chess

Jan 26

Midweek Myriad: Marta, Nadal, handball, 1260s, etc.

By Beau Dure chess, mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, winter sports 1 Comment »

One of the joys of following a hundred sports or so is that you’re not stuck dissecting the Super Bowl to the point that it becomes joyless. Instead, we have all this:

- Marta signs with Western New York. A WPS shocker. Good news from a media point of view because it means more of us will be paying attention to veteran Rochester reporter Jeff DiVeronica, who jokes on Twitter that Marta will push him up to 1,000 followers.

The conventional wisdom would be that Marta would sign with The Club Formerly And Still Partially Known As The Washington Freedom But Also With Magic Jack In The Name (TCFASPKATWFBAWMJITN) so that Dan Borislow would have a marquee player to market in South Florida and perhaps somewhere in Washington once the team hires marketing and sales staffs and finds venues in which to play. Instead, Borislow has given us the best WPS smack talk in the league’s brief history, via Our Game: “This came as a total surprise. I am glad she will be playing in the league. She will discover we are the team to beat, so I hope she is at the top of her game when she plays us.”

For all the talk in MLS about “Rivalry Week,” maybe we should be circling the calendar for TCFASPKATWFBAWMJITN’s visit to Rochester.

- Nadal loses. And it’s a pity. Tennis could use a Grand Slam charge from the charismatic, humble Spaniard, but an injury has derailed his Australian Open campaign. Nadal didn’t want to use the injury as an excuse, but he wasn’t fooling opponent David Ferrer. Class acts all around. (NYT)

- Winter X Games time. And the NYT notes that several more X sports may be joining the Winter Olympic program. No word on women’s ski jumping, though that sport has a better-defined set of rules and so forth.

The Summer Olympics might be too big. The Winter Olympics aren’t, and it’s hard to begrudge slopestyle its place. But if the IOC adds the X sports without women’s ski jumping, the excuses will ring hollow.

- Handball heaven. It’s only $20 away. At least the highlights are free, so I was able to scout semifinalist France in their win over my buddies from Iceland in a rematch of the 2008 Olympic final. (Dan Steinberg also enjoyed covering that team in Beijing and linked to my highest-read blog post ever.)

Iceland plays Croatia for fifth place on Friday. The semifinals the same day: France-Sweden, Denmark-Spain.

- Also this weekend:

Cyclocross World Championships. The muddier, the better.
U.S. Figure Skating Championships, in my former hometown of Greensboro.
Luge World Championships. U.S. sliders not having a particularly good year.
Paralympic Athletics World Championships.
Millrose Games.
Strikeforce: Middleweight and welterweight title fights, plus Herschel Walker.
Final weekend of Tata Steel chess classic, where U.S. player Hikaru Nakamura shares the lead in an elite group.

Tagged with: handball • iceland • ioc • marta • ski jumping • washington freedom • western new york flash • wps

Jan 03

2011 in myriad sports

By Beau Dure 2011 calendar, 2012 medal projections, basketball, chess, cycling, mma, olympic sports, rugby, soccer, tennis, track and field, winter sports No Comments »

Any listing of the year in sports is going to be selective, and this one is no different.

The idea here is to get every world championship in every Olympic sport. Some sports don’t have world championships in odd years, so you’ll see a mix of 2010 world championships and a handful of elite 2011 events.

I’ve also included other major Olympic-sport events such as track and field’s Diamond League and various events in tennis and men’s soccer, which have no specific world championships for Olympic-eligible athletes. I also have some events of U.S. interest and a few non-Olympic sports selected through a mix of cultural importance and personal whims.

The “priority” ranking, not really priority but just for purposes of sorting: 1 is a world championship in an Olympic sport, 2 is a near-world championship, 3 is U.S. interest and 4 is general interest.

