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.

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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.)

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Jul 02

Friday Myriad: Wimbledon, World Cup, le Tour

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

Funny thing about July 4th weekend – the most important action in the sports world is all overseas.

The three-day absence from posting here won’t happen often. Had a lot of actual paid work to do, plus a week of solo parenting. Shouldn’t have a break like this until vacation.

Off we go (all times ET) …

HEADLINES

Water polo: Big comeback keeps the U.S. women unbeaten in World League final tournament.

Poker: The last weekend before the Main Event — the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold-’em World Championship that draws thousands of entrants and weeks of ESPN coverage — features several events of interest:

  • Tournament of Champions: They’ve only knocked the field down the original 27 to 17, and that’s causing scheduling problems. The idea was to play it across two weekends. They’ll resume Saturday at 10 p.m. IF none of the 17 players is busy in another event. They may have to resume at noon Sunday. That’s 9 a.m. Vegas time. Is anyone awake then?
  • $25,000 buy-in six-handed no-limit hold’em: Several big names just missed out on the final three tables (18 players) — John Juanda, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Rousso, Freddy Deeb, Erik Seidel and Phil Ivey. But Daniel Negreanu is still in, threatening Saturday’s Tournament of Champions start. So is Frank Kassela, who’s in position to edge Juanda for Player of the Year honors.
  • Pot-limit Omaha World Championship: Phil Hellmuth is still active in this one and the TOC, and a few other notable names are still going after Day 1.
  • Two smaller no-limit hold’em events that shouldn’t attract may top players.
  • Ante Up for Africa: Poker pro Annie Duke and actor Don Cheadle host an annual charity event that usually draws a good crowd of celebrities, some of whom hang around for the Main Event the next week, and many top players, though the crowded schedule may preclude a few people from entering.

FRIDAY (all times ET)

10 a.m.: World Cup quarterfinal, Netherlands-Brazil. ESPN / ESPN Deportes / ESPN3 / Univision

10:45ish a.m.: Wimbledon men’s semifinal, Andy Murray-Rafael Nadal. Winner faces Tomas Berdych, who upset Roger Federer this week and Novak Djokovic this morning. Murray’s path of Nadal, always better on clay and inconsistent here, and Berdych is Britain’s best hope in a generation. ESPN2, shifting to NBC at noon

2:30 p.m.: World Cup quarterfinal, Uruguay-Ghana. Just think — this could be the USA. ESPN / ESPN Deportes / ESPN3 / Univision

7:30 p.m.: Softball, World Championship final, USA vs. Canada-Japan winner. Not vouching at all for quality, reliability or even safety of this Webcast. Venezuelan government

SATURDAY

9 a.m.: Wimbledon women’s final, Serena Williams-Vera Zvonareva. Also should get some doubles finals, with at least one American player to appear in the women’s doubles. NBC

10 a.m.: World Cup quarterfinal, Argentina-Germany. ABC / ESPN Deportes  / Univision

11:30 a.m.: Tour de France, prologue. Lance Armstrong is saying this will be his last, though he has said that before. If he’s trying for an individual win rather than a teammate’s win this year, he’ll need to do well in the time trials, starting here. Versus

2:30 p.m.: World Cup quarterfinal, Paraguay-Spain. ABC / ESPN Deportes  / Univision

4:30 p.m.: Track and field, Diamond League Prefontaine Classic. One of the most storied meets in the USA is now part of the world’s top circuit. Full preview coming later today. Really. Hold me to it. NBC

5:30 p.m.: Poker, $25K no-limit hold’em six-handed. See above. ESPN3

7:30 p.m.: Water polo, World League women’s final. TeamUSA.org

8 p.m.: MLS, Columbus-Chicago. FSC

9 p.m.: UFC 116, Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin for the heavyweight title in the main event. Spike has Seth Petruzelli, whose win over Kimbo Slice was erroneously called the biggest upset in MMA history at the time, in one of its two prelims. Spike, shifting to PPV at 10 p.m.

