Jun 11

Friday Myriad: USA-England II, Liddell-Franklin I, Track-Field II

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

No, we’re not going to forget the rest of the sports world during the big month in South Africa. That said, I’m backing off from the chronological viewing program this week and doing a more basic linking spree. Enjoy.

SOCCER TV NEWS

World Cup: DirecTV has everything in HD, some in 3D and a total of seven languages — English, Spanish, Arabic, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese. (press release)

WPS: The league is getting more pickup from Comcast regional networks. Best off checking your local affiliate for delayed broadcasts; the league site’s schedule just has the live ones.

RUGBY: USA-ENGLAND II

Well, sort of. It’s the USA against the England Saxons, essentially England’s B team, Sunday at the Churchill Cup. That’s one day after that other USA-England game in South Africa.

TRACK AND FIELD

Diamond League raced in Rome on Thursday and will resume Saturday in New York, where 5,000-seat Icahn Stadium is sold out. Universal Sports, 8 p.m. ET

The Rome highlights:

  • Men’s 400: Jeremy Wariner barely held off Angelo Taylor in a thriller, winning in a world-leading 44.73. (Universal Sports video)
  • Men’s long jump: Dwight Phillips with a world-leading 8.42 meters.
  • Women’s high jump: Another duel between the USA’s Chaunte Lowe and Croatia’s Blanka Vlasic, another win for Vlasic on fewer misses.
  • Men’s 100: No Bolt or Gay, so Jamaica’s Asafa Powell just shaved a little bit off his world-leading time. Down to 9.84 seconds.
  • Women’s 400 hurdles: Also a routine world-leader for Lashinda Demus (52.82).
  • Men’s 200: Walter Dix’s 19.86 broke Michael Johnson’s 11-year-old meet record.
  • Men’s shot put: Christian Cantwell’s 14-meet win streak went down to the last throw. Nailed it. 21.67 meters.

Expected in New York (entry list PDF):

  • Women’s pole vault: Silver medalist Jenn Suhr, formerly Jenn Stuczynski, is due back in action after an Achilles injury
  • Men’s 1,500: Bernard Lagat and Lopez Lomong
  • Men’s 400 hurdles: Bershawn Jackson and Kerron Clement
  • Men’s pole vault: Aussie favorite Steve Hooker and U.S. veteran Tim Mack
  • Women’s 1,500: Shannon Rowbury, not just mentioned here because she went to Duke. Also Cristin Wurth-Thomas.
  • Women’s 200: Allyson Felix and Jamaica’s Veronica Campbell-Brown
  • Women’s 100 hurdles: Lolo Jones and a lot of people with comparable PBs

OLYMPIC SPORTS (all times ET)

Beach volleyball: Men and women both in Moscow for FIVB action that Universal Sports’ blogger says will draw huge crowds. (Russia’s soccer team, coincidentally, isn’t in the World Cup.) Online at UniversalSports.com: women’s medal matches, 10 a.m. Sunday / men’s medal matches, 9:30 a.m. Monday

Wrestling: The U.S. team for this year’s World Championships is being determined tonight and tomorrow. (USOC; video highlights at themat.com)

Volleyball: Like Frank Zappa and the Mothers, the U.S. women are in Montreux. (USOC)

Figure skating: Sorry, ice dancing fans and infatuated guys on the Web — Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto are hanging up the skates.

Triathlon: Hunter Kemper is injured and will miss Hy-Vee Race. (Twitter – @vmichaelis)

TENNIS

Nadal lost, leaving Sam Querrey a nice opportunity to win a title at Queen’s Club. Maria Sharapova is in the women’s semis. Men’s semis and final on Tennis Channel

Former No. 1 Roger Federer is still in at the Gerry Weber Open.

MMA

UFC 115: We have Chuck Liddell-Rich Franklin, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic-Pat Barry, Martin Kampmann-Paulo Thiago and a host of others heading into a very busy stretch of fights. And yes, I was busy writing all that with Sergio Non this week.

Bellator: Pat Curran is the Season 2 lightweight champion in a decision Sergio didn’t like. On Thursday, it’s the welterweight tournament finale between Dan Hornbuckle and Ben Askren, the 2008 Olympic wrestler who has a very quick turnaround from attempting to make the Olympic wrestling team today (see above). The good news is that Askren was wrestling at 163 pounds and will fight at 170, so he shouldn’t worry about making weight.