DATE	SPORT	EVENT	LOCATION	PRIORITY
2/8/2011	Alpine	World Championships	Garmisch, Germany	1
7/3/2011	Archery	World Championships	Torino, Italy	1
8/27/2011	Athletics	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	1
4/17/2011	Athletics	London Marathon	London	2
5/6/2011	Athletics	Diamond League	Doha, Qatar	2
5/15/2011	Athletics	Diamond League	Shanghai, China	2
5/26/2011	Athletics	DL Golden Gala	Rome, Italy	2
6/4/2011	Athletics	DL Prefontaine Classic	Eugene, Ore.	2
6/9/2011	Athletics	DL Bislett Games	Oslo, Norway	2
6/11/2011	Athletics	DL adidas Grand Prix	New York	2
6/30/2011	Athletics	DL Athletissima	Lausanne, Switzerland	2
7/8/2011	Athletics	DL Meeting Areva	Paris	2
7/10/2011	Athletics	DL Birmingham GP	Birmingham, England	2
7/22/2011	Athletics	DL Herculis	Monaco	2
7/29/2011	Athletics	DL DN Galan	Stockholm	2
8/5/2011	Athletics	DL London GP	London	2
9/8/2011	Athletics	DL Weltklasse Zurich	Zurich, Switzerland	2
9/16/2011	Athletics	DL Memorial Van Damme	Brussels, Belgium	2
1/28/2011	Athletics	Millrose Games	New York	3
2/26/2011	Athletics	USA Indoor	Albuquerque	3
3/20/2011	Athletics	World Cross Country Champs	Punta Umbria, Spain	4
8/8/2011	Badminton	World Championships	London	1
8/28/2010	Basketball	(Men) World Championships	Turkey	1
9/23/2010	Basketball	(W) World Championships	Czech Republic	1
6/18/2011	Basketball	Women's EuroBasket	Poland	2
9/3/2011	Basketball	Men's EuroBasket	Lithuania	2
6/14/2011	Beach volleyball	World Championships	Italy	1
3/1/2011	Biathlon	World Championships	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	1
2/4/2011	Biathlon	World Cup, U.S. stops	Maine	3
7/28/2011	BMX	World Championships	Copenhagen, Denmark	1
2/14/2011	Bobsled/skel	World Championships	Koenigssee, Germany	1
9/16/2011	Boxing	World Championships	Busan, Korea	1
8/18/2011	Canoe/kayak	Flatwater World Champs	Szeged, Hungary	1
9/7/2011	Canoe/kayak	Slalom World Champs	Bratislava, Slovakia	1
5/3/2011	Chess	Candidates Matches	Kazan, Russia	4
2/19/2011	Cricket	World Cup	India, Sri Lanka, Bangla	4
3/19/2011	Curling	(W) World Championships	Esbjerg, Denmark	1
4/2/2011	Curling	(Men) World Championships	Regina, Canada	1
2/12/2011	Curling	US Championships	Fargo, ND	3
3/24/2011	Cycling	Track World Championships	Apeldoorn, Netherlands	1
9/19/2011	Cycling	Road World Champs	Copenhagen, Denmark	1
5/7/2011	Cycling	Giro d'Italia	Italy	2
7/2/2011	Cycling	Tour de France	France	2
8/20/2011	Cycling	Vuelta a Espana	Spain	2
3/19/2011	Cycling	Milan-San Remo	Italy	4
4/10/2011	Cycling	Paris-Roubaix	France	4
4/24/2011	Cycling	Liege-Bastogne-Liege	France	4
1/3/2011	Darts	World Championships	London	4
7/16/2011	Diving	World Championships	Shanghai, China	1
9/25/2010	Equestrian	World Equestrian Games	Lexington, Ky.	1
4/27/2011	Equestrian	Dressage World Cup final	Leipzig, Germany	2
4/27/2011	Equestrian	Jumping World Cup final	Leipzig, Germany	2
10/12/2011	Equestrian	Last eventing classic	France	2
10/8/2011	Fencing	World Championships	Catania, Italy	1
3/13/2010	Field hockey	(M) World Cup	New Delhi, India	1
9/11/2010	Field hockey	(W) World Cup	Rosario, Argentina	1
6/25/2011	Field hockey	Champions Trophy women	Amsterdam	2
12/1/2011	Field hockey	Champions Trophy men	India; city and date tbc	2
3/21/2011	Figure skating	World Championships	Tokyo	1
1/22/2011	Figure skating	U.S. Championships	Greensboro	3
1/30/2011	Freestyle ski	World Championships	Deer Valley, Utah	1
10/8/2011	Gymnastics	World Championships	Tokyo	1
1/13/2011	Handball	(Men) World Championships	Sweden	1
12/3/2011	Handball	(W) World Championships	Brazil	1
4/16/2011	Ice hockey	(W) World Championships	Switzerland	1
4/29/2011	Ice hockey	(Men) World Championships	Slovakia	2
8/23/2011	Judo	World Championships	Paris	1
1/29/2011	Luge	World Championships	Cesana, Italy	1
1/1/2011	MMA	UFC 125: Edgar-Maynard	Las Vegas	4
1/22/2011	MMA	UFC Fight for the Troops	Fort Hood, Texas	4
1/29/2011	MMA	Strikeforce	San Jose, Calif.	4
2/5/2011	MMA	UFC 126: Silva-Belfort	Las Vegas	4
2/27/2011	MMA	UFC 127: Penn-Fitch	Sydney	4
3/3/2011	MMA	UFC on Versus	Louisville, Ky.	4
3/5/2011	MMA	Strikeforce	Columbus, Ohio	4
3/19/2011	MMA	UFC 128	Newark, N.J.	4
3/26/2011	MMA	UFC Fight Night	Seattle	4
4/30/2011	MMA	UFC 129	Toronto	4
7/2/2011	MMA	UFC	Las Vegas	4
9/6/2011	Modern pent	World Championships	Cairo, Egypt	1
7/9/2011	Modern pent	World Cup final	London	2
2/24/2011	Modern pent	U.S. World Cup stop	Palm Springs	4
8/30/2011	Mountain bike	World Championships	Champery, Switzerland	1
2/22/2011	Nordic ski	World Championships	Oslo, Norway	1
5/31/2011	Poker	World Series of Poker	Las Vegas	4
9/19/2011	Rhythmic gym	World Championships	Montpellier, France	1
8/28/2011	Rowing	World Championships	Bled, Slovenia	1
5/21/2011	Rugby	Heineken and Amlin Cup finals	various	4
9/9/2011	Rugby	World Cup	New Zealand	4
10/3/2011	Sailing	World Championships	Perth, Australia	1
7/29/2010	Shooting	World Championships	Munich	1
9/3/2011	Shooting	Shotgun World Champs	Belgrade, Serbia	1
6/13/2011	Shooting	Last World Cup rifle/pistol	Munich	2
3/11/2011	Short-track	World Championships	Sheffield, England	1
3/19/2011	Short-track	World Team Championships	Warsaw, Poland	2
1/14/2011	Snowboarding	World Championships	La Molina, Spain	1
6/26/2011	Soccer	Women's World Cup	Germany	1
7/29/2011	Soccer	U-20 World Championships	Colombia	2
4/26/2011	Soccer	Champions League semis	various	4
5/3/2011	Soccer	Champions League semis	various	4
5/14/2011	Soccer	FA Cup final	Wembley	4
5/18/2011	Soccer	Europa League final	Dublin	4
5/28/2011	Soccer	Champions League final	Wembley	4
6/5/2011	Soccer	Gold Cup	USA	4
6/18/2011	Soccer	U-17 World Championships	Mexico	4
7/1/2011	Soccer	Copa America	Argentina	4
1/22/2011	Speedskating	Sprint World Champs	Heerenveen, Netherlands	1
2/12/2011	Speedskating	Allround World Champs	Calgary	1
3/10/2011	Speedskating	World Single Distance Champs	Inzell, Germany	1
7/16/2011	Swimming	World Championships	Shanghai, China	1
7/16/2011	Synchro swim	World Championships	Shanghai, China	1
5/8/2011	Table tennis	World Championships	Rotterdam, Netherlands	1
5/1/2011	Taekwondo	World Championships	Gyeongju, Korea	1
1/17/2011	Tennis	Australian Open	Melbourne	2
2/5/2011	Tennis	Fed Cup, first round	various	2
3/6/2011	Tennis	Davis Cup first round	various	2
4/16/2011	Tennis	Fed Cup semis	various	2
5/23/2011	Tennis	French Open	Paris	2
6/20/2011	Tennis	Wimbledon	London	2
7/8/2011	Tennis	Davis Cup second round	various	2
8/29/2011	Tennis	U.S. Open	New York	2
10/31/2011	Tennis	Fed Cup final	tba	2
11/28/2011	Tennis	Davis Cup final	tba	2
11/16/2011	Trampoline	World Championships	Birmingham, England	1
9/10/2011	Triathlon	Final, World Champ Series	Beijing	1
4/9/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	Sydney	2
5/14/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	Yokohama, Japan	2
6/4/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	Madrid	2
6/18/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	Kitzbuhel, Austria	2
7/16/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	Hamburg, Germany	2
8/6/2011	Triathlon	ITU World Champ Series	London	2
10/10/2010	Volleyball	(M) World Championships	Italy	1
11/14/2010	Volleyball	(W) World Championships	Japan	1
11/4/2011	Volleyball	Women's World Cup	Japan	2
5/27/2011	Volleyball	World League	various	2
7/6/2011	Volleyball	World League finals	Gdansk, Poland	2
8/5/2011	Volleyball	World Grand Prix	various	2
8/24/2011	Volleyball	World Grand Prix finals	Macau, China	2
11/20/2011	Volleyball	Men's World Cup	Japan	2
7/16/2011	Water polo	World Championships	Shanghai, China	1
11/10/2011	Weightlifting	World Championships	Paris	1
9/13/2011	Wrestling	World Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	1
10/13/2011	Multisport	Pan Am Games	Guadalajara, Mexico	4

