Sports Forecast Archives - Page 7 of 20

Sports Forecast for Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.

How to plan for the week of July 6-12, 2015

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.

Sports Forecast for Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Here’s another written sports forecast from my hotel room in Montreal. My voice is gone from screaming so much at the big game last night. More on that later though. For today, the big game is littler than yesterday’s big game but it’s still interesting. At 7 p.m. tonight on Fox Sports 1, Japan and England play in the other semifinal of the women’s World Cup for the right to play the United States in the finals. Five Thirty Eight now has the United States as a 70/30 favorite over the winner of this game, so hopefully it won’t matter to the overall outcome of the tournament, but one never knows. Japan was a big underdog in the last World Cup championship game four years ago and ended up upsetting a similar U.S. team.

Other than soccer, there’s a good bit of Wimbledon tennis on in the morning on ESPN. There’s also a full slate of 15 major league baseball games on, so watch your local team! Have a great day!

Sports Forecast for Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Good morning from Montreal! Since my lodging is not conducive to recording podcasts, there won’t be an audio forecast today. We’re going old-school! Just black ink on white paper. Okay, maybe not that old-school. How about black pixels on a white screen?!

Anyway.. you know the forecast today. It’s game day for the United States women’s soccer team. Tonight is the big game! The semifinals of the World Cup start tonight at 7 p.m. ET on Fox with the game between the United States and Germany. I’ll be there in person, wearing U.S. gear and screaming my head off. If you’re not going to be one of the other 66,000 people there, find yourself a TV in a friends apartment or a bar and enjoy the game. Keep your eye on this site today for my extensive preview of the match.

There are some other sporting events on television today. Day two at Wimbledon begins at 7 a.m. ET and continues through mid-day on ESPN. In the evening, there’s some men’s soccer, with a semifinal game in Copa America between Argentina and Paraguay. That game starts at 7:30 p.m. ET and is on BeIN sports. Seriously though, unless you’re from Argentina or Paraguay, watch the World Cup!

How to plan for the week of June 29 – July 5, 2015

Download a full-size copy here.

Monday: Wimbledon, the year’s most prestigious, fast moving, and above all extraordinarily British tennis tournament begins today. Because of the time difference, this is mostly a morning affair on the East Coast and a way-too-early-for-sports affair on the West Coast. In the evening, clear your calendar of all South American or otherwise soccer obsessed people because they’ll be watching the first half of the Copa America semifinals between Chile and Peru.

Tuesday: More Wimbledon tennis and the other Copa America men’s soccer semifinal today, but that’s just window dressing to the main event: the U.S. women’s national soccer team playing against Germany in the semifinals of the World Cup. If you’ve already gotten on board the World Cup bandwagon, that’s great, you know how critical this game is going to be. If not, now is the time. Don’t wait to watch the finals! Due to how FIFA set up the bracket, this is likely to be the most important game left in the World Cup. Whoever wins this game, Germany or the United States, is going to be the overwhelming favorite to win the whole thing. Germany, ranked number one in the world by FIFA, is the 60/40 favorite in this game.

Wednesday: The highlight of the day is definitely the other women’s World Cup semifinal. The game between Japan and England is the undercard of the semis — a game between two lesser teams than either Germany or the United States, but it’s not without its appeal. Japan is the most technically beautiful team in the tournament, playing with tight, short passes. Its players seem to know instinctively where each of their teammates is without needing to look. England, on the other hand, has been advancing off its spirit. Of all the teams left, they’re the spunkiest, most lovable bunch.

Thursday: Rest day when it comes to sports this week. Watch some Wimbledon tennis with your coffee (or even better, tea) in the morning, and then spend the rest of the day sports free… unless there’s a baseball game in your area.

Friday: On the face of it, this looks like an ideal date night. It’s almost as devoid of sports as Thursday was. I mean, who really watches a third place game in a soccer tournament? Lots of people! The mildly sad truth about soccer tournaments is that third place games are often more attractive to watch than finals. Without the ultimate prize to play for, teams relax a little and play more wide open, offensive soccer.

Saturday: HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!! You should be outside all day today, grilling and drinking some type of appropriate drink with your friends or family. Run some extension cords to your patio and pull a TV out there, because there’s too much you’ll miss otherwise. Enjoy the best our once colonial rulers have to offer in the morning with Wimbledon tennis. Cringe watch (as I always seem to find myself doing) Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest, live from Brooklyn’s Coney Island at 2 p.m. ET and then switch over to NBC at 3 p.m. ET to see what our Revolutionary War allies, the French, are getting up to. The answer? Cycling! It’s the first day of the Tour de France. At 4 p.m. ET, you’ve got a choice between two soccer games. Hopefully, the U.S. women will NOT be playing in the third place game of the World Cup, which will make it easier to choose. The finals of the Copa America should be a doozy, no matter which team are playing.

Sunday: The women’s World Cup comes to a close with its final match at 7 p.m. ET on Fox. If the United States makes it to this match, expect viewing records to be set. It will truly be a giant game. Other Sunday viewing options include the second stage of the Tour de France, some golf tournament, and a NASCAR race from the legendary Daytona Speedway.

Sports Forecast for Thursday, June 25, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.

Sports Forecast for Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.

Sports Forecast for Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Sports is no fun if you don’t know what’s going on. Here’s what’s going on:

For email subscribers, click here to get the audio.

