The Week In Tv Sports

Highlights

SATURDAY 8/25
?WUSA Championship Game
TNT 2 PM Unfortunately for the millions of mini-Mias out there, this will be a Hamm-free final, since her team, the Washington Freedom, finished tied for last in the regular season. In her absence the teen screamers will no doubt go wild when Joey McIntyre, that he's-so-cute-you-want-to-step-on-him former member of New Kids on the Block, takes the field at Foxboro Stadium to sing the national anthem. Expect the ensuing game action, which will pit the Atlanta Beat and forward Charmaine Hooper against the Bay Area CyberRays and midfielder-defender Brandi Chastain, to be more suitable for adult viewing.

SATURDAY 8/25
? Dodgers at Braves
TBS 7 PM Late August: It's not a time when either of these teams has been accustomed to being in the thick of a playoff race. By this date, Los Angeles, which hasn't been in the playoffs since 1996, is usually engaged in infighting and wait-till-next-year talk, while Atlanta, which hasn't missed the postseason since '90 and has gone down to the wire only once since '96, is normally kicking back in preparation for the postseason. With both teams in playoff and wild-card contention, this series, which continues at 1 p.m. on Sunday on TBS, is well worth watching.

MONDAY 8/27
?U.S. Open Tennis, Early Rounds
USA 11 AM, 7 PM (continuing until Friday) With Anna Kournikova out with an injury, we will rely on Jennifer Love Hewitt to provide inspiration. Hence, our picks to win the men's and women's titles: Jennifer (often serving at 40-love) Capriati and Lleyton Hewitt. USA will offer nine hours of daily coverage.

Don't Miss

SATURDAY 8/25
? Texas Christian at Nebraska
ABC 1 PM The 66-17 cornhuskering that Nebraska put on Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl last December was akin to the first half of a Vancouver Grizzlies- Los Angeles Lakers game: The outcome was no fluke. Moreover, it sent the voluble message to the rest of the college football world that the Wildcats stink. No, wait, sorry. Actually, the message is that the Huskers are a team to be reckoned with this year, largely because dual-threat quarterback Eric Crouch (above) is still at the controls. Nebraska opens against the Horned Frogs, who lost their star runner, LaDainian Tomlinson, to the NFL but retain the best moniker in college football.

ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.