In Toronto, Marty York notes that the CFL has so far
"exceeded" expectations in attendance and TV ratings this
season. Attendance is up 7.8% and TSN ratings are up 16%
compared with this time last season. But York writes that
on the field the "story is different," and the competition
level "has by no means fulfilled expectations" as the CFL is
a league of "haves and have-nots" (GLOBE & MAIL, 9/1).
OTHER NOTES: The NFL suspended Steelers OT Paul Wiggins
for the first four weeks of the regular season after he
tested positive for Androstenedione (PITTSBURGH POST-
GAZETTE, 8/31)....In Sunday's "Connecticut Living" section
of the N.Y. TIMES, Jack Cavanaugh wrote that "no where ...
is professional baseball's new prosperity move evident than
in Connecticut, which this year has five pro teams, more
than it has ever had in modern times." He added, "Far and
away the state's biggest baseball story of the year has been
the phenomenal success of the Bridgeport Bluefish of the
first-year Atlantic Baseball League." The Bluefish have
been averaging about 4,300 fans per game in the new 5,300-
seat Harbor Yard. The team is on pace to draw 280,000 fans
by the end of the regular season next week, which would
break the record for an independent league team set by the
Northern League's St. Paul Saints (N.Y. TIMES, 8/30).
