The Week In Tv Sports

Highlights

SATURDAY 10/20
Baseball League Championship Series
FOX 4 PM (AL GAME 3), 7:30 PM (NL GAME 4) For a franchise that once lived by the refrain "Spahn and Sain, and pray for rain," it's the same old story for the Braves. They're still relying on a pair of starting pitchers to get them past their National League Championship Series foes, the Diamondbacks. (Our refrain: "Maddux and Glavine is all we be havin'.")

MONDAY 10/22
Biography Close-up: After the Game
A&E 8 PM Although host Harry Smith's low-key interviewing style occasionally borders on sleep-inducing, the candor that he six subjects ( Zina Garrison, Wayne Gretzky, Art Heyman, Bo Jackson, Alan Page and J.R. Richard) exhibit during this examination of retired athletes' lives makes for an absorbing hour. Particularly compelling is Garrison's admission that she suffered from bulimia and severe depression after her departure from the WTA tour.

TUESDAY 10/23
Winning Is Living and Losing Is Dying: The George Allen Story
ESPN 7 PM The title of this fascinating, hour-long NFL Films production encapsulates the philosophy of Allen, an obsessed pro and college coach, a man who ranked "football, family and God" in that order, according to his quarterback on the Rams, Roman Gabriel. Endearing anecdotes come from Jennifer Allen, author of last year's well-received Fifth Quarter: The Scrimmage of a Football Coach's Daughter, who recalls how during one family vacation to the Bahamas her father "saw some natives who were unusually fit" and began to time them using a stopwatch and football he just happened to have with him.

Don't Miss
MONDAY 10/22
Eagles at Giants
ABC 9 PM In Greek, Philadelphia means brotherly love, and recently when the Eagles have played their NFC East rivals from New York, they've more than lived up to their city's name. Philly has dropped nine consecutive games to the Giants by a combined score of 218-115. Three of the Eagles' six losses last season came at the hands of New York, including a 20-10 drubbing in the NFC divisional playoffs, a game in which Philadelphia's All-Pro quarterback Donovan McNabb (above, 5) was held to a subpar 198 yards of total offense and was sacked six times. With Monday Night Footballs early-season schedule having been about as entertaining as a C-Span 2 marathon, here's hoping that this matchup between two likely playoff teams is one that fans can love.

ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE