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

Tagged with: • • •
Jun 02

Midweek Myriad: Big-time poker win, more twists in shooter’s saga

By Beau Dure olympic sports, poker, tennis 1 Comment »

A few headlines from the week so far:

- Tennis: Roger Federer may lose his No. 1 ranking after losing to Robin Soderling in the French Open quarterfinals, ending an amazing streak of 23 straight Grand Slam semifinal appearances. SI’s Jon Wertheim grapples with the ramifications.

Serena Williams is trying to hold off Samantha Stosur at the moment. Stosur beat Justine Henin, ending her streak of Roland Garros wins at 24.

- Poker: Mike Mizrachi outlasted little-known Russian Vladimir Schemelev and eliminated his own brother at the final table to win the Poker Players Championship at the World Series of Poker.

- Olympic sports: Shooter Matt Emmons is USA TODAY’s Olympic Athlete of the Week (I’m no longer involved in making that pick), which gives us a chance to revisit his colorful biography. In the 2004 Olympics, he won gold in one event and was on track for gold in a second before firing his last shot at the wrong target. A Czech Republic shooter came up to offer a few words of sympathy and wound up marrying him. They were the cute love story of the 2008 Olympics, where she won gold and he won silver. He was once again on track for gold in his second event when he had another last-shot misfire. I’ve talked to him twice — before the 2004 Games and after that 2008 misfire. He figured something good would follow that misfortune just as it did in 2008, and sure enough, he and Katy had a baby girl eight months later.

No, I’m not a jinx when it comes to pre-Games interviews, even though I also interviewed Lindsey Jacobellis before Torino.

Tagged with: • •
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.

Tagged with: • •
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.
Tagged with: • • •
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
Tagged with: •
May 17

Monday Myriad: Sparkling play in WPS, short-sighted decision in Italy

By Beau Dure chess, cycling, golf, mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, track and field, winter sports 3 Comments »

We’re starting with WPS for a highlight that probably didn’t make SportsCenter (correct me if it did) but should have. It’s Abby Wambach’s back-heel, throwing off three defenders and setting up the Washington Freedom’s first goal against the run of play as the Atlanta Beat once again looked wonderful but couldn’t finish. If you want to skip ahead to it, go to the 1:17 mark:

Wambach’s header wasn’t bad, either, which is why she gets my Player of the Week vote ahead of Marta. Granted, if I could see Marta’s video highlights, that would help.

The full week (home teams first):

  • Atlanta 0, Washington 2: The Beat might have played the best two games ever without scoring, outshooting the Freedom 21-10.
  • Boston 1, Bay Area 2: Marta has both goals for the league leaders.
  • St. Louis 2, New Jersey 2: Apologies to Laura Kalmari, who scored twice for Sky Blue and won’t win Player of the Week ahead of the bigger names.
  • Chicago 0, Philadelphia 1: Not a very good week for home teams, was it?

GLOBAL SOCCER

Several trophies were on the line, but the decisive games made news for reasons beyond the results.