Two more notes:

1. No, I didn’t try to list every interesting soccer event. Didn’t want to overwhelm the calendar with one sport.

2. Many, many thanks to the wonderful WP-Table Reloaded plugin.

Tagged with: 2011 in sports • world championships

Dec 30

Myriad most popular

By Beau Dure chess, cycling, mma, olympic sports, soccer 1 Comment »

I’ve crunched a few numbers to figure out pages that drew at least 0.1 percent of my total page views for the year. (The percentages are slightly lower than they should be due to some extraneous stuff in the stats — scripts, other ways of reaching a page, etc. — so 0.1 may actually be 0.15 or so.)

Here are the top pages, with an unofficial category added to show the post’s topic. You might notice a pattern.

MMA 1.6 /2010/11/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-8-its-a-trap/

MMA 1.43 /2010/06/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-10-iceman-1-crab…

MMA 1.32 /2010/05/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-9-if-only-tito-c…

MMA 1.31 /2010/04/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-4-the-doors-of-p…

WCSoc 1.1 /2010/04/the-marketing-of-landon-donovan/

MMA 0.94 /2010/04/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-5-epic-struggle/

MMA 0.9 /2010/04/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-3-not-that-there…

MMA 0.85 /2010/05/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-8-wild/

MMA 0.82 /2010/10/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-6-choke-choke/

MMA 0.81 /2010/04/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-2-get-off-my-bac…

MMA 0.81 /2010/09/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-2-bruce-decoy/

WCSoc 0.79 /2010/05/1994-2010-world-cup-rosters-usa-getting-better/

MMA 0.79 /2010/10/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-7-kos-gets-a-bre…

MMA 0.79 /2010/03/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-1-14-fight-whirl…

MMA 0.78 /2010/05/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-7-medic/

MMA 0.73 /2010/09/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-1-fight-x14/

MMA 0.67 /2010/05/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-episode-6-overwork-pays-…

MMA 0.64 /2010/10/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-4-maturity-rocks…

WCSoc 0.56 /2010/09/world-cup-economics-and-skepticism/

Oly 0.54 /2010/08/beach-volleyball-hitting-another-ebb-in-usa/

WPSoc 0.48 /2010/09/wps-seasons-change-freedom-advance-scurry-says-goodbye-…

General 0.4 /2010/05/friday-myriad-ufc-giro-and-a-field-of-their-own-in-wps/

MMA 0.36 /2010/06/the-ultimate-fighter-season-11-semi-finale/

WPSoc 0.35 /2010/11/why-the-washington-freedom-should-not-collapse/

MLS 0.34 /2010/05/mls-week-10-the-meek-shall-inherit/

General 0.34 /2010/07/friday-myriad-up-all-night-for-aussie-rules-mma-le-tour…

MLS 0.33 /2010/05/mls-week-9-east-shifts-back-to-ohio/

General 0.32 /2010/06/monday-myriad-marry-lolo-beat-phelps/

MMA 0.3 /2010/04/bellator-nets-nice-ratings-despite-uneven-distribution/

MMA 0.3 /2010/05/the-curse-of-fedor-former-opponents-faring-poorly/

MMA 0.3 /2010/05/ufc-113-rua-rules-koscheck-controversy-and-the-case-for…

General 0.29 /2010/07/monday-myriad-no-soccer-withdrawal-here/

MLS 0.29 /2010/08/announcing-the-mls-ratings-project/

General 0.28 /2010/06/friday-myriad-enjoy-the-usa-ghana-game-for-what-it-is/

WPSoc 0.27 /2010/05/how-two-wayward-wps-investors-could-hurt-the-u-s-womens…

Cycling 0.27 /2010/07/tour-stories-schlecks-angry-stomach-lance-on-vacation-t…

General 0.26 /2010/03/welcome-to-sportsmyriad/

Chess 0.25 /2010/04/why-this-world-chess-championship-is-so-exciting/

General 0.25 /2010/06/friday-myriad-french-finals-final-cup-tune-ups/

WCSoc 0.25 /2010/05/alejandro-bedoya-stealth-marketing-and-the-u-s-world-cu…

MLS 0.25 /2010/05/mls-eight-worthy-playoff-teams-pre-cup/

USSoc 0.25 /2010/04/throwing-open-the-u-s-open-cup/

Cycling 0.24 /2010/05/floyd-landis-confession-lets-no-one-off-the-hook/

General 0.24 /2010/06/friday-myriad-usa-england-ii-liddell-franklin-i-track-f…

WPSoc 0.24 /2010/05/marons-world-tour-loans-to-africa-teams-in-iceland-and-…

MLS 0.23 /2010/04/mls-week-5-no-sleep-til-seattle/

MLS 0.23 /2010/11/a-modest-mls-playoff-proposal/

WPSoc 0.23 /2010/12/selling-wps-tickets-with-no-staff/

General 0.23 /2010/09/are-sports-monopolies-necessary/

MLS 0.23 /2010/07/mls-fans-shut-the-up/

General 0.23 /2010/07/friday-myriad-morning-tv-friendly-soccer/

MMA 0.22 /2010/05/judging-the-rashad-rampage-ufc-conference-call/

General 0.22 /2010/06/friday-myriad-world-cup-by-day-mma-by-night/

MMA 0.22 /2010/09/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-3-tyson-for-tea/

Cricket 0.22 /2010/07/my-fractured-relationship-with-ian-bell/

IntSoc 0.22 /2010/04/book-review-a-beautiful-game/

General 0.22 /2010/04/friday-myriad-europa-but-no-pirate-twins/

General 0.21 /2010/05/monday-myriad-sparkling-play-in-wps-short-sighted-decis…

General 0.21 /2010/03/tuesdays-headlines-moscow-mourns-man-u-in-munich/

IntSoc 0.21 /2010/04/what-makes-a-soccer-game-change-besides-messi/

General 0.21 /2010/03/randy-couture-kimbo-slice-and-lacrosse-closer-than-you-…

General 0.21 /2010/05/monday-myriad-world-series-of-poker-schedules-around-wo…

MLS 0.2 /2010/08/panic-at-rfk-olsen-replaces-onalfo-with-d-c-united/

WCSoc 0.2 /2010/07/fifa-world-cup-2011-announces-mascot-a-cat-an-elegant-c…

MMA 0.2 /2010/11/defending-koscheck-the-standing-up-for-his-guys-theory/

General 0.19 /2010/05/friday-myriad-i-see-italy-i-see-france/

MMA 0.19 /2010/12/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-semis-everything-zen/

