Bruins Owner Jeremy Jacobs said of possible NHL expansion markets, "Quebec is challenged, OK, I’m going to put it nicely. They’re challenged. Look at the income base and the population base and there probably isn’t a smaller market, so they’re going to really have to distinguish themselves in some other way." Quebec City as of '16 had an "estimated population of 705,103, which would make it the eighth-largest Canadian city just behind Winnipeg" (SPORTSNET.ca, 5/16).
QUICK PITCH: MLB Giants 1B Brandon Belt alleges an umpire in yesterday's game against the Reds made a borderline strike call in order to end the game quickly. ESPN's Scott Van Pelt noted there is a "big difference between an ump saying that he wants to keep a game moving, which is a directive from on high in Major League Baseball, and an ump calling a ball a strike because he wants to go eat lunch" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 5/17).
TIGHT SQUEEZE: The WNBA chose to "ram the entire regular season and playoffs in before the [FIBA Basketball] World Cup tournament begins Sept. 22 in Spain," meaning games "will be coming fast and furious." Last season, the Lynx’ 34 regular-season games were "played over a span of 112 days." This season, those 34 games "will be played over 91 days" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 5/17).
