The Week Ahead

This is the week when the youth of the world comes together from all corners of the globe to meet in Communist China for the XXIX Olympiad. We all know the girth of coverage that NBC will provide on its various TV networks and on the internet so I won’t rehash it here. But suffice to say that you’ll have plenty of opportunities to see the games on multiple platforms. The Opening Ceremonies begin on Friday (7 a.m. ET), but NBC will delay it until 8 p.m. ET. Then the Games begin in earnest about 2 a.m. ET, Saturday when boxing (CNBC) and other events (NBCOlympics.com) get underway.

Before the Olympics officially begin, the PGA Championship, golf’s final major of the year, tees off at Oakland Hills Country Club in Michigan. We know that Tiger Woods will not be taking part, but other golfers will, hoping to add their names to the Wanamaker Trophy. TNT will have extensive 1st and 2nd round coverage, Thursday and Friday beginning at 1 p.m. ET. Then TNT will have early 3rd and final round coverage at 11 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday, before giving way to CBS at 2 p.m. both days. There will be online coverage at PGA.com.

For baseball, some of the interesting early-mid week series including a meeting between the Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals, two baseball signature franchises. That begins on Tuesday at the new Busch Stadium. The Chicago Cubs host the Houston Astros in an NL Central Division battle. And for the weekend, the Red Sox take on the White Sox at Comiskey Park (I know it’s called something else, but it’s still Comiskey to me). The Mets and Marlins square off at Shea. And a great rivalry series, the Cards-Cubs takes place at Wrigley Field.

Now that exhibition football is underway, there are plenty of games starting on Thursday including New Orleans at Arizona on ESPN at 8 p.m., the Super Bowl champion Giants at Detroit and Philadelphia at Pittsburgh on Friday night. The game I’ll be paying attention to will be my Cleveland Browns hosting the Crowe’s Nest’s New York Jets.

NASCAR heads to Watkins Glen on Sunday. ESPN has coverage of the race at 2 p.m.

IndyCar will be at Kentucky Speedway for the Indy 300 race this Saturday night on ESPN.

The US Open Series continues with the men’s side heading to our nation’s capital the Legg Mason Tennis Classic and the women go back out west to Los Angeles for the Countrywide Classic. ESPN2 and Tennis Channel share coverage of each tournament with ESPN2 carrying the finals on Sunday.

And that is a look at your week ahead in sport.