What Your Television Is Doing This Weekend

↵With all of the controversy surrounding NBC’s decision to not air coverage of the fallen horse Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby, Saturday’s 133rd running of the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore should generate a large television audience. The network is even planning to run a pre-race panel on the state of horse racing.
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↵Bob Costas will kick off the network’s coverage of the Preakness Stakes (Saturday, 4:30-6:30 p.m. ET) with a discussion with such luminaries as Churchill Downs veterinarian Larry Bramlage, Eight Belles trainer Larry Jones, NBC analyst Gary Stevens and New York Times columnist William Rhoden (who criticized the network’s coverage).
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↵We actually get a rare break this weekend as there are no games being played on Saturday. Friday, however, features a pair of Game Sixes as Boston travels to Cleveland at 8pm with a chance to close out the series. Dan Shulman and Doris Burke are on the call. The late game is the Lakers and Jazz in Utah with Mike Tirico and Hubie Brown in the booth. Los Angeles has a chance to close out that series with a win on the road, which we all know is impossible.
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↵Sunday is up in the air at the moment with Cleveland-Boston Game Seven tentatively holding the 3:30pm spot down over the Eastern Conference Finals Game One. Obviously if there’s a Game Seven in that series the Conference Final can’t start, so that game moves to Tuesday if the Celts and Cavs go the distance. Here’s that again in a much easier to read format:
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↵-8pm- Boston at Cleveland, Game #6 (ESPN)
↵Announcers: Dan Shulman, Doris Burke, Ric Bucher
↵-10:30pm- L.A. Lakers at Utah, Game #6 (ESPN)
↵Announcers: Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown, Lisa Salters
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↵-3:30 p.m.- Cleveland at Boston, Game #7 or Eastern Conference Final Game 1 (ABC)
↵Announcers: Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy
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↵-Milwaukee Brewers vs Boston Red Sox- Kenny Albert, Tim McCarver and Ken Rosenthal (FOX, 3:55pm, 72%)
↵MARKETS INCLUDE: Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Buffalo, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Myers, Greensboro, Greenville, Hartford, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Knoxville, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence, Raleigh, Richmond, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, St. Louis, Tampa, Tulsa, Washington, West Palm Beach
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↵-Los Angeles Dodgers vs Los Angeles Angels- Thom Brennaman and Rick Manning (FOX, 3:55pm, 20%)
↵MARKETS INCLUDE: Alburquerque, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle
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↵-Cleveland Indians vs Cincinnati Reds- Dick Stockton and Eric Karros (FOX, 3:55pm, 7%)
↵MARKETS INCLUDE: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Detroit, Louisville
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↵-Milwaukee Brewers vs Boston Red Sox- Chip Caray and Ron Darling (TBS, 1pm)
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↵-New York Mets vs New York Yankees- Jon Miller and Joe Morgan (ESPN, 8pm)
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↵When I saw ESPN promoting this at first I was a little bit skeptical, but after reading the description of the SportsCenter piece, it actually sounds pretty interesting:
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↵↵⇥“SportCenter’s featured piece Sunday, May 18, will trace the rebirth of roller derby, which peaked in popularity in the early 1970’s and has failed in several comebacks . In 2001 a grassroots-revival in Austin, Texas has grown to more than 200 amateur, all-female roller derby leagues across the country. Today’s reincarnation blends entertainment with genuine athletic competition, compared to the highly criticized sport of yesteryear that was viewed mostly as fake.”↵↵

WNBA: LA at Phx (ABC, Saturday 3:30pm) NHL: Wings-Stars Game 5 (NBC, Saturday 1:30pm), Indy 500 Trials (ABC, Saturday 1pm) show↵