool, Everton and Newcastle already committed elsewhere, three of Australia’s most famous footballing sons are already engaged. But, such has been the surge in Australian talent in the English league over recent years, this potential Uefa Cup play-off would have enough local boys to rouse parochial fervour. And the honest, physical approach of both teams would sit well with no nonsense Australians not yet fully converted to the round ball game.
If spreading the word as well as filling the coffers is motive behind leaving England to play Premier League matches then they could do a lot worse than head to Mumbai.
India’s growing importance on the international sporting stage was underlined recently by the entry in to Formula One by drinks baron Vijay Mallya, to turn Jordan in to Force India and the sale of eight cricket franchises for the newly formed Indian Premier League for £365 million, before a ball had been bowled.
Golf and tennis are on the rise there, too, but football has yet to find its feet on the subcontinent.
A population of over 13 million in the city, including a growing middle-class with disposal income to spend on subscriptions and merchandise, makes it a bean counters paradise.
Chelsea v Fulham
With India’s financial boom those governing sport there are most likely to be derived from the newly monied classes. What better way to connect hands across the see, then, than a derby match between two clubs who know more than a little about the benefits of suddenly finding oneself considerably richer than they once were.
If India is a potential cash cow then China represents a herd of the things.
And the Premier League will have to look smart if it is to retain its position as the most watched sport league in the world’s most populous country. For it is under attack from the NBA, whose marketing arm is already doing what it can to boost an already popular game further.
They also have ready made local poster boy in Yao Ming, the 7 foot 6 inch Houston Rockets centre.
Yet football in general, and English football in particular, remains a fascination. 2002 saw China qualify for their first World Cup and many predicted a watershed. However, the team’s dismal failure - they didn’t score a single goal - did little to capitalise on the mood of the time.
Many Premier League clubs have toured looking for the Chinese Yuan. Even Stockport County and Sheffield United have partnerships with clubs there.
The air pollution that will cost Paula Radcliffe here Olympic gold this summer may be a problem.
Arsenal v Tottenham
When trying to break new ground it makes sense to serve up a proper representative of the game in this country. A Frenchman and Spaniard committed to quick paced, attacking brand of inventive continental style football it is then.

telegraph.co.uk