Week Ahead
THURSDAY 5/8
Chicago Fire at D.C. United
Slow starts are nothing new for United. D.C. began last season with threestraight losses, then rallied and finished with the best record in the league.To turn things around now—United is last in the East—D.C. will need moreproduction from Luciano Emilio (right). Last year's MLS scoring champ has justone goal in six games.
ESPN2 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY 5/9
Lakers at Jazz, Game 3
Chris Paul (page 34) wasn't the only young Western Conference point guard tohave a breakout series in the first round of the playoffs. Utah's DeronWilliams (left) shot 53.0% from the floor and 59.1% from behind the arc as theJazz knocked off Houston in six. Williams struggled in Game 1 against LosAngeles, though, missing 13 of 18 shots in a 109--98 loss.
ESPN 9 p.m.
In Theaters:Speed Racer
The 1960s anime TV series comes to life. It's the story of a race car drivernamed Speed Racer (if that's your name, really, what else are you going to dofor a living?) and his quest to win The Crucible, a grueling race that claimedhis brother's life. Starring Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild) and written anddirected by the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix), this flick will have yourmotor running faster than you can say, "Go, Speed Racer! Go!"
SUNDAY 5/11
Red Sox at Twins
Looks like Manny Ramirez got ahead of himself when he vowed to hit his 500thcareer home run by the start of May. He's been stuck at 496 since April 19.But, Manny being Manny, he's already looking forward to bigger things. "I'mgoing to have more than 500. I'm already there," he said. "I'm going to600." The Sox are willing to overlook his temporary power outage (and hisfuzzy math): He's got 23 RBI and is hitting .317.
ESPN 8 p.m.
WEDNESDAY 5/14
Under One Roof
Admit it. There have been times when you've said to yourself, "TerrellOwens must be one heck of an actor, because nobody can really be that odd."T.O. will pretend for real on this sitcom in a guest spot as Flava Flav'slong-lost brother—a role that might not be too much of a stretch.
MyNetworkTV 8 p.m.
SI PICK OF THEWEEK
THURSDAY 5/8
Players Championship
Many have called the Players Championship golf's fifth major, including PhilMickelson, who said so back in February. It's probably no coincidence thatLefty happens to be the defending champ. But he's won just two tournaments inthe year since and been plagued by iffy putting. He'll try to right his woeswith a new putter (it's longer since he grew an inch from an intense stretchingregimen) and without the pressure of a lurking Tiger Woods, who's recoveringfrom knee surgery.
Thursday-Friday Golf Channel 1 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday NBC 2 p.m.
PHOTO
PHIL COALE/AP (MICKELSON)
PHOTO
© WARNER BROS/EVERETT COLLECTION (POSTER)
PHOTO
GREG NELSON (WILLIAMS)
PHOTO
MLS/WIREIMAGE/ GETTY IMAGES (EMILIO)