General 0.19 /2010/03/welcome-to-sportsmyriad/feed/

MLS 0.19 /2010/05/mls-week-7-seattle-sets-the-bar/

MLS 0.19 /2010/10/colorado-1-0-columbus-squander-squander-squander/

MMA 0.18 /2010/05/whats-on-ufc-114-culture-clash-at-mandalay/

Oly 0.18 /2010/11/2012-medal-projections-old-cold-war-battles-jamaica-hea…

Chess 0.18 /2010/04/world-chess-championship-delayed/

General 0.18 /2010/05/monday-myriad-twenty20-just-not-cricket-injury-free-gir…

Oly 0.18 /2010/05/live-diamond-league-debut/

WCSoc 0.18 /2010/05/book-review-chasing-the-game/

USSoc 0.17 /2010/09/immediate-questions-after-the-usl-bombshell/

General 0.17 /2010/04/the-perils-of-predicting-prospects-futures/

General 0.17 /2010/05/friday-myriad-must-be-better-than-thursday/

MLS 0.16 /2010/07/mls-still-not-sturdy-enough-to-wish-for-another-teams-d…

Tennis 0.16 /2010/06/isner-mahut-and-wimbledon-triumph-of-will-or-failure-of…

MLS 0.16 /2010/08/mls-in-the-silverdome-raise-the-roof-yall/

MMA 0.16 /2010/10/the-actual-cause-for-concern-beneath-the-brock-lesnar-p…

USSoc 0.16 /2010/10/does-the-usa-need-a-no-10/

MLS 0.16 /2010/11/settling-all-mls-dilemmas-in-one-easy-fix-maybe/

MMA 0.16 /2010/05/the-ultimate-fighter-quarterfinal-catchup/

General 0.15 /2010/06/the-frustrations-of-free-lance-blogging/

WCSoc 0.15 /2010/07/record-low-for-world-cup-scoring-still-in-sight/

WPSoc 0.15 /2010/07/game-report-freedom-0-red-stars-0/

USSoc 0.15 /2010/08/there-is-no-try-adu-or-not-adu/

General 0.15 /2010/05/monday-myriad-trash-talking-backfires-in-chess-order-re…

WPSoc 0.15 /2010/10/wps-best-xi-and-the-evolving-u-s-womens-national-team/

Oly 0.15 /2010/04/lashawn-merritt-male-enhancement-and-unanswered-questio…

WPSoc 0.15 /2010/04/wps-welcomes-the-sound-of-sponsors-in-season-2/

General 0.15 /2010/04/thursday-no-fooling-around-here/

MMA 0.15 /2010/10/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-5-nam-better/

General 0.15 /2010/03/tuesdays-headlines-moscow-mourns-man-u-in-munich/feed/

General 0.14 /2010/05/friday-myriad-diamond-debut-four-soccer-trophies-on-the…

General 0.14 /2010/08/friday-myriad-epl-madness/

MLS 0.14 /2010/04/mls-week-4-cool-is-a-rule-but-bad-is-bad/

MLS 0.14 /2010/06/twitter-tabloids-and-landon-donovan/

WPSoc 0.14 /2010/04/wps-week-1-best-womens-league-ever/

WPSoc 0.14 /2010/07/freedoms-misfortunes-touch-gold-pride-too/

USSoc 0.14 /2010/07/u-s-open-cup-and-why-lower-division-teams-are-happy/

General 0.14 /2010/04/monday-myriad-bolt-flies-while-u-s-nets-wins-in-tennis-…

MLS 0.14 /2010/05/mls-week-6-how-long-can-red-bulls-surge-last-before-cra…

Poker 0.13 /2010/07/paralympic-poker-player-cashing-in/

MLS 0.13 /2010/06/mls-marquee-matchup-real-salt-lake-and-r-e-s-p-e-c-t/

General 0.13 /2010/04/friday-myriad-get-your-track-shoes-and-chess-pieces/

MLS 0.13 /2010/04/whats-better-about-the-dynamos-new-stadium/

General 0.13 /2010/07/friday-myriad-not-out-of-our-league/

WPSoc 0.13 /2010/09/briana-scurry-bids-farewell/

MMA 0.12 /2010/04/could-judges-have-botched-the-aldo-faber-fight/

MLS 0.12 /2010/11/the-big-mls-playoff-and-schedule-announcement/

WPSoc 0.12 /2010/05/wps-bompastor-goes-mindless-solo-reviews-dave-matthews/

WPSoc 0.12 /2010/07/womens-soccer-small-world-wouldnt-want-to-paint-it/

WCSoc 0.12 /2010/11/time-to-transition-to-a-post-fifa-world-or-world-cup-an…

MLS 0.12 /2010/05/mls-eight-worthy-playoff-teams-pre-cup/feed/

WPSoc 0.12 /2010/12/mad-about-the-freedom-place-the-blame-on/

General 0.12 /2010/08/friday-myriad-bolt-vs-gay-silva-vs-sonnen-dps-vs-dps/

MMA 0.12 /2010/08/mma-not-pro-wrestling/

MLS 0.11 /2010/11/is-mls-too-physical/

MMA 0.11 /2010/04/thursday-bring-on-bellator/

MLS 0.11 /2010/09/player-ratings-d-c-united-columbus/

MMA 0.11 /2010/11/the-ultimate-fighter-season-12-episode-9-1-1/

MLS 0.11 /2010/07/concacaf-the-mls-graveyard/

Oly 0.11 /2010/08/diamond-league-gay-pearson-upset-bolt-jones/

Oly 0.11 /2010/08/womens-ski-jumpers-the-phoenix-of-olympic-sports/

USSoc 0.1 /2010/04/tales-of-soccer-survival-misls-milwaukee-wave/

Chess 0.1 /2010/05/after-alleged-world-title-blunderfest-chess-world-turns…

Oly 0.1 /2010/08/diamond-league-the-pen-penultimate-meet/

Oly 0.1 /2010/06/can-four-woman-beach-volleyball-make-a-comeback-if-gabr…

General 0.1 /2010/07/who-are-you/

WCSoc 0.1 /2010/09/world-cup-economics-and-skepticism/comment-page-1/

Rugby 0.1 /2010/07/bledisloe-bash-begins-in-tri-nations/

USSoc 0.1 /2010/08/why-dont-we-have-a-soccer-blog-like-this/

General 0.1 /2010/04/wednesday-now-officially-renamed-messiday/

MLS 0.1 /2010/09/player-ratings-chicago-toronto/

Cricket 0.1 /2010/08/a-curse-on-cricket/

Darts 0.1 /2010/07/phil-the-power-taylor-prepares-once-more-for-battle/

WCSoc 0.1 /2010/06/virtual-viewing-party-usa-england/

Tagged with: stats • ufc

Dec 09

Holiday diversions: Chess, biathlon … any curling?

