If you are a sports fan or if you live with a sports fan then your weekly schedule becomes inextricably linked with what sporting events are on at what times during each week. The conflict between missing a sporting event for a poorly committed to social event and missing an appealing social event to watch a game is an important balancing act in any kind of romantic, familial, or business relationship between a sports fan and a non-sports fan. To help facilitate this complicated advanced mathematics, Dear Sports Fan has put together a table showing the most important sporting events of the upcoming week. Print it out, put it on your fridge, and go through it with your scheduling partner.
Download a full-size copy here.
Monday: Still partying from the U.S. victory in the 2015 World Cup as the sun rises? Never fear, you can fall into a slumber on your couch watching more great sports. The round of 16 finishes up at Wimbledon, including a Williams on Williams match and the Tour de France is just getting started. Once you wake up in the afternoon, you’re free to do non-sports related stuff, unless there’s a baseball game you have your eye on.
Tuesday: Wimbledon starts to get real with the women’s quarterfinals. In the evening, the U.S. men’s soccer team tries to piggyback on some of the success and popularity the women’s team just stirred up for the sport. It’s the first game of the Gold Cup, the Caribbean, North and Central American regional biennial men’s soccer tournament. The USA plays against Honduras in a game they should win.
Wednesday: Ho, hum, another morning of great tennis and cycling with not much else after that. We’ve truly entered the summer sports doldrums.
Thursday: More tennis, more cycling in the morning. Although, notably, and pending rain as all tennis schedules do, it’s the women’s semifinals at Wimbledon. In the evening, we get our first chance to show our continuing support for women’s soccer by checking out the NWSL. FC Kansas City travels to Boston to play the Breakers in a game that will feature five U.S. women’s national team players: Alyssa Naeher, Becky Sauerbrunn, Amy Rodriguez, Heather O’Reilly, and Lauren Holiday plus a smattering of World Cup participants from other countries. Go to the game in person if you can. If you can’t, it’s live and free on YouTube!
Friday: The men get their chance to move on from the semifinals to the finals at Wimbledon in the morning. In the evening, the U.S. men’s national soccer team plays against Haiti in their second Gold Cup group stage game.
Saturday: Honestly, this isn’t a bad weekend to go camping or surfing or kayaking or something outside that involves moving your body more than watching other people move theirs. It’s a pretty shallow weekend of sports with a few highlights. The highlight of this day is the women’s finals at Wimbledon which may feature Serena Williams playing for her third straight major tournament victory. In the evening, catch a NWSL double-header between New Jersey’s Sky Blue FC and the Portland Thorns and the Western New York Flash and Seattle Reign. If you watch these games, you’ll see Hope Solo, Megan Rapinoe, Kelley O’Hara, Christie Rampone, Alex Morgan, Tobin Heath, Whitney Engen, and Sydney Leroux! If cars are more your thing, catch a Saturday night NASCAR race on NBCSN.
Sunday: For a summer weekend, this isn’t a bad Sunday. The men’s final at Wimbledon is one of the highlights of the year in tennis. The Tour de France continues its ride toward the mountains. The men’s golf John Deere classic in Silvis, Illinois should offer some thrills. The Pan-Am games, an Olympic style competition held in Toronto gets some much deserved television time in the evening on ESPN2. And the final NWSL game of the week, between the Houston Dash and Chicago Red Stars, features a slew of USWNT stars: Meghan Klingenberg, Morgan Brian, and Carli Lloyd on the Dash and Julie Johnston, Christen Press, Lori Chalupny, and Shannon Boxx on the Red Stars.
Caveat — This forecast is optimized for the general sports fan, not a particular sports fan. As such, your mileage may vary. For instance, you or the sports fan in your life is a fan of a particular team, then a regular season MLB baseball game or MLS soccer game may be more important on a particular day than anything on the forecast above. Use the calendar as a way to facilitate conversation about scheduling, not as the last word on when there are sports to watch.