Week Ahead

SUNDAY 7/13
Women's Soccer: Brazil at U.S.
Team USA takes the field for the first of two friendlies—today in Commerce City, Colo., and on July 16 in San Diego—against another squad expected to win a medal at the Beijing Olympics. The U.S. will be without top defender Cat Whitehill, who tore her ACL last month, but new coach Pia Sundhage can call on Heather Mitts (left), another elite defender, who missed the 2007 World Cup with a torn ACL of her own.
ESPN 4 p.m.

SI PICK OF THE WEEK

MONDAY 7/14
MLB Home Run Derby
It's on his home turf, but Alex Rodriguez (above) will sit out this year's long ball challenge. Dinner plans with Madonna? No, ARod worries that the Derby could mess up his swing—as it did to his Yankees teammate Bobby Abreu (inset) in 2005. Then with the Phillies, Abreu hit 18 homers in the first half, won the Derby and then went deep just six times the rest of the season. Rodriguez, the AL's leading vote-getter, will start at third base the next night, when Yankee Stadium hosts the midsummer classic for the first time since 1977.
Fox 8 p.m.

TUESDAY 7/15
In Stores: NCAA Football 09
EA Sports' college football game is now available for the Wii, so gamers can sweat as if Nick Saban were running them through two-a-days. The Wii version, dubbed the All-Play edition, is designed to be easier to use than NCAA Football 09 on other platforms. It's more cuddly on the outside too: Michigan State's Sparty mascot graces the cover.

SUNDAY 7/20
The ESPYs
Gratuitous trophy presentations, anyone? Justin Timberlake hosts ESPN's annual celebration of sports and celebrity, with a few contrived awards (Best Finish? The Hummer Like Nothing Else Award?) thrown in. The Super Bowl--champion Giants appear to be a lock for Best Upset, but in the spirit of the award the longshot nominee, Belmont winner Da'Tara, should take them down by a nose.
ESPN 9 p.m.

MONDAY 7/21
NCAA Year in Review
A one-hour special recaps the academic year in sports. USC fans may want to pass. The show is heavy with coverage of UCLA, which won more championships—men's golf, women's tennis (below) and women's water polo—than any other school, and of Stanford, which had the nation's top-performing athletic program for the 14th straight year.
ESPN2 3 p.m.

TUESDAY 7/22
Highway 18
It's The Amazing Race in polo shirts and spikes. This reality show features five teams on a 1,000-mile race through Florida, with stops at the state's best golf courses. What's reality TV without a little drama? "Hey guys, he just touched his lie," one competitor complains in tonight's premiere. Golf has never been edgier.
Golf Channel 10 p.m.