  • Spain: Barcelona looked as good as ever in beating Valladolid 4-0 to finish the La Liga season with a record 99 points — 31 wins, 6 draws, 1 loss — a season that ranks with Arsenal’s unbeaten Premier League run (2003-04) as one of the best ever in a top European league. The only team to beat Barca was erratic Europa League champion Atletico Madrid. Runner-up Real Madrid lost twice to Barca and still somehow kept pace until the very end, drawing 1-1 with Malaga in a result that kept the home team in La Liga next year at Valladolid’s expense.
  • Italy: Inter Milan made their fans sweat a little more, waiting until the second half to score at Siena and hold on for a 1-0 win that clinched the Serie A title by two points over Roma, which won 2-0 at Chievo.
  • Italy/USA: American defender Oguchi Onyewu, who missed much of the season after an injury in World Cup qualifying, worked out a one-year contract extension with third-place AC Milan by offering to play for free in 2012-13. The club have agreed, which is appalling. What happens to the next guy who gets hurt playing in a World Cup qualifier? How much pressure will be on that player to do what Onyewu did? (BBC)
  • FA Cup: Premier League champion Chelsea beat last-place Portsmouth, which played the season under the cloud of financial problems, but the underdogs managed to throw away much of their charm when Kevin-Prince Boateng’s brutal foul on Michael Ballack knocked the German cornerstone out of the World Cup. Boateng, coincidentally, has shifted nationality from Germany to Ghana and may play against Germany — and his half-brother, Jerome Boateng — in the World Cup. Perhaps it was instant karma that Boateng had a penalty kick saved, spoiling Portsmouth’s chance to take an improbable lead. (BBC)
  • German Cup: Bayern Munich 4, Werder Bremen 0. Saturday’s Champions League final (Bayern-Inter, 2:45 p.m. ET, Fox) will feature two teams going for a triple of league, cup and European trophies.
  • England: Congratulations to Oxford United, which returns to League football with an emphatic Conference final win. (BBC)
  • Mexico: Jose Francisco Torres will be available for the U.S. camp without a club-vs.-country battle, as his Pachuca side fell on 3-2 aggregate to Toluca. Santos followed up a 3-3 draw at Morelia by winning the second leg 7-1. What is this — the NASL? Third seed Toluca and fifth seed Santos will be the clubs playing in the Mexican final and lining up to crush MLS teams in next season’s CONCACAF Champions League.
  • CONCACAF (women’s): It’s a miracle that Haiti is able to field a team at all after the earthquake. They’re doing more than competing — they’ve advanced to the final round of Gold Cup qualifying. (All White Kit)

MMA

  • Strikeforce: Alistair Overeem demolished Brett Rogers to retain his heavyweight championship, saving Strikeforce from the PR dilemma of having their heavyweight champion already beaten by Fedor Emelianenko. All eyes now turn to an Overeem-Fedor matchup, assuming Fedor dispenses with Fabricio Werdum this summer. Also, Antonio Silva pushed Andrei Arlovski farther down the heavyweight ladder. (MMA Fighting Stances)
  • Shine Fights: Boxer Ricardo Mayorga was all set to face veteran Din Thomas in Fayetteville, N.C. Then a Florida judge granted boxing promoter Don King an injunction against Mayorga’s participation. After an afternoon Twitter flurry in which the card seemed to be going on with or without the main event, the North Carolina commission scrapped the whole card, though the co-main event of Murilo Rua vs. David Heath isn’t a bad matchup at all for a smaller promotion. King was asked to present a $1 million cash bond, which he did in two duffel bags. (Yahoo!)
  • Washington Combat: Sort of a senior-circuit main event, though Pedro Rizzo has two wins over Jeff Monson in recent years and was on Affliction’s much-hyped debut card against Josh Barnett. His opponent, Gary Goodridge, lost to Paul Buentello on the same Affliction card and lost to solid fighters Overeem and Gegard Mousasi since then. Bloody Elbow’s Luke Thomas says it’s time for Goodridge to hang ‘em up. (Washington Post)

CYCLING

  • Giro d’Italia: Through nine stages, the leader is Alexandre Vinokourov, making his first big run since being tossed out of the 2007 Tour de France for flunking a doping test. Cadel Evans is 72 seconds back. American Tyler Farrar leads in points and has the red jersey, the equivalent of the Tour’s green.
  • Tour of California: Mark Cavendish, who won last year’s sprint title while Levi Leipheimer won the overall, won Sunday’s first stage of the eight-stage race. The big climbs are Tuesday and Friday.

TENNIS

  • Madrid Masters (men): After some atypical struggles, Roger Federer is back to normal, reaching the final and then, because it’s on clay, losing to Rafael Nadal. (AP)
  • Madrid Masters (women): Venus Williams reached the final and climbed to No. 2 in the rankings, her best since 2003. She lost in the final, though, to unseeded Aravane Rezai. Maybe she’ll be seeded next year.

