A Sports Filled Weekend Ahead

In an era where spectacle rules, it often sets up its power base in Las Vegas.

And that is where boxer Roger Mayweather Jr. and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor – who really isn’t a boxer but a mixed martial arts battler – stage their mega-fight on Saturday night. This is the champagne (or maybe just a sparkling wine) of our Weekend TV Six-Pack. But it comes at Champagne (think Dom Perignon) prices.

Showtime’s pay-per-view unit offers this sort-of-fight for $89.95, $99.95 in high definition (and for free if you don’t watch at all). The main card begins Saturday night at 9 p.m. ET, but the featured attraction will probably start somewhere after 11. Mayweather, 49-0 as a boxer best known for his defensive skills, is heavily favored over McGregor, who will likely be going for an early knockout.

The better part of college football’s return comes next weekend, but who can wait? If you skip the fight, you can watch Stanford, which is always good, play Rice, which is always good with General Tso’s chicken. ESPN offers that (the game, not General Tso’s chicken) at 10 p.m.

The third week of NFL preseason games usually gives us a decent look at the likely starting players for at least most of a half. So watch most of a half. The Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams meet Saturday night at 8 p.m. on CBS, and Rams second-year quarterback Jared Goff might be worth a look as he tries to rebound from a very rough rookie season.

There are three more NFL preseason games on Sunday, and we’ll suggest the Cincinnati Bengals at the Washington Redskins on Fox at 4 p.m. The Bengals want to play some of their younger players against Washington’s starters, so the Redskins, who are 0-2 and looking quite unprepared so far, are in for a treat.

The FedEx Cup golf playoffs begin with the Northern Trust, the final round of which can occupy part of your Sunday at noon on the Golf Channel and then at 3 p.m. on CBS.

If you need a little baseball – and it’s getting to the time when we start paying attention – there’s the Seattle Mariners-New York Yankees game on TBS at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Yankees lead in the chase for a wild-card berth but the Mariners are also in the hunt.

Your heiner and the recliner – may they never part.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman