Getting Ready For The Weekend Of Action-Packed Sports

The Ryder Cup got underway Friday just outside of Paris, France, and it is a compelling event from start to finish. That’s not always the way of it in golf, where the final 18 holes are a primary focus. And this is a team event.

The Ryder Cup matches the best of the U.S. against Europe’s top players. They meet every two years, alternating between sides of the pond. The U.S. has not won on foreign soil in 25 years.

The time difference makes this fascinating to watch live (or to try to watch live and still live). You may elect to stay in bed, rather than move your heiner to the recliner. On Friday, the Golf Channel will re-air the opening of competition from 8 p.m. ET to 12 a.m. Saturday it’s live at 3 a.m. on NBC, with a re-air at 1 p.m. Sunday NBC is live from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., with a re-air on the Golf Channel at 8 p.m. Between that and the DVR, you shouldn’t miss a single hole.

We always like battles between ranked teams in college football and there are several on Saturday. Early risers (that’s you, watching golf) can catch No. 12 West Virginia and Heisman Trophy candidate Will Grier at No. 25 Texas Tech at noon on ESPN2. Two titans of the Big Ten, No. 4 Ohio State and No. 9 Penn State, meet in Happy Valley at 7:30 p.m. on ABC. Night owls (East Coast personnel) can nap and then watch No. 19 Oregon and No. 24 California at 10:30 p.m. on FS1.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention NASCAR’s playoffs. Don’t blink – it’s a mention. Those hard-driving fellas take it to Charlotte for the Bank of America Roval 400 on Sunday at 2 p.m. on NBC. Roval?

Check your local listings Sunday for NFL action, but try to catch the unbeaten Miami Dolphins playing the struggling New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., at 1 p.m. on CBS. It’s an important AFC East matchup and may tell us how good the Dolphins (3-0) are or aren’t and how much the Patriots (1-2) have slipped (or haven’t).

Baseball’s regular season winds up Sunday. We’ll dig into baseball next week as the playoffs begin.

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