11-year-old Montreal schoolgirl KEILA PENNER was the guest of Senators Owner EUGENE MELNYK for Game 4 of the Senators-Canadiens series last Tuesday after she "opted to wear her Ottawa jersey to school the day of Game 1, while many of her classmates wore the traditional" Canadiens brand. School officials "gave Penner her choice: switch into a white T-shirt or go home." She "chose the latter" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/12).
SCANNING THE CROWD: Rapper LIL WAYNE, Grizzlies investor ASHLEY MANNING and Panthers RB DEANGELO WILLIAMS on Saturday attended Thunder-Grizzlies Game 3 (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 5/12)....49ers CEO JED YORK, GM TRENT BAALKE, QB COLIN KAEPERNICK and RB FRANK GORE on Friday attended Spurs-Warriors Game 3. Basketball HOFer RICK BARRY and comedian DAVE CHAPPELLE were shown on the videoboard (AP, 5/11).
SPEAK UP: MLB Commissioner BUD SELIG yesterday gave the commencement address at St. Norbert College (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE, 5/13)....Jaguars Owner SHAHID KHAN was the commencement speaker at the Univ. of Illinois on Sunday. Khan earned his degree from the school in '71, lives in the Champaign-Urbana area and his company, Flex-N-Gate, is headquartered there (JACKSONVILLE.com, 5/13)....UConn women's basketball coach GENO AURIEMMA served as guest speaker at the Univ. of St. Joseph's inaugural HOF induction. He was invited by school AD BILL CARDARELLI and Associate AD and Senior Woman Administrator DEBBIE FISKE (HARTFORD COURANT, 5/13).
NAMES: In N.Y., Lisa Mickey profiles USGA Communications Manager RHONDA GLENN, who "retired last week after nearly 50 years" with the organization. Glenn in '81 also "became the first female sportscaster at ESPN" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/13)....Rays RF BEN ZOBRIST plays himself in the new "baseball-and-faith themed" movie, "Ring the Bell," which recently was released straight to DVD. Zobrist "has multiple lines, in three scenes" (TAMPABAY.com, 5/11)....Former MLBer DWIGHT GOODEN has written a book with journalist ELLIS HENICAN titled, "Doc: A Memoir." It will "hit bookstores on June 4" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/10)....JACKIE GRIFFIN, mother of Redskins QB ROBERT GRIFFIN III, last week announced that her son "would be getting married this summer" to his fiancée of over two and a half years, REBECCA LIDDICOAT (CBSSPORTS.com, 5/11)....Vanderbilt Univ. P TYLER BEEDE, as "hip-hop artist YOUNG BEEDAH," recently posted a YouTube track titled "Boston Strong" that was "played during the first Red Sox home game after the Marathon bombings" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/13).
IN MEMORY: Former MLBer LENNY YOCHIM passed away Saturday at the age of 84. He moved to the personnel side with the Pirates in '66 as the "senior member of baseball operations." During his years with the team, he served as an area scout, national crosschecker, major league scout and a senior adviser for player personnel "until his retirement" in '02 (NOLA.com, 5/12).
