June 8, 2023 News and Notes

• Today is one week to the deadline where League of Legends North American players must take to the Rift for the Summer Split or lose the entire Summer Split and any participation in the 2023 World Championships.  And given recent comments by Doublelift which are largely seen as undercutting the LCS Players Association, whether they do is ANYBODY'S guess!!!
• Historic moment in the Nuggets' 109-94 win in Miami to take Game 3 and home-court back in the 2023 NBA Finals.  Nikola Jokic had 32 points, 21 rebounds, 10 assists.  Jamal Murray had 34 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds.
• They are the first two players in NBA history have a 30-point triple double in the same game.  Not just the Finals.  Not just the playoffs.  It never happened before, in ANY NBA game.
• AEW is gearing up for Forbidden Door and the return of CM Punk to the company:
• Next Wednesday night on Dynamite:  AEW World Champion MJF has a World Title Eliminator match with Adam Cole (If Cole wins, he gets a World Title shot.).
• Also next Wednesday:  The Young Bucks will team with Hangman Page in a 6-man war against The Blackpool Combat Club and Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castignoli, and Jon Moxley.
• A week from Saturday, in Chicago, CM Punk returns to AEW for the first time since "Brawl Out".  He will be the feature wrestler on a new TNT wrestling show, AEW Collision, which will be on Saturday nights.  The first main event?  A stacked match.  6-man trios tag:  Former IWGP World Champion Jay White, Former IWGP US Champion Juice Robinson, and former NXT, Impact, and Ring of Honor champion and current Ring of Honor Television Champion Samoa Joe will face former Basically Every Other Companies' Tag Team Championship except WWE FTR and CM Punk.
• The two shows will be constructed with at least partial separation of the rosters, probably mostly to keep Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks from CM Punk.
• And then two matches set for a SOLD OUT Forbidden Door pay-per-view in Canada at the end of the month:
• Kazuchka Okada has accepted the challenge of Bryan Danielson.
• And Will Ospreay cashes his tournament victory #1 contendership for the IWGP US Championship against Kenny Omega.
• And if you want to see how seriously the NFL is taking illegal gambling by players, etc.:  The league has no less than tabbed Face of the League Tom Brady to do a PSA urging players to abide by league guidelines and not do so.  (Source:  Sports Illustrated)
• Malik Gant, formerly in the New England Patriots organization but never played a down in the NFL before being released and playing for Birmingham in the USFL in 2022, has died.  Age 25.  No cause of death revealed.
• Latest smoke-related cancellations:  
• No game in Washington tonight for the Nationals.  
• No racing at Belmont Park or Saratoga.
• The Belmont Stakes, FOR NOW, is still on for Saturday.  The Governor of New York, however, is stating it will be cancelled if a certain threshold of air quality is not met on Saturday.  And then, still, special veterinary exams may be required.
• As of right now, nine will contest the mile and a half.  And Forte, scratched from the Kentucky Derby and banned from the Preakness for fitness, is the 5-2 current favorite.
• The Giants called off an OTA practice today.