10:30 p.m.: MLS, Chivas USA-Philadelphia. FSC

SUNDAY

8:30 a.m.: Cycling, Tour de France, Stage 1. Cue the sprinters. Thor smash? Versus

9 a.m.: Wimbledon men’s final and possibly mixed doubles final. NBC

Noon: Hot dog eating. No Kobayashi? ESPN3

10:30 p.m.: MLS, Los Angeles-Seattle. ESPN2

MORE MYRIAD

  • Full soccer listings at Soccer America.
  • Selected weekend listings at USA TODAY
  • ESPN3: Australian Rules football, CFL, golf, lacrosse and poker.
  • Tennis Channel: Classic matches.
  • Universal Sports: Beach volleyball and more Prefontaine Classic coverage.
  • More Olympic sports: Canoe/kayak World Cup final stop, U17 men’s basketball World Championship, U.S. men’s volleyball in Egypt for World League
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.

Jun 04

Friday Myriad: French finals, final Cup tune-ups

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

One side effect of the World Cup: These are the last MLS weekend games until June 25. They’ll play a few midweek games June 9-10, then break.

This is an eclectic weekend. How often do you see beach volleyball on two channels? College rugby on a major network?

If you’re an MMA fan, this is your one weekend off before a dizzy stretch with five cards (UFC PPV, Ultimate Fighter finale, WEC, Sengoku, Strikeforce) in nine days.

FRIDAY

7 a.m.: Tennis, French Open men’s semi, #5 Robin Soderling-#15 Tomas Berdych. Tennis Channel

11 a.m.: Tennis, French Open men’s semi, #2 Rafael Nadal-#22 Jurgen Melzer, possibly on delay. Might also see women’s double’s final, Williams sisters vs. Kyeta Peschke-Katarina Srebotnick. NBC

11:55 a.m.: Soccer, France-China. Start the panic in Paris if this one goes awry. ESPN2

2 p.m.: Track and field, Diamond League, Bislett Games, Oslo. Universal Sports.com

7/9:30 p.m.: Softball, Women’s College World Series, winner’s bracket games. ESPN

8 p.m.: Hockey, Stanley Cup finals Game 4, Philadelphia-Chicago (Chicago leads 2-1). Versus

SATURDAY

8:30 a.m.: Soccer, USA-Australia. How well have the final 23 acclimated to South Africa? We’ll find out. ESPN2, with live coverage right here at SportsMyriad.com

9 a.m.: Tennis, French Open women’s final, Samantha Stosur-Francesca Schiavone, and men’s doubles final, NBC

12/2:30 p.m.: Softball, Women’s College World Series, elimination games. ESPN2

4 p.m.: Soccer, Toronto-Kansas City. How far can Dwayne De Rosario and Stefan Frei really carry TFC? Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com

4 p.m.: Rugby, Sevens Collegiate Championship Invitational, San Diego State-Tennessee, Army-Navy, California-Dartmouth, Ohio State-Penn State, NBC

7/9:30 p.m.: Softball, Women’s College World Series, elimination games. ESPN

7:30 p.m.: Soccer, New York-Chivas USA. The Red Bulls rebounded nicely with a big home win Wednesday, stopping the plummet out of the playoff places. FSC

  • 7:30 p.m.: D.C. United-Real Salt Lake. Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com
  • 8 p.m.: Los Angeles-Houston. Galavision
  • 8:30 p.m.: Dallas-San Jose. Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com
  • 8:30 p.m.: Chicago-Philadelphia. Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com
  • 9 p.m.: Colorado-Columbus. Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com

10:15 p.m.: Boxing. Miguel Cotto-Yuri Foreman bout tops card from Yankee Stadium. HBO

10:30 p.m.: Soccer, Seattle-New England. Two teams with high expectations try to shake off the early-season misfortune. Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com

SUNDAY

9 a.m.: Tennis, French Open men’s final, NBC

1/3:30 p.m.: Softball, Women’s College World Series, unbeaten teams in each bracket vs. other surviving teams. ESPN

2 p.m.: Beach volleyball, AVP Huntington Beach Open women’s final, ESPN2

3 p.m.: Cycling, Dauphine Libere prologue (delay), Versus

4 p.m.: Beach volleyball, AVP Huntington Beach Open men’s final, NBC

4 p.m.: Rugby, Sevens Collegiate Championship Invitational final, NBC

6 p.m.: Soccer (WPS), Chicago-Atlanta. Missing St. Louis Athletica? See several of their players in action for the visiting Beat. FSC

