Warriors fan GREG WIENER has "qualified his recollection" of the incident between Raptors President of Basketball Operations MASAI UJIRI and an Alameda County sheriff's deputy after Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Wiener, who witnessed the incident, initially said that "no words were exchanged between the deputy and Ujiri during the interaction." But yesterday, Wiener said that the deputy "did speak to Ujiri during the Thursday night confrontation." Wiener said that he was "mistaken when he told the AP there was nothing said between Ujiri and the deputy, and detailed his revised account of the event" (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 6/18).
NAMES: A source said that NOLAN RYAN has "informed the Mets he will not be attending the celebration" of the '69 World Series team on June 29. No reason was given (NEWSDAY, 6/18)....The Michigan State men's basketball team "will not make a trip to Spain later this summer" as coach TOM IZZO had "previously announced in April." Izzo "decided that delaying the summer trip would help his team better prepare for the upcoming season" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 6/18)....ALEX TREBEK and recent long-running "JEOPARDY!" champion JAMES HOLZHAUER will both present an honor tomorrow night at the NHL's annual awards show at Mandalay Bay Events Center (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 6/18)....Former WNBAer TAMIKA CATCHINGS will appear on NBC's "AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR" on July 1 as part of the show's Baltimore qualifying round (KNOXVILLE NEWS SENTINEL, 6/18)....CIARA last night at the Spotify/Hulu party during the Cannes Lions festival "took to a floating pool stage to perform at a chateau" while her husband RUSSELL WILSON "looked on" (NYPOST.com, 6/17).
IN MEMORY: A[i]M Marketing Solutions Founder & CEO KRISTI ATKINS died Friday after a battle with breast cancer. Atkins was a former president of the national board for Women in Sports & Events (WISE) and was the current president of the Atlanta chapter (THE DAILY).