OLYMPIC SPORTS

  • Swimming: Universal Sports has some video from the Charlotte UltraSwim, including Michael Phelps cruising in the 200 IM. Dancing with the Stars contestant Natalie Coughlin also is back in the pool. (Universal Sports)
  • Track, field and whatever this is: Tyson Gay set a “world best” (it’s not officially a world record because it’s not officially an official event) of 19.41 seconds in Manchester. Makes you wonder how Usain Bolt can run a 19.19 around a curve.
  • Running: Remember the USA TODAY profile on Amy Palmiero-Winters, the amputee who qualified for the 24-hour running world championships? She finished a very respectable 19th, coming just short of 200 kilometers. Scott Jurek covered 266.677k for a silver medal as the U.S. men placed third. Anna Piskorka (10th, 214.417k) was the top U.S. woman as the women’s team finished fourth. (USA Track and Field)

CHESS

Hikaru Nakamura and Gata Kamsky drew in their first meeting at the U.S. Chess Championships on Sunday, likely keeping both of them on track to play again in the “Final Four” in this uniquely formatted tournament. Irina Krush killed my fantasy team by losing out of what seemed to be a winning position against Varuzhan Akobian in a 113-move thriller. (U.S. Chess Federation)

INTRIGUING READS

  • Golf and tennis: One sport’s U.S. federation is taking all the right steps to get kids interested and keep them playing. The other is scratching its head as players appear to be abandoning the sport, and the solutions may be quite costly. (Wall Street Journal).
  • Football: Flag football — eventual answer to gender-equity questions? Convenient dodge of gender-equity questions? Waste of time? Great activity? Many opinions here. (New York Times)
  • Skiing/long-running TV shows: Lindsey Vonn was thrilled to do a guest spot on Law & Order. Not so thrilled to hear this is the final season. She’s organizing a group to save the show. (Yahoo! – Fourth-Place Medal)
Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • •
May 14

Friday Myriad: Diamond debut, four soccer trophies on the line

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

Your hour-by-hour viewing guide, all times ET:

FRIDAY

Noon: Track and field, Diamond League, Doha. Debut of the expanded successor to the Golden League. I’ll be live-blogging this one. Universal Sports

2:40 p.m.: Soccer (England), League One semifinal, Swindon-Charlton. Special feelings for me regarding Swindon, the only place I’ve ever seen an English game in person. Plenty more promotion playoffs through the weekend. Fox Soccer Plus

SATURDAY

** 10 a.m.: Soccer (England), FA Cup final, Chelsea-Portsmouth. First vs. worst in the Premier League, but this time, there’s a trophy at stake. FSC

2 p.m.: Soccer (Germany), German Cup final, Bayern Munich-Werder Bremen. Bayern going for the second leg of the triple, having won the Bundesliga and with the Champions League final to come. ESPN Deportes

  • 2:30 p.m.: Soccer (Italy), AC Milan-Juventus, FSC

4 p.m.: Soccer (MLS), Philadelphia-Dallas. You’ll be bored with the Italian game by the time this one kicks off. TeleFutura

6-ish p.m.: Horse racing, Preakness. Might be able to flip over and catch the actual race after 90-plus minutes of pre-race. NBC

7 p.m.: Soccer (Mexico), semifinal second leg, Santos-Morelia. TeleFutura

  • 7:30 p.m.: Soccer (MLS), New York-Seattle is the best of the non-national games in the early evening. Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com
  • 8:30 p.m.: Soccer (MLS), Kansas City-Chicago, FSC

9 p.m.: Soccer (Mexico), semifinal second leg, Toluca-Pachuca. Telemundo

10 p.m.: MMA, Strikeforce. Alistair Overeem-Brett Rogers for the heavyweight title (no, Fedor doesn’t have it yet, even though he beat Rogers in his last fight). Also another compelling heavyweight matchup: Andrei Arlovski-Antonio Silva. Showtime

