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TV Daily Sports: Chicago Goes For The Stanley Cup On Monday

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The city of Chicago is on championship alert tonight, as the Blackhawks take what can be the first of two chances to hoist the Stanley Cup. Game 6 of the Finals will be in Boston tonight at 8 PM ET on NBC, the focal point of Monday’s daily sports schedule.

There is championship action in two other sports—Wimbledon is being carried on ESPN at this moment, on Monday morning, and goes until 5 PM ET. This is the first day of the traditional tennis tournament. And in the College World Series, Mississippi State and UCLA play the first game of their best-of-three series to settle the NCAA baseball title at 8 PM ET on ESPN.

ESPN2 will have major league baseball coverage in the late window tonight, as the Giants-Dodgers go from Los Angeles at 10 PM ET. We’ve reached the point where the death watch has to be in place on the tenure of Dodger manager Don Mattingly and beating his franchise’s historic rival, and the defending World Series champion would be a good place to start saving his job.


Outside the lines, it’s a day to look back at the beginnings of the New England Patriots dynasty. NFL Network will re-telecast the 2001 Super Bowl against the Los Angeles Rams, starting at 8 PM ET. Then immediately following, at 9:30 PM ET, will be a feature on the 2003 Patriots, who won the franchise’s second Super Bowl. It’s somewhat of a curious programming decision by the NFL Network—you would think the ratings for this would be best in New England, and that entire region is going to be locked in on the Bruins tonight.

Here at TheSportsNotebook we’re going to have MLB coverage. Now that the NBA is over, and the NHL is almost finished, baseball is going to take over the features here, and we’re going to give each division a weekly focus. Today will be the NL East. You can also get yourself ready for the hockey game tonight with the NHL analysis that was posted after Game 5.

Daily Sports: The Weekend Ahead

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The NBA Finals are over, and the College World Series is set until next week, but there’s still championship action going on in the NHL, as the Stanley Cup Finals gear up for a big battle on Saturday night in Chicago. The Blackhawks and Bruins are tied at two games apiece in a series as evenly played as the results suggest. Tonight’s Game 5 (8 PM ET, NBC) is the highlight of the daily sports schedule for the weekend.

Baseball is focused heavily this weekend on the Texas Rangers’ visit to St. Louis, the first time the Rangers have played the Cardinals since their outstanding World Series back in 2011. They were on MLB Network Friday night and now get Fox coverage on Saturday evening (7:15 PM ET) and are the Sunday Night Game at 8 PM ET on ESPN.  On Saturday night, note that Fox splits its coverage among five games, with Boston-Detroit being the one other game that would be worth showing beyond the local fan base.


The New York Yankees will never get too far from anyone’s television set, and the second game of their series with Tampa Bay is one part of split coverage on MLB Network for Saturday afternoon at noon ET. Some viewers will get Colorado-Washington. The Rays-Yanks then play for the entire country on TBS at 2 PM ET on Sunday. If you like NASCAR, you can check the Toyota-Save Mart 350 on Sunday afternoon (2 PM ET, TNT), in conjunction with the Rays-Yanks.

Other than that, we’re waiting for next week when more champions will join the Miami Heat in the Summer Celebration. The Stanley Cup Finals will conclude either Monday or Wednesday, and in that same three-day timeframe, Mississippi State and UCLA will settle college baseball’s championship. For now, the weekend is a chance to watch some hockey and dial down after all the intensity that marked the Miami-San Antonio battle for the NBA crown that wrapped up on Thursday night.

Here at TheSportsNotebook we’ve got NASCAR Sprint Cup Series coverage coming up by Saturday afternoon, looking at Sunday’s race and the season as a whole. NHL analysis will return Sunday morning to look back on Game 5. You can check yesterday’s NBA commentary that reflected on the just-concluded Finals, and MLB coverage was recently updated with closer looks at the Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres.

Daily Sports: Catch Your Breath With Friday Baseball

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Friday offers a chance to catch your breath as the championship pace of daily sports takes a break after last night’s exciting Game 7 of the NBA Finals in Miami. The Heat are in the books as champions, and the Stanley Cup Final doesn’t resume until Saturday when the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks play Game 5.

