What to watch, or how not to leave the house on a Saturday

What to do? Have some plans but, but, how to leave the television behind? It's an eclectic sports fan's dream day.

We've already got the PGA on Channel 2, Tiger Woods up four and he hasn't started yet. Channel 4 has world track and field from Berlin and to me nothing is better than being taken, because of sports, to a new place, and to me Berlin is a new place. Right after track on Channel 4 from Dallas (OK, don't necessarily want sports to take me to Dallas) is men's gymnastics and on good authority (OK, the men were on Universal Sports yesterday), it is the men who have been the stars of this USA Gymnastics nationals (the women will be on Channel 4 at 8 p.m.). Check out the high bar routines of Jon Horton and Danell Leyva.

Whew, but there's more. A quadruple header of Little League World Series games on ESPN. Women's tennis, NASCAR, men's tennis on ESPN2. On the NFL Network is a quadruple-header of preseason games: Arizona at Pittsburgh (now), and maybe a chance to check out the progress of Matt Leinart for USC fans; followed by Atlanta at Detroit followed by the Chicago Bears at Buffalo; followed by Seattle at San Diego.

Oh, yeah, baseball too, Giants at the Mets on Channel 11; Dodgers (the sky is falling, right) at Arizona on Channel 9 at 5 p.m.; Angels at Baltimore at 4 p.m. Fox West.

You want soccer? Chivas is at Red Bull New York on Fox West at 4 p.m. or even cooler, a 2010 World Cup qualifier from Baku, Azerbaijan, with Germany against Azerbaijan. That's at 1:30 on the Fox Soccer Channel.

Yep, not leaving the house today.

Diane Pucin

Photo: Tiger Woods plays a shot on the tenth hole during the final round of the PGA championship on Sunday in Chaska, Minnesota. Photo credit: Stuart Franklin / Getty Images.

Nastia Liukin is in the house

Gymnastics nationals are on Universal Sports right now. You've got to love it when former Olympic gold medalist Carly Patterson is sitting on press row next to USA gymnastics president Steve Penny and just when the TV cameras catch Patterson she is diligently applying lip gloss, applying it, applying it, talking to Penny, still applying.

And I love the sport but it's not good when two would-be contenders (both from Los Angeles), Mattie Larson and Samantha Shapiro, are on the sidelines being interviewed by Andrea Joyce about the injuries that have them as very sparkly spectators (just because you can't compete doesn't mean you can't wear sparkly makeup).

But Chellsie Memmel is on the balance beam now. As recently as Tuesday Memmel wasn't sure if she'd compete. She's looking pretty fierce right now on that beam. Not very smooth but pretty fierce. It's apparently going to be her only event appearance but she's clearly not retired. Nastia Liukin still to come.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Nastia Liukin competes on the balance beam during day one of the 2009 Visa Championships. Photo credit: Stew Milne / US Presswire.

Gymnastics TV show, so corny it's watchable

 

There's a show Mondays on ABC Family called "Make It or Break It," and it's a fictional take on a high-level gymnastics club.

There's a female gymnast's mom who is/was having an affair with the club coach who then got blackmailed by another female gymnast's father, who lured the coach to another club and took his daughter with him but (and I think I missed an episode) said the gymnast had returned to the old club, which has a new coach, who has a Russian accent and a bunch of Olympic medals. There seems to be a lone male who is always working out and who is the boyfriend of the female gymnast whose mother is/was having the affair but said male gymnast had a one-night fling with the gymnast whose dad blackmailed the coach. I think the male gymnast is soon going to be blackmailed himself.

Got all that? And then there's the female gymnast who received a cortisone shot in between events in last week's show. Remember Peri Gilpin from "Frasier"? She plays the mom who let her daughter shoot up during the meet.

Also, remember Candace Cameron Bure, formerly of "Full House" fame? She plays the girlfriend of the father who bribed the coach. The father's daughter hates the girlfriend. 

If you've got that all straight, there is another female gymnast who is at the club on a scholarship. She is forced to work in a pizza restaurant on the side and her mom brags about having designer knockoffs. in early episodes, this girl seemed to have a brother who was in a wheelchair though he hasn't been around lately. The scholarship girl is a rebel. She disobeyed her coach last week, did an unapproved dismount from the uneven bars, fell and cost her club an important win.          