7/9:30 p.m.: Softball, Women’s College World Series (if necessary), winners advance to best-of-three championship. ESPN2

8 p.m.: Hockey, Stanley Cup finals Game 5, Chicago-Philadelphia. NBC

OLYMPIC SPORTS

  • Beach volleyball, track and field televised (see above)
  • Volleyball: U.S. men open World League play at Russia
  • Triathlon: World Championship Series, Madrid; UniversalSports.com
  • Modern pentathlon: Final World Cup before the final; Saturday/Sunday coverage at pentathlon.org. Americans Margaux Isaksen (ninth) and Will Brady (21st) in good shape to reach 36-athlete final.

MISC

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May 31

Monday Myriad: World Series of Poker schedules around World Cup?

By Beau Dure cycling, mma, olympic sports, poker, tennis, track and field 3 Comments »

Perhaps this is a coincidence, but the World Series of Poker has put its two big events on either side of the World Cup.

The main event, the $10,000 no-limit hold-em tournament that will run ad infinitum on ESPN in months to come, starts July 5 but takes a day off July 11, coinciding with the World Cup final. The field is whittled down from several thousand to nine the rest of the week.

Before the World Cup, we get the Poker Players’ Championship, which is designed to be a more complete test of poker skills. The $50,000 buy-in and the rotation of eight diverse poker variants is supposed to intimidate the amateurs who flock to the main event, leaving only the poker pros with reason to feel confident — and perhaps enough of a rep to attract sponsors who make the $50,000 check a little less painful to write.

In the past couple of years, they’ve used a H.O.R.S.E. tournament (not a basketball shooting competition but a rotation of five games) as the big test for the pros, but they found that ESPN wasn’t interested in televising several obscure, difficult-to-explain games. The compromise: Rotate through eight games but then stick to no-limit hold-em for the final table.

The other events will feature a mix of poker pros, Internet gamers, random amateurs and occasional celebrities. (One early sighting: UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture.)

Options for following the 57 official games plus the “Ante Up for Africa” championship:

- Official site: Commentary focuses on big-name pros and celebrities until each event gets to a manageable two or three tables, and then it’s more tightly focused on each hand.

- ESPN: The broadcaster that has paved the way for other broadcasters to show nonstop poker has a blog and other updates.

- Twitter: My list includes the official WSOP feed and Poker News, plus notable players Doyle Brunson (venerable veteran), Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker, thoughtful ambassador for the game), Vanessa Rousso (Duke alum with lots of sponsors) and Annie Duke (Celebrity Apprentice winner — I don’t accept the decision to give the title to Joan Rivers).

Headlines from the other Myriad sports this weekend:

- Cycling: Ivan Basso, back from his doping suspension, cruised to victory at the Giro d’Italia. World champion Cadel Evans made a break for it in a final mountain stage but couldn’t reach the podium. David Arroyo, one of the underdogs who broke away on The Day The Peloton Said “Oops!”, finished second.

- MMA: Rashad Evans took down Rampage Jackson at UFC 114, bringing at least a temporary conclusion to a nasty trash-talking battle. Michael Bisping showed some class and poise in a win over Dan Miller in the co-main event. The other three main-card fights were surprising. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira labored past fill-in fighter Jason Brilz for a controversial split decision win, English prospect John Hathaway outperformed veteran Diego Sanchez, and Chicago cop Mike Russow overcame his love handles and 2 1/2 rounds of being tagged in the face to knock out previously unbeaten Todd Duffee with one punch.

- Track and field: American record in the high jump for Chaunte Howard Lowe, who cleared6-8 1/4 in miserable conditions at an obscure meet in Germany. Bryan Clay won the decathlon at the Hypo Combined Events Meeting in Austria.

- Beach volleyball: Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser keep rolling on the FIVB circuit, winning in Poland. Brazilians Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca won the women’s event in South Korea over Americans Angie Akers and Tyra Turner, with Jen Kessy and April Ross unusually dropped to bronze.

