The Week In Tv Sports

DON'T MISS

Sunday 10/10
Buccaneers at Packers
? ESPN 8:15 PM
Let's give a hand to quarterback Brett Favre, who after guiding the Packers to a pair of thrilling comebacks in the season's first three weeks already has a leg up on his fourth MVP award. Favre has prospered despite a banged-up throwing hand that Green Bay safety LeRoy Butler describes as looking "like somebody ran it over with a car." Favre's toughness has translated into 112 consecutive starts, putting him within reach of Ron Jaworski's NFL record for a quarterback (116). In a game that could be central to deciding the NFC Central, Favre and backs such as Dorsey Levens (right) will have to surmount Tampa Bay's ferocious defense, even if Bucs sackmeister Warren Sapp may be questionable because of—what else?—a broken hand.

HIGHLIGHTS

Saturday 10/9
Michigan at Michigan State
?ABC NOON
Spartans alumnus Richard Ford (author, The Sportswriter) and Wolverines graduate Gerald Ford (38th U.S. president) both take a backseat to Henry Ford, an alum of the school of hard knocks who put the state of Michigan on the map. And these two teams have helped keep it there with their storied rivalry. For the first time since 1961 both schools enter this game unbeaten. Each boasts established senior quarterbacks, gifted wide-outs and tenacious defenses, meaning that today's victor will hail from the side that doesn't combust internally.

Sunday 10/10
Gravity Games
?NBC 4 PM
If synergy-seeking NBC execs merged this extreme sports competition, taped last month in Rhode Island's capital, with an episode of the network's drama Providence, the plot might be: The lovely—yet lovelorn—Dr. Sydney Hansen gives first aid to street luger Biker Sherlock after he crashes into her clinic. Word spreads of Syd's loveliness—and lornliness—and soon many a dirt biker, downhill skateboarder and wake-boarder are "crashing" into the clinic. When an aggressive inline skater gets a little too aggressive, Syd's usually kindly veterinarian father has him neutered.

Tuesday 10/12
Baseball League Championship Series

?NATIONAL: NBC TUES. 8 PM, WED. 4 PM AND FBI. 8 PM
?AMERICAN: FOX WED. 8 PM, THURS. 8 PM

Today the United Nations will officially declare that the world's population has reached the six billion mark. Of course, the U.N. is only making an educated guess, as are we by presuming that the Braves will appear in the National League series for the eighth straight time. Maybe a U.N. commission can investigate why switch-hitting third baseman Chipper Jones, who should be named league MVP, wasn't selected to the All-Star team in July.

Wednesday 10/13
Blues at Red Wings
?ESPN 7 PM
New St. Louis goalie Roman Turek seems to be following in Dominik Hasek's skate tracks. Like Hasek, Turek is a native of the Czech Republic who was unable to unseat Ed Belfour as No. 1 goalie on his first NHL team ( Dallas) and then supplanted Grant Fuhr on his second. Turek's talent—Roman is the Hadrian's Wall of impassable netminders—is vital to the Blues, who permitted the fewest shots on goal in the league last season but were 14th in goals allowed. Detroit, which took the most shots on goal in '98-99, is an early test.

ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. SOURCE: NIELSEN SPORTS MARKETING SERVICES