All this is going on while the girls are practicing for nationals. There was a hint in last week's episode of a possible eating disorder -- the girl with the boyfriend and the cheating mom was forced by her father to stand on a scale that is in the middle of the family living room and have said father tell his daughter she had gained 2 pounds in a week. This won't end well, I suspect. Oh, and the coach with the accent? He lives in a dilapidated motor home parked on what looks like the front lawn of the club.

In real gymnastics life, U.S. nationals are approaching (Aug. 12-15) but apparently with no high drama. Defending Olympic all-around gold medalist Nastia Liukin said she is taking things slowly, planning few changes in her well-received uneven-bars routine and looking forward to the next three years and appearing in a second Olympics.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: U.S. all-around gold medalist Nastia Liukin. Credit: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times

Shawn Johnson, LA gal

Olympic gold medal gymnast and "Dancing With The Stars" winner Shawn Johnson is taking advantage of her celebrity-hood after winning that DWTS mirror ball trophy. She has appeared at NASCAR events and tonight she is appearing on Fox Prime's pre-game Dodgers television show before throwing out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium.

She's even making it onto those gossipy "Who's better dressed" polls. Like this one at the MTV Movie Awards. Who would you pick? And have you heard of the other girl? Me neither.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Shawn Johnson. Now available in 25% more peaceful. Actually, she just released a line of leotards. Credit: Elite Sportswear.

More Shawn Johnson and the Dodgers

Besides throwing out the first pitch Monday at the Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium, Olympic gold medal gymnast and newly crowned "Dancing With The Stars" champion Shawn Johnson will also appear on the Fox Sports Prime Dodgers pre-game television show, probably wearing all her Olympic medals but probably not on the arm of her dancing partner Mark Ballas or in a ballroom dance gown. But maybe a Dodger uniform might suit her?

-- Diane Pucin

Shawn Johnson dances her way to Dodger Stadium

Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, winner of a gold medal on the balance beam last summer in Beijing and recently crowned champion on "Dancing With the Stars," will throw out the first pitch at Monday's Dodgers-Diamondbacks game at Dodger Stadium. The game is at 7:10 p.m.

We'll see whether  the Dodgers dress Johnson in a baseball uniform. The 17-year-old got all fitted out in NASCAR gear last week when she made a guest appearance at the Coca-Cola 600.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Shawn Johnson, left, poses with her "Dancing With The Stars" partner Mark Ballas. Credit: Jason DeCrow / Associated Press

UCLA gains major recruit -- in gymnastics

Samantha Peszek, a silver medalist on the 2008 U.S. women's Olympics gymnastics team, has given UCLA a verbal commitment. Peszek is a junior at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis and still plans to compete at the major international level.

While warming up just before the women's team was to begin its first team event in Beijing, Peszek sprained her ankle and was unable to compete. She had been expected to do all four events for the U.S. -- floor exercise, balance beam, uneven bars and vault -- in team qualifying. She was also part of the gold medal-winning U.S. 2007 world championship team. She plans to compete at U.S. nationals this summer in Dallas.

“I’m so excited to be a Bruin,” said Peszek, who is 17. “I visited several schools and UCLA was just a perfect fit for me. I’ve wanted to compete for UCLA and live in L.A. for a while, so it’s a dream come true.”

Two of Peszek's Olympic teammates have lately spent significant time in Los Angeles. Balance beam gold medalist Shawn Johnson is competing on "Dancing With the Stars" and Alicia Sacramone has relocated here while she works on establishing connections in the fashion design world.

-- Diane Pucin

Lawrence Taylor needs to just dance away

Yes, I know "Dancing With the Stars" ("DWTS") is mostly entertainment, but it is also a competition. I mean, there are judges and scoring and stuff. Professional dancers are encouraged to practice six hours a day.

So, first of all, why does "DWTS" have to have an NFL star if the only one they could come up with was Lawrence Taylor? He barely walks through dances. He practices about as hard as I did when forced to take piano lessons from Mrs. Schueneman, who was at least 90, had her piano in a five-story walk-up and who would rap my knuckles if I couldn't play the scales to the tick-tock of the metronome that was on top of her at least 91-year-old piano. In other words, not very hard in hopes my parents would get the message that I hated it.