- Tennis: Justine Henin’s comeback hit a bump today at the French Open with a loss to Samantha Stosur. Americans have had a rough time — Venus Williams, Andy Roddick and the Bryan brothers are all out. Robby Ginepri upset his way to the fourth round before falling to third seed Novak Djokovic.

- English soccer: Millwall, known for harboring American players and ill-tempered fans, won promotion back to the Championship.

- Judo: Remember the name Kayla Harrison. The 19-year-old won her first World Cup gold and third World Cup medal of the year.

- Weightlifting: We rise for American records — Kendrick Harris lifted 203kg in the clean-and-jerk.

- More Oly sports: Shooting gold and bronze for Olympic multimedalist Matt Emmons, plus three U.S. rowing medals. Check  the USOC’s Olympic Sports Scene.

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May 28

Friday Myriad: I see Italy, I see France …

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

The Giro d’Italia and NCAA lacrosse tournaments conclude, the French Open hits the halfway point and national teams prep for the World Cup with various friendlies.

SATURDAY

9 a.m.: Cycling, Stage 19, Giro d’Italia. Final mountain stage. Ivan Basso took the lead in Friday’s stage and will be tough to displace here. Universal Sports

10 a.m.: Soccer (England), Millwall-Swindon. Winner is promoted to the Championship level. Fox Soccer Plus

2 p.m.: Soccer (international), USA-Turkey. The World Cup roster is set; this game is all about trying out combinations and tuning up. ESPN2

4 p.m.: College lacrosse, Notre Dame-Cornell, Division I men’s semifinal. ESPN2

6:30 p.m.: College lacrosse, Duke-Virginia, Division I men’s semifinal. ESPN2

8 p.m.: Soccer (MLS), New England-New York. Red Bulls have been reeling for a couple of weeks; Revs have been reeling most of the season. ESPN2

  • 7:30 p.m.: D.C. United-Chivas USA, Direct Kick/MLSS.com
  • 7:30 p.m.: Columbus-Los Angeles, Direct Kick/MLSS.com
  • 8:30 p.m.: Houston-Philadelphia, FSC
  • 9 p.m.: Colorado-Seattle, Direct Kick/MLSS.com
  • 9 p.m.: Salt Lake-Kansas City, Direct Kick/MLSS.com
  • 10 p.m.: San Jose-Toronto, Direct Kick/MLSS.com

10 p.m.: MMA, UFC 114. Rampage-Rashad in the main event. Full preview coming this afternoon. Pay-per-view

SUNDAY

8 a.m.: Soccer (international), Japan-England, FSC

9 a.m.: Cycling, Stage 20, Giro d’Italia. Three-week circuit ends with a time trial. Universal Sports

10 a.m.: Soccer (England), Dagenham and Redbridge-Rotherham, Fox Soccer Plus

5:30 p.m.: College lacrosse, Division I women’s final, CBS College Sports

6 p.m.: Soccer (WPS), Washington-Philadelphia, FSC

MONDAY

3:30 p.m.: College lacrosse, Division I men’s final, ESPN

ONGOING

  • French Open: 5 a.m.-noon on Tennis Channel; noon-6 p.m. on NBC (Sat/Sun) or ESPN2 (Mon)
  • Women’s softball (superregional stage, many games on ESPN2 and ESPN)

More action:

  • Full soccer listings at Soccer America
  • Selected weekend listings at USA TODAY
  • Universal Sports online: Giro, beach volleyball and rowing.
  • Tennis Channel: French Open (above).
  • Olympic sports: FIVB beach volleyball men in Poland, women in Korea. Shooting’s World Cup passes through Fort Benning, Ga. Track and field’s Diamond League resumes next week, leaving many athletes free to enter Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in the Netherlands.
May 24

Monday Myriad: Trash-talking backfires in chess; order restored to Giro?

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

Starting with CHESS today for the worst case of trash-talking blowing up in one’s face since the Kids in the Hall bar-fight sketch …

Defending U.S. chess champ Hikaru Nakamura couldn’t have made it more obvious that he saw a weak link in the 2010 championships’ final four. Via the St. Louis Chess Club Twitter feed: “Pretty much when me, Gata and Alex play each other we play solid, and we all try to beat Yury.”