By Beau Dure chess, olympic sports, winter sports No Comments »

This is the time of year in which work productivity is minimal, traffic and weather can be too much to bear, and the yule log is sometimes the highlight of the TV programming.

SportsMyriad sadly cannot be your all-inclusive guide to everything interesting on TV. For one thing, we don’t know what you like. But we can offer up a few items of interest if you need a December diversion aside from the mountains of soccer still available on FSC, GolTV and ESPN3:

- Chess: FIDE can’t get the world’s best players to agree on a world championship format, but several of them have turned up in the London Chess Classic: world champ Vishy Anand, world #1 Magnus Carlsen, former world champ Vladimir Kramnik, top American Hikaru Nakamura and four English players who were once or might be contenders. Carlsen lost on the first day, while Nakamura held off Anand. The fun part: They use soccer’s scoring system — 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw. Neat thing to try in a competition that often sees too much caution. Check the Day 1 recap, check each game in progress at Susan Polgar’s blog, and get live commentary (or witty dissection, if Nigel Short is involved) on the official site.

- Biathlon: Weekend sprint, pursuit and relays — unfortunately, the “late” race each day is at 8:15 a.m. ET. Live on the official site.

- Other Olympic sports: Universal Sports has figure skating’s Grand Prix final, rugby sevens, Alpine skiing and a few other events — some pay-per-view, some free.

I have not, however, been able to find any televised curling. Can’t have everything.

Tagged with: biathlon

Sep 30

Are sports monopolies necessary?

By Beau Dure chess, mma, soccer 5 Comments »

The news that a district court judge has allowed a lawsuit to proceed against MLS and U.S. Soccer is worrisome for the league and federation. The details of the ruling (see the PDF) are downright disturbing.

At issue: Is U.S. Soccer a legitimate overseer of professional soccer in the USA? Beyond that: Can any organizing body claim dominion over a sport?

In the legal world, monopoly power is a serious problem. In the sports world, we take it for granted. Men’s tennis = ATP. Women’s tennis = WTA. U.S. college sports = NCAA (NAIA exists but is far smaller). Baseball = antitrust-exempted Major League Baseball.

Sports that don’t have a monopoly in place, such as indoor soccer, are usually seen as weakened. Everyone thinks he has a better business plan than the other guy, and the result is often a mish-mash of leagues that test fans’ patience.

Monopolies and near-monopolies may limit competition on the business front. But on the competitive front, they establish objective criteria for determining who’s the best.

Think of boxing, with its alphabet soup of “world champions.” The world chess championship hasn’t really recovered from a split in the mid-90s in which Garry Kasparov walked away from governing body FIDE, though FIDE has its own issues that linger to this day. (Literally — this week, Anatoly Karpov’s bid for FIDE presidency has been squashed by incumbent Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who seems more inclined to speak with aliens than listen to Karpov’s supporters.)

In mixed martial arts, fans endlessly debate whether to accept the UFC’s argument that it’s the “major league,” and everyone else is minor league. The UFC is getting closer — with Fedor Emelianenko’s loss in June, the UFC and lighter-weight affiliate WEC claimed the top spot in every weight class of the USA TODAY/SB Nation consensus rankings.

The court ruling — which, to be clear, is hardly the final word on the matter — would open the door for competition unless Congress has explicitly said otherwise. The judge rejected U.S. Soccer’s argument that the Ted Stevens Act, which establishes governing bodies for amateur and Olympic-preparatory sports, gives it dominion over the professional game as well. And in other sports, that’s true — USA Basketball and USA Hockey deal with national teams, not the NBA and NHL.

But the fearful question soccer fans must ask is this: Has the court limited U.S. Soccer’s ability to act for the greater good of the game? Specifically, can it protect the interests of a professional league (MLS) trying to take root where no other league has before?

If you remember ChampionsWorld, you may remember it as anything but benign as far as MLS was concerned. The message was driven home on the broadcasts by VP Giorgio Chinaglia, described by Grant Wahl as “the insufferable former New York Cosmos great” with a revisionist mindset toward NASL history and outright malice toward MLS.

Of course, the league survived, and ChampionsWorld didn’t. U.S. cities have shown they’ll support a few preseason exhibition tours by traveling Euro teams, but everyone has a limit.

From a practical point of view, the ruling might not open a can of worms but may merely provide the can opener. Just as other governing bodies provide the pathway to the Olympics, the pinnacle in most of those sports, U.S. Soccer provides the pathway to the World Cup. In the only part of the ruling that is clearly unsound, the judge seriously underestimates FIFA’s interest in meddling and its power to do so.

The ruling could pose a competitive challenge for SUM, the marketing affiliate for MLS that has figured out how to make money off promoting outsiders’ games in the USA. But some games already are outside SUM’s domain. The promoters in these cases are paying sanctioning fees to U.S. Soccer but not to SUM.

And so the optimists’ view of this case would be this: The suit is simply a deterrent to keep U.S. Soccer from setting its sanctioning fee too high. (And also repaying a few ChampionsWorld creditors.)

If MLS and U.S. Soccer were to lose this case, they might take heart from some U.S. precedent. The NFL once lost an antitrust suit. Even though the NFL paid a few million to the USFL in legal fees in addition to the famous $3 cash award, the NFL seems to have survived.

The NFL also has maintained its dominance as other upstart leagues have arisen. The XFL promised something different, and it turned out to be a little too different. The UFL, still in existence, is operating on a smaller scale.

MLS is already in a competitive environment. Fans can sit at home and watch games from around the world in HD (though it still doesn’t compare to the atmosphere of a good live game). Winning this case won’t make it go away. Losing won’t make it that much worse.

U.S. Soccer, like the UFC, has its critics who say it’s too arrogant in defending its share of the market. Ultimately, the threat of competition could keep it honest.

Congress isn’t going to hand U.S. Soccer, the UFC, the NFL or anyone else (other than baseball, which is another rant) carte blanche to do what it wants. It’s up to the managers and promoters to make sure competition on the business front doesn’t devolve into chaos on the competitive front, no matter what happens in court.

Tagged with: mls • u.s. soccer • ufc

Jul 12

Monday Myriad: No soccer withdrawal here

By Beau Dure basketball, chess, cycling, olympic sports, poker, rugby, soccer, track and field No Comments »

Sixteen years ago, I felt a few pangs of withdrawal. I had been able to watch maybe half of the World Cup games on my little TV in my little living room in my little apartment. After that dreary final … nothing. No MLS. No regular European broadcasts. No women’s soccer.

Sunday, an hour after bidding farewell to the group of friends who came over to drink Dutch and (blech) Spanish beer while we gorged ourselves on food and watched a final that was a little less dreary, I went back into our HDTV room downstairs and flipped to Fox Soccer Channel. WPS — Washington Freedom vs. FC Gold Pride. And while the officiating was just as atrocious as the worst of what we saw from South Africa, I could rest assured that I was still watching soccer. As I’ve said elsewhere, U.S. soccer fans have been enabled. We can watch all weekend. And all week. Sorry, Tim Dahlberg, but we don’t need your permission.

And because we’re sports geeks who watch and comment on every competition shy of the foosball games downstairs (for the record, I was able to play an actual game against someone tall enough to see the table for once, and I won twice by a 10-2 count), we have much else to follow as well.

Women’s soccer: USA’s revenge over Ghana! The USA start play Tuesday in the U-20 Women’s World Cup, and it’ll be an upset to end all upsets if Ghana duplicates its 2006 and 2010 2-1 men’s victories. Dive all you want. Not going to happen.

Cycling: Lance Armstrong is now fourth in the Tour de France … on his own team. We can see if Team Radio Shack regroups to give Levi Leipheimer a push for the final podium, but more realistically, we’re looking at a Cadel Evans-Andy Schleck-Alberto Contador shootout.

Olympics (winter and summer): We’ve seen speedskaters take up cycling. Bobsledders recruit from football and track. So can skeleton veteran Katie Uhlaender make it back to the Olympics in weightlifting?

Volleyball: The U.S. men made a nice run at the World League final six, beating Russia in the first match of two in the final weekend. But the pool leaders came back for a 3-1 win in the finale, and the USA didn’t qualify as the “lucky loser” second-place team.

Basketball: Gold medal for USA U-17 men.

Track and field: Tyson Gay beat Asafa Powell in the highlight of the Diamond League’s stop in England.

Rowing: USA women’s eight still a powerhouse.

Poker: We’re down to 2,557 players in the World Series of Poker Main Event. Exiting gracefully on Day 2B were poker legend Doyle Brunson, baseball great Orel Hershiser, Seinfeld‘s Jason Alexander, Phil Ivey and Chris “Jesus” Ferguson.

Some of the names we’ll be watching on Day 3 (which is really Day 7, but they have four Day 1s and two Day 2s to accommodate the crowd):

- Bruce Buffer, UFC cage announcer
- Hank Azaria, Apu and many, many other Simpsons voices
- Johnny Chan, two-time Main Event winner
- Chris Moneymaker, 2003 surprise winner who helped start the poker boom
- Joe Cada, defending champion
- Daniel Negreanu, top poker pro and lively Twitter personality
- Allen Cunningham, like Negreanu a former WSOP Player of the Year
- Frank Kassela, sure to be this year’s Player of the Year
- Jennifer Harman, top poker pro
- Phil “Unabomber” Laak, one of the better nicknames among poker pros
- Vanessa Rousso, Duke grad like me but obviously much smarter
- Jack Ury, age 97
- Gabe Kaplan, Mr. Kotter

Sunday was a rest day at the WSOP, but they’ll be back on the Tour de France’s rest day Monday. Strange how that works.

Rugby: New Zealand sent what some in the U.S. media might call “a message,” dominating South Africa 32-12 in a Tri Nations matchup ahead of next year’s World Cup in New Zealand.

Cricket: Bangladesh beat England for the first time ever in a one-day international. Carrie Dunn captured some of the late drama.

Jul 09

Friday Myriad: Up all night for Aussie Rules, MMA, Le Tour

By Beau Dure chess, cycling, olympic sports, poker, soccer, tennis, track and field, tv No Comments »

No, I didn’t forget. Today was a last-ditch effort to get some progress on two nagging free-lance assignments.

Which reminds me — if you or someone you know is a male caregiver for a spouse or loved one who has breast cancer AND you’ve done the Komen 3-day walk, could you please, please get in touch with me?

On to the weekend (all times ET):

SATURDAY

12:01 a.m.: Australian football, Geelong-Hawthorn. Nice to see this sport making a comeback on U.S. airwaves. Still have no idea how anyone has the stamina to run for two hours while being pummeled every time the ball is nearby. ESPN2

3 a.m.: MMA, Dream 15, lightweight title fight, Shinya Aoki-Tatsuya Kawajiri. Also in action: Gegard Mousasi, Melvin Manhoef, Gesias Cavalcante. If you can’t watch live, check recaps from my colleague Sergio Non. HDNet

7:30 a.m.: Tour de France, Stage 7. To the mountains we go! Well, sort of. Just a couple of category-2 climbs today. The Alpine stages this year aren’t quite as torturous as usual, with most of the massive climbs coming in the Pyrenees in the third week. Versus

8 a.m.: Davis-Cup, quarterfinals, France-Spain, doubles. France leads 2-0. They’re playing without Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, but Spain is playing without someone named Nadal. Gael Monfils outlasted David Ferrer in a five-setter Friday. Tennis Channel

Noon: MLS, Toronto-Colorado. In case you need a warm-up for the big one. Some of CONCACAF’s best attacking talent is on display in this one, even if one of the defenses tends to play with what Bob Dylan called “a little too much force.” Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com

2:30 p.m.: World Cup third-place game, Uruguay-Germany. These games are often entertaining. Near the end of a World Cup that has brought some excellent games but quite a few dreary efforts, can that be so bad? ABC/Univision

3:30 p.m.: Women’s basketball, WNBA All-Stars vs. U.S. National Team. Really? You couldn’t have waited another hour, when the Cup final would likely be over? ESPN

6 p.m.: MLS, Philadelphia-San Jose. The Earthquakes could be interesting this season. Fox Soccer Channel

7:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.: MLS, the rest of the Saturday games (four), with the New York-D.C. United rivalry among the highlights. Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com

SUNDAY

7 a.m.: Davis-Cup, quarterfinals, France-Spain, singles. Tennis Channel

7:30 a.m.: Tour de France, Stage 8. Two category-1 climbs, including one at the finish. That’s more like it. Will we see the virtual end of Lance Armstrong’s career here? Versus

2:30 p.m.: World Cup, final, Netherlands-Spain. I picked Spain over Brazil in the final, and I’m sticking with the team that never loses possession of the ball. ABC/Univision

6 p.m.: WPS, Gold Pride-Washington. Wonder how the Freedom will adjust after practicing all week in 100-degree temperatures. I went out to practice today, and the artificial turf field felt like a frying pan. FSC