But the theme of championship action and some thrilling finishes can still be enjoyed on today’s daily sports docket. The feature game of the MLB Network is the Texas Rangers’ visit to the St. Louis Cardinals, starting at 8 PM ET. If you haven’t had your fill of a professional sports franchise from Texas having a Game 6 in its grasp, letting it slip and then losing Game 7, the Rangers-Cardinals offers a chance to wake up the echoes of the 2011 World Series.

And in terms of actual championship competition, the College World Series has a day-night doubleheader that could settle the participants in next week’s best-of-three final. Mississippi State gets the first of its two chances to defeat Oregon State at 3 PM ET on ESPN. Then on the same network at 8 PM ET, it’s UCLA who will get consecutive chances to knock out #1-ranked North Carolina and move on.


The NFL Network has a couple nice little features on recent history. At 8 PM ET, you can look back on the 2007 New York Giants, who barely fought their way into the playoffs, then won consecutive road games at Dallas and Green Bay, and then shocked the undefeated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Giants’ win over the Packers ended the Green Bay career of Brett Favre, and at 9 PM ET, the NFL Network looks back at the 10 best games of Favre’s illustrious career.

Here at TheSportsNotebook, our Friday agenda is obvious—sort out how Game 7 went down . We’ll also offer some reflections on the season as a whole, as NBA commentary takes a break until October. That’s coming up a little later, and in the meantime, you can check yesterday’s NHL analysis, which updated the Stanley Cup Final after four games. And last night, there was a double dip on MLB coverage, as we looked more closely at the Toronto Blue Jays, who have gotten hot, and the San Diego Padres, who have snuck into the NL West race.

Daily Sports: The Last Battle In Miami Goes Thursday Night

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There’s only one game that matters in the daily sports docket for Thursday, and it’s the last Battle In Miami, as the Heat and the San Antonio Spurs meet in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, at 9 PM ET on ABC.

This is only the fifth Game 7 since 1985, that year selected as the benchmark because it’s when the league went to the 2-3-2 format. If you’re main interest is just a good game then the track record is good. The previous instances—1988 (Lakers-Pistons), 1994 (Rockets-Knicks), 2005 (Spurs-Pistons) and 2010 (Celtics-Lakers) have all been compelling games.

They’ve also all gone to the home team, as the Spurs will seek to be the first team since the then-named Washington Bullets won it all on the home court of the Seattle Supersonics (today’s Oklahoma City Thunder) back in 1978. Maybe the fact that neither franchise exists under the name it played under in ’78 illustrates better than anything how long it’s been since the road team won a Game 7.


But all streaks come to an end eventually, and it’s easy for me to see this one breaking historical patterns. I won’t be shocked if San Antonio wins, but I also won’t be surprised if Miami wins going away, and breaks the trend of close games. And my actual prediction is that the Heat will probably win a close game. How’s that for hedging for your bets in every way possible? It underscores that these Finals have been so compelling, so evenly contested—each team has won two games decisively and one in a thriller—that you can envision most anything unfolding and have a realistic chance of being right.

Baseball action will be the Red Sox-Tigers on the MLB Network at 7 PM ET, and in the College World Series it’s a grudge match between top-ranked North Carolina and ACC rival N.C. State. The loser is knocked out of the tournament, while the winner will then have to defeat UCLA two times in succession in order to reach next week’s national final. On the other side of the bracket, Mississippi State gets two chances to defeat Oregon State, starting tomorrow, in order to make the best-of-three championship round.

TheSportsNotebook has NHL analysis coming up in a little bit, as we shake out Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals last night. If you still haven’t recovered from Tuesday’s extraordinary Game 6 of the NBA Finals, you can check the NBA commentary that followed that game yesterday. MLB coverage was updated over the weekend, and will have some fresh installments coming up at the back end of this week.

Daily Sports: LeBron Puts It On The Line Tuesday Night

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The legacy of LeBron James begins a two-part test tonight in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. If the Miami Heat lose tonight, and the San Antonio Spurs wrap up the NBA title in six games the blame in this series will be placed on LeBron’s shoulders. Unlike a lot of cases, where that blame is woefully misplaced and rooted in absurd expectations, there’s no denying that LeBron’s on-again, off-again play is the biggest reason his team has lost three of the first five games to the Spurs.