  • 9:45 p.m.: Boxing, Amir Khan-Paul Malignaggi for Khan’s WBA light welterweight title in Madison Square Garden. USA TODAY preview. HBO

10:30 p.m.: Soccer (MLS), Los Angeles-Toronto. Can we go ahead and call it — three more points for the Galaxy? Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com

SUNDAY

** 9 a.m.: Soccer (Italy), final games of season.

  • Siena-Inter, FSC
  • Chievo-Roma, Fox Soccer Plus (also delayed on FSC, 11 a.m.)

** 1 p.m.: Soccer (Spain), final games of season.

  • Valladolid-Barcelona, ESPN2
  • Malaga-Real Madrid, GolTV

5 p.m.: Cycling, Tour of California, first stage. Yes, it’s conflicting with the Giro d’Italia, but as my former deskmate Sal Ruibal tells us, California organizers have designs of making this another Grand Tour. Versus

6 p.m.: Soccer (WPS), Atlanta-Washington. Another look at Atlanta’s new soccer stadium, with a matchup of two high-powered offenses that were unusually shut out their last time out. FSC

ANYTHING ELSE?

Tagged with: • •
May 03

Monday Myriad: Twenty20 just not cricket; injury-free Giro goal

By Beau Dure chess, cycling, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, track and field 1 Comment »

A little late and short this week due to free-lance deadlines and a nervous trip to the auto dealer’s service department. (It lived.)

Also, these are going to be more Oly/international/MMA and less soccer because I’m already rounding up soccer elsewhere. As are other people.

Starting this week, though, with a complaint about:

CRICKET

Twenty20 cricket already takes a long, complicated game and makes it a short, extremely complicated game. But then when you have a little rain, it’s like racing to solve a Rubik’s Cube.

That’s one way of describing the way West Indies beat England 60-191 in the World Twenty20 tournament. (Cricinfo)

That leaves England needing a win over Ireland, one of the outsiders in a sport that accords “test status” to a small group of countries, to advance to the “Super Eight.”

Afghanistan didn’t pull off some sort of miracle on grass in its opener, but Noor Ali helped the team post a respectable score. (Guardian)

SOCCER

MLS: Full recap coming tomorrow. For now, read DuNord’s recap and be sure to follow the link to the story on RSL’s Andy Williams, whose wife is cancer-free but has been hospitalized a couple of times with infections, nearly causing Williams to miss a game.

WPS: Heard the phrase “league of parity” a few times after Saturday’s Freedom game. Atlanta is falling off the pace at the bottom of the league but has not yet played at home — the Beat will open their soccer-specific stadium (shared with Kennesaw State University) Sunday against Sky Blue. Looks great.

Europe: DuNord’s recap also tracks the title battles (Chelsea, Bayern set to clinch in the finales this weekend). Hannover (Steve Cherundolo) won to climb out of the Bundesliga relegation zone.

Mexico: Pachuca (Jose Francisco Torres) takes a 1-0 lead into the second leg as they try to upset top seed Monterrey in the quarterfinals.

South America: As long as we’re scanning roundups, you can’t beat this Copa Libertadores roundup at BigSoccer.

TV midweek (times ET):

  • Tuesday: Barcelona-Tenerife, 2 p.m., GolTV – Barca lead by one point in Spain with three games to play.
  • Tues/Wed/Thurs: Copa Libertadores round of 16, second legs, Fox Sports Espanol
  • Wednesday: Roma-Inter Milan, 2:45 p.m., GolTV -
  • Wednesday: Tottenham-Manchester City, 3 p.m., ESPN2 – Teams tied for fourth Champions League spot with two to play.
  • Wednesday: D.C. United-Kansas City, 7 p.m., ESPN2 – One of four midweek MLS games.

