Action-Packed Weekend Of Sports News
The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio inducts eight new members on Saturday night. The speeches can be long and occasionally a bit tedious, but they are generally heartfelt and a bit teary as these competitors achieve the dream of a lifetime.
The festivities begin at 7 p.m. ET and run until about 10, on ESPN and NFL Network. This year’s Hall of Fame class includes contributor Bobby Beathard, linebacker Robert Brazile, safety Brian Dawkins, guard Jerry Kramer, linebacker Ray Lewis, wide receiver Randy Moss, wide receiver Terrell Owens, and linebacker Brian Urlacher. All inductees will be speaking at the ceremony except for Owens, who, after campaigning to get elected, chose to snub the hall and won’t attend. The two of you who are surprised should be ashamed of yourselves. People born round don’t die square.
If you are in the mood for football (Canadian style), let us try to persuade you to watch Friday night’s meeting of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes on ESPN2. This matchup features the team Johnny Manziel sat on the bench for as the CFL season began and the team he is now making his first start for. Manziel was traded about two weeks ago and, having taken a crash course in Canadian, is apparently well-versed in the Als’ playbook.
The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational will be more interesting if Tiger Woods make the cut, because every tournament is more interesting if Tiger Woods make the cut. He was tied for 14th on Thursday and the second round is proceeding as you read this (if you read this in a timely fashion). The third and fourth rounds belong to CBS on Saturday and Sunday, both at 2 p.m.
Our buds on the NASCAR circuit bump and grind Sunday at 3 p.m. on NBC from Watkins Glen. The drivers are aware that the number of races before the playoff is dwindling and thus far Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. are kicking everyone’s tailpipes.
Remember when Atlantic City, N.J. was landing important boxing matches? You have a good memory. It’s been since 2014. And the streak continues, unless you think the light heavyweight WBO title bout between Sergey Kovalev and unbeaten Eleider Alvarez counts for something. It’s on HBO on Friday night, theoretically at 10 p.m. but probably later.
Wrap up your weekend with baseball. As you plop your heiner in your recliner for the final time, see if you can guess which teams ESPN will deliver to your den like a cold, soggy pizza. Right. The New York Yankees at the Boston Red Sox. Everyone together now: “These two teams just don’t like each other.” And some of us are getting tired of having this foisted upon us and just don’t like it.
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman
