SI View The Week in TV Sports

Highlights

Saturday 7/29

Sparks at Comets
NBC 4 PM To the rest of the WNBA teams: They're better than you
are, too. Houston (21-4 at week's end) and Los Angeles (21-3)
are the class of the league. Comets Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia
Cooper and Tina Thompson were not only first, fifth and 10th,
respectively, among league scorers, but each was also shooting
82% or better from the free throw line. The three-time champs,
today's home team, possess more swagger than the cast of Coyote
Ugly, but Lisa Leslie and the Sparks are 2-0 against the Comets
this summer.

White Sox at Angels; Red Sox at A's

FOX 4 PM; FX 9 PM What rhymes with ump? Bump, as in what
suspended Red Sox centerfielder Carl Everett (chump) did to
Ronald Kulpa in making a rump of himself on national TV. At
week's end the Red Sox, trying to get out of a slump, found
themselves amid an American League wild-card clump along with,
among others, Anaheim and Oakland. Boston shortstop Nomar
Garciaparra was leading the league with a .391 average while
Anaheim leftfielder Darin Erstad (page 64) was second at .381.

Tuesday 8/1

Braves at Diamondbacks
TBS 10 PM Which current summer rock tour reminds us most of
Atlanta's pilgrimage this week to the towns of fellow National
League first-place clubs Arizona and St. Louis (Friday, TBS,
8:05 p.m.)? Dixie Chicks? Right region, wrong sex. *NSYNC? The
Braves haven't played in sync, despite their league-best 60-39
record. We'd go with either Pearl Jam (still at peak early-'90s
form but now taken for granted) or Counting Crows, whose Mr.
Jones conjures images of the Braves' Andruw (.307, 25 homers, 61
RBIs) and Chipper (.318, 24, 74).

ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

Don't Miss

Monday 7/31

Patriots vs. 49ers
ABC 8 pm Who's playing? Who cares? It's Miller time! Polymath
Dennis Miller and the rest of the mostly revised Monday Night
Football gang debut in Canton, Ohio, for the NFL's preseason
premiere while providing a welcome network refuge from the
second night of the Republican Convention. Miller--who can segue
from Cliff Branch to Branch Rickey to Ricky Nelson to Nelson
Eddy to Eddie George to George W. Bush to the death penalty to a
15-yard penalty without even stopping for breath--should have
ample room to wax eloquent against the backdrop of a
less-than-mesmerizing game. Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe
(above) starts behind center as new coach Bill Belichick
evaluates rookie running backs Patrick Pass and J.R. Redmond.

COLOR PHOTO: DAMIAN STROHMEYER