WORLD SERIES OF POKER

World Championships: Frank Cassela took the Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Name This *&*$ing Event So We Don’t Have to Type All That Stuff title on Tuesday, beating notables such as Jennifer Harman (third) and John Juanda (fifth).

The 2-7 Draw Lowball championship is down a final table that includes Juanda, Erik Seidel and Daniel Negreanu. Check the official updates or get Negreanu’s colorful first-hand Tweets about the event and whatever else springs to mind.

The Ladies event is underway, though a few men have elbowed their way to the tables. Shaun Deeb said he was doing it for charity after losing a bet, which we wouldn’t believe except that they are indeed in Vegas. Duke grad Vanessa Rousso is already out, so we’re rooting for chess GM and SportsMyriad interviewee Jennifer Shahade. Shannon Elizabeth has a healthy chip stack at the moment.

Back in the a.m. for World Cup Virtual Viewing.

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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 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

Soccer 1, Fishing 0

By Beau Dure soccer, tv No Comments »

ESPN has always had a collection of “outdoors” shows, to use the clumsy umbrella term for fishing, other wildlife encounters and “timber sports.” The conglomerate went so far as to buy fishing circuit BASS and make a big push with an outdoors division. ESPN has an outdoors site with everything from fishing columns to tips on cooking a deer heart.

Times have changed, and ESPN is dumping most of its outdoors programming. That’s more of a shock for fishing fans than the day ESPN suddenly completed its Premier League deal, and Saturday morning devotees turned on their TVs to hear a different accent.

The trend seems obvious. Versus, the network formerly known as Outdoor Life Network, has shifted its focus to cycling, MMA and more mainstream sports. Newspapers and magazines, cutting coverage across the board, haven’t spared the fishing rod.

But the sports themselves aren’t dying. Hunting license numbers have dropped a bit, though some evidence suggests those numbers rise as the economy sinks. Fishing isn’t going to dry up. For national TV coverage, outdoors sports may need to rely on some obscure cable channels — Sportsman Channel, Outdoor Channel, World Fishing Network and Pursuit — but aside from big BASS events that ESPN may still show, the sports are built for participants rather than spectators.

In any case, soccer fans should know they’re in no position to gloat here, even as the Premier League bumps the boats off the Saturday morning lineup. This news shows how quickly broadcasters can fall in and out of love with a sport. Getting the deal and keeping the deal are two different things.

(HT: Sports Business Daily)

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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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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?

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May 07

Friday Myriad: UFC, Giro and a field of their own in WPS

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

This weekend, we’ll have the biggest weekend of global soccer until the World Cup, with title deciders and playoffs. We’ll also have a new soccer stadium opening, something unexpected happening in a large soccer stadium, the first big cycling tour of the season starting and a UFC card worth a look.

Hour-by-hour for your couch-potato planning …

FRIDAY

3 p.m.: Basketball: EuroLeague Final Four, Barcelona-CSKA Moscow. Ricky Rubio still plays for Barcelona despite NBA recruiting efforts. Former Dukie Trajan Langdon has carved out a long career with CSKA. NBA Network

5 p.m.: Basketball: EuroLeague Final Four, Partizan-Olympiakos. Good WaPo feature today on Olympiakos’ Josh Childress. NBA Network

7 p.m.: Hockey: World Championships, Germany-USA (delayed broadcast, live online at 2 p.m.). The men’s tournament suffers from the absence of playoff-bound NHL stars, but they’re expecting a record crowd. World record. All hockey. That’s because they’re playing at Schalke’s soccer stadium and expecting a crowd of more than 76K. Universal Sports

SATURDAY

7:40 a.m.: Soccer (England): Promotion playoffs, first leg. Blackpool-Nottingham Forest. Two smaller clubs with a lot of top-flight history (including Forest’s back-to-back European triumphs) try to climb into the Premier League.  Fox Soccer Plus

  • Eye on Soccer (Germany): Can Schalke make up a 17-goal goal difference and catch Bayern Munich for first place? Probably not. Hannover (Steve Cherundolo) avoids relegation with a win at Bochum OR a draw at Bochum and a Nurnberg loss/draw, but that’s not on TV. So you might as well watch Werder Bremen-Hamburg, with Werder trying to hang on to third place and a Champions League playoff spot.  9:30 a.m., GolTV

10 a.m.: Cycling, Giro d’Italia, first stage. Ivan Basso, Cadel Evans, Carlos Sastre and Alexandre Vinokourov are there. Reigning champion Denis Menchov, Levi Leipheimer, Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong are not. See VeloNews preview, which has a guide to each stage. The opener is a prologue-style short, flat time trial. Universal Sports

  • Tennis: WTA final, Rome. Venus Williams lost 6-0, 6-1 to Jelena Jankovic and won’t face Serena Williams in Friday’s semis. The other side of the draw has the resurgent Ana Ivanovic vs. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Tennis Channel

3 p.m.: Soccer (Spain): Sevilla-Barcelona, the biggest test left for Barca, which leads Real Madrid by one point with two games left3 p.m., GolTV

  • Real Madrid-Athletic Bilboa. 3 p.m. ESPN Deportes

4 p.m.: Soccer (MLS): At the same time, Seattle-Los Angeles is the first of the national broadcasts. TeleFutura

  • Toronto-Chicago and Salt Lake-Philadelphia. Direct Kick/MLSSoccer.com

7 p.m.: Volleyball: NCAA men’s final: No. 12 Penn State at No. 1 Stanford. ESPN

  • Soccer (MLS): Columbus-New England. FSC
  • Soccer (Mexico): Playoffs, second leg, Monterrey-Pachuca. Eighth-seeded Pachuca (Jose Francisco Torres) lead 1-0 after first leg. Telemundo
  • Soccer (Mexico): Playoffs, second leg, Chivas-Morelia. Morelia lead 4-2 after first leg. 9 p.m., Telemundo

10 p.m.: MMA: UFC 113 has a rematch of the controversial light heavyweight showdown between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua. We also see if Paul Daley’s trash talk has managed to rattle Josh Koscheck so much that Kos forgets to put his hands up and lets Daley punch him out. And Kimbo Slice and Matt Mitrione compare progress in their ongoing MMA education. Pay-per-view / Yahoo! Sports online / FloTV mobile

SUNDAY

11 a.m.: Soccer (England): Final day for the Premier League. Chelsea leads Manchester United by a point (if tied: Chelsea leads by nine in goal difference). So the likely clincher is Chelsea-Wigan. Fox Sports Net AND FSC

  • Manchester United-Stoke, which will be very interesting indeed if Chelsea isn’t winning. Fox Soccer Plus
  • Other EPL games are all going at the same time. Arsenal is fighting to hold third and an automatic group-stage Champions League berth over Tottenham Hotspur, which is two points back and has clinched at least a Champions League playoff berth. Arsenal’s game also gives one last chance to check in on Clint Dempsey, playing for the visitors. Arsenal-Fulham (delay), 1 p.m., Fox Soccer Plus
  • Cycling: Giro d’Italia, second stage, 10 a.m., Universal Sports

1 p.m.: Soccer (Mexico): Playoffs, second leg, Toluca-Club America. 2-2 after first leg. Telemundo

4 p.m.: Basketball: EuroLeague final. NBA Network

Atlanta Beat stadium

A bit of play on the field at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Atlanta Beat's stadium. (Courtesy WPS)

7 p.m.: Soccer (WPS): The Atlanta Beat will play their first home game in the first stadium built for a women’s soccer team. Or two, technically, since it will be shared with Kennesaw State University. The 8,300-seat stadium can be expanded to 16,000 for concerts, but generally, you won’t see much else in the stadium. No X Games tearing up the field (Home Depot Center, LA), no football lines somehow creating divots in the field (RFK Stadium, DC), no artificial turf, etc. You could argue that it’ll be more soccer-specific than many MLS “soccer-specific” stadiums. All White Kit has a cool selection of photos and boldly predicts that the Beat, buoyed by their first home game and a festive atmosphere, will rise up out of last place with a win and go on to beat (ugh … still hate that unintentional pun) FC Gold Pride in the WPS final in September. FSC / iPhone / WPS site

  • Soccer (Mexico): Playoffs (second leg), Pumas-Santos Laguna. Santos lead 2-0 after home leg. 6 p.m., Telemundo

Full soccer listings at Soccer America. More TV listings at USA TODAY.

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May 05

Midweek Myriad:

By Beau Dure chess, mma, soccer, tv 2 Comments »

Free-lance assignments, household emergencies and being yelled at by a couple of Red Bulls fans have taken up much of my time this week, but there’s still plenty to round up while I enjoy my first home HD soccer viewing. (NOW I can’t wait for the World Cup.)

- MLS: Four midweek games tonight, with D.C. United aiming to end its winless streak on ESPN2 vs. Kansas City.

