I’m not going to enable the NFL obsession of our national sports media by giving this game any more attention than it deserves, other than to make a pick of Jacksonville (+155) on the moneyline for an outright win.
The NFL’s Thursday night package takes deserved hits for some of the bad games it offers, but this week isn’t one of them. The Cincinnati Bengals take their talents to South Beach for a game with the Miami Dolphins (8:25 PM ET, NFL Network) for a matchup that leads our look at what Thursday and Friday night has to offer fans across the sports spectrum.
It’s a Sunday of rivalries, with the NFL schedule highlighted by a battle amongst the brothers and a huge divisional grudge match, baseball’s schedule being marked by its most storied rivalry and a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race that opens under a cloud of bad feeling
The game most college football fans see as the Game of the Year goes today in College Station. ESPN’s Gameday is on the scene for Alabama-Texas A&M, and CBS has the telecast itself at 3:30 PM ET. I’m not sold at all on the Aggies, so I don’t buy the whole Game of the Year thing. But I’ve been known to wrong—quite often in fact, and there’s no denying that if A&M wins, I think they deserve to be ranked #1 in the country.
It will come as no surprise to anyone that the big markets of the East Coast are in the spotlight for Thursday’s daily sports. Whether it’s the NFL or major league baseball, New York is prominent, Boston is heavily involved, and you throw Baltimore in the mix as well.
Wednesday’s a pretty quiet night in daily sports, reminiscent of the days of summer when a single baseball game had to carry the TV load. But at least Wednesday’s showcase is a game with impact—the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays meet in a 7 PM ET start on ESPN. The Sox are looking to secure the division, the Rays are looking to keep in that race, and to give themselves some room to breathe in the wild-card push.
After the five-day pounding of football, Tuesday marks baseball’s time to regain the daily sports spotlight, and MLB Network is taking full-advantage, going right into the high-profile AL East for split coverage of two big divisional showdowns that include all four playoff contenders.
The 2013 NFL season finally gets underway tonight, with the cornerstone of Thursday’s daily sports agenda being the battle in the Rocky Mountains. The Baltimore Ravens meet the Denver Broncos in a rematch of last year’s epic second-round playoff game to start the year. Kickoff is at 8:30 PM ET on NBC.
ESPN’s MLB coverage is getting locked in for the playoff drive, as the network will show a rare Wednesday night doubleheader tonight, with fans watching both ends of the race for the AL East title in today’s daily sports TV docket.
The Sunday of this holiday weekend represents the last Sunday sports fans will be without NFL football until the off-week prior to the Super Bowl. At least a mix of baseball, college football and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series keep the daily sports activity flowing for anyone looking for something to watch.
It’s the first Saturday of college football season, and that means wall-to-wall football. It’s also the final day of August, meaning there’s important playoff race baseball going. And after a dry summer, that adds up to a daily sports feast on Saturday.
There’s just four weeks and two days left in the major league baseball regular season, and big games in the playoff races of both leagues will set the tone for Friday’s daily sports agenda. MLB Network will have split coverage at 7 PM ET. It’s St. Louis-Pittsburgh in the National League, and Baltimore-New York in the American League.