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The Week Ahead

The Week Ahead

This week is once again a week of calm.

As far as baseball is concerned, there’s a lot of good series early in the week. The Red Sox host the Angels at Fenway Park. The Cubs travel to Milwaukee in a showdown of #1 vs. #2 in the NL Central Division. There’s the White Sox and Twins in their #1 vs. #2 showdown in the AL Central. The Giants may be hopelessly lost in the NL West, but any time they take on their rival the Dodgers, it’s always interesting.

Then for the weekend, the Angels take on the Yankees who always have trouble with Anaheim. The AL East Division leading Rays hosts the Tigers. Then the Arizona Diamondbacks square off against the Dodgers in the showdown for the lead in the NL West.

The PGA Tour’s World Golf Championships at Bridgestone will take place at the storied Firestone Country Club this weekend. Golf Channel and CBS have the coverage.

The LPGA Tour heads to England for the Women’s Open Championship at Sunningdale Golf Club. TNT and ESPN/ABC will air the tournament.

NASCAR heads to Pocono for the Pennsylvania 500 on Sunday. ESPN has that race at 2 p.m.

Speed Channel has the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday.

The US Open Series has the women in Montreal for the Rogers Cup and the men are in Cincinnati for the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.

Of course, the Olympics loom, but that’s for another week. That’s a look at the Week Ahead.

The Week Ahead

Two mid-summer events are the highlights for this week.

The 79th annual MLB All-Star Game takes some added meaning this week. First, it’s the last All-Star Game to be played in the venerable Yankee Stadium. Second, Fox and MLB are making a big deal about it. There are plenty of events happening including the Home Run Derby on Monday that ESPN will carry starting at 8 p.m. with Chris Berman yelling and Joe Morgan pontificating. Then on Tuesday, Fox has a red carpet parade starting at 7 p.m., with the actual game starting sometime after 8 p.m. (probably 8:30 p.m. after all of the introductions). The American League leads the series, 41-35 with 2 ties. The outcome of the game has home field advantage for the winning league so as Fox says, “This one counts.” But the big star of the evening will be Yankee Stadium which is in its last year of use. Joe Buck, Tim McCarver and Ken Rosenthal will call the game. ESPN Radio has the call if you’re away from your TV.

The other big event is golf’s third major of the year, the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Known in the US as the British Open, the tournament is wide open as Tiger Woods is not participating, recuperating from knee surgery. Since the action during the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday will take place when many of us are at work, there is live streaming of the event at CBSSports.com. If you are at home, TNT will have extensive coverage of the first two rounds starting at 7 a.m. TNT will also provide early 3rd and final round coverage Saturday and Sunday at 7 a.m. and 6 a.m. respectively. ABC will start its coverage Saturday morning at 9 and Sunday at 8 a.m.

There is an official PGA Tour event and that’s the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee and Golf Channel will have all four rounds.

The LPGA heads to Springfield, IL for the State Farm Classic. ESPN2 will have coverage throughout the weekend.

When baseball returns from its All-Star break, some of the series to watch will be the Cubs at Houston, the Dodgers at Arizona in a battle for first in the National League West, the AL East leading Red Sox travel out west to take on the West leading Anaheim Angels. Other series to watch, the Mets, just a half game out of first in the NL East are in Cincinnati and the Phillies who are holding onto the lead by a thread are in Florida to face off against the Marlins. Fox has the Red Sox-Angels and Phillies-Marlins on Saturday. And ESPN has the Red Sox-Angels Sunday night at 6, note the early time because of some silly awards show that ESPN will air later that night.

NASCAR takes the week off.

IndyCar has the Honda Indy Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio on Sunday. ABC has the race at 1:30 p.m.

Formula 1 has the German Grand Prix on Sunday.

In tennis, this week begins the US Open Series leading up to the U.S. Open in August. The men head to Indiana for the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, while the women will be in California for the Bank of the West Classic. Tennis Channel and ESPN2 team up for coverage leading to the finals on Sunday.

And that’s a look at your Week Ahead.

The Week Ahead

I’ll do the Week Ahead first, then do your links for today.

The Week in Sport is a slow one as we come off a scintillating Wimbledon, the U.S. Olympic Trials are over, MLB is gearing up for next week’s All-Star Game and the British Open isn’t until next weekend. So this is going to be a rather quiet week.

