The Weeks In Tv Sports

Highlights

SATURDAY 12/22
? Dolphins at Patriots
CBS 1:30 PM
Here's a story of a man named Brady/Who keeps finding ways to get to the end zone/He's nine and three as a starter/Pretty soon he'll lead the East all on his own. That's a very Brady way of saying the AFC East lead is up for grabs at Foxboro Stadium, where second-year New England quarterback Tom Brady (third in the AFC with an 88.1 rating) tries to reverse the result of his second game as a starter—a 30-10 loss to Miami on Oct. 7.

TUESDAY 12/25
?Raptors at Knicks; 76ers at Lakers
NBC 6 PM
Although it once employed the X-Man ( Xavier McDaniel), New York hasn't been the X-Men when it comes to Xmas: The Knicks have lost their last four Christmas Day games. Santa Stern will provide NBA fans with some additional holiday cheer in the second half of this evening's doubleheader when Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant welcome Allen Iverson (at week's end, the league's leading scorer with a 27.8 point average) to the Staples Center for a rematch of last season's NBA Finals.

SATURDAY 12/29
?The Bear: The Legend of Coach Paul Bryant
CBS 2:30 PM
"The only higher-ranking name in the state back then was God," says Auburn alumnus Bo Jackson of Bryant's status in Alabama during the Bear's tenure, from 1958 to '82, as coach of Crimson Tide football. In yet another marvelous documentary from Black Canyon Productions, which earlier this year produced the enthralling Pistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich, the life and times of the man with the houndstooth hat are examined over 90 minutes, from his Depression-era Arkansas roots to the six national championships he won at Alabama.

Don't Miss

THURSDAY ?
? Miami vs. Nebraska
ABC 8 PM
Here's what fans in Oregon and Colorado are thinking: You can't spell BCS without BS. While the No. 2 and No. 3 teams, respectively, in the human (AP and Coaches) polls are relegated to the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1 (ABC, 4:30 p.m.), the fourth-ranked Cornhuskers can earn the national title with a win over the No. I Hurricanes at the Rose Bowl. Lost amid the cacophony of criticism about the Bowl Championship Series is the appeal of a game pitting the AP's first-team All-America all-purpose back, Nebraska's Heisman winner Eric Crouch, against its second-team All-America quarterback, Miami's Ken Dorsey (above). Another fascinating element: whether the Huskers' Black Shirt defense can dent a stalwart Miami offensive line that gave up only two sacks this season.

ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.