No turkeys in this weekend's sports lineup
Try these ingredients to make that cold turkey sandwich more appetizing: two tablespoons of college football, 18 holes of golf, a cup of tennis, and a dash of college basketball, with pro football seasonings.
Help yourself, TV is having an after-Thanksgiving weekend feast.
Anyone with an interest in college football can't ignore Friday's matchup between No. 2 Virginia Tech (10-0) and No. 22 Boston College (8-2) on CBS (2:30 p.m.). A defeat could doom Tech's chances of a national championship game berth against Florida State.
No. 3 Nebraska is just 0.63 points behind Virginia Tech in the computerized standings that determine the championship matchup. A week ago they were 2.4 points away. Keep your remote control handy because the Nebraska-Colorado game on ABC will be played at the same time as Virginia Tech and BC.
Before this game on ABC (11 a.m.) No. 24 Texas A&M will meet No. 7 Texas in a game that takes on a sober air after a stack of pregame bonfire logs at A&M collapsed, killing 12 people.
On Saturday, ABC has the works. In a fierce intrastate rivalry No. 16 Georgia will face No. 20 Georgia Tech (1 p.m.) and at 8 p.m. Rose Bowl-bound Stanford will host Notre Dame.
In between these two football games, ABC breaks off for golf to broadcast the first nine holes of the 17th annual Skins Game (4:30 p.m.). The second nine holes will be televised Sunday (3:30 p.m.). The field includes defending champion Mark O'Meara, David Duval, Spain's teen sensation Sergio Garcia, and Fred Couples.
College basketball tipped off this week with an unusual start: Michigan State became the only team from last year's Final Four to open this season with a win. This weekend the march to March madness is paved with four holiday tournaments featuring seven Top 25 teams. Among the interesting contests is the championship game of the Puerto Rico Shootout (ESPN2, 6 p.m.), which boasts a highly competitive field of Michigan State, Depaul, and Texas, and the Great Alaska Shootout with Kansas (Saturday, ESPN midnight).
Meanwhile, the world's best men's tennis players have gathered on ESPN for the season ending ATP Championship. Pete Sampras has returned in top form after a three-month absence for a possible showdown with Andre Agassi in Sunday's final at 3:30 p.m. (The semifinal is Saturday at 4:30 p.m.)
Come Sunday, pro football takes the field. Nowhere has the competition been so tough as in the AFC East. The game of consequence is the Buffalo Bills (7-4) vs. the New England Patriots (6-4) on CBS (1 p.m.). Fox has the Indianapolis Colts (8-2) vs. the New York Jets (4-6) at 4 p.m. Of late, Bill Parcell's Jets have proved they're no turkeys.
(c) Copyright 1999. The Christian Science Publishing Society