Looking at Major League Baseball, we’re already at the halfway point of the regular season. One of the more intriguing series will be the Tampa Bay Rays traveling to New York to face the Yankees. The early week series will show us if the AL East-leading Rays can win the on the road. For the National League, the NL East-leading Phillies take on the Cardinals in the midwest. Then on the final weekend before the All-Star break, Minnesota and Detroit square off in a AL Central battle and the Brewers who appear to have CC Sabathia in the fold will host Cincinnati. And out west, the Angels host Oakland. Fox’s Saturday games will be Minnesota-Detroit and Arizona-Philadelphia. ESPN will have the Rockies-Mets on Sunday night.

NASCAR heads to the Chicagoland Speedway for the LifeLock.com 400, Saturday night. This will be TNT’s last race before handing off to ESPN/ABC for the rest of the season.

The Indy Car Racing series will be in Nashville for the Firestone 200. ESPN has the race this Saturday night at 8.

The PGA Tour is in Illinois for the John Deere Classic. Golf Channel and CBS share the coverage.

Over to the LPGA, the women’s tour will stop at Toledo, OH for one of its more popular dates, the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic. ESPN2 has coverage starting Friday.

I told you it a slow week for sports. Next week, you have the All-Star Game and the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. That is a look at the Week Ahead.

The Week Ahead

As Euro 2008 has finished, the sporting eyes turn to the 4th of July holiday weekend in the United States and the finish of Wimbledon in Europe.

As Interleague play finally finishes, some of the traditional rivalries return to baseball this week. In the early week series, American League East division rivals Tampa Bay and Boston square off in a battle for first place. In the AL Central, the White Sox host last place Cleveland and the second place Twins host Detroit. And in the AL West, the Angels head to Oakland as the top two teams in the division play an important series.

Starting on Thursday, the Red Sox and Yankees will start a four game series in which New York has its opportunity to get back in the AL East race. Saturday’s game will be on Fox. ESPN will have the series finale on Sunday night.

In the National League, the Mets have a chance to get back in the East division battle when it takes on Philadelphia. The Dodgers and Giants will also renew their rivalry this weekend.

Wimbledon starts off the quarterfinals in both the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ singles on Monday and ESPN2 and NBC will combine for live and same day coverage. ESPN2 will start its coverage each day at 7 a.m. NBC takes over at 10 a.m., Monday-Wednesday, then at noon for the women’s semis on Thursday and then noon again on Friday for the men’s semis. Then on Saturday and Sunday, it’s Breakfast at Wimbledon at 9 a.m. for the Ladies and Gentlemen’s Finals, respectively. If you’re looking for online coverage, ESPN360 simulcasts ESPN2′s coverage each day. NBCSports.com will also be streaming its coverage through the finals (major props for that).

NASCAR heads to its traditional 4th of July weekend race at Daytona, the Coke Zero 400 which TNT carries Saturday night starting at 6:30.

Indy Car will be in New York for something called the Camping World Indy Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. ABC has the race on Sunday.

Formula 1 fans have the British Grand Prix to watch this Sunday as well.

The PGA Tour heads to Congressional in Maryland for the AT&T National. Golf Channel and CBS combine for the coverage.

The LPGA will be playing the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship which CBS carries during the weekend.

The U.S. Olympic Trials continue as the swimming and track & field teams will continue to be selected. USA Network will have late night coverage of the track & field trials on Monday, Thursday and Friday. Swimming fans can watch the trials every night from 8-9 p.m. starting tonight and all the way through next Sunday on either NBC or USA. Steaming online coverage can be seen also on NBCOlympics.com.

And that is your week ahead in sports.

The Week Ahead

Tennis’ third Grand Slam tournament and the most tradition-laden, The Championships, Wimbledon begin Monday. The fortnight at SW19 in London is one of the great events on the sporting calendar. It’s an event so big, it now has three U.S. TV partners, NBC, ESPN and now Tennis Channel which begins its first year of airing the tournament. Roger Federer and Ana Ivanovic are your #1 seeds. Since the tournament will be underway when most of us in the States will be at work, there are a couple of ways to keep track of your favorite players online.

Wimbledon prefers you to buy your way in and watch the matches through its official online partner, Mediazone. You’ll have to shell out $24.99 for the entire fortnight or $9.99 for a one day pass.

