I’ve been meaning to start a regular Monday feature and since Richard Deitsch has a weekly Monday column at SI.com and Tom Hoffarth has his Southern California Sports Calendar, I figured I would preview the upcoming week in the sports media. With a little luck, this will be a signature post on Fang’s Bites. Give me your feedback. Let me know what you think.
Golf
Women’s Open Championship, ESPN, 9 a.m. (Thursday & Friday)/10 a.m. (Saturday & Sunday)
PGA Tour, WGC Bridgestone Invitational, Golf Channel, 2 p.m. (Thursday & Friday)/CBS, 2 p.m. (Saturday & Sunday)
MLB
Baseball’s Trade Deadline is this Wednesday, July 31. MLB Network will have Trade Deadline MLB Tonight shows on Tuesday and Wednesday at 2 p.m. and 11 a.m. respectively. ESPN will have a one-hour SportsCenter Trade Deadline show on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET.
As far as games are concerned, the national games shape up this way (All times Eastern):
Monday — Anaheim Angels at Texas, ESPN, 7 p.m.
Tuesday — St. Louis at Pittsburgh, MLB Network, 4 p.m., Seattle at Boston or Colorado at Atlanta, MLB Network, 7 p.m.
Wednesday — St. Louis at Pittsburgh, ESPN, 7 p.m., Milwaukee at Cubs, WGN America, 8 p.m.
Thursday — St. Louis at Pittsburgh or Colorado at Atlanta, MLB Network, 7 p.m.
Friday — Los Angeles Dodgers at Cubs, WGN America, 4 p.m., St. Louis at Cincinnati or Arizona at Boston, MLB Network, 7 p.m.
Saturday — Atlanta at Philadelphia or Los Angeles Dodgers at Cubs or Texas at Oakland, Fox, 4:05 p.m., Arizona at Boston or St. Louis at Cincinnati, MLB Network, 7 p.m. and White Sox at Detroit, WGN America, 7 p.m.
Sunday — Arizona at Boston, TBS, 1:30 p.m., Los Angeles Dodgers at Cubs, WGN America, 2:20 p.m. and Atlanta at Philadelphia, ESPN, 8 p.m.
NASCAR
Saturday — Nationwide Series, U.S. Cellular 250, ESPN, 8 p.m.
Sunday — Sprint Cup Series, GoBowling.com 400, ESPN, 1 p.m.
NFL
Larry Allen, Cris Carter, Jonathan Ogden, Bill Parcells and Warren Sapp will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. ESPN2 and NFL Network will have their dueling shows at 7 p.m. Chris Berman hosts ESPN2’s show while Rich Eisen helms NFL Network’s special.
Then on Sunday, it’s the first preseason game of 2013 with Dallas taking on Miami in the Hall of Fame Game live from Canton, OH. NBC airs the game and you’ll have the usual Sunday Night Football crew of Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth and Michele Tafoya on the case.
Olympics
NBC airs “First: The Official Film of the London 2012 Olympic Games” on Saturday Sunday at 2 p.m. It marks the first Olympics film without the influence of the late Bud Greenspan and from what I’m told, his absence is felt throughout the movie which profiles 12 first-time Olympians.
Other Sports
NBC airs the Whitney Invitational Handicap as the Summer at Saratoga horse racing series continues on Saturday. The program hits the air at 5 p.m.
The U.S. Open Series leading up to the U.S. Open in New York heads to Washington and Carlsbad, CA. ESPN2 and Tennis Channel share coverage of the Citi Open and the Southern California Open during the weekend.
NBC Sports Network has the Honda Indy 200 on Sunday at 3 p.m.
Universal Sports continues to air coverage of the FINA World Championships in Barcelona with medals handed out in diving, synchronized swimming, swimming and water polo. Coverage will be live and on tape delay. Check your local listings.
Lastly, ESPN’s Nine for IX series airs “Swoopes” which focuses on the great women’s basketball player, Sheryl Swoopes. The premiere is on Tuesday at 8 p.m. with multiple re-airings throughout the week.
That will conclude this look at The Week Ahead.