10:30 p.m.: MLS, Seattle-Dallas. I don’t usually list all the Direct Kick games, but if you’re going into withdrawal just six hours after the end of the Cup, here you go. Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com

MORE MYRIAD

World Series of Poker: Main Event runs all weekend.
Full soccer listings at Soccer America.
Selected weekend listings at USA TODAY
ESPN3: Australian Rules football, CFL, NBA Summer League and lacrosse.
Tennis Channel: A few re-runs and the France-Spain Davis Cup match.
Universal Sports: Beach volleyball (FIVB Grand Slam), track and field (Diamond League, British Grand Prix) live online, delayed on TV. Swimming (Grand Prix season finale, Los Angeles) online-only. In beach volleyball, the top U.S. teams were upset in pool play, which doesn’t happen often, but still advanced.
More Olympic sports: Why is no one Webcasting the last weekend of World League volleyball pool play? U.S. men hosting Russia in Wichita. Wait a few weeks, and you can watch (see PDF).
Rugby: Tri-Nations (Southern Hemisphere) gets underway this weekend, just in case South African sports attention can be diverted for a moment.

HEADLINES

Chess/poker: Chessboxing just seems strange, but chesspoker has possibilities. Jennifer Shahade takes us through a matchup.

Soccer: 3rd Degree is basically the grandfather of independent MLS sites, so it’s nice to see Buzz Carrick take the operation into ESPNDallas.com. Could also bode well for ESPN’s MLS Draft coverage? Maybe?

Jul 07

Midweek Myriad: Mind games

By Beau Dure chess, cycling, poker No Comments »

You may have noticed from the last post that Sports Myriad has a new contributor from across the pond. Carrie Dunn was part of the legendary crew of Guardian minute-by-minute and over-by-over commentators, though she’s more charitable to Americans than most of them. She’ll write about a lot of sports — darts, cricket, women’s sports — that I’ve wanted to cover at Sports Myriad but haven’t had much of a chance to cover because I’m just not quite as plugged into those sports as I am elsewhere.

We’re also expecting a rugby preview from another contributor soon.

All of which means you should be adding Sports Myriad to your RSS readers if you haven’t already.

A couple of items of interest so far this week, starting with games played with the head rather than hands or feet:

Chess: Vishy Anand has retained the world title, but the man to watch is 19-year-old Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen. He is already No. 1 on FIDE’s rating list and is gaining on Garry Kasparov’s all-time high. NYT blogger Dylan Loeb McClain tells us he wins with creativity rather than encyclopedic knowledge of familiar openings. And he already has some celebrity appeal, joining Liv Tyler for some sort of fashion shoot this week.

Another youngster, 22-year-old Czech grandmaster Viktor Laznicka won the World Open, a top U.S. event. Lubomir Kavalek takes us through a wide-open game Laznicka won with black.

Poker: Daniel Alaei won the pot-limit Omaha world title for his third World Series of Poker bracelet. (Not this year — only Frank Kassela, who win Player of the Year honors unless one of his pursuers can reach the November Nine, has two bracelets this summer.)

Pros and semi-pros (Kassela is considered semi-pro) have won most of the events this year, but one of the last event winners before the Main Event is a Dutch physicist named Marcel Vonk. Good week for the Netherlands.

Day 1A of the Main Event (the tournament is so large that players start on four different days — 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D) featured Chris Moneymaker, the amateur who helped launch the poker boom with his unlikely Main Event win a few years ago, and cross-country skier Petter Northug, perhaps the only World Series of Poker participant whom I saw in a press conference tent in Whistler this year.

My former USA TODAY colleague Gary Mihoces has landed in Vegas and tells us Ray Romano has busted out. He also has details on Phil Hellmuth’s planned MMA-style entrance, featuring Wanderlei Silva, King Mo and the man himself, Bruce Buffer.

ESPN has a video interview with one of its own, former baseball pitcher Orel Hershiser, who comes up with some clever analogies between baseball and poker:

Cycling: One day after the cobblestones rattled Lance Armstrong and others, we had a much less eventful day at the Tour de France and the usual first-week sprint finish.

Soccer: Hey, there’s a game on.

Tagged with: magnus carlsen • world series of poker

Jul 05

Monday Myriad: Want U.S. world titles? We’ve got ‘em

By Beau Dure chess, cycling, olympic sports, poker, soccer, tennis, track and field, tv No Comments »

Even with an extra day, the weekend was overstuffed:

Soccer: No disrespect to Uruguay and the Netherlands, but isn’t the Germany-Spain matchup as good as it gets? The most explosive team in the Cup against a team that has spent the last three and a half years as the Harlem Globetrotters of world soccer?

Closer to home, MLS had terrific goals in the Seattle-Los Angeles matchup, and Conor Casey is playing like he’s still auditioning for the national team. Or like he thinks he’s Marta.

Tennis: Serena and Nadal winning Wimbledon isn’t the surprise. The surprise is that Roger Federer has fallen all the way to No. 3.

Track and field: David Oliver set an American record in the 110 hurdles at the Prefontaine Classic, which also saw Walter Dix outrun Tyson Gay down the stretch in the 200. Field events were less kind to Americans — Dwight Phillips finished second in the long jump and pulled up with some sort of strain, and Jenn Suhr no-heighted in the pole vault.

Softball: Not all of the games were easy, but the USA trounced Japan 7-0 in five innings in the World Championship final.

Water polo: Soccer isn’t the only sport settled with a penalty shootout. The U.S. women tied Australia 7-7 in the World League final and won the shootout. Brenda Villa was named top player; Betsey Armstrong was top goalkeeper.

Gymnastics: Bronze for U.S. men at Japan Cup, featuring mostly A-teamers.

Cycling: The Tour de France is underway, which means it’s time for one of the funniest annual reading activities — the Tour de Schmalz. If you prefer drama to comedy, read the Wall Street Journal‘s harrowing story on Floyd Landis’ doping allegations.

Poker: The Main Event is underway, even as two other events are still going … and going … and going …

The Tournament of Champions is over, at least, with Huck Seed outlasting Howard Lederer.

Volleyball: The U.S. men got two wins in Egypt, leaving themselves in contention to make the World League’s six-team final tournament. All they have to do is beat pool-leading Russia twice July 9-10 in Wichita.

Beach volleyball: Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers remained unbeatable, winning the FIVB event in Norway. Yes, Norway. What? They have beaches.

MMA: All hail Brock Lesnar.

Chess: Yes, they exhumed Bobby Fischer.

And a couple of random reads of interest …

Cricket: Did you know about Staten Island’s cricket history?

Soccer: One of the best reads about South Africa since the Cup started — meet Santos, “The People’s Team.” (Not in the Communist sense.)

