This Kind of Weekend Seems All Over the Map

Names you’ll be hearing this Fourth of July weekend while following the world’s biggest sports stories on television:

Ullrich, Ancic, Maniche.

Mayo, Figo, Ronaldo.

Grosjean, Federer, Sharapova.

Nikopolidis, Katsouranis, Krzyzewski.

Here in the great melting pot, we’re settling in for a thick fondue of Swiss tennis champions, Russian upstarts, German cyclists, Portuguese midfielders and Greek goalkeepers when we aren’t tracking the 24/7 movements of a Polish American basketball coach who is exploring a new vista known to the Lakers as Our Own Little World.

Friday, ESPNews aired footage of a large gathering of fans, reporting that they had spent the previous evening standing vigil, burning candles and praying.

Were they soccer fans in Greece and Portugal, getting ready for their teams’ surprising matchup in Sunday’s European Championship final?

Were they cycling fans in France, bracing for the annual threat posed by American Lance Armstrong, who today begins his bid for a record sixth consecutive Tour de France title?

Were they tennis fans at Wimbledon, hoping for a break in the weather some time before August?

No, these were Duke basketball fans reacting to reports that Blue Devil Coach Mike Krzyzewski was actually considering an offer to jump to the Lakers.

“Shocking and depressing,” one of them told an ESPN reporter. “It was just downright depressing. And disbelief.”

In England, where waiting for Tim Henman to win Wimbledon is less productive than waiting for the rain to stop, they know the feeling. Same for soccer fans in France, Italy, Spain, England and the Czech Republic, now wondering what their teams are doing back home while Portugal and Greece are lining up for the last game of Euro 2004.

Different sports, different cultures, different parts of the world. Obsession, however, is a universal language.

Available for viewing this weekend:

TODAY

* Wimbledon

(Channel 4, 6 a.m.)

Because the roof over Centre Court won’t be finished until 2009, weather permitting, rain-interrupted men’s semifinals have been bumped from Friday to today, giving Wimbledon its own version of Super Saturday.

It’s a heavy “Breakfast at Wimbledon” menu: Serena Williams against Russia’s Maria Sharapova in the women’s final, joined by the resumption of the men’s semifinals. Defending champion Roger Federer of Switzerland leads Sebastien Grosjean of France, 6-2, 6-3, 4-3, in one match; and Andy Roddick is ahead of Mario Ancic of Croatia, 6-4, 4-3, in the other.

NBC, after wincing through French Open finals overrun by Russians and Argentines, isn’t hiding its hopes of a Roddick-Federer Fourth of July final.

Said John McEnroe Friday: “I really hope -- not to take anything away from Grosjean or Ancic, because they’re excellent tennis players -- but it would be fantastic if Federer plays Roddick in the final. I think you’ll see a quality of tennis better even than last year’s semi -- and it’ll be anticipated. It’ll be the beginnings of a great rivalry.”

Listening to this, Ted Robinson felt compelled to add, “I think it’s important to emphasize this is not cheerleading, it’s stating fact -- that what we think is best for tennis would be to have Federer and Roddick ... “

“And,” McEnroe felt compelled to add, “it’s cheerleading.”

* Tour de France

(Outdoor Life Network, 8:30 a.m. today; 6 a.m. Sunday, reshown at 9, 11:30 a.m.)

With a controversial new book dogging Armstrong’s quest to become the first man to win the Tour de France six years in a row, OLN has bulked up its coverage with performance-enhancing additives. Tapping into the prospect of casual observers wanting to track Armstrong’s historic bid, OLN has increased its coverage from 280 hours in 2003 to 340 this year.

OLN will air five daily Tour-related programs throughout the duration of race as Armstrong tries to fend off the challenges of Germany’s Jan Ullrich, Spain’s Iban Mayo and American Tyler Hamilton. New toy this year: An on-screen graphic showing riders’ heart rates -- presumably only when Armstrong is pedaling, not when he’s flipping through the pages of “L.A. Confidential, The Secrets of Lance Armstrong.”

* NASCAR Nextel Cup Pepsi 400

(Channel 11, 4 p.m.)

Meanwhile, at the Tour de Daytona, Fox bids adieu to NASCAR for the 2004 season, handing the remainder of the schedule to NBC and TNT. Fox promotional slogan that never made it to the screen: “After This Time, It Counts for the Other Guys.”

SUNDAY

* European Soccer Championship

(Pay-per-view, 11:45 a.m.)

Portugal versus Greece for the title wasn’t the view-for-pay most soccer fans envisioned when Euro 2004 kicked off three weeks ago ... when Portugal lost to Greece, 2-1, in the tournament opener.

Still, the rematch offers some big names, most of them Portuguese: former world player of the year Luis Figo, 19-year-old Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo and goal-scoring hero of the semifinals, Maniche.

The defense-minded Greeks counter mainly with long names: defender Kostas Katsouranis, midfielder Stelios Giannakopoulos and goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis, also known as the Greek Goalie Who Kind of Looks Like George Clooney.

* Dodgers at Angels

(Channel 9 and ESPN2, 7 p.m.)

The final game of the midseason Freeway Series starts at night, allowing the locals to pull in some national viewers on ESPN2 as Dodger reliever Eric Gagne continues his unbelievable quest. Yes, earlier this week on “I, Max,” Gagne actually said, “I’ve never been [to the playoffs], but I’m pretty excited about it. I think we have a pretty good team this year, and I want to see if I can do it in the playoffs.”