"DWTS" brought in last year's "DWTS" NFL star, Warren Sapp, who did try hard, who made everyone laugh and who made it into the final three on both his talent and improvement, to try and perk up Taylor. It didn't work. So, people, I hope you voted out Taylor. He'd rather be taking piano lessons, I think.

Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, on the other hand, is taking this so seriously. And guess what? She's improving. That's what the show is about. Seeing "stars" come out of their comfort zone. I'd love to see her win, which probably isn't going to happen since hunky Gilles is both hunky and can dance plus he's hunky.

Again, let me say, if there is justice, Taylor is gone on tonight's results show. Keep rodeo Ty Murray dancing on too. He's really not good, but he wants to be. He tries to be. If he could ride a horse to the waltz or the jive or the pasodoble, he'd kick butt. In fact, maybe that should be one week's competition. Give the pros a rest. Make all the stars ride a horse.

-- Diane Pucin

Handicapping 'Dancing With the Stars'

First of all, you can tell that there must be a lot of NFL fans watching "Dancing With The Stars" and voting, because otherwise Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor would already be gone. Tuesday night, when (very funny) comedian David Alan Grier was eliminated even though he and partner Kym Johnson (who danced with Warren Sapp into the final night last year) had higher judges scores than Taylor, there was an audible gasp from the studio audience. That doesn't usually happen. Even Taylor looked surprised and maybe even a little unhappy he's stuck doing this another week.

On the other hand, the other two athletes on the show, gymnast Shawn Johnson and rodeo cowboy Ty Murray, are continuing along because of either (A) their talent or (B) their earnest desire to make it work. (By the way, please come back soon "Project Runway" and "Make it work" guy Tim Gunn.)

Shawn, not unexpectedly, is an intrepid worker if the weekly rehearsal clips are any indication and her ability to dance "up" as in transforming herself from a perky 17-year-old into a romantic and graceful dance character seems to be charming the judges. Surprisingly her weakest dance was one in which she, at the behest of her partner and choreographer Mark Ballas, incorporated a lot of gymnastics tumbles and wore shorts and a tankish-top. It wasn't dancing, it was floor exercise and the judges weren't pleased.

Shawn's parents, Teri and Doug, seem to get the best seats every week too. You can see them standing and cheering for every contestant. Kind of cool how excited they seem and how much fun they're having. Shawn's got that gymnastics game-face on though. She looks like she did at the Olympics -- ready to win.

But now I've got a soft spot for Murray. Even though he was called "robotic" this week, the cowboy is trying so hard. And that's what Taylor doesn't seem to be doing -- trying very hard.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Former NFL great Lawrence Taylor performs with Edyta Sliwinska on "Dancing with the Stars" on Monday. Credit: Kelsey McNeal / ABC

Alicia Sacramone on life in L.A.

Alicia Sacramone, who became YouTube famous for being the tragic figure of the U.S. women's Olympics gymnastics team -- her missed mount on the balance beam and an out-of-bounds landingon her floor exercise were major mistakes that helped keep the U.S. from winning the team gold medal (it went to China) -- is happily living in downtown Los Angeles now.

She is good friends with UCLA senior gymnast Kristina Comforte, who serves as an undergraduate assistant coach after a series of injuries took her off the mat, and spends time with the UCLA gymnastics team at practice. Sacramone is working for a clothing company called TankFarm. She is into designing T-shirts focused on the college market. She is also planning on going to Tuesday's live results show for "Dancing With the Stars" to support her Olympic teammate, Shawn Johnson, who has stamped herself, along with partner Mark Ballas, as strong contenders for this year's title.

Sacramone said she hasn't decided whether to return next fall to Brown University, where she had completed her freshman year before taking off to prepare for the Olympics. She is interested in pursuing both a career in clothing design and hosting a television talk show, and she said attending UCLA might be a possibility.

She is also looking forward to promoting the 2009 Visa U.S. National gymnastics championships in Dallas in August. Olympic all-around gold medalist Nastia Liukin is expected to compete, hoping to qualify for individual world championships in London. Sacramone said she has been hearing positive things about two young Los Angeles gymnasts, Mattie Larson and Samantha Shapiro, who both train at All Olympia Gymnastics Center. Both gymnasts did well at a recent meet in Montreal.

-- Diane Pucin