You can subscribe to all Dear Sports Fan podcasts by following this link. Music by Jesse Fischer.

How to plan for the week of June 22-28, 2015

Download a full-size copy here.

Monday: The United States women’s national soccer team plays its first elimination game of the World Cup against Colombia. That’s a big deal. Only an hour later, the men’s college World Series begins and it’s a rematch of last year’s series between Virginia and Vanderbilt. That’s a big deal too. Women’s soccer and college baseball may be slightly more fringe than last week’s NBA and NHL finals but if you’re a fan of either or if you live with a fan of either, tonight is going to be a sports-heavy night.

Tuesday: Why is the soccer game so late? I’ve noticed that the World Cup times have been conveniently convenient for television viewing in home countries. 10 p.m. ET is 7 p.m in Vancouver and 11 a.m. the next day in Japan. Oh, sure, it’s 4 a.m. in the Netherlands, and that’s not so good, but Japan is the defending champions and if we were going to modify things for either country’s home audience, it would be there’s. For sports fans, it’s somewhat convenient because the late start takes the soccer game pretty much out of conflict with Game Two of the men’s college World Series.

Wednesday: On a relatively sports-light week, Wednesday could be the lightest day. If either Virginia or Vanderbilt wins both of the first two games of the men’s college World Series, then there won’t be a need for Game Three tonight and we’ll have a pretty much sports-free day. If you’re in the Boston area, join the Dear Sports Fan Viewing Parties meetup group. We’ll be in Central Square, watching the Boston Red Sox play the Baltimore Orioles. Baseball!

Thursday: The NBA draft is not actually a game but it is a sporting event in the truest sense. Basketball fans of all 30 NBA teams will want to pay attention. These days though, that can just mean a quick look at a cell-phone under the table or in the bathroom. It’s safe to go out for dinner.

Friday: Date night! There’s good news and there’s bad news. The bad news for the prospects of a date is that there’s Women’s World Cup quarterfinal action from 4 p.m. ET to around 9:30 p.m. ET. The good news is that this should be the best day of the World Cup. France vs. Germany could/should be a finals matchup and although it’s something of a shame that they are meeting so early in the tournament, that doesn’t change how intense and skilled their game will be. The intensity of the later game will depend on who faces China. If it’s the United States, it may become the most watched U.S. women’s national team game to date. It would be a rematch of the 1999 World Cup championship game which famously ended in a shootout with the United States winning. If it’s Colombia, a big swatch of the viewership will be disappointed, including me.

Saturday: Two quarterfinals matches in the women’s World Cup, just like yesterday, but this side of the bracket is decidedly the undercard. It’s easy to think that whichever of the four teams that eventually comes out of Friday’s two games should have an easy time in the championship game with whichever team comes out of these two games. Still, as they say, “there’s a reason they play the games.” Anything can happen and it usually does.

Sunday: This is honestly not a bad Sunday to go for a day-trip. We do have the usual Sunday suspects: golf, NASCAR, and soccer, but none of it is can’t miss TV.

How to plan for the week of June 15-21, 2015

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Monday: Teams in the women’s World Cup begin playing their third and last games of the group stage. Group games are played simultaneously so no one gains an advantage by knowing the result of the other game before their own. The only team of the eight playing today that has basically no chance of advancing is the Ivory Coast. The most highly anticipated game of the day will be Canada vs. the Netherlands. Both teams are likely to advance, but a win would likely put either team in first place, giving them an easier road through the knockout round. Meanwhile, the National Hockey League’s knockout rounds (the Stanley Cup playoffs) are coming to a close. It’s game Six of the seven game series between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Blackhawks are up three games to two. If the Blackhawks win tonight, the season is over and they are champions.

Tuesday: This is the hardest decision of the week. What to watch at night? The US Women’s National Soccer Team playing their last group stage game against Nigeria or Game Six of the NBA Finals, which have been absolutely wonderful so far? Well, take it one thing at a time. The soccer game starts at eight. Watch the first half. If all goes well and the U.S. is up 4-1, switch to the basketball. If not, finish the soccer game and then pick up the basketball game mid-stream.

Wednesday: The last day of the Group stage in the World Cup features the most exciting group so far, Group F. France, the overwhelming favorite coming into the group, is in third place, trailing Colombia and England. If you can get yourself to a place with multiple televisions, enjoy the drama unfold starting at 4 p.m. ET with Mexico vs. France and England vs. Colombia! If the Chicago Blackhawks don’t win on Monday, tonight will feature a deciding Game Seven. There’s nothing better than a Game Seven.

Thursday: The World Cup takes the day off, hockey will definitely be over, and if the NBA needs a Game Seven, it won’t be until tomorrow. So, what do you do? Well, I’ll take the day off from watching sports. But if you don’t want to, the men’s U.S. Open golf tournament begins with coverage virtually all day, and you could tune into the college World Series.

Friday: Date night! You should be clear unless the NBA Finals need a seventh game. In that case, all bets are off. If you’re with a basketball fan, they’re going to be glued to the television set.

Saturday: The World Cup is back and this time, in a single elimination format. After the two games at 4 and 7 p.m. ET, two countries will be going home and two will be moving on to the quarterfinals.

Sunday: Three more elimination games in the World Cup plus the final day of the men’s U.S. Open golf tournament should make for an exciting day. And if you need any more excitement, there’s also a good Major League Soccer game in the late afternoon.