SI View The Week in TV Sports
DON'T MISS
Saturday 9/4
Notre Dame at Michigan
ABC 3:30 PM
In the spirit of Fighting Irish alumnus Regis Philbin's game
show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, we present the $64,000
question: Jarious Jackson (right) is a) Keith's long-lost love
child, b) standing between Tito and Marlon on the Victory album
cover, c) the quarterback who, in his first start, led Notre
Dame to a 36-20 win over the defending national champion
Wolverines last September or d) not a redshirt, even though he's
a fifth-year senior who has never missed a season because of
injury, because Notre Dame doesn't believe in redshirting and
won't use the word. Final answer? It's c or d, depending on
whether you are more inclined to intone Hail Mary or Hail to the
Victors.
HIGHLIGHTS
Saturday 9/4
Diamondbacks at Braves
TBS 7:05 PM
Atlanta is reaching for Mylanta upon hearing the news that Ted
Turner plans to erect the world's largest billboard, what one
architect calls "a sign in full," next to the new downtown arena
where Turner's Hawks and Thrashers will play. Their owner's
edifice complex notwithstanding, the Braves this season have
quietly played billboard big while attracting only
sandwich-board-sized attention. Led on offense by third baseman
Chipper Jones's .322 batting average and 34 home runs, the
Braves had baseball's best record (83-49) through Sunday.
Moreover, they had won nine straight at Turner Field entering
this series against National League West-leading Arizona.
When We Were Kings
NBC 9 PM
Before heavyweight boxing became vaudeville and pro athletes
chanted, "Show me the money," before Dennis Rodman corrupted the
term "charisma," there was Muhammad Ali. This Oscar-winning 1997
documentary of the 1974 Ali-George Foreman bout in Zaire, a.k.a.
the Rumble in the Jungle, finds the Greatest at his poetic and
pugilistic peak. This was, as Ali might have said, gregarious
versus nefarious, the charming underdog ex-champ stepping into
the ring versus the inscrutable, imposing Foreman. Enlisting his
African brothers to his cause ("Ali, bomaye!" "Ali, kill him!"),
Ali becomes that rarity in pro sports, a historic hero.
Sunday 9/5
CART Molson Indy Vancouver
ABC 4 PM
It says KOOL on the chest of Dario Franchitti's jumpsuit, and
indeed the 26-year-old Scot is smokin'. With victories in two of
the last five CART races, Franchitti trails rookie sensation
Juan Montoya by only four points (172-168) in the series
standings with five races remaining. Franchitti, the defending
champ and course-record holder on this downtown 1.8-mile road
circuit, is even closer to Hollywood vixen Ashley Judd, his new
girlfriend. If she attends the race, Reynard will be instantly
demoted to second-most-popular chassis.
Monday 9/6
Giants at Mets
Red Sox at Mariners
Cardinals at Braves
ESPN 1:30 PM
This Labor-intensive Day tripleheader has a theme: a club in the
thick of a pennant race against one with an All-Century Team
candidate. The Mets and the Braves, battling for first in the
National League East, host three-time MVP Barry Bonds (Giants)
and home run king Mark McGwire (Cardinals), respectively. In
between, Ken Griffey Jr., who at week's end led the American
League in homers (41), welcomes wild-card-wooing Boston to
Safeco Field.
ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. SOURCE:
NIELSEN SPORTS MARKETING SERVICE.
COLOR PHOTO: BOB ROSATO
THE RATING
1.5
Regular-season average rating of WNBA games on NBC--unchanged
from 1998's mark, which was down from 1.9 in '97.
THE ZAPPER
The Learning Channel comes perilously close to giving us the
first sports snuff film with Sports Disasters (Saturday, 10
p.m.). Nobody dies, but the carnival of carnage includes a track
official being speared by a javelin, a sideline reporter being
struck by a race car and a montage of Clippers draft picks.
(Just kidding, L.A. fans.).... Nice touch by ESPN2 during the
Little League World Series, listing the batter's favorite TV
show. Did one hitter really cite Mama's Family?