Clearly AV

Its the end of August already and there’s been a whole bunch of great sporting action so far this year — the Beijing Olympics have just come to an end, there’s been the SuperBowl earlier in the year, in soccer the Euro 2008 has come and gone. Also, the FA CUP and the UEFA Champions League. Wimbledon is over and rev-heads have been enjoyed almost a full season of F1, Moto GP, Indy and Nascar. So what other opportunities do the masses have to sacrifice offerings to the gods of sport?

Premiership Football

The Barclays Premier League circus has begun again drawing unflagging attention of hundreds of millions of soccer devotees. Around 200 countries worldwide tune in to watch their team play in the world’s most lucrative league. Keep an eye out for Liverpool Cheslea, Arsenal and Man Utd.

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• Date: started already in August and continues until May next year.
  

NFL

Last year’s underdog in the Super Bowl, the New York Giants, look to repeat in the 2008/2009 season, but it won’t be easy. The ESPN preseason power rankings put the defending Super Bowl champs at only the 6th best team in the NFL. Sitting atop the power rankings, ESPN puts 2005 Super Bowl winner New England Patriots, while Peyton Manning’s Colts sit at number 2. The Chargers, Cowboys, and Jaguars round-out the top 5 in the power rankings. The 2006 Super Bowl Champ Pittsburgh Steelers come in at number 7 in the power rankings. Should be another exciting year of football come August!

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• Power Rankings
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• Date: The new season began 3rd Aug.

NBA Basketball

The NBA has been a major part of basketball becoming a worldwide sport. As North America’s premier basketball league, the NBA consists of 30 teams spread across the U.S. and Canada. The NBA took-off in the 1980s and 1990s with the dominance of players such as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan. The most successful franchise in NBA history is the Boston Celtics who have won 16 championships through 2007, and have again made it to the NBA finals in 2008. In recent years, the NBA has been pretty much dominated by the San Antonio Spurs who have won 4 championships since 1999.

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• Widget: NBA Widget
• Date: New season starts October

IndyCar Series

This premier series of the Indy Racing League (IRL) recently merged with the Champ Car World Series and is now bigger than ever. Making this league even more popular is rookie of the year for 2005, Danica Patrick, who drives the #7 Motorola car. She recently became the first ever woman to win an Indy car race while racing in Japan this year. 2007 was owned by Dario Franchitti of the U.K. who not only won the Indianapolis 500, but also took home the overall IndyCar Series Championship. The overall winner of 2006 was Sam Hornish Jr. of the U.S. who raced for Penske Racing.

• Official Link
• Watch some IndyCar action
• Widget: IndyCar news widget
• Date: Season ends Sep 7th

Ryder Cup 2008

The 2008 Ryder Cup will be held at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky this year. The captains of the 37th biannual Ryder Cup Matches will be Paul Azinger for the U.S. and Nick Faldo for the European team. This year’s Ryder Cup will feature an alternate ball format, which is unlike to past three tournaments which have used a best ball format. The European team has dominated the U.S. for the past three Ryder Cups. The U.S. hasn’t won the Ryder Cup since 1999 where they won by the closest possible margin possible, 13.5 to 14.5.

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• Watch some action of past Ryder Cup Heroes
• Date: Sep 16th - 21st

Major League Baseball

America’s past-time has been around since 1869 and continues to be the most popular sport in North America each summer. The grueling 162-game season leads up to one of the biggest best-of-7 series in the world, the World Series. The biggest rivalry in the game right now is definitely the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, although the Yankees are by far the most successful franchise in MLB history. They’ve won an astounding 26 World Series titles, with the next closest team being the St. Louis Cardinals with only 10 world championships. The Red Sox have bragging rights right now, though, as they won their 7th world title in 2007.

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• Widget: MLB Widget
• Date: Season ends Sep 28th

Moto GP

The Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix’s premier class of motorcycle racing, the Moto GP, has changed dramatically in recent years, most noticeable, the maximum engine displacement capacity has been reduced to 800cc. The 2008 race calendar will consist of 18 rounds in 16 different countries, including a race at the world-famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Aussie Casey Stoner is coming off his 2007 Moto GP championship for the Ducati Marlboro team. Stoner succeeded American Nicky Hayden who won the world championship back in 2006.

