Category: cycling

cycling, olympic sports, rugby, soccer, tennis, track and field

Friday Myriad: French finals, final Cup tune-ups

Posted on by Beau Dure

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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cycling, mma, olympic sports, tennis, track and field

Monday Myriad: World Series of Poker schedules around World Cup?

Posted on by Beau Dure

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.

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cycling, mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, track and field

Friday Myriad: I see Italy, I see France …

Posted on by Beau Dure

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.
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cycling, mind games, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, track and field

Monday Myriad: Trash-talking backfires in chess; order restored to Giro?

Posted on by Beau Dure

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.
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cycling, mind games, mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, track and field

Friday Myriad: Must be better than Thursday

Posted on by Beau Dure

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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cycling

Floyd Landis confession lets no one off the hook

Posted on by Beau Dure

The news that former Tour de France champion Floyd Landis has admitted using several performance-enhancing drugs in his cycling career, reported in The Wall Street Journal, is disappointing on several levels.

First, it invalidates one of the great performances in sports, Stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France. Landis had lost his overall lead with a weak ride the day before, falling from first to 11th overall. He then stormed out to a solo breakaway that you never see from a contender in one of the great Tours. Riders who have fallen far back in the general classification may pull off a breakaway at times, but if someone of Landis’ caliber breaks free, the pack responds. The pack did indeed respond, but Landis was just that strong.

(Landis tells ESPN’s Bonnie Ford that the testosterone test that flagged him after that race is still inaccurate, but he admits he using human growth hormone.)

Second, it raises more doubt on cycling’s protracted clean-up efforts and, once again, on Lance Armstrong. Landis implicates much of American cycling’s pantheon — Armstrong, George Hincapie, Levi Leipheimer and David Zabriskie — though he concedes to Ford that he has no documentation.

Third, it makes us wonder if anti-doping efforts are helping at all. Any gloating from anti-doping activists — especially from Dick Pound, whose irresponsible comments about “violating virgins” in the early days of the Landis case showed a nasty tendency to talk first, gather facts later — would be misguided.

If there’s even a grain of truth in the e-mails Landis has sent to cycling and anti-doping authorities, then the tests are missing the mark. He tells Ford he is showing authorities how athletes are still cheating and beating the tests.

And yet, the test that flagged down Landis is still questionable. The site Trust But Verify meticulously cataloged problems with Landis’ case, and nothing Landis says here disputes any of that analysis. Arbitrator Chris Campbell ripped the French lab that handled the results in voting to dismiss Landis’ case, and the two arbitrators who overruled him conceded that mistakes had been made. Even if Landis were indeed using synthetic testosterone at that time, which he still denies, better handling of the case would’ve led to a much cleaner and quicker resolution.

Anti-doping science is difficult and ever-changing. Just ask Zach Lund, who missed the Torino Olympics over an anti-baldness drug that was later removed from the banned list. The tests are complicated, and athletes are finding ways to beat them.

And that’s why the anti-doping movement must always proceed out of humility rather than arrogance. Especially today.

Update: Christine Brennan sums up anti-doping challenges in reference to the case of Canadian doctor Anthony Galea, who paid house calls to Tiger Woods and Alex Rodriguez, with some telling quotes from someone who understands those challenges better than anyone — Gary Wadler.

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cycling, general sports, mind games, mma, olympic sports, soccer, tennis, track and field, winter sports

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

Posted on by Beau Dure

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)
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cycling, mma, soccer, tennis, track and field

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

Posted on by Beau Dure

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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cycling, mind games, olympic sports, soccer

Monday Myriad: Pileups at Giro, Barcelona wins European title!

Posted on by Beau Dure

The highlight of the weekend: A wrestler who suffered a severe spinal cord injury two months ago vowed to walk at his graduation from the University of Buffalo. He did. (AP)

In more mundane news from the weekend:

CYCLING

Stage 2 of the Giro d’Italia looked like the chase scene at the end of The Blues Brothers, with multi-vehicle pileups at every turn. See the Universal Sports video montage.

American Tyler Farrar was among those crashing, but he recovered to win the final sprint and stands one second behind Cadel Evans in the general classification. (VeloNews)

U.S. SOCCER

MLS is already covered. Big stories are the Galaxy still rolling, the injury-riddled Revolution reeling and the Sounders giving money back after being blown out at home.

In WPS:

  • The Atlanta Beat shouldn’t think about giving refunds after their first game in their new soccer-specific stadium, but the Beat lost 1-0 on an unfortunate own goal to Sky Blue. Atlanta is a fun team to watch but just couldn’t finish chances. Karen Bardsley stopped 13 saves to finish second on my player of the week ballot.
  • Washington and Boston ended scoreless.
  • Tiffeny Milbrett scored a brilliant goal in Gold Pride’s 2-0 win over Chicago.
  • Lindsey Tarpley got my player of the week vote, with pressure leading to an own goal and then a goal of her own in a 2-1 St. Louis win over Philadelphia. Tarpley is battling back from ACL surgery.