However, if your internet service provider is partnered with ESPN, you’ll be able to watch matches for free through the ESPN360 service.

If you don’t want to pay anything or don’t have access to ESPN360, there’s Radio Wimbledon which is available online or for no extra charge on Sirius Satellite Radio.

DirecTV and Dish Network subscribers will get an interactive presentation with 7 different channels and four dedicated to different courts.

ESPN2 begins its coverage every morning at 7 ET/4 PT. Tennis Channel will have Wimbledon Primetime at 7 p.m. each night. NBC begins its coverage this Saturday.

Euro 2008 continues with the semifinals this week. Germany takes on Turkey on Wednesday. ESPN has coverage at 2:30 p.m. The other semifinal will pit Russia against Spain. That will air on ESPN2 on Thursday also at 2:30 p.m. Both games are also available on ESPN360. The final will be held next Sunday and ABC will carry the game.

Hard to believe that I would put baseball third after two European events, but it’s happened. Interleague play continues this week. Intriguing matchups in the first part of the week include the Red Sox hosting Arizona, San Francisco at Cleveland in a matchup of two franchises that met in the 1954 World Series, the Yankees will be in Pittsburgh in a rematch of the 1960 World Series, and the Cubs host Baltimore. Later in the week, the Cubs will take on the White Sox in part 2 of the Crosstown Rivalry, Cleveland hosts Cincinnati in the Battle of Ohio, the Mets take on the Yankees in the Bronx, the Giants head to Oakland for the Battle of the Bay Area and the Dodgers and Angels play in the Freeway Series. On Saturday, Fox will carry the Mets-Yankees and Cubs-White Sox.

The PGA Tour heads to Michigan for the Buick Open. Golf Channel and CBS combine for the coverage. Before the Buick Open, there’s the CVS Caremark Charity Classic in my native Rhode Island which will have U.S. Open runner-up Rocco Mediate in the field. Golf Channel will pick up coverage on Monday and Tuesday.

The USGA holds the U.S. Women’s Open in Edina, MN. ESPN and NBC have the coverage starting Thursday.

NASCAR heads to the New Hampshire International Speedway for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301. TNT has the race Sunday at 1 p.m.

The NBA Draft is this Thursday on ESPN at 7 p.m.

And that’s a look at the Week Ahead.

The Week Ahead

This week will be quite busy in sports. The U.S. Open at Torrey Pines marks not only Tiger Woods’ return to golf, but also marks the start of three major golf tournaments in three months.

We’ll all be interested to see how Tiger fares in his first tournament back since knee surgery. The USGA couldn’t be happier to have Tiger in the Open. ESPN and NBC couldn’t be happier because his participation means big ratings. Plus with the 3rd and 4th rounds in primetime on Father’s Day weekend, it means plenty of eyeballs will be watching golf. Unfortunately, Chris Berman who was not present at The Masters in April will be present at the only golf tournament he covers during the year. ESPN has coverage starting Thursday at 1 p.m. ET with NBC taking over at 3 p.m. Then ESPN will start again with late afternoon coverage from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. On Saturday, NBC’s coverage goes from 4 – 10 p.m. and on Father’s Day Sunday, it will go from 3 p.m. until 9 p.m. Primetime golf will be fun to watch.

In a related note, HBO will premiere another in its series of “Sports in the 20th Century” documentaries. On Wednesday, the day before the U.S. Open, HBO will air “Back Nine at Cherry Hills: The Legends of the 1960 U.S. Open“. Detailing the last 9 holes of the 1960 U.S. Open where Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus all converged with a chance to win, this documentary, written by Mary Carillo, is one of the best ever produced. I have already seen it and the HBO sports documentary unit has hit another home run. I’ll have a review of the documentary before it airs, but I can safely say that the documentary which not only looks at the action between the three men and their fathers who shaped them, is done extremely well.

Euro 2008 continues this week with round robin action and ESPN2 and ESPN Classic will have extensive coverage for the US audience. The game schedule can be seen here.

The NBA Finals shift to Los Angeles this week for Games 3 and 4, Tuesday and Thursday respectively. ABC couldn’t be happier to have the Celtics and Lakers in the finals. With a Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday schedule, the games are spread out over 16 day period. All games will begin at 9 p.m. ET meaning some kids won’t be able to stay up late to watch them. Anyway, the NBA Finals will be one of the sports highlights of the week.

