It’s Memorial Day weekend, when we (hopefully) take some time to remember our fallen service members while we’re at the beach or a barbecue or whatever. And when you’re not doing all that, chances are you’re going to be watching sports on television, because there’s a lot going on. Here are the highlights.
Saturday, May 23 (all times EDT)
NCAA men’s lacrosse final four (1 p.m., ESPN): Top-seeded Notre Dame faces No. 4 Denver followed by No. 6 Maryland vs. Johns Hopkins. The Terps and Blue Jays have the biggest rivalry in college lacrosse but haven’t met in the NCAA tournament semifinals since 1995.
Boxing, James DeGale vs. Andre Dirrell (4:30 p.m., NBC): Hey, live boxing on network television! How about that? The IBF super middleweight title is on the line in this fight between one-loss southpaws who both have Olympic middleweight medals in their trophy cases (DeGale won gold in 2008, Dirrell bronze in 2004).
NHL Western Conference finals, Game 4 (8 p.m., NBC): The Blackhawks faltered at home in Game 3 against the Ducks, hope to avoid a repeat in Game 4.
NBA Western Conference finals, Game 3 (9 p.m., ESPN): The Warriors-Rockets series shifts to Houston, where the Rockets look to avoid going down 3-0.
Sunday, May 24
Tennis, French Open (5 a.m., ESPN2): Get up real early to catch the first action from Roland Garros.
Premier League soccer (10 a.m., multiple networks): With the title settled and two of three relegation slots set, there won’t be a whole lot of drama on the final day of the season. Still, all 20 teams are playing simultaneously and the NBC Sports family of networks will televise all 10 games.
Auto racing, Indianapolis 500 (Noon, ABC): There have been a mess of crashes in qualifying, so hopefully the race can go off without incident. Pole-sitter Scott Dixon is the favorite.
Royals vs. Cardinals (2:10 p.m., Fox Sports Midwest/Fox Sports Kansas City): Kansas City and St. Louis entered the holiday weekend with the two best records in baseball. Entering Friday’s games, Cardinals Sunday starter Michael Wacha was tied for the MLB lead with six wins against zero losses.
NASCAR, Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m., Fox): NASCAR’s annual holiday-weekend showdown in Charlotte is the longest race of the year and one of the more unusual, as it starts when the sun is still up but finishes under the lights.
UFC 187 (prelims 8 p.m. on Fox Sports 1, main-event bouts 10 p.m. on pay-per-view): Two titles are on the line. Daniel Cormier (replacing the suspended Jon Jones) takes on Anthony Johnson for Johnson’s light-heavyweight title. Chris Weidman also looks to keep his middleweight title against Vitor Belfort.
NBA Eastern Conference finals, Game 3 (8:30 p.m., TNT): Cleveland hosts a conference finals game for just the fifth time in franchise history.
NCAA women’s lacrosse final (8:30 p.m., ESPNU): It’ll be Maryland or Syracuse against Duke or North Carolina, teams that played Friday in an all-chalk Final Four.
Monday, May 25
Tennis, French Open (5 a.m., ESPN): More early-round action from Roland Garros.
NCAA men’s lacrosse final (1 p.m., ESPN2): Of the four remaining teams entering the weekend, only Johns Hopkins has won an NCAA title since 1976. Maryland’s last championship was in 1975, and Notre Dame and Denver have never won it all.
Yankees vs. Royals (1 p.m., ESPN): Kansas City continues its challenging slate of games with a trip to Yankee Stadium.
NBA Western Conference finals Game 4 (9 p.m., ESPN): With a win in Saturday’s Game 3, the Warriors will have a chance to advance to their first NBA Finals since 1975.
NHL Western Conference finals Game 5 (9 p.m., NBC Sports Network): The series heads back to Anaheim.
