Gameplan

What smart fans should do this week

• WATCH
Giants at Rockies
O.K., who thought this would be a big series back in April? Didn't think so.The surprising leaders in the NL wild-card race (at week's end Colorado was upby a game and a half) meet four times beginning on Friday (MLB.tv).Big-swinging Pablo Sandoval gets to hack in the thin air of Coors Field, butthe Rockies have actually allowed fewer home runs at home than on the road.

• LISTEN
To John Daly's latest hit
Things didn't go so well for Big John at the PGA—he dropped out after afirst-round 78 because of a bad back—but he had the blues long before that.Daly's newest song, the downbeat country tune Lost Soul, is now streaming attwiturm.com/jrzd. It won't cheer you up, but there's good news for fans ofDaly's music: He's working on an album of the same name.

• WATCH
Solheim Cup
The women's version of the Ryder Cup is up for grabs this weekend at RichHarvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. (Golf Channel). The U.S. is looking for athird straight win, and for the first time it will have Michelle Wie, 19, tohelp the cause. There were critics when the LPGA rookie was added to the team,but Wie, one of the Tour's longest hitters, could rock on the lengthycourse.

• READ
The Long Snapper
In December 2003 Brian Kinchen, who hadn't played in the NFL for three years,was teaching a seventh-grade Bible class in Baton Rouge when his cell rang: ThePatriots needed a long snapper. Two months later he set in motion a SuperBowl--winning field goal. Jeffrey Marx tells Kinchen's story with wit andgrace, spotlighting a position often lost in the NFL trenches.

• WATCH
WPS title game
By finishing with the best record in the first Women's Professional Soccerleague season, the Los Angeles Sol won the right to host Saturday's title game.(L.A. will face either St. Louis or Sky Blue FC at 4 p.m. on Fox Sports Net.)Don't expect a lot of goals (even for soccer): The Sol, behind Canadian keeperKarina LeBlanc, yielded only 10 in 20 games.

• WATCH
Hard Knocks
Think life in the NFL is easy? A reality check came in the first episode ofHBO's five-part documentary series on Bengals training camp, when afront-office exec knocked on J.D. Runnels's dorm-room door at 5:30 a.m. andinformed the bleary-eyed running back that he was being cut. Ouch. New episodespremiere every Wednesday on HBO through the end of camp.

The Pop CultureGrid

Paul Vance

My XboxSexy

Inside the Grid

"When I had my head shaved, people said I lookedlike Jim Carrey," says Thornton. Wilson's resemblance to Heat star Wade(above) can have its advantages. "Once at a club in Miami everybody made abig deal about it," Wilson says. "But then they realized I wasn't himand kind of shut it down for me."

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TIM DEFRISCO (SANDOVAL)

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MONTANA PRITCHARD (DALY)

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ROBERT BECK (WIE)

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WADE JACKSON/YCJ/ICON SMI (LEBLANC)

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MARK ZEROF/US PRESSWIRE (BENGALS)

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BOB ROSATO (WADE)

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KEN MCKIMM/ICON SMI (JONES-DREW)

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FRED KFOURY/ICON SMI (BARNES)

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RON VESELY/MLB PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES (THORNTON)

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NFL PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES (WILSON)

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GREG NELSON (GUILLEN)

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BUENA VISTA PICTURES/EVERETT COLLECTION (TOY STORY)

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