For baseball, this weekend marks another edition of Interleague play. Among the more interesting matchups, the Red Sox travel to Cincinnati to take on the Reds, the Yankees will take on Houston at Minute Maid Field, the Cubs take on Toronto at the former Skydome, and there will be three “natural” rivalry series, the A’s take on the Giants in the Battle of the Bay Area, the Twins take on the Brewers in a matchup of former American League rivals and there’s the Battle of Florida as the Marlins go to Tampa to take on the Rays.

NASCAR heads to Michigan for the Lifelock 400 next Sunday.

Those are among the events that will take place this week.

The Week Ahead

The sporting calendar in May usually is chock full of outdoor sporting events and this week is no exception.

The PGA Tour’s “5th Major”, the Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida with its signature island green at the 17 hole will be the feature sporting event of the week. However, with Tiger Woods gone recovering from knee surgery, the interest will not be as high as in the past. But NBC Sports treats it as a major as blog hater Bob Costas will host. Defending champion Phil Mickelson will be there. Golf Channel will have the early round coverage on Thursday and Friday. NBC takes over on Saturday.

The NBA playoffs have started their conference semifinal round. Now that the Celtics have eliminated Atlanta, their series with Cleveland will most likely start on Tuesday. The entire series schedule can be seen here.

If the Dallas Stars eliminated the San Jose Sharks tonight, then most likely, the NFL Conference Finals will begin Tuesday and Wednesday. We’ll keep you posted of the schedules here at Fang’s Bites.

In Baseball, some of the interesting series early in the week include Boston at Detroit (which will be part of ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball), the Yankees at Cleveland, the Mets at the Dodgers, the Cubs at the Reds and St. Louis at Colorado. Then for the weekend series, Boston will travel to Minnesota, the Yankees will invade Detroit over the weekend, Arizona faces the Cubs in what could be a faceoff of division leaders, and Colorado will be in San Diego.

NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series will be at the Darlington Raceway for the Dodge Challenger 500 in another Saturday night primetime race for Fox. The Nationwide race will run the night before, the Diamond Hill Plywood (?) 200 on ESPN2.

The Formula 1 circuit travels to Istanbul, not Constantinople, for the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday. Speed Channel has the race at 7 a.m.

That’s the week ahead in sports.

The Week Ahead

This is something I’m going to try to do every Sunday, previewing what’s ahead in the Week in Sport.

One of the bigger events on the sporting calendar is the Kentucky Derby and it’s always a sign of spring. NBC Sports will have its coverage starting at 4 p.m. this Saturday, May 3 with a silly red carpet show hosted by Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush. Bob Costas will be the host, Tom Hammond, Gary Stevens, Kenny Rice, Bob Neumeier, Mike Battgalia and Donna Barton Brothers will all be at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY for the opening leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown.

In baseball, ESPN will have the Yankees at Cleveland on Monday Night Baseball at 7:05 p.m.

The Red Sox try to avenge an Opening Week sweep by the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays as they’ll meet again at Fenway Park in Boston starting on Tuesday.

In another midweek series, the Yankees will travel to Detroit on Tuesday to take on the Tigers who are still trying to right their ship after a poor start to the season.

And one of the best rivalries in baseball, the Cubs and Cardinals square off in St. Louis starting on Friday. Fox will have coverage of the middle game on Saturday starting at 3:55 p.m. ESPN will have the Sunday night game at 8:05 p.m.

The NBA and NHL playoffs continue this week. The NBA schedule can be seen here. Both ESPN and TNT will have NBA coverage throughout the week. Check out the NHL playoff schedule here. Versus, CBC and TSN will have the coverage during the weeknights, NBC joins in on the weekend.

The men’s and women’s tennis tours are abroad as they prep for the French Open. The ATP Tour will be in Rome for the Masters tournament there. And the women are in Berlin.

The PGA Tour will be in Charlotte, NC this week for the Wachovia Championships. Golf Channel and CBS Sports have the coverage starting this Thursday.

The NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series will stop in Richmond for the Dan Lowry 400. I guess that race was named for a fan. Fox will cover the race Saturday night at 7 p.m.

Those are some of the events you can look forward to this week.