- U.S. Open Cup: The 2010 tournament will include a curious California play-in game for an extra amateur berth. (TheCup.us)

- EPL: Tottenham Hotspur clinched a Champions League berth for next season with a 1-0 win at Manchester City. Could they even take third ahead of Arsenal?

- La Liga: Barcelona took an easy win over Tenerife yesterday; Real Madrid tries to keep pace and remain one point back later today against Mallorca.

- Coppa Italia: Inter 1, Roma 0 in today’s final, with lots of misbehavior. With these two teams still fighting for the league title, that might not cool down any time soon.

- Copa Libertadores: Chivas (the original one) are in the Copa Libertadores quarterfinals, along with (barely) Brazil’s Sao Paulo. (Soccernet)

- UFC: Dropkick Murphys fans, mourn — Forrest Griffin is off the UFC 114 card. Instead, Jason Brilz will face Antonio Rogerio “Little Nog” Nogueira.

Also in UFC — the usual recap of The Ultimate Fighter will be on schedule tonight a little after 11 p.m. ET.

- Bellator: Thursday’s show has the first semifinals of the season — lightweights Roger Huerta-Pat Curran and Carey Vanier-Toby Imada. Also, lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez fights a “super fight” (keeping him active before he defends title against tourney winner) against UFC vet Josh Neer.

- Chess: Veselin Topalov outlasted Vishy Anand in game 8 yesterday. World championship all square with four games left. (Susan Polgar blog)

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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.)

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Apr 23

Friday Myriad: Get your track shoes and chess pieces

By Beau Dure chess, cycling, mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, track and field, tv 4 Comments »

Don’t let the volcano or blown calls get you down. All times ET, which seems appropriate given the birth of new I-95 rivalries in MLS and WPS this weekend.

TRACK AND FIELD

Penn Relays, featuring the “USA vs. The World” events, will have a same-day delay broadcast, 8 p.m. ET Sat., ESPN2

The Drake Relays also will have their big names competing Saturday, though they’ve already seen a meet record with U.S. champion Diana Pickler in the heptathlon.

Also the first official IAAF event of the season, the Dakar Grand Prix on Saturday.

Two marathons Sunday: London and Madrid. London will be broadcast on Universal Sports.

CHESS

The World Championship match between champion Vishy Anand and challenger Veselin Topalov starts Saturday morning. Grandmaster Ian Rogers, writing for the USCF’s Chess Life Online, provides a helpful and witty guide to following the event.

MMA

Some other writer wrote a preview of WEC’s first pay-per-view card at 10 p.m. ET Saturday. Spike will have two prelims at 9 p.m. The main event has two of the most exciting fighters in the world — featherweight champion Jose Aldo vs. former champion Urijah Faber. There’s also a lightweight title fight rematch between Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone, plus a compelling featherweight matchup with former champion Mike Brown facing Manny Gamburyan.

EUROPEAN SOCCER

Now would be a good time to mention the World’s Greatest Football Fan contest, complete with video from one “Cobi J.” Good thing to fill out while you’re agonizing over your favorite team in the stretch run this weekend.

The key German and French games aren’t televised this week.

England (3 games left; Chelsea lead Man U by 1)

For fourth place: Tottenham (64) and Man City (62) have game in hand over Aston Villa (61).

Relegation race: Bolton (35), Wigan (35), Wolves (34) near safety. West Ham (31) on bubble. Current relegation zone is Hull (28), Burnley (27) and Portmouth (farewell).

  • Tottenham-Manchester United, 7:30 a.m. Sat., ESPN2: For the second straight week, Manchester United carries its title hopes against a team fighting for the final Champions League berth.
  • West Ham-Wigan, 10 a.m. Sat., FSC: Vital for West Ham (Jonathan Spector).
  • Hull-Sunderland, 10 a.m. Sat., Fox Soccer Plus: Hull (Jozy Altidore) are in worse shape.
  • Arsenal-Manchester City, 12:30 p.m. Sat., FSC: The Gunners are pretty well stuck in third after collapsing last week; Man City still wants that Champions League berth.
  • Everton-Fulham, 9:55 a.m. Sun.: Everton (Tim Howard) still in the mix for a European spot; Fulham (Clint Dempsey) might want to cool the jets in the Premier League and focus on that second Europa League semifinal leg.
  • Chelsea-Stoke, 11 a.m. Sun., FSC: Possible lead change?

