TV-watching jet lag

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Keeping up with some favorite sports right now feels a little like time traveling. It’s because they’re all happening in Europe. For example, the French Open is in Paris, nine hours ahead of California time. If you want to see it live (and sports are just better live, even if you avoid finding out the results in advance), it means staying up all night.

Already this morning, we’ve been able to see Serena Williams save about a billion match points and win her first-round match, and right about now, even though it’s after 9 p.m. in Paris, Serena and her sister, Venus, are playing doubles. Fascinating. Court 2 is packed -- despite the fact that it’s cold and windy and past dinnertime. Plus, Mary Carrillo and Pam Shriver are doing the commentary on ESPN. Fabulous.

Live coverage of the Giro d’Italia cycling race has become both an engrossing travelogue and an amazing race, but not in the reality-TV way. (It’s rest day today in Italy, however, so it’s all tennis for now.)

Lance Armstrong -- who isn’t talking to the media but communicating only by Twitter -- is developing stamina, confidence and his racing cadence every day on the challenging course. It’s a little like watching a cycling caterpillar turn into a Tour de France-winning butterfly.

It was jarring at first, watching cycling but not listening to Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen. But sports is all about adjusting. And luckily, Universal Sports is picking up Giro d’Italia coverage. Italy is also nine hours ahead of us. So there’s nothing wrong with a SoCal siesta is there? Before the NBA games start up.

-- Diane Pucin