A Sports Filled Weekend Ahead

Horse racing’s Triple Crown series begins on the first Saturday of May with the Kentucky Derby. And, as this is the first Saturday in May, welcome to the 143rd Run for The Roses in Louisville.

NBC begins its coverage at 2 p.m. and it is always fun to see the splendid garb and fabulous hats (though derbies are rare) on display at Churchill Downs. The featured race has a post time of 6:34 p.m. ET. Your favorite is Classic Empire at 4-1, starting from the No. 14 gate. The pick here? Always Dreaming, at 5-1, in the No. 5 gate. Always Dreaming showed tremendous speed in winning the Florida Derby but can also be a bit high-strung.

What’s in the rest of your Weekend TV Six-Pack? Settle your heiner in your recliner and kick back…

Friday night brings us the NBA playoffs. You could watch the Cleveland Cavaliers, up 2-0, against the Toronto Raptors at 7 p.m., but the San Antonio Spurs-Houston Rockets at 9:30 p.m. should be more competitive. ESPN follows one with the other. And so can you. Both series will resume on Sunday and the Boston Celtics-Washington Wizards play Game 4 (the Wizards lead 2-1) that day as well at 6:30 p.m. on TNT. Give this one a look for variety’s sake.

Once the Derby is done on Saturday, stay with NBC at 7:15 p.m. for Game 5 of the Washington Capitals-Pittsburgh Penguins series. The Capitals trail 3-1 in what appears to be yet another hugely disappointing postseason. The Pens will likely be without Sidney Crosby (concussion) again but that didn’t hold them back when they won on Wednesday night.

Sunday afternoon wouldn’t be the same absent the guys who go round and round at high speed. NASCAR’s Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway will be on Fox at 2 p.m. Brad Keselowski, who usually fares well at this track, loses his suspended crew chief for the event. It’s more a problem for him than for you.

Close out the weekend with a little baseball (though usually they are the same size). Two teams atop their divisions meet at 8 p.m. at Wrigley Field – it’s the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs, and they’re on ESPN.

Enjoy this feast for the eyeballs.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman