By JOHN C. COTEY, Times Staff Writer
Published September 9, 2005
CHECK IT OUT
NASCAR, 7:30 p.m. Saturday on TNT: The final race to determine Nextel Cup's Chase for the Championship participants should be one of the biggest of the season, with Jeff Gordon's status the main story line. Will he or won't he? Analyst Bill Weber says watch out if he does: "He's played mediocre ball at best all season, but he's still got a chance to make the playoffs. And if he gets in the question is: "Do you want to have to race Jeff Gordon?' Most teams will say, "No, I do not.' "
U.S. Open, today through Sunday on CBS (Ch. 10): Coverage today starts at 11 a.m. with the men's doubles final, then No. 1 seed Maria Sharapova takes on No. 4 Kim Clijsters and No. 6 Elena Dementieva battles No. 12 Mary Pierce. The men's semifinals are Saturday (noon-6 p.m.), with the women's final in prime time at 8. The men's final starts at 4 p.m. Sunday.
College GameDay, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, ESPN: The show originates from the Texas-Ohio State football game, which will be on ABC (Ch. 28) at 8 p.m. And if you thought Nick Lachey was good as the lead singer for 98 Degrees (and really, who didn't?), you might want to tune in to see him learn the Michigan fight song. He'll attempt to get former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler to sing with him. Here's hoping he fails.
Stories of Inspiration, 6 p.m. Sunday, ESPN: The first installment of this 60-minute series, hosted by John Anderson, earned two Emmy Awards. The second will have features on Jim MacLaren and Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, two athletes overcoming life-threatening injuries to inspire others; St. Louis Cardinals All-Star Albert Pujols, who does charity work for the Down Syndrome Association of Greater St. Louis and works closely with the Make-A-Wish Foundation (seven years ago, when he met wife Deirdre, Pujols met her 3-month-old daughter, Isabella, who has Down's Syndrome); and the Texas Stampede quad rugby team, the two-time defending national champ.
ALSO ...
TNT basketball analyst and organizer Kenny Smith will host the NBA Players Hurricane Relief Game at 6 p.m. Sunday from the Toyota Center in Houston. The game will be televised on TNT at 11 p.m. Players participating will donate more than $1-million to hurricane relief.
ESPN Classic will kick off the network's live coverage of college football games when it airs Army at Boston College at 12:30 p.m. and Northern Illinois at Northwestern at 4 p.m. Saturday.
The Florida Marlins-Houston Astros game on Wednesday and the Marlins at the New York Mets Sept. 21 have been added to the Sun Sports' television schedule.
RATINGS
ABC's coverage of Miami-FSU Monday night averaged a 6.5 rating (7.145-million impressions), making it the network's most-viewed regular-season college football telecast since Nov. 23, 2002.
ESPN2's coverage of Virginia Tech at N.C. State Sunday night averaged 2.198-million impressions and a 2.5 rating, making it ESPN2's most-viewed and highest-rated college football game, including regular-season and bowl games.
LAST WORDS
Former Bucs wide receiver Tim Brown, now a correspondent for FSN: "I don't think the Patriots can win the Super Bowl. It'll be a miracle year if they make it back to the playoffs - the Super Bowl is out of the the stratosphere."
Tampa native Gary Sheffield discussing Barry Bonds on the Chris Myers Interview: "This guy came in the same time I did, we had the same amount of home runs, and all of a sudden now he's got two, 300 more home runs than me as if I wasn't even playing? ... Something's wrong because he doesn't work harder than me."