CYCLING

  • Tour of the Gila: Levi Leipheimer is the winner, with a lot of help from Lance Armstrong. Side note in the results: Floyd Landis finished ahead of Armstrong. (Velo News)
  • Tour de Romandie: Alejandro Valverde made up a one-second gap in the overall standings on the final stage for the victory. (Velo News)
  • Mountain bike World Cup: Willow Koerver finished second over the weekend to move up to first in the season standings.
  • Looking ahead: The Giro d’Italia starts Saturday. U.S. rider Christian Vande Velde is blunt about his goals: “Ideally, not break seven bones in my body.” Gotta dream big. (Velo News)

OLYMPIC/COLLEGE SPORTS

  • Track and field: Chris Solinsky is a pretty good 5,000-meter runner. He decided to dabble in the 10,000, running it for the first time at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford. The result: He’s the first non-African to break 27 minutes. (IAAF)
  • Gymnastics: Dominant run for the U.S. teams at the Pacific Rim Championships in Melbourne, winning men’s and women’s team titles and 27 medals. Rebecca Bross won the women’s all-around.
  • Beach volleyball: No upset on the men’s side at the AVP’s Santa Barbara stop, with Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers winning. The women’s bracket was a little less predictable — Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson-Jordan won for the first time in two years. Their last win was in this event.
  • Wrestling: Tervel Diagnev and Justin Ruiz won golds at the Pan American Championships, where Cuba won six of seven men’s freestyle classes.
  • Judo: 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Ronda Rousey, who may one day make an MMA promoter’s day, returned for her first major competition since Beijing and won her sixth U.S. title.

TENNIS

  • ATP Rome: Rafael Nadal is back in winning form on clay, beating David Ferrer in the final.
  • WTA Stuttgart: All hail Justine Henin, showing good form on clay in her comeback.
  • Roundup: Joe Fleming is back at the helm of USA TODAY’s Weekly Net Post, where you’ll read more about the Bryan brothers‘ 60th career title and yet another Borg-McEnroe epic. When their legs give out, those guys will be playing epic matches in table tennis. Or on a Wii.

ELSEWHERE

  • Boxing: Floyd Mayweather zzzzzzzz battered in second round but zzzzzzzzzz won every other round zzzzzzzzzz to beat Shane Mosley. Talk immediately turned to when he might really fight Manny Pacquiao.
  • Chess: While I was fretting over my car, world chess challenger Veselin Topalov played a really aggressive opening with the black pieces to try to force the action against Vishy Anand. The champion couldn’t come up with a win but held on for a draw to maintain a one-point lead at 4-3 through seven games of the 12-game match. (Susan Polgar blog)
Tagged with: • •
Apr 30

Friday Myriad: Europa, but no pirate twins?

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

The big soccer news for U.S. fans and anyone who appreciates the underdog: Fulham reached the Europa League final, rallying from 1-0 down to win 2-1 Thursday against Hamburg. That’s not exactly Butler reaching the NCAA hoops final — Fulham plays in the Premier League, and Hamburg would’ve been the team playing at home in the final. It’s more like Northwestern, in a major conference but not a major player, reaching the NCAA hoops final. The U.S. interest is, of course, Clint Dempsey, who was on the field for the big comeback.

The weekend ahead includes another eight-game Saturday in MLS (all times ET) …

EUROPEAN SOCCER

Full listings at Soccer America. Games Saturday unless specified.

England (2 games left; Chelsea lead Man U by 1)

Fourth place/Champions League berth: Tottenham Hotspur (64 pts., +26 goal diff) lead Aston Villa (64, +16), Manchester City (63, +27) and Liverpool (62, +28).

