May 2nd? May 2nd was an appetizer. Tomorrow, June 6th, is the main course – the true epoch of 2015’s Saturday sports bonanzas. Here is your itinerary for the day.
UEFA Champions League Final, 11:30 PM, FOX – This year’s Champions League Final comes to you from Berlin. It pits Barcelona, who some are considering one of the best teams in football history, against heavy underdog Juventus, who did nothing this year but lock up Serie A in April and follow that up by winning the Copa Italia.
This is the European bow for Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo, who is, without question, one of the greatest midfield showmen and most awing passing savants that the game has ever seen. Pirlo is also heavily bearded, approximately 57 years old, and won’t move from the first patch of grass he finds and likes the entire game. It’s awesome.
Pirlo is reportedly off to MLS and NYCFC – more on that later – while the Barcelona trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar have combined this year for 120 goals across all competitions, making them the most lethal attack in modern football history.
The only way Barcelona can lose is if they don’t defend well – and that’s a possibility. Gerard Pique hasn’t had the best run since the 2014 World Cup debacle with Spain, while the other center-back Javier Mascherano is a converted midfielder. Juve has the best defense Barca has seen all season – and that just barely gives them a puncher’s chance.
Other players to watch include such scrubs as Andres Iniesta, Carlos Tevez, Paul Pogba, and Gianluigi Buffon.
Barcelona are going for their third crown in seven years; Juventus their first since 1996. Whoever wins becomes the eighth European treble winner ever.
The match will be called on FOX by Martin Tyler, and is, as usual, not to be missed. If the Super Bowl had a little more self-respect, a little more gravitas, and soccer, it would be the Champions League Final.
Preakness Stakes, approx. 3:30 PM, NBC – May 2nd had the Belmont, but June 6th has the Preakness, and a chance for American Pharoah to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 and Affirmed.
Since then, thirteen bids have fallen short at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland, where the weather is supposed to be a hell of a lot nicer than it was in New York when the Belmont was run in a monsoon.
Although American Pharoah – coming from a cash-rich and historically successful operation – hasn’t quite captured the hearts of the public the way previous Triple Crown contenders have, it hardly matters. The Preakness – the longest of the three legs, so of course the most stressful – will be two plus minutes of heart palpitations.
The kind of thrilling, nervous excitement horse racing generates is just perhaps beyond human capability. Saturday afternoon, in the 140th running of the Preakness American Pharoah could achieve something in sports that no human can either: The Triple Crown.
Canada v. China, Women’s World Cup, 3:00 PM, FOX Sports 1 – The seventh Women’s World Cup gets underway from the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, and to put it quite simply, there has never been a better time to be a women’s soccer fan.
The World Cup has been expanded from 16 to 24 teams, FOX is covering it with unprecedented resources and dedication, and the sexist dictator of FIFA Sepp Blatter announced his impending resignation on Monday 🙂
It’s not all rosy, of course. One of Blatter’s last acts was forbidding the tournament to be played on grass, instead subjecting the biggest spectacle in the women’s game to turf, but all in all, this is a good time to love the beautiful game. One of the most hopeful, in fact, in many, many years.
Canada hosts – enjoy that before the FIFA scene shifts to (maybe) Russia and Qatar – and the Canadians are led by former University of Portland star Christine Sinclair.
There are eight current Portland Thorns players at the World Cup, including a former dynamo in Spanish sensation Vero Boquete, and several former UP stars lead the way as well, including Megan Rapinoe for the United States.
The tournament runs through June, and if it’s half as exciting as the 2011 edition, will be worth your time.
Stanley Cup Final, 5:00 PM, NBC – After the Chicago Blackhawks stole game one with a classic smash-and-grab, come-from-behind, 2-1 win anchored by terrific defending and goalkeeping on Thursday night, Tampa Bay needs to win game two at home on Saturday night before the series shifts back to the United Center.
The Blackhawks just look like champions again this year – so reliable in close games, so reliable with their backs against the wall, so reliable in clawing their way back into games – but the Lightning offense, the best in the NHL, will start scoring eventually.
The first round series with Nashville, in which Corey Crawford was benched in favor of Scott Darling, isn’t too far in the rearview mirror. The Hawks can take total control of the series, or Tampa can claw back in.
Steven Stamkos and Patrick Kane are possibly the two most exciting players in the game. Oh, and there’s Doc Emrick, so it’s a must-watch anyway. Enough?
Portland v. New England, 7:30 PM, KPDX – There is nothing in the city that can match a gorgeous, sunny, early-summer night at Providence Park, especially with a good game on the horizon.
The Timbers are on the up and up – for now, at least – too, coming off a six-point week capped off by a stoppage time winner in Colorado by club legend Jack Jewsbury.
On Saturday, the Timbers play their first weekend home game in more than a month, and it’s against the Revolution – the defending Eastern Conference champions.
Every Timbers home game is an occasion. This could be a particularly fun one.
There’s also plenty of baseball on Saturday – MLB, and more interesting, college baseball Super Regionals. Hey, it’s also going to be around 90 degrees, so find some time to get outside and enjoy the day.
Get ready, people. June 6th is the sports day of the year.
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