Believe it or not, there is track and field competition more than every four years at the Olympic Games.
A sport rocked by drug scandals is trying to rebuild its image with a flock of new stars. Take a look at the USA Track and Field Championships (2 p.m. Saturday, ESPN), which showcases young sprinters Darold Williamson and Wallace Spearmon.
Williamson logged the world’s fastest 400-meter time this season in the NCAA semifinals and Spearmon won the 200-meter NCAA indoor title.
Spearmon, owner of the five fastest 200-meter times in the world this year, said in a conference call, “It’s unfortunate what happened to people before but most of us are pretty young and haven’t really been involved with all the scandals and or anything else.”
Fun in Omaha
Major leaguers should have so much enthusiasm. One sportswriter described it as “the mom- and-pop national championship of college sports.”
The College World Series, more county fair than national championship, is unfolding in Omaha, Neb., this week.
It all comes down to a best-of- three championship this weekend (5 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, ESPN). If a third game is necessary, it will be played at 5 p.m. Monday.
The long road home
The NBA season, which began Nov. 2, ends 7 1/2 months later with Game 7 of the Detroit-San Antonio championship series (7 tonight, KMGH-Channel 7).
On the road
The NASCAR Nextel series goes from ovals to a road course this weekend in the wine country of Sonoma, Calif.
Fox brags that its ratings for the 11 races it carried this season are up 5 percent, and at an all-time high for the regular season.
The tour’s road-course stop in Sonoma, a 350-miler, begins at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on KDVR-Channel 31.
IndyCar Racing, meantime, takes the Danica Patrick show to the tight circuit in Richmond, Va. (5:30 p.m. Saturday, ESPN2). “I’m already freaked out for Richmond,” Patrick told indyracing.com. “That’s going to be really tough.”
Around the dial
One-time “SportsCenter” sidekicks Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick back together, sort of. Olbermann will guest Fridays on Patrick’s ESPN Radio show (11 a.m., KKZN 560-AM), starting Aug. 5 … Sports reporter Amani Ali the new executive producer for Dave Logan and Lois Melkonian on “The Ride Home” (3-7 p.m. weekdays, KOA 850-AM) … Quotable: “(Robert) Horry has been criticized for not showing up until the playoffs. But that’s when it counts.” – Rodney Peete, on Fox Sports Network’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period.”
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