  • Manchester City-Aston Villa, 10 a.m., FSC: Well, that’s convenient, given the standings.
  • Tottenham Hotspur-Bolton, 10 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus
  • Liverpool-Chelsea, 8:30 a.m., Fox Soccer Plus
  • Sunderland-Manchester United, 11 a.m., FSC

Italy (3 games left; Inter lead Roma by 2)

  • Parma-Roma, noon, Fox Soccer Plus
  • Lazio-Inter, 2:45 p.m. Sun., FSC

Spain (4 games left; Barca lead Real Madrid by 1)

  • Villarreal-Barcelona, 4 p.m., GolTV
  • Real Madrid-Osasuna, 1 p.m. Sun.

Germany (2 games left; Bayern and Schalke tied)

  • Hannover-Borussia Moenchengladbach, 9:30 a.m.: Hannover (Steve Cherundolo) is 17th, one behind automatic safety (15th) and one behind a playoff spot (16th). Gladbach (Michael Bradley) will finish 11th, 12th or 13th.
  • Bayern Munich-Bochum, 9:30 a.m., GolTV
  • Schalke-Werder Bremen, 9:30 a.m.

MLS (points in parentheses)

  • D.C. United (0) -New York (12), 4 p.m., TeleFutura: Worst vs. first in the East.
  • New England (6)-Dallas (3), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS
  • Chicago (7)-Chivas USA (6), 8:30 p.m., DK/MLSS
  • Houston (7)-Kansas City (7), 8:30 p.m., FSC
  • Salt Lake (4)-Toronto (6), 9 p.m., DK/MLSS: If Real don’t win this one, THEN it’s time to worry.
  • San Jose (6)-Colorado (10), 10 p.m., DK/MLSS
  • Los Angeles (13)-Philadelphia (3), 10:30 p.m., DK/MLSS
  • Seattle (8)-Columbus (7), 10:30 p.m., DK/MLSS

WPS

  • Sky Blue (6)-Gold Pride (6), 6 p.m., FSC/iPhone/Webcast: Better known as Bay Area-New Jersey and the battle for first place. Carli Lloyd is on 30-day injured reserve with a broken ankle.
  • Washington (3)-St. Louis (5), 6 p.m.
  • Philadelphia (5)-Atlanta (1), 6 p.m.
  • Boston (5)-Chicago (1), 6 p.m.

MEXICAN SOCCER

Quarterfinals, first leg

  • #8 Pachuca-#1 Monterrey, 6 p.m. Sat., Univision: Pachuca (Jose Francisco Torres) won the CONCACAF title this week.
  • #7 Morelia-#2 Chivas, 8 p.m. Sat.
  • #5 Santos-#4 Pumas, 5 p.m. Sun., TeleFutura
  • #6 Club America-#3 Toluca, 10 p.m. Sun., Univision

OLYMPIC/COLLEGE SPORTS

  • Cycling, Tour de Romandie
  • Gymnastics, Pacific Rim Championships, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Canoe/kayak: U.S. slalom team trials Friday.
  • Beach volleyball: AVP Santa Barbara, men’s championship, 5:30 p.m., Sun., ESPN2
  • Wrestling: Pan American Championships.
  • Diving, FINA Grand Prix, Canada.
  • NCAA winter championships special, 1 p.m. Sat., CBS

TENNIS

  • ATP, Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Rome: semifinals 7:30/10 Sat.; 10 Sun. final; Tennis Channel
  • WTA, Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany: semifinals 2/4 Sat. (delay); 2 Sun. (delay) final ; Tennis Channel: Watch Justine Henin and Dinara Safina
  • WTA, Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, Fez, Morocco.

ELSEWHERE

  • Boxing: Mayweather-Mosley, 9 p.m. Sat., pay-per-view
  • Cricket: World Twenty20 starts Friday with one surprise team among the 12-team field — Afghanistan.
  • Horse racing: Kentucky Derby, 4 p.m. Sat., NBC
  • Chess: The World Championship continues as long as they can keep the lights on.

(Confused by the headline? Here’s the reference.)

Tagged with: • •
Previous Entries Next Entries
preload preload preload