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• Date: Season ends 26th Oct

Formula 1

The F1 racing league is the largest open-wheeled racing organization in the world, and it’s becoming more popular as it slowly expands out of Europe to other countries such as India, China, and Singapore. In 2008, 9 out of the 18 races will have been held outside of Europe. The most successful driver in F1 history is Michael Schumacher who has won 7 world championships. The winner of the 2007 Driver’s Championship was Kimi Raikkonen of Finland who drives for the Ferrari team, and he was followed close by in the points by Lewis Hamilton (U.K.) and Fernando Alonso (Spain) who rounded out the top three of 2007. Still to come this season are races in Belgium, Italy, Singapore, Japan, China and Brazil at the end.

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• Widget: F1 Widget
• Date: Season ends 2nd Nov

Red Bull World Series

The Red Bull Air Race World Series features the world’s best pilots in a motor sports competition based on speed, precision and skill. Using the fastest, most agile and lightweight racing planes, pilots navigate a low-level aerial race track made up of air-filled pylons, reaching speeds of 370 kph while withstanding forces of up to 10 Gs. The official site also has a handy broadcast page to help you find the right channel to watch it on.

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• Date: Season ends 2nd Nov

Nascar

NASCAR is the largest sanctioning body of stock cars in the U.S., and the largest series sanctioned by NASCAR is the Sprint Cup. The driver of the #48 car, Jimmie Johnson, is the one to beat in 2008. Johnson is the two-time defending NASCAR Sprint Cup champion in 2006 and 2007. He also won the Super Bowl of racing, the Daytona 500, back in 2006. Ryan Newman was the winner of the 50th running of the Daytona 500 for 2008, and he took home over $1.5 million for his win.

• Official Link
• Watch Nascar wrecks
• Widget: Nascar News widget
• Date: Season ends after the Ford 400 on 16th Nov

MMA Fighting

The popularity of Mixed martial arts (MMA) has spread like wildfire recently. Two of the largest MMA organizations in the world are the UFC and PRIDE Fighting Championship. The UFC introduced MMA to popular culture in 1993, but it hasn’t gained mainstream popularity until recent years. Today, MMA is fast becoming more popular than boxing, at least in terms of pay-per-view sales. Some of the most influential MMA champions include: Randy “The Natural” Couture, Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell, George “Rush” St. Pierre, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Anderson “Spider” Silva, Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva, and Takanori Gomi just to name a few.

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• Date: Fighting ends with the Final Conflict 22th Nov

Major League Soccer

MLS continues to gain popularity in the U.S., thanks large in part to David Beckham’s migration across ‘the Pond’ to play for the L.A. Galaxy in 2007. Another driving force in the popularity of the MLS was the introduction of 14-year-old soccer phenom Freddy Adu in a D.C. United uniform back in 2004. The MLS currently consists of 14 teams who each play 30 games per season. The MLS expects to expand to 16 teams in 2010 and 18 teams by 2012. The most dominate team in MLS history has been D.C. United with a total of 4 championships. Currently, though, the Houston Dynamo’s have won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007.

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• Date: Season ends Nov 23rd

World Rally Championship

The WRC currently consists of 15 drivers and 6 teams, and this popular rallying series has been around since 1973. Each of the approximately 300 horsepower, souped-up rally cars race across pavement, dirt, snow, and ice and cover hundreds of miles over several days of racing. Right now the king of WRC is Sebastien Loeb of France, who has won the the WRC championship from 2004 through 2007 in his Citroen Xsara and C4 rally cars. He’s also the all-time win leader in the WRC currently with 40 wins.

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• Date: Last Rally on Dec 7th

Billabong Pipeline Masters 2008

The most prestigious surfing event on the ASP World Tour. You’ll find excellent roundup coverage of the event on Surfline. Check your HD provider for times. Alternatively, watch it live and streaming for free on Billabong’s official site.

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• Date: Dec 8th - 20th