The Week In Tv Sports

DON'T MISS
Saturday 5/1
Kentucky Derby
?ABC 4:30 PM
"And they're off!" Where else besides tracks such as Churchill Downs can you get away with this sentence that begins with a conjunction and ends with a preposition? Answer: The Playboy Mansion. Today future studs Adonis, Cat Thief, Menifee and Vicar, and the Bob Baffert-trained gelding General Challenge (right, winning the Santa Anita Derby) are expected to contend with the filly Three Ring and possibly Baffert's female Excellent Meeting. A few tips: 1) No filly has won here since Winning Colors in 1988, 2) the post-time favorite last won in '79 (Spectacular Bid), and 3) the last two winners, Silver Charm and Real Quiet, both Baffert's, placed at Santa Anita. Prime Timber, 1999's runner-up, also is a Baffert horse.

HIGHLIGHTS

Saturday 5/1
New York City PBA Experience
?CBS 3 PM
Talk about Spin City. Seeking to lure Big Apple TV execs into taking note of its sport, the Professional Bowlers Association is staging the championship round of the Long Island Open outdoors in midtown Manhattan's Bryant Park. In case of rain, organizers of the event will have a canopy at the ready but admit that they have no plans yet for removing the city's legendary rats from the gutters. Of even more concern is that Gotham's most lethal vermin, real estate brokers, will, upon finding such a large expanse of unoccupied hardwood floor, rent the space before the 10th frame.

Sunday 5/2

CART Bosch Spark Plug
Grand Prix
?ABC 2 PM
One Marlboro Man is dead, and another is gasping. As of last Thursday, in 46 states billboards advertising cigarettes, including those featuring the original puff daddy, had to be removed as stipulated by a lawsuit settlement involving the tobacco industry. Meanwhile, Al Unser Jr., whose number 2 Marlboro racer dominated the Indy Car circuit earlier this decade, is on a 56-race winless streak. Little Al opened this season by crashing (and suffering a broken right ankle) on the first lap of the Marlboro Grand Prix. The two-time series champion returns to action today on the one-mile oval in Nazareth, Pa.

Indians at Rangers
?ESPN 8 PM
If you've seen the kickass opening number for The Drew Carey Show, then you already know: Cleveland rocks! Baseball's only team with the doctors' recommended daily amount of Alomars (dos) was off to a 12-5 record through Sunday, thanks to a starting lineup in which everyone but leftfielder David Justice was batting better than .300. Rightfielder Manny Ramirez already had 25 RBIs. Heading into the hitter-friendly Ballpark in Arlington, Tribe sluggers could further salivate over the prospect of facing a beleaguered Texas pitching staff that had a 5.63 ERA, fourth worst in the league.

Wednesday 5/5
Trail Blazers at Lakers
?TBS 10:30 PM
Now that Dennis Rodman has a better chance of appearing on Divas Live! than in an NBA game, the Lakers (27-18 through Sunday) may finally put down their cell phones and resemble a top-tier team.... Nah. Among Pacific Division clubs it would appear that only Portland (32-11) received the Michael's-retired, it's-anyone's-title memo. True, on April 20 the Slackers showed heart in coming back from a 28-point deficit to beat the Warriors, but the 10-deep Blazers are 2-0 against L.A. this season.

ALL TIMES EASTERN. SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. SOURCE: MSG NETWORK.