Spain (5 games left; Barcelona lead Real Madrid by 1)

  • Barcelona-Xerez, noon Sat., GolTV
  • Real Zaragoza-Real Madrid, 2 p.m. Sat., ESPN3

Italy (4 games left; Roma lead Inter by 1 and AC Milan by 7)

  • Inter Milan-Atalanta, noon Sat., Fox Soccer Plus
  • Palermo-AC Milan, 2:30 p.m. Sat., FSC
  • Roma-Sampdoria, 2:30 p.m. Sun., FSC

Greece

  • Cup final: Aris-Panathinaikos, 1:30 p.m. Sat., untelevised: Trophy for Eddie and Freddy?

More global listings at Soccer America.

MLS

New FC Dallas technical director Barry Gorman has already paid dividends for the Hooray Beers. He coached Jason Yeisley at Penn State, and Yeisley made the difference last night with a textbook … dive. (See the currently non-embeddable video.) Jeff Cunningham made his second PK of the night and Dallas got a draw with the unlucky Seattle Sounders.

The weekend (home teams first; all games Saturday except the last):

  • New York (3-1-0) – Philadelphia (1-2-0), 4 p.m., TeleFutura
  • New England (2-2-0) – Colorado (2-1-1), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: Better matchup than you might have thought a month ago.
  • Columbus (1-0-1) – Salt Lake (2-1-0), 7:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: Past two MLS champs meet as RSL continues brutal early schedule.
  • Kansas City (2-1-0) – Los Angeles (4-0-0), 8:30 p.m., DK/MLSS: Good test for Galaxy’s streak.
  • Chicago (1-2-1) – Houston (2-1-1), 8:30 p.m., DK/MLSS
  • Chivas USA (1-3-0) – San Jose (2-1-0), 10:30 p.m., FSC
  • Toronto (1-3-0) – Seattle (2-1-2), 2 p.m. Sun., DK/MLSS: Temperamental TFC vs. some angry Sounders. Yikes.

D.C. United is the idle team this week. Not exactly sure why.

WPS

  • FC Gold Pride (1-1-0) – Atlanta (0-1-1), 10 p.m. Sat.: Fun fact – Atlanta keeper Allison Whitworth leads the league with 19 saves. Second place is Hope Solo with 12. Expansion defenses are fun!
  • Philadelphia (0-0-2) – Washington (1-1-0), 6 p.m. Sun.: Abby Wambach was WPS player of the week with a goal and two assists for the Freedom.
  • Chicago (0-1-1) – Sky Blue (1-1-0), 6 p.m. Sun.: Facing each other for the second time already. First game was 1-0 Sky Blue in their Jersey home.
  • St. Louis (1-0-1) – Boston (1-0-1), 6 p.m. Sun., FSC, Webcast, iPhone: Looks like the only way to make this more readily available would be to beam it directly into your head. Coincidentally, these teams are tied for first in the early going.

CYCLING

  • Athens Twilight Criterium, Saturday: Not a major event, but it draws a few good riders and will bring back pleasant memories for all us former Athens residents.
  • Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Sunday: Classic ride through Belgium and one of the last big rides before the Giro d’Italia. Among the riders: Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, Christian Vande Velde, Chris Horner, Andreas Kloden, Yaroslav Popovych. Earlier this week at La Fleche Wallonne, Evans beat Joaquin Rodriguez and Contador in the final sprint, with Horner 7th. On Versus May 1.

BOXING

Super Six super middleweight tournament continues: Carl Bloch vs. Mikkel Kessler, 9 p.m. ET Sat., Showtime

Heavyweights Cristobal Arreola vs. Tomasz Adamek, main event on 11:15 p.m. ET Sat. HBO card

OLYMPIC/COLLEGE SPORTS

Four ongoing events this weekend

  • Equestrian, Rolex Three-Day Event, Lexington, Ky., Universal Sports
  • Canoe-Kayak, U.S. flatwater national team trials, Chula Vista, Calif.
  • Wrestling, U.S. Championships, Cleveland, TheMat.com
  • Women’s college gymnastics, NCAA championships, Gainesville, Fla., NCAA/CBS College Sports

TENNIS

  • Fed Cup semifinals, USA vs. Russia, 2/4 p.m. Sat., 2/4/6 p.m. Sun., Tennis Channel
  • ATP Barcelona: semifinals 7:30/10 a.m. Sat., final 10 a.m. Sun., Tennis Channel: David Ferrer, Robin Soderling among quarterfinalists.

ELSEWHERE

  • Several bowlers from the PBA Tour, whose season is over, are competing in the Japan Cup.
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