Tagged with: mls • volleyball • water polo • wps

Jun 17

Friday Myriad: World Cup by day, MMA by night

By Beau Dure chess, cycling, mma, olympic sports, poker, rugby, soccer, tennis, tv 2 Comments »

Going back to the chronological look at the weekend, after some …

HEADLINES

Rugby: NBC and Universal Sports will show the 2011 and 2015 World Cups. Huge step forward for the sport in this country. And the UK media will surely appreciate having another sport in which they can do stories about American ignorance — the soccer-ignorance stories are turning into more of a challenge these days.

Chess: Searching for Bobby Fischer is a terrific film. Exhuming Bobby Fischer merely prolongs the sad demise of a troubled genius. If you want a happier story, check this piece from the NYTimes‘ excellent chess blog on the post-chess careers of several phenoms who decided not to stick with it.

Poker: David Baker emerged from a final table that included Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda and Erik Seidel to win the 2-7 Draw Lowball world title. Sammy Farha took an Omaha world title. The limit hold-em world title will be decided by the time we all wake up to watch soccer Friday morning.

MMA: A few days after competing in USA Wrestling’s team trials for the upcoming world championships, 2008 Olympic wrestler Ben Askren went back to MMA and won Bellator’s welterweight tournament over veteran Dan Hornbuckle. (MMA Fighting Stances)

Soccer: World Cup are also on ESPN Deportes, Univision and ESPN3.com. DirecTV also has countless broadcasts and re-broadcasts in several languages.

FRIDAY

7:30 a.m.: World Cup soccer, Germany-Serbia. Germany routed hapless Australia 4-0 in their opener; Serbia lost 1-0 to Ghana and may need a miracle here or some help from Australia tomorrow. ESPN

*** 10 a.m.: World Cup soccer, USA-Slovenia. Can the U.S. men win a game they really should win? One that would go a long way toward seeing them through to the next round? Will soccer fans across the country collectively lose it? ESPN ***

2:30 p.m.: World Cup soccer, England-Algeria. The other two teams in the U.S. group are in action. Broadcast bumped from ESPN by U.S. Open golf. ESPN2

7 p.m. (highlights): Cycling, Tour de Suisse, seventh stage. The story so far: Fabian Cancellara showed his Swiss pride after learning of Switzerland’s staggering upset over Spain, but he abruptly fell out of contention in Thursday’s mountain stage (Velo News coverage). Lance Armstrong, gearing up for France (the Tour, not the underachieving soccer team), is in seventh place overall after a good showing Thursday. The race finishes with a time trial Sunday. Versus

SATURDAY

7:30 a.m.: World Cup soccer, Netherlands-Japan. Numbers wizards Nate Silver now has the Dutch as the second favorite in the tournament after Brazil. Japan also has three points from its first game. ESPN

10 a.m.: World Cup soccer, Ghana-Australia. No pressure or anything, but Ghana looks very much like the African team most likely to do something in this tournament. ESPN

2:30 p.m.: World Cup soccer, Cameroon-Denmark. This was an odd pick for network TV. ABC

2:30 p.m.: Rugby, Churchill Cup final, England Saxons (their B-team) vs. Canada, in Red Bull Arena. Universal Sports

5:15 p.m.: Rugby, Churchill Cup third place, USA vs. France B. Universal Sports

** 9 p.m.: MMA, The Ultimate Fighter season finale. Court McGee faces Kris McCray in the tournament final. The non-tournament co-main event has two intriguing light heavyweights who aren’t quite in contention: Matt Hamill, a deaf fighter whose rise is chronicled in a long-delayed film, and Keith Jardine, whose fighting stance suggests a drunk swatting away flies. But the most-anticipated fight might be Jamie “Crabman” Yager vs. Rich Attonito, who won a hotly contested race to oppose the brash loudmouth who has shown a tendency not to back up his words. The card also has reliably entertaining fighters Chris Leben (vs. Aaron Simpson) and Spencer “The King” Fisher (vs. Dennis Siver). Spike **

10 p.m.: Boxing, Super Six super middleweight tournament, Andre Ward vs. Allan Green. Check the USA TODAY preview. Ward is 1-0 in the tournament; Green replaced Jermain Taylor. Showtime

SUNDAY

7:30 a.m.: World Cup soccer, Slovakia-Paraguay. Each team drew its first game, though those games have been erased from my memory. Might still have nightmares about them. ESPN

10 a.m.: World Cup soccer, Italy-New Zealand. Might ask the family if there’s anything else we can do. ESPN

** 2:30 p.m.: World Cup soccer, Brazil-Ivory Coast. Ahhhhhh. Actual soccer might be played in this one. ABC **

4 p.m.: Beach volleyball, AVP Virginia Beach men’s final. Universal Sports

5 p.m. (same-day delay): Cycling, Tour de Suisse, final stage (time trial). Versus

9 p.m.: MMA, WEC returns with a lightweight main event between former champion Jamie Varner and up-and-coming fighter Kamal Shalorus, who has had an interesting journey from a small town in Iran to an international wrestling career for Britain to mixed martial arts. The card also has two bantamweights with gaudy records — Josh Grispi vs. LC Davis. Versus

OLYMPIC SPORTS

Modern pentathlon: Margaux Isaksen and Will Brady are in the World Cup Final.
Volleyball: The U.S. men beat Finland twice in World League play last weekend to get their record up to 2-2. Egypt visits this weekend in the Charlotte suburb of Concord, N.C.
Track and field: Basically an off week before the USA Championships.
More events: Canoe/kayak World Cup, badminton N.Y. Open

MISC

World Series of Poker: The most intriguing event of the weekend is the heads-up no-limit hold-em world championship, which starts with 256 and runs like a slow-moving basketball bracket. How to follow.
College World Series (NCAA baseball): ESPN, Saturday and Sunday.
Full soccer listings at Soccer America. (OK, it’s all World Cup right now.)
Selected weekend listings at USA TODAY
Tennis Channel: WTA Eastbourne, with Friday semis and Saturday final. Nothing Sunday; Wimbledon starts Monday.
Universal Sports: Swimming (Santa Clara Invitational) is on TV and online.
Cycling.TV: Live audio and highlights from Tour de Suisse

And for the final word on South African history this weekend, we check in with Little Steven. And Bono. And Pat Benatar. And Bob Dylan.

Previous Entries

Midweek Myriad: Marta, Nadal, handball, 1260s, etc.

2011 in myriad sports

Myriad most popular

Holiday diversions: Chess, biathlon … any curling?

Are sports monopolies necessary?

Monday Myriad: No soccer withdrawal here

Friday Myriad: Up all night for Aussie Rules, MMA, Le Tour

Midweek Myriad: Mind games

Monday Myriad: Want U.S. world titles? We’ve got ‘em

Friday Myriad: World Cup by day, MMA by night

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