Week Ahead

What to watch and watch for

THURSDAY 12/14
Target World Challenge
Remember that Woods fellow? The pretty fair golfer? After a 10-week Tour hiatus Tiger returns to the links for the final time in a 2006 season that saw him win eight events and be named the PGA Player of the Year for the eighth time. The 16-player field features 10 Ryder Cuppers teeing it up at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Thursday and Friday
USA 3 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday ABC noon

SATURDAY 12/16
Cavaliers at Magic
It's that rarest of games: a matchup of Eastern Conference teams with winning records. (Detroit is the only other team in the East over .500.) Orlando is soaring thanks to Dwight Howard, who is leading the NBA with 13.0 boards per game, but the kid has had some help—namely, Grant Hill. The injury-plagued forward has already appeared in as many games (21) this year as last, and he's averaging 15.2 points.
Check listings
7:30 p.m.

No. 2 Pitt at No. 7 Wisconsin
Good thing for the Panthers that center Aaron Gray (left) decided to return for his senior season; if he hadn't, Pitt might have had to find someone else to do, well, everything. The seven-footer leads the team in points (16.8), rebounds (10.8), blocks (1.2) and field goal percentage (64.0%).
ESPN noon

SUNDAY 12/17
Eagles at Giants
Young QBs are taking jobs all over the league (page 46)—except in Philly, where 36-year-old Jeff Garcia (left) assumed the position when Donovan McNabb tore his ACL in November. The old guy hasn't been too shabby. Last week he threw for 164 yards and two TDs in a win over Washington—giving him eight TDs and no interceptions since taking over—that moved Philadelphia above .500 and within a game of first-place Dallas.
Fox 4:15 p.m.

TUESDAY 12/19
On Shelves: Invincible DVD
Mark Wahlberg plays an ordinary man, Vince Papale, thrust into extraordinary, football-related circumstances. In 1976 Papale, a down-on-his-luck 30 year-old Philly bartender, tried out for the Eagles—and made the team as a wide receiver. In director Ericson Core's hands, Papale's underdog story never gets sappy.

SI PICK OF THE WEEK

TUESDAY 12/19
Bowled Over
College football's second season—there are 32 bowl games this year—kicks off in San Diego six days before Christmas. But at least one participant has reason to not be in the holiday spirit. Despite leading the nation in rushing (158.3 yards per game), Northern Illinois running back Garrett Wolfe (above) was not one of the finalists for the Heisman Trophy. If he wants the Poinsettia Bowl to be a statement, he's going to have to bring his best stuff. The Huskies' opponent, TCU, has the country's fourth-best rushing defense.
ESPN2 8 p.m.