Weekend Watch, August 3-August 5, 2012

August 2, 2012

Even more than last week’s Weekend Watch, the upcoming sports watching weekend will be dominated by the Olympics. Swimming and gymnastics are winding down, track and field is about to get underway and sports like soccer, boxing, tennis, water polo, volleyball, beach volleyball and basketball are moving out of the group stages and into the elimination rounds. There’s still some other good sports watching to be found this weekend outside London and the other Olympic venues though. Here are a couple highlights.Non-Olympic

1.Baseball, Fox/ESPN/TBS/regional-This weekend’s the first since MLB’s non-waiver trade deadline passed, making it a good opportunity to see how the stars who got dealt before the deadline are adjusting to their new teams. Among this weekend’s highlights: Cleveland at Detroit, Miami at Washington, Baltimore at Tampa Bay, Anaheim at the Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh at Cincinnati.

2.Soccer, MLS and Scottish Premier League, ESPN/NBC Sports/ESPN2, Friday-Sunday-This weekend’s nationally televised MLS games are: Houston vs. New York at 8 p.m. EDT, 7 p.m. CDT on Friday on NBC Sports in a battle between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, Portland vs. FC Dallas at 7 p.m. EDT, 6 p.m. CDT, 4 p.m. PDT on Sunday on NBC Sports, a battle between the bottom two teams in the Western Conference standings right now and Seattle vs. Los Angeles on Sunday on ESPN2 at 9 p.m. EDT, 6 p.m. PDT, with the No. 3 team in the Western Conference standings hosting the No. 5 team in the conference.

Saturday’s also opening day for the Scottish Premier League, with Celtic opening its title defense in Glasgow against Aberdeen at 7:45 a.m. EDT, 12:45 p.m. BST, but as of right now, I don’t know of any American channels showing that game.

3.Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Saturday, 7 p.m. EDT, ESPN/NFL Network/Hall of Fame Game, New Orleans vs. Arizona, Sunday, 8 p.m. EDT-That’s right, folks: not only is world football back this weekend, so is the American type.

On Saturday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio will induct five new members: Jack Butler, a cornerback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1950’s and a St Bonaventure alumnus, New England and New York Jets running back Curtis Martin, Minnesota Vikings defensive end Chris Doleman, Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy, Steelers center Dermontti Dawson and New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Willie Roaf.

The following night, Roaf’s old team, the Saints, will open the post-Bountygate era and the 2012 NFL preseason when they face the Arizona Cardinals at Fawcett Stadium. Thanks to last year’s lockout, it’s actually the first time the HOF Game’s been held since 2010.

Olympic, NBC/NBC Sports/MSNBC/CNBC/Bravo/Telemundo

Friday-Medals in badminton, rowing, shooting, judo, archery, trampoline, fencing, cycling, swimming and track and field.

Saturday-Medals in badminton, triathlon, cycling, rowing, tennis, shooting, trampoline and track and field.

Sunday-Medals in track and field, badminton, tennis, shooting, sailing, artistic gymnastics, fencing and wrestling.