Friday's Big Weekend Preview

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Welcome to emptiness.

This weekend, this bare-cupbord weekend, is where we have to dig deep, stretch, bend the rules, do whatever is necessary to find you entertainment to fulfill your sporting desires. It's tough, but necessary. Have you seen the forecast? TV and AC wins out, regardless of our sparse options. 

No football. No basketball (please go away if the words "summer league" popped into your head). No major golf tournaments (that's next week). No Olympics (that's two weeks away). No "Dark Knight" (can that movie just come out already). 

So what we've got is baseball (duh), and ... 

MLB: Yankees vs. Angles

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When: All weekend

TV: MLB.TV, local affiliates

Why You Should Watch: Mike Trout. Everything else is secondary.

The fact it's two of the best teams in the American League? A-Rod? Jeter? Cano? 

All less interesting than Trout, who is just so dang good. It was nice to see him during the All-Star game, but that was really just an appetizer. Watch him during a regular season game to get a true look at this rookie's brilliance. 

NASCAR Sprint Cup: LENOX Industrial Tools 301

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When: Sunday, Noon (ET)

TV: TNT

Why You Should Watch: Aside from the "what other options ya got?" argument, this is the just about the perfect length for a NASCAR race. It's not too long – 500 miles is always too long, 400 can still get stale – but also not short enough that no strategy comes into play. It's that just right distance that will appease NASCAR fans while not infuriating those others who lose the remote and don't feel like getting up to change the channel. 

WWE: Money in the Bank

When: Sunday, 8 p.m.

TV: PPV

Why You Should Watch: I'm sorry, is there a football game you'd rather watch? Me too. But it's not going to happen. So, you've got this. That's my pitch to non-WWE fans. WWE fans will have a vested interest, even if some of them think this whole CM Punk vs. Daniel Brian vs. AJ feud is a dumb storyline (we actually had a discussion in the office about how lame that match was on RAW where both dudes went through the table).

Plus, there's John Cena. He wears jorts, but he's still cool.  

Breaking Bad/The Newsroom

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When: Breaking Bad – Sunday, 10 p.m. (ET, PT); The Newsroom – Sunday, 10 p.m. (ET, PT)

TV: Breaking Bad – AMC; The Newsroom – HBO

Why You Should Watch: Look, there's more to life than sports. How much ESPN can one really watch in a day? You need, and should, take a break and expand your horizons. Read a book. Go for a hike. Or, just simply flip the channel and watch some good TV. Why force yourself to watch a baseball game nobody cares about when you can watch a show that sets The Internet into a trending frenzy when it airs? 

Like, the season-premiere of "Breaking Bad" will. Or, episode four of "The Newsroom," which despite dripping with pretentiousness, is entertaining enough to endure – despite the reviews and Twitter hatred.