Week Ahead
THURSDAY 6/1
Women's CollegeWorld Series
Texas has a football title this year, and softball may be next. The No. 2 LadyLonghorns, winners of the Austin Regional, breezed into the eight-team fieldbehind ace lefthander Cat Osterman (37-2), the NCAA's career strikeout leader.Texas's first opponent in Oklahoma City will be Arizona State, which counterswith a star southpaw of its own: 29-game-winner Katie Burkhart. Checklistings
FRIDAY 6/2
NCAA BaseballTournament
Sixty-four teams start on the road to Omaha--the regionals begin today--andnone have a better shot at the College World Series than Rice. The top-rankedOwls have the NCAA's fifth-best team ERA (3.07) and are strong at both ends ofthe staff. Ace Eddie Degerman (above) is 11-1 with a 1.65 ERA; closer Cole St.Clair has the nation's second-best K rate (13.4 per nine innings). Checklistings
SATURDAY 6/3
Giants atMets
Woe is Barry. In San Diego a fan tossed a syringe at him, and in Philadelphiafans unfurled a 60-foot sign praising his predecessors. Those could feel likethe good old days when Bonds gets to New York and tries to distance himselffrom one of the city's favorite sons, Babe Ruth, on the alltime home run list.Fox 1 p.m.
SATURDAY 6/3
SI PICK OF THE WEEK
Facial Strife
This bout shouldbe rated PG, for potentially gory. WBC lightweight champ Diego Corrales (40-3)and José Luis Castillo (54-7-1), two of the most aggressive fighters in anydivision, meet in Las Vegas for the rubber match of a trilogy that began in May2005, when Corrales (left) stunned Castillo (right) in one of the most excitingfights in memory, if you weren't squeamish about blood. Five months laterCastillo knocked out Corrales, but the victory was incomplete: Because hemissed the 135-pound limit, Castillo was denied Corrales's WBC lightweighttitle. Showtime 9 p.m.
SUNDAY 6/4
French Open
The second week of the year's second Grand Slam event begins. The smart moneysays there won't be many Americans in the later rounds--only six U.S. playersentered this year, the fewest in the Open era, and no Yank has won at RolandGarros since 1999. Roger Federer (right) isn't fond of the French either. It'sthe only Slam he hasn't won, and in the first round he needed nearly threehours to beat a qualifier. ESPN2 5 a.m.
MONDAY 6/5
World Series ofBlackjack
The WSB kicks off its third season with a 40-person field made up of localtournament champions as well as lucky online sweepstakes winners who wereselected from 300,000 entries for the final two seats. One million dollars isup for grabs. GSN 10 p.m.
On Shelves: IntoMy Own
Roger Kahn's whimsical memoir--named for a poem by Robert Frost--chroniclesmore than 60 years of sportswriting and social commentary. Along the way theBoys of Summer author identifies profound influences in his life, includingJackie Robinson and Barry Goldwater.
PHOTO
JOE CAVERETTA/AP (CORRALES AND CASTILLO)
PHOTO
BOB MARTIN (FEDERER)
PHOTO
CHUCK SOLOMON (FANS)
PHOTO
BOB LEVEY/WIREIMAGE.COM (DEGERMAN)
PHOTO
ILLUSTRATION