Don't miss any of the tennis action at the 2010 U.S. Open and check out the entire TV schedule after the jump!

This summer brings the biggest event in football -- or soccer as we call it on this side of the pond. It's the Super Bowl for the international set and the best soccer teams from around the globe are gearing up to stake their claim on the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

The 2010 World Cup Television Schedule will play on several different stations including ESPN, ESPN2, ABC and games will stream online at ESPN360.com.

Once again people, I'm forced to ask the question: what the hell is going on here? Is up now down? Has black become white? Did Keith Olbermann just spend an inordinate amount of time and energy in his last "Special Comment" to discussing why Glenn Beck is TV's most "huggable" pundit?

CNN has been looking for ways to prop up their sagging ratings in the never-ending cable news wars by becoming a network that actually just delivers news as opposed to "from-the-hip," unsubstantiated opinions, as long as you don't count their constant monitoring of their viewers' Twitter feeds. Apparently they are so desperate for a format change that they have consulted a former ESPN producer to suggest ways to revamp their style.

The 2010 Australian Open Tennis TV schedule is ready. While most of us on this side of the globe are dreaming our winter blues away, the world's greatest tennis stars are in full swing down under at the Australian Open. Let's face it, late night talk show options are dwindling. Why not bounce on over to watch the Australian Open? The matches will be broadcast live for the rest of the month on ESPN/ESPN2.

The only way a 3D version of ESPN could be cooler is if ESPN aired some kind of awesome competition at the X-Games that involved skateboarders and sharks.

So until some stoned extreme sports team organizer invents "sharkboarding," we'll just have to settle with a three-dimensional Discovery Channel.

The network is teaming with Sony and IMAX to launch its own 3D, 24-hour channel by 2011. It doesn't say exactly what the programming will entail, but expect a lot of giant man-eating animals trying to jump out of your TV and claw their way up the food chain.

If three dimensional television is just a passing fad, then clearly no one told ESPN.

The all sports cable network will implement 3D technology with a new sports channel, set to premiere this year. The first 3D game will be the FIFA World Cup in June.

Would you watch your sports if they were in glorious 3D? If anything, it would make watching soccer tolerable.

I'm starting to wonder if TV and movie stars playing poker is more than just an interesting trend. Maybe it's a requirement.

Jason Alexander recently popped up on my TV, not in a Seinfeld rerun or his recent appearance on Curb Your Enthusiasm but in the most recent World Series of Poker. And it didn't look as though he was there playing with his own money. He appeared to have his own sponsor and everything.

Here is ESPN's coverage of Alexander's elimination from the tournament. Watch for the fan at the end who accidentally calls him George. It's cringe-tastic.

I was really disappointed when it was announced last year that USA Network would no longer be the network for The U.S. Open. ESPN (actually, ESPN2, to be specific) has the rights to the U.S. Open and the other three Grand Slam tournaments. It scared me a little though. Would their coverage be as well done and entertaining as USA's?

I really shouldn't have worried.

The thought of having to sit through another cable network awards show makes my Golden Globes shrivel.

It's nothing but a million-dollar idea for getting some useless ink in what's left of the local papers and making a quick buck off the cell texting charges by getting people to vote for awards that mean nothing. It's the television equivalent of the participation medals you got in elementary school for not dying during the mile run.

Thanks to Samuel L. Jackson's work as the host of the recent ESPY Awards, I will sit through whatever awards show he hosts from now on. I don't care if the National Sewage Treatment Board of America hires him to host their annual "Sewey" awards.

You probably thought that The Contender had disappeared from the television galaxy after its one and only season on NBC, didn't you? Well, you'd be utterly wrong. The fact of the matter is that the boxing reality show has been a quiet success on ESPN. So much so, that it has been renewed for a third season.

To refresh your memory The Contender, which is hosted by boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, features 16 fighters that compete for the Contender championship and the share of a seven-figure purse. The season two finale of the show drew 2.3 million viewers and was ESPN's top-rated boxing telecast in nine years.

In the third season, which will premiere on September 4th at 10 pm, look for a new weight class, new trainers, and a bigger purse. In addition, viewers will be able to see unedited versions of each week's episode-ending bout on ESPN2.

There are exactly two things I like about summer: tennis and baseball. The rest of it can go to hell (and considering the temps it usually feels that way).

Not just playing tennis, but watching it too. ESPN2 begins their daily coverage of Wimbledon this morning at 8am. The network will have 9 hours of coverage today and most days for the next two weeks (except the weekends, when NBC will have coverage during the day). You can follow the action at espn.com or the official Wimbledon site. They're using that Hawkeye system for the first time this year.

And no, that doesn't mean Alan Alda will be making line calls.

Pat DiNizio, lead singer of the 1980's alt-rock group The Smithereens, always likes to do new things. He's run for U.S. Senate, he's performed shows in people's living rooms, and he's written songs for fans who sent in their own lyrics. After having some health problems a couple of years ago, the 50-year-old decided to pursue something completely different: he set out to become the world's oldest minor-league baseball player. The result of this quest is the special 7th Inning Stretch, which will air on ESPN2 tomorrow night at 10. In the special, DiNizio talks to current (David Wells, Julio Franco) and former (Cal Ripken, Don Mattingly, Tony Gwynn) major leaguers about what he needs to do to finish his quest, and also talks to some fellow musicians (Bruce Springsteen, Joan Jett) about their love of the game.

I saw rough cuts of the show during the process of researching this article I wrote about DiNizio, but I haven't seen the finished product yet; from what I've seen so far, the interviews Pat got were quite interesting. But I'll let the show stand on its own merits. If you're curious about the project, he recently did a pretty good interview with AOL's "Sports Bloggers Live", and there's a lot of information there. There is also a soundtrack, with Smithereens songs as well as songs from some of the show's participants. It can be ordered from Amazon here.

Man, I really hate Barry Bonds. Hate him, hate him, HATE him with every fiber of my sports-fan being. It's not hard to figure out why: he's a jerk who has no regard for his teammates or fans, much less the press (and I mean, really, who cares how much of an a-hole a guy is to the press?). He "allegedly" has been juicing up for the last five years and is now on the brink of breaking a hallowed record that no one outside of San Francisco and the Bonds family wants to see him break: Hank Aaron's all-time home run record.

So what better subject is there for a reality show? Well, at least ESPN thinks so. They'll be following Bonds around as the 42-year-old Giants slugger goes after Aaron's record, which he is 48 dingers away from breaking. According to this article, the show will premiere on ESPN2 on April 4 with an hour-long show, then air half-hour long shows every Tuesday throughout the season.

I myself am looking forward to the episode when Bonds decides to retire early because his knee can't take the pounding from his bloated body, but that's just me.