NFL News:

• Carson Wentz has been cleared for 7-on-7 work at Eagles camp.
  • He’s still in a non-contact role, but the Eagles are confident that he’s showing good progress to be ready for Week 1.
  • No word on how he’s recovering from the VICIOUS BURN handed the Eagles organization by anthem-word-forgetter Donald Trump.

• The contract staredown between the Raiders & Khalil Mack is entering a dangerous phase for Chucky’s plans.
  • Mack is due to make $13.846 million in 2018, the option year that extends his rookie deal from four seasons to five.
  • Mack has made it clear he wants a new deal in place before he shows up, with estimates sounding like he’s looking into the $20 million per season range, the highest contract ever for a non-QB.
    • In a darkened room somewhere, Albert Haynesworth eats another Cheeto and smiles.

• The passing of Dwight Clark has gotten a lot of people talking, but one quote from Kyle Shanahan shows how far the team has fallen since the DeBartolo days.
  • “To hear the type of teammate he was, the type of friend he was to people like Keena [Turner] and the rest of that team, that’s what we’re trying to build here,” 49ers Kyle Shanahan said. “That’s why they had a great culture then. It started out with great people, starting with Dwight. And that’s what we’re trying to emulate. And got a lot of respect for that guy, and he’s going to be greatly missed.”

As you know, 1918 marks the centenary of the end of World War One. As you also know, when there’s little to nothing on, the DFO Overlords let me indulge my History degree with some musings on important factoids. Well, there’s nothing of significance to commemorate from that war on today’s date, and there’s sweet fuck all for sports on TV tonight. But as most people with a general knowledge of history know, June 6th is a very significant date nonetheless, so let’s give the Canadian contingent some glory on a day when “The Longest Day” & “Saving Private Ryan” dominate the airwaves.

World War Two – June 6, 1944: D-Day

Today is the 74th anniversary of the landings at Normandy. In honour of that, the National Post has posted a series of photos and videos about the Canadian landings at Juno Beach, which I will intersperse throughout my missive.

On June 6, 1944, the Canadian 3rd Infantry Division, made up of troops from the 7th & 8th Brigades, and the 2nd Armoured Brigade were to attack an eight-kilometre stretch of the coast code-named “Juno” Beach in two sectors, “Mike” and “Nan”,

and the 3rd Division’s 9th Brigade was to land 4-6 hours after the initial assault to reinforce the landing force and begin securing coastal towns to allow for further reinforcements to land. Their objective was to ultimately take control of the coastal towns of Courseulles, Bernières, Saint-Aubin and Bény-sur-Mer, gain control of the Bayeux-Caen railway line, and – if possible – secure the town of Caen before assault troops were then to move towards the Carpiquet airfield, 18 kilometres inland..

[Interesting footnote (from Wikipedia but verified from other sources): The name “Juno” arose because Winston Churchill considered that the original code name — Jelly — sounded inappropriate. The code names for the beaches to be taken by British and Commonwealth forces were named after types of fish: Goldfish, Swordfish and Jellyfish, abbreviated to Gold, Sword and Jelly. Churchill “disapproved of the name Jelly for a beach on which so many men might die”. He insisted on a change to the more dignified name Juno.]

When the Canadians landed,

^{Canadian troops from Quebec City’s Le Régiment de la Chaudière}

they discovered that the pre-raid bombing had done little damage to their intended targets. Most of the elaborate fire-support plan failed, leaving the infantry, combat engineers, and armoured troopers to overcome the enemy by direct fire. Destroyers and supporting craft of the Royal Canadian Navy, 10,000 sailors onboard 110 ships of the Royal Canadian Navy, supported the invasion, but it fell to more than 14,000 soldiers from across Canada, under Major-General Rod Keller, commander of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, to storm Juno Beach.

Arriving three hours after optimal tides, the landing craft were forced to deal with partially submerged obstacles that couldn’t be cleared, and had to negotiate around submerged mines in the sand, which disabled or destroyed 30% of the landing craft. In the first waves, almost one in two men were wounded or killed during the initial assault before German forces were overwhelmed. Below is the famous video shown in every Canadian history class of the 3rd Division landing at Juno Beach.

Canadians soon captured three shoreline positions on D-Day and established themselves near the village of Creully, but this was to be only the beginning of the struggle to liberate France. Through the summer of 1944, the fighting continued. Canadians played an important role in closing the “Falaise Gap” in mid-August as the Germans finally retreated in the face of the Allied offensive. On August 25, 1944, Paris was liberated by the Allies, bringing the Normandy campaign officially to a close.

Out of 1,074 total D-Day Canadian casualties, 340 Canadians were killed. The event is commemorated with a small memorial and visitors centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer, France.

Tonight’s sports:

• NBA:
  • Warriors at Cavaliers – 9:00PM | ABC / TSN
• MLB:
  • no national US broadcasts
  • Yankees at Blue Jays – 7:00PM | Sportsnet
  • Royals at Angels – 10:00PM | Sportsnet360

I go for staff orientation at the baseball stadium tonight, because even though I’ve been there for 27 years, I still have to learn where beer comes from. THE NEW KIDS ARE SO FUCKING YOUNG!