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.
This does not include MLB baseball games. There are so many of those every day that another approach is needed. That approach is our special Daily MLB Forecast.
Download a full-size copy here.
Monday and Tuesday: Sorry — I was on vacation. No sports happened. (Okay, they did.)
Wednesday: The second half of the U.S. Open quarterfinals leads the way in the sports world today. The headlining matches are Roger Federer and Richard Gasquet around 8 p.m. and Simona Halep vs. Victoria Azarenka at 1:30 p.m. In the evening, get your last fix of soccer before the NFL season starts with the Portland Timbers vs. Sporting Kansas City. Both teams are “mid-table” which means in the middle of the standings of the Western Conference, so this will be a heated competition.
Thursday: Our long national nightmare is over. The NFL begins its 2015 season today with a heck of a game. The defending champion, New England Patriots, who have been at the center of the swirling Deflategate controversy over the past four months, host the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are a perennially good team with the potential to be a great one. With two accomplished quarterbacks and two of the league’s best receiving weapons in New England tight end Rob Gronkowski and Pittsburgh wide receiver Antonio Brown, this game should be high scoring and exciting. Alas, the NFL will probably overshadow the women’s semifinals at the U.S. Open. That’s a shame because Serena Williams is on what could be a historically great run.
Friday: Date night! If you feel like making it a sportsy outing, have a weissbier in the afternoon while you enjoy some German league soccer. In the evening, continue the international feel with the men’s semifinals of the U.S. Open. On one side, a Bosnian, Marin Cilic will face a Serb, Nocak Djokovic. Watch out! On the other side, the quarterfinals haven’t yet been decided, but we could have a match of two Swiss players or a French or South African player might crash the party.
Saturday: The day begins with a titanic matchup of British soccer teams: Manchester United and Liverpool are two of the best known and most followed soccer teams in the world. College football then takes the baton and dominates the rest of the day. The best game, at least by the numbers, is an evening game between two top-25 ranked teams: Oregon and Michigan State. Oregon is traditionally known for its offense and Michigan State for its defense. The women’s final of the U.S. Open will be must-watch TV if Serena Williams survives the semifinals to appear in it. She’ll be going for a “calendar Grand Slam” which means she will have won all four major tournaments in 2015. She’s already won the Australian, French, and Wimbledon. The U.S. Open is the last piece of the puzzle!
Sunday: Although it’s hard for most sports fans to think about anything but the first Sunday of the NFL season, there are a few other giant sports attractions today. The men’s final of the U.S. Open won’t approach the drama of the women’s final, but especially if Roger Federer is involved, it will also have a sentimental rooting interest. The NWSL playoffs begin with two games on Fox Sports 1: the Chicago Red Stars vs. FC Kansas City in the afternoon and Seattle Reign vs. Washington Spirit in the evening. As for the NFL, well, the best game in the 1 p.m. time slot is the Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers. The best game of the late afternoon slot is the Denver Broncos vs. Baltimore Ravens. But, you know, if you love football, just glory in the presence of so many games.
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.