Game time is 9 PM ET on ABC. I’ve still got a hard time thinking Miami is really going to lose this NBA crown, especially on their home floor, but as I wrote in yesterday’s NBA commentary following Game 5, there’s no denying this Heat team has lost its claim on historic greatness.

Baseball is the other action on Tuesday’s daily sports schedule. A high-profile interleague game between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers goes at 7 PM ET on the MLB Network. It’s the return of Dodger manager Don Mattingly to New York, the place where he starred in the 1980s and early 1990s and also served as a batting coach in the Joe Torre years. Mattingly is still revered in the Big Apple—rightly so, for being a class act at a troubled point in franchise history and a loud ovation would seem a certainty.


College baseball’s #1 team begins the first of what would be four straight must-win games. North Carolina lost its first game in the College World Series on Sunday. Now they and LSU play a knockout game this afternoon (3 PM ET, ESPN). The winner would play the loser of tonight’s UCLA-N.C. State game (8 PM ET, ESPN2) in another elimination game. Then the winner of that game would have to beat the Bruins-Wolfpack winner twice in succession to reach the national final, which is best two-of-three.

Speaking of Bruins, TheSportsNotebook’s main feature today will be a focus on the hockey Bruins from Boston and their Stanley Cup Final with the Chicago Blackhawks. NHL analysis will look back on last night’s Game 3 and ahead to the rest of the series. We’ll have NBA commentary tomorrow to either celebrate a champion or look ahead to Game 7. And MLB coverage had a double feature this weekend, with closer looks at the successes of the Oakland A’s and the failures of the Washington Nationals.

Daily Sports: Cup Finals Ship Up To Boston On Monday

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If the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals have been any indication, get ready for a long Monday night. The Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins hook up for Game 3 of the Finals, and the first two have seen a combined four overtime sessions. The series is tied at a game apiece, and tonight’s battle in Boston will begin at 8 PM ET on NBC Sports Network.

Those who aren’t into hockey have a nice set of options on Monday’s daily sports menu. You can catch the team with the best record in baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals, as they host the Chicago Cubs at 7 PM ET on ESPN.

And don’t overlook college baseball. ESPN2 carries Mississippi State-Indiana (8 PM ET) in a game where the winner will guarantee themselves a two-to-win-one opportunity to make it to the national final. Matinee coverage earlier in the day on the same network has Louisville-Oregon State (3 PM ET), where the loser will be out.


Moving outside the box, there’s stuff for both draftniks and history buffs. You can get set for the NBA draft later this month with a look at the combine workouts (7 PM ET, ESPNU). At the other end of the spectrum, the NFL Network will show a replay of one of the best and most significant playoff games in recent history.

It’s the 2006 AFC Championship Game between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts, where Peyton Manning rallied the Colts from 21-3 down to finally win a postseason game over the Pats and ultimately set up their Super Bowl win. The program starts at 8 PM ET and is followed by a half-hour show that looks at the Colts season as a whole.

TheSportsNotebook will have NBA commentary coming up a little later on, as we look back on last night’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. Yesterday’s NHL analysis looked at the Cup Finals after two games, and over the weekend there was a double dose of MLB coverage, with a special focus on both the Oakland A’s and the Washington Nationals.

Daily Sports: U.S. Open Carries Quiet Friday Schedule

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Friday has a pretty quiet schedule for TV daily sports. Unless, that is, you’re a golf-lover, and you can spend all day watching the second day of the U.S. Open on ESPN. Or, if you’re stuck at work, just make sure you don’t know the results and then tune into the same network at 8 PM ET for a “Best of the U.S. Open” feature.

Baseball offers San Francisco-Atlanta on the MLB Network (7:30 PM ET), and we’re otherwise waiting for the opening of the College World Series. College baseball’s final eight teams arrive in Omaha for an opening day celebration today, which is mostly some hype during the afternoon. The games themselves start tomorrow. The eight teams are split into two fields of four for double-elimination play, and then the winners will meet in a best-of-three for the national championship.


TheSportsNotebook will have NBA commentary coming up today, as we look back on Game 4 of the Finals, and look ahead to Sunday night’s fifth game. Yesterday’s NHL analysis looked at the opener of the Stanley Cup Finals, and ahead to Saturday night’s Game 2. MLB coverage returns tomorrow, with a lot of catching up to do in both the American League and National League.

