
SI View The Week in TV Sports
DON'T MISS
Sunday 1/10
Tennessee at Connecticut
CBS 4 PM
Home wreckers, those Lady Vols. Earlier this season the
Knoxvillains (11-1, ranked No. 2) played femme fatales by
terminating Louisiana Tech's 52-game home winning streak, then
the longest in women's basketball. Today, two-timing (in terms
of player of the year awards) Chamique Holdsclaw (right, watched
by coach Pat Summitt) leads three-timing (consecutive national
championships) Tennessee into Gampel Pavilion, where the
top-ranked Huskies (11-0) will defend their 54-game home winning
streak. UConn's silky 6'2" sophomore forward Svetlana Abrosimov,
who scored 22 second-half points against West Virginia last
Saturday, may be the one to break Holdsclaw's hold on the player
of the year trophy.
HIGHLIGHTS
Saturday 1/9
NFL Divisional Playoffs
SATURDAY FOX 12:35 PM, CBS 4:15 PM; SUNDAY CBS 12:40 PM, FOX
4:15 PM
Domed or doomed? No NFL domed team has ever played in the Super
Bowl, unless you count the Terry Bradshaw-led Steelers of 1980.
This weekend, however, wins by both NFC host teams (on Fox)
would guarantee an end to that streak. Saturday's game pits the
resurgent Georgia Dome Falcons (14-2) of cardiac coach Dan
Reeves against the still dangerous 49ers. On Sunday the
Metrodome Vikings, whose 15-1 record and rookie of the year
wideout Randy Moss make them a veritable Dome Perignon, host the
upstart Cardinals and their quarterback, Jake Plummer.
Mercedes Championships
ESPN SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 8 PM
The PGA Tour goes prime time as the final two rounds of the
Tour's opening event of 1999 are televised live from the Kapalua
Resort's Plantation Course on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The
world's four highest-ranked players in 1998--in order, Tiger
Woods, Mark O'Meara, David Duval and Davis Love III--are
expected to compete, as is Phil Mickelson, who won the event
last year when it was played at La Costa in Carlsbad, Calif.
Veteran John Cook will attempt to reverse the fortunes of Cooks
in Hawaii (see Cook, Captain James).
Roy Jones Jr. vs. Rick Frazier
HBO 10 PM
"Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!" A 39-year-old New York
City policeman stationed in Harlem's 26th Precinct, Frazier
(18-3-1) lands his big break with a light heavyweight title bout
against WBC champ Jones (38-1). Ubiquitous Don King should
consider aligning himself with TV producer Steven Bochco in
promoting this fight. How about NYPD Black and Blue or, better
yet, Cop Rocked?
Monday 1/11
Sabres at Coyotes
ESPN2 9 PM
Ever since the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994, the NHL has
been seeking a new benchmark for hell freezing over. How about
the sight of Satan on ice--that is, Sabres forward Miroslav
Satan, whose 16 goals at week's end led Buffalo (20-9-5)? Or a
New Year's Day massacre in which Satan's teammate Dominik Hasek,
the goalie who has won the Hart Trophy in the last two seasons,
surrendered a career-high seven goals in a loss to the Mighty
Ducks? Phoenix, which through Sunday had the league's
second-best record (21-8-4), recently welcomed back its first
line (center Jeremy Roenick and wings Dallas Drake and Keith
Tkachuk) from absences resulting from injury or suspension. The
Coyotes have already witnessed hell chill over: In December it
snowed on the outskirts of Phoenix.
COLOR PHOTO: DAVID E. KLUTHO [Chamique Holdsclaw in game]
THE RATING
13.9
Season average rating for ABC's Monday Night Football--7% below
1997's average and the show's lowest ever.
THE ZAPPER
My television and my tub have something in common: unsightly
rings. Recently NBC, which will broadcast the 2000 Summer
Olympics from Sydney and four Games thereafter, began
superimposing a five-ring Olympic icon (along with its peacock
symbol) on the bottom of the screen during most programming.
Then again, the Games are only 20 months away.... Rollerjam (SI,
Dec. 14) premieres on Friday at 8 p.m. on TNN.
ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. SOURCE:
NIELSEN SPORTS MARKETING SERVICE