That would be Yury Shulman, who turned around and beat Nakamura the next day. His match with Gata Kamsky this afternoon, which you can follow live from 3 p.m. ET, will determine the new champion. (Unless they draw and go to a tiebreaker.) Nakamura will face Alex Onischuk in what has become a mere consolation game.

We have a few more stray items today: The French Open is underway, NCAA tennis continues (see below) and darts’ Premier League was postponed until today due to a power failure.

The weekend wrap:

CYCLING

  • Tour of California: Friday’s big mountain stage didn’t make a dent in any of the overall leaders. That left everything riding on Saturday’s time trial, where Aussie Michael Rogers finished second behind non-contender (and HTC-Columbia teammate) Tony Martin to pad his overall lead to nine seconds over third-place David Zabriskie. Three-time champion Levi Leipheimer lost more time and remained in third. The final stage had some intrigue, but the contenders finished together, confirming Rogers’ win. (Velo News)
  • Giro d’Italia: Overshadowed by Floyd Landis’ confession/accusation last week was Stage 11 of the Giro, The Day The Peloton Said “Oops!” A big breakaway gained too much time on everyone else amid confusion, illness and finger-pointing among and between teams that neglected to pull back enough time to prevent a big shakeup in the standings. Over the weekend, the usual suspects moved back up the standings, with Ivan Basso (back from two-year doping suspension) third and Cadel Evans fourth. American Tyler Farrar, who had won two stages and had the lead in the red jersey (points) standings, dropped out.

SOCCER

  • Champions League: Inter Milan 2, Bayern Munich 0. Not a bad final considering the nerves that always make such big games so difficult.
  • Mexico: Toluca wins its seventh championship in 13 years (25 seasons) on penalty kicks over Santos Laguna. Other winners over that span (1998 onward): Pachuca (5), Pumas (3), Club America (2), Santos (2), Monterrey (2), Necaxa, Morelia, Chivas, Atlante. Santos should’ve won it from the spot, but Toluca now has a title that ought to (but won’t) silence the scoffing of Mexico’s alleged “big clubs.” (BigSoccer)
  • Women’s: USA 4, Germany 0. Hope Solo made a couple of good saves, but this was a dominant performance.

OLYMPIC SPORTS

  • Ice hockey: Czech Republic 2, Russia 1 in men’s World Championship, ending Russia’s win streak at 27 games. Jaromir Jagr had a key play to defeat Alex Ovechkin and Semyon Varlamov, further extending the misery of us Capitals fans. (AP)
  • Track and field: Big Diamond League winners were David Oliver (110 hurdles), Lashinda Demus (400 hurdles), Carmelita Jeter (100) and some guy named Usain Bolt (200). (Universal Sports)
  • Beach volleyball: The FIVB tournament in Rome provided the best opportunity of the weekend, other than the USA-Germany soccer game, to break out the “USA!” chant. Jen Kessy and April Ross are on the kind of roll not seen since Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh’s pre-maternity days, and Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser won their 10th international event. May-Treanor and Nicole Branagh finished fourth. (Universal Sports)

COLLEGE SPORTS

  • Men’s lacrosse (quarterfinals): Top-seeded Virginia, somehow managing to focus while a player is in jail awaiting charges in the slaying of women’s player, beat Stony Brook 10-9 and will face Duke, which beat North Carolina with surprising ease. The other side of the draw is an upset special, seventh-seeded Cornell vs. unseeded Notre Dame, but the Virginia-Duke winner is guaranteed to make the final a media circus.
  • Women’s lacrosse (quarterfinals): Virginia, mourning the loss of teammate Yeardley Love, lost to North Carolina in a quarterfinal that may be better remembered for the sportsmanship than the result. Third-seeded North Carolina next faces second-seeded Northwestern, while top seed Maryland faces unseeded Syracuse.
  • Women’s softball (regional stage): No. 7 Texas, No. 8 Georgia Tech and No. 12 LSU were the upset victims in the regionals; BYU, Oregon and Louisiana-Lafayette advanced at their expense.
  • Men’s tennis (round of 16/quarterfinals): Yet another sport in which Virginia is a top contender: The top-seeded Cavaliers are in the semifinals against #5 Southern Cal. No. 2 Tennessee faces No. 11 Georgia, which is getting a boost from playing at home in beautiful Athens, Ga.
  • Women’s tennis (quarterfinals): More semifinal appearances for Notre Dame (fifth seed, vs. No. 8 Stanford) and North Carolina (second seed, vs. No. 3 Florida). Carolina edged Duke 4-3.
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May 21

