Sports Watcher Independence Day 3-day Weekend Special for the Weekend of 7/4-6

From now on, Sports Watcher will put out a 3-day Weekend Special for all Friday and Monday federal holidays. All times PDT.

Friday
9-10 or 11 AM: Competitive eating, Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest (ESPN). Let's just move on.

12-5 PM: Tennis, Wimbledon, includes men's semifinals, Roger Federer v. Marat Safin and Rainier Schuettler v. Rafael Nadal (NBC). Same on both coasts, so you lucky East Coasters can skip the hot-dog eating contest. Wait, NBC covers the second week of Wimbledon and CBS doesn't do the same with the US Open... and the US Open is more popular in the States. NBC even covers the last Friday of the French Open and CBS doesn't even do that with the US Open - the closest it comes is Labor Day. It's the same CBS cheapskateness that caused them to leave their studio team in the studio for the Final Four.

Saturday
6-11 AM: Tennis, Wimbledon, includes women's final, Serena Williams v. Venus Williams, and men's and women's doubles finals (NBC). Wow, it's just like 2003!

12:30-4 PM: MLB Baseball, Boston @ NY Yankees in most markets (FOX). OMG OMG OMG IT'S THE SOX AND THE YANKEES OMG!!!!!!!!!!1!!111111!!!1!!!1!!eleven! There's an Arena League game on ESPN if you're not interested. Speaking of which...

4-6:30 PM: Arena Football, New York @ Philadelphia (ESPN). The weekly look into the Arena League playoffs.

7-10 PM: Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC 86 (PPV). I'll just say this: UFC may have popularized MMA, but as monolithic as it may have seemed even six months ago, it may not be the organization that defines it in the mainstream when all is said and done.

Sunday
6-12 PM: Tennis, Wimbledon, includes men's final and mixed doubles final (NBC). We were predicting a Williams Sisters final when the third round was barely ended. We were predicting a Federer-Nadal when the fourth round was barely ended. The raft of upsets is only making tennis too predictable.

12:30-3 PM: IndyCar Racing, Grand Prix at the Glen (ABC). Because I can't put every Arena League quarterfinal on here. Alternately, AVP volleyball is on NBC starting at 1:30.

5-8 PM: MLB Baseball, Boston @ NY Yankees (ESPN). OMG OMG OMG IT'S THE SOX AND THE YANKEES AGAIN OMG!!!!!!!!!!1!!111111!!!1!!!1!!eleven!