Welcome to the RealClearSports Weekend Warmup!
The preseason is officially underway, bringing with it the glorious sights and sounds of the National Football League. While these four weeks of supposedly meaningless games don't count toward the final standings, they do serve as much-needed practice for the real thing, which begins 27 days from today in Foxboro.
So why should any normal person care? From evaluating your team's depth to establishing your couch-to-fridge-back-to-couch commercial-break routine, RCS Editor Cory Gunkel gets us ready for the real deal with 10 reasons to watch preseason pigskin.
PGA Championship
The fourth major of the calendar year is centered around one question: Will Jordan Spieth win and become the youngest to complete the career grand slam? Spieth will have to turn it on at Quail Hollow, as his 1-over-par 72 on Thursday left him five strokes behind the leaders after 18 holes.
Watch Friday's coverage on TNT (1-7 p.m. ET) and on Saturday and Sunday (11 a.m.-2 p.m. on TNT) before CBS picks up coverage those days from 2 to 7 p.m. ET.
NFL
Ready or not, here comes the NFL with some action-packed preseason games over the weekend. The fun starts Friday night with the Rooney Mara Derby, as the Rooney family's Pittsburgh Steelers play the Mara family's New York Giants at 7 p.m. ET on NFL Network. (The 49ers vs. Chiefs game, which begins at 9 p.m. ET, will be joined in progress on NFLN following Steelers-Giants.)
On Saturday night the Cowboys travel to play their second game of the preseason against the Los Angeles Rams (9 p.m. ET on NFLN). And finally, in a double-header on the first Sunday of football, the Indianapolis Colts will host the Detroit Lions (1:30 p.m. ET on NFLN), followed by the first home game for the recently relocated Los Angeles Chargers, who will host the Seattle Seahawks (8 p.m. ET on NFLN).
But the beginning of the NFL season hasn't been without incident. Another recent study found evidence linking the sport with the brain disease known as CTE. RCS Editors Ben Krimmel and Cory Gunkel discuss the study as a preview for an upcoming series on CTE and the future of football.
Soccer
The Premier League is back. And if you are unsure about jumping into soccer, here's the quick sell: It is the best sport to watch on TV, there are no commercials, and game-time commitment is capped at two hours. And it is a damn compelling sport. Plus, thanks to the time change, games rarely conflict with any American sport.
So cut out of work early on Friday (Pro Tip: find a local pub) and watch Arsenal vs. Leicester City (2:45 p.m. ET on NBCSN). Or wake up early on Saturday with the first game at 7:30 a.m. ET between Watford (formerly owned by Elton John) and Liverpool (currently owned by Boston Red Sox owner John Henry) on NBCSN. For the non-early birds, two games kickoff at 10 a.m. ET: Chelsea plays Burnley (NBCSN) and Everton takes on Stoke City (CNBC), with Brighton & Hove Albion (yup, that's one team) vs. Manchester City closing out the day at 12:30 p.m. ET (NBC).
The lone MLS game of the weekend caps off a long Saturday of soccer with the LA Galaxy hosting New York City FC at the StubHub Center (11 p.m. ET on ESPN2).
A Sunday triple-header starts near the banks of the River Tyne with Newcastle taking on Tottenham (8:30 a.m. on NBCSN) before we head southwest to see Manchester United play West Ham (11 a.m. ET on NBCSN), and finally finish up even farther south with an El Clasico edition of the Spanish Super Cup, as Barcelona hosts Real Madrid at the Nou Camp (4 p.m. ET on ESPN).
MLB
Can you feel the hatred in the air? That's right, it's Red Sox vs. Yankees weekend. Friday night the top teams in the AL East renew their rivalry, with New York's Jamie Garcia facing Boston's Eduardo Rodriguez (7 p.m. on MLB Network). On Saturday, Yankees ace Luis Severino starts for the Bronx Bombers against Red Sox lefty Drew Pomeranz (4 p.m. ET on FS1). And in the finale, AL Cy Young candidate Chris Sale takes the mound against the Yanks' Jordan Montgomery (8 p.m. ET on ESPN).
And for the truly hardcore, Saturday features the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. the Toronto Blue Jays (1 p.m. ET on MLBN) and Sunday offers the Cleveland Indians at the Tampa Bay Rays (1 p.m. ET on TBS).
On This Day
On this date in 1919, in the shabby second-floor editorial rooms of the Green Bay Press-Gazette building on Cherry Street, George Calhoun and Earl "Curly" Lambeau founded the Green Bay Packers. Lambeau convinced his employer the Indian Packing Company to sponsor the team, which would be known as the Packers, with $500 for equipment and use of the company field for practices.
On August 13, the Press-Gazette proclaimed "It will be the strongest aggregation of pigskin chasers that has ever been gathered together in this city."
That year the Packers would go 10-1, joining the NFL two years later.
Check RealClearSports.com throughout the weekend for coverage of NFL preseason games, the PGA Championship, the Premier League's opening weekend, and more. Follow us on Twitter @RealClearSports and join the conversation on Facebook.