Standings though five games: Gold Pride (Bay Area) 12, Sky Blue (NJ) 9, St. Louis 8, Philadelphia 8, Washington 7, Boston 6, Chicago 4, Atlanta 1.

Caribbean Club Championship: The Puerto Rico Islanders did more than clinch a CONCACAF berth in Trinidad and Tobago. They won the whole thing, a four-team round robin, with two wins and a tie. (USLSoccer.com)

Division 2: Montreal celebrated the announcement of its pending move to MLS with a 2-1 home win over Minnesota. The only other decisive game of the weekend was a 2-1 home win for Rochester over St. Louis. The Rhinos lead the league with 11 points. Vancouver (8) has a one-point lead over Montreal in the NASL Conference, but the Impact have a game in hand.

GLOBAL SOCCER

No final-day drama in England or Germany. Chelsea just needed to avoid a shocking home result against Wigan to clinch the Premier League; an 8-0 win didn’t qualify as “shocking.” Bayern Munich needed to see two scores bigger than that to surrender the Bundesliga title, but that didn’t happen. For American fans, the biggest news was Hannover (Steve Cherundolo) winning 3-0 at Bochum to complete an escape from relegation.

As is so often the case in Mexico, the lower seeds pulled some playoff upsets, with eighth-seeded Pachuca (Jose Francisco Torres) downing top seen Monterrey on 3-1 aggregate. No. 7 Morelia shocked the Chivas fan base 5-2, and No. 5 Santos Laguna held off Pumas. Another giant fan base was disappointed in the one matchup that went according to form — No. 3 Toluca won 2-0 at home for a 4-2 aggregate win over Club America.

In Italy, Inter Milan and Roma won their last home games with some drama — Francesco Totti scored two late goals in Roma’s rally past Cagliari. Next Sunday, it’s Inter (79) at relegated Siena and Roma (77) at pesky Chievo.

In Spain, Real Madrid won easily and Barcelona held on for a 3-2 win at Sevilla to keep the race alive into the final week. On Sunday, Barcelona will be in the same situation Chelsea faced in England — a home game against a weaker side (Valladolid) and a one-point lead over second-place Real Madrid, who must win at Malaga and hope Barca stumble.

BASKETBALL

What’s that in the headline about Barcelona wining the European title? Didn’t they lose in the Champions League? Sure. But in the EuroLeague, Ricky Rubio and company beat Olympiakos in Sunday’s final.

MMA

Paul Daley has apologized for his postfight punch after losing to Josh Koscheck at UFC 113.

CRICKET

England, which suddenly remembered how to play cricket upon reaching the “Elite Eight” stage of the World Twenty20, is playing kingmaker today. With their semifinal spot assured, they’re playing New Zealand, which needs a win or “no result” to advance.

Australia has virtually clinched a berth from the other group, with India virtually eliminated.

CHESS

If Vishy Anand hadn’t blundered on his final move before making the 40-move time control in Game 9, the world championship would be all but over. Instead, it’s 5.5-5.5 heading into Game 12, with Veselin Topalov going for the win with white. If Anand manages a draw here, we’ll go to four tie-breaker games in which each player gets just 25 minutes, plus 30 seconds for each completed move. As aggressively as Topalov is likely to play, maybe we’re more likely to see Anand take advantage and counterattack for the win?

TENNIS

  • Serbia Open: Sam Querrey over John Isner in an all-American final.
  • Estoril Open (men): Defending champion Albert Montanes took out Roger Federer in semis and finished title defense against Frederico Gil.
  • BMW Open: Mikhail Youzhny upset top seed Marin Cilic in final.
  • Italian Open: Jelena Jankovic ousted Serena Williams in semis, then lost to unseeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in final.
  • Estoril Open (women): Anastasia Sevastova def. Arantxa Parra Santonja — no, I don’t know who they are, either.

COLLEGE SPORTS

  • Men’s volleyball: Three years removed from a 3-25 season, Stanford beat Penn State to win the national title.
  • Men’s lacrosse: 16-team NCAA Div I field has been announced; all eyes on top-seeded Virginia, which has a player in jail on a much-publicized murder charge in the death of a women’s lacrosse player. (NCAA.com)
  • Women’s lacrosse: 16-team NCAA Div I field announced; Virginia has the No. 6 seed in this one, with Maryland first. (NCAA.com)

OLYMPIC SPORTS

  • Beach volleyball (women): Jen Kessy and April Ross won a three-setter over Brazil’s Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca to take the FIVB Shanghai title. Misty May-Treanor and Nicole Branagh were fourth. (USOC)
  • Diving: U.S. men win on home platform. (USOC)
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basketball, cycling, mind games, mma, olympic sports, soccer

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

Posted on by Beau Dure

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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