Friday Myriad: Must be better than Thursday

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

Time to have a good weekend of actual sports after a nasty day of news — cycling scandals, St. Louis soccer problems, etc.

FRIDAY

5 p.m.: Cycling, Stage 6, Tour of California. A very tough mountain stage should shake up the standings. Versus

11 p.m.: MMA, Strikeforce. Veteran Matt Lindland vs. up-and-comer Kevin Casey in the main event. Showtime

SATURDAY

9 a.m.: Cycling, Giro d’Italia, Stage 14. Universal Sports

10 a.m.: Soccer (England), Championship promotion final, Blackpool-Cardiff. Yes, one of these teams will be in the Premier League next season. Probably not the season after that. Fox Soccer Plus

Noon: Ice hockey, World Championship semifinal, Czech Republic vs. Sweden. Universal Sports

** 2:30 p.m.: Soccer (Europe), Champions League final, Inter Milan vs. Bayern Munich. Fox

  • 3 p.m.: Soccer (MLS), Seattle-San Jose, Fox Soccer Channel

4 p.m.: Ice hockey, World Championship semifinal, Russia vs. Germany. Universal Sports

** 6 p.m.: Soccer (Women’s), USA-Germany in a huge international friendly. No WPS games this week due to international play. ESPN2

6:30 p.m.: Cycling, Stage 7, Tour of California. It’s a time trial, though unlike the Tour de France, it might not be the last word. Versus

SUNDAY

5 a.m.: Tennis, French Open, first day. Tennis Channel

8 a.m.: Track and field, Diamond League in Shanghai, with Usain Bolt in action. Universal Sports online

9 a.m.: Cycling, Giro d’Italia, Stage 15. Universal Sports

Noon: Tennis, French Open, first day (broadcaster shift). ESPN2

1 p.m.: Soccer (Mexico), Toluca-Santos, second leg of final. 2-2 in the first leg. Telemundo

2 p.m.: Darts, Premier League semifinals. Can we watch on Sky’s online viewer? Anyone know?

2:30 p.m.: Ice hockey, World Championship semifinal, Universal Sports

6:30 p.m.: Cycling, Final stage, Tour of California. Hilly circuit. Versus

Ahead to Monday: England-Mexico (3 p.m., FSC/Telemundo) and more French Open.

NCAA Championship watch:

  • Men’s lacrosse (quarterfinals): One of two Duke-North Carolina matchups this weekend. Two first-round shockers saw perennial contenders Princeton and Syracuse ousted. Duke routed another usual suspect, Johns Hopkins. The big story, of course, is top-seeded Virginia, playing with one of its players in jail facing charges in the death of a women’s player.
  • Women’s lacrosse (quarterfinals): Not as many upsets in this bracket.
  • Women’s softball (regional stage, many games on ESPN2)
  • Men’s tennis (round of 16): Virginia is the top seed in this sport, too — huge spring season for the Cavaliers. Top 12 seeds still active.
  • Women’s tennis (quarterfinals): The other Duke-North Carolina matchup.

More action:

  • Chess (live coverage): U.S. Championships hit the unique final four stage.
  • Full soccer listings at Soccer America
  • Selected weekend listings at USA TODAY
  • Universal Sports online: Actually, most of their content is live on TV this weekend, which is unusual. It’s listed above.
  • Tennis Channel: WTA Warsaw and ATP Nice finals on Saturday, not Sunday. That’s because the French Open has a Sunday start.
  • Olympic sports: FIVB beach volleyball in Rome
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