There is also an extensive collection of sports history articles here at TheSportsNotebook, and there was a new addition yesterday. As part of a developing series that looks at the highlights of each sports year, starting in 1976, we added 1983, a year that saw two shocking upsets highlight championship action in college sports.

Daily Sports: The Fight For The Cup Starts In Chicago

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The Stanley Cup Finals get underway tonight, as the Boston Bruins pay a visit to the Windy City. NBC has to be loving the matchup, with the nation’s third and fourth-largest markets involved, and both having large and passionate hockey fan bases. The puck drops at 8 PM ET. TheSportsNotebook’s NHL analysis previewed the Finals yesterday.

Wednesday’s daily sports menu is subordinate to the Bruins-Blackhawks, but there are other options. ESPN will have baseball action, with the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers meeting at 7 PM ET. The Tribe is really slumping right now, and while I love Terry Francona and believe he’ll get the job done over time, there’s just no starting pitching depth. I think things get worse here before they get better.

ESPNU will have its focus on the University of Miami football program. A 30 for 30 documentary looks at the rise of “The U”, and that starts at 7 PM ET. Then you get a little more down to earth and modern, with a replay of the school’s spring game from this year. TheSportsNotebook did a historical feature on the Hurricanes back in December 2011.

And for the completely silly feature of the night, NBA-TV is actually going to give out social media awards, for what players best engaged on social media this season. Does Kobe Bryant’s critique of his Lakers on Twitter as he sat out the playoffs injured qualify for an award?

I should admit that I don’t know if the league is giving these awards, or if it’s just a network show. If it’s the latter, then it’s the kind of goofy, fun thing that makes for good TV. If the league is really giving out awards, then somebody has blown a fuse. I suspect it’s the former.

TheSportsNotebook’s focus today will be our NBA commentary, as we look back at last night’s Game 3 between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs.  The last installment of MLB coverage came over the weekend with a look at the Arizona Diamondbacks.

 

NHL Playoffs: New Jersey’s Defense Keys Game 4 Breakthrough

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The New Jersey Devils kept their focus and kept playing the solid team defense that’s characterized their work in these Stanley Cup Finals and it finally paid off with a victory as the pulled away from the Los Angeles Kings in a 3-1 win at the Staples Center Wednesday night. With the Kings still needing just one more win in the next three games it’s almost certainly just a stay of execution, but it was something Jersey could feel could about and it’s pointed to areas Los Angeles needs to improve if they’re close out this championship without giving their fans a heart attack.

Game 4 was scoreless through two periods, with neither team doing a lot as far as getting shots. Finally, the Devils got 13 shots in the third period and for the game overall, both Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk got four cracks at Jonathan Quick. The only goal of the eight shots was Kovalchuk’s empty-netter in the final minute, but the increased involvement from the key players spelled good things.

It was Patrik Elias who broke through the scoring barrier with twelve minutes to play, but the Kings countered with a goal from Drew Doughty. The defenseman has played very good hockey in the Finals—indeed, throughout the playoffs—but in the championship round Los Angeles has gotten too reliant on him. While the offensive trio of Dustin Brown, Dustin Penner and Anze Kopitar were a little more active this game than any point in the series, it was hardly a sustained assault. Brown and Penner combined for five shots while Kopitar, merely the team’s best player, did not attempt a shot in a game to try and win a Stanley Cup. Combine this defensive effort with the fact Martin Brodeur came up with a solid night for New Jersey in goal and it spelled a win for the Devils, as Adam Henrique scored with just over four minutes left and Kovalchuk locked it up on the empty-netter.

My comments on the Kings are harsh, given this is a team almost certain to wrap up the Stanley Cup, but I do believe this is the least impressive of their playoff series and that a combination of some good breaks and the superiority of Quick to Brodeur is the only reason it’s 3-1 in games for the Western Conference champs. Of course if Kopitar gets in the game on Saturday night for Game 5 back in the Meadowlands and Quick turns in another lockdown effort, none of the flaws matter anymore. But Saturday’s game is really the last pressure-free game the Kings will play. If they don’t close it Saturday night, it’s suddenly a series again and that’s the last thing anyone in Los Angeles even wants to think about.