weekend picks

every now and then a weekend pops up in which you can fill each and every hour (from about 7pm on friday, right through to 1/2am on monday) with sport to be viewed. such weekends don't come along that often, although obviously the more sports you follow, the more they seem to pop up. this happy circumstance has a fundamental lesson within it- following one sport is good, but following many sports is better.

taking this spirit of inclusiveness into account, this weekend's picks come from 3 different disciplines, and take us around the world- from sheffield to the baixada santista municipality of brazil, via holland. beautiful.

world snooker championship, from saturday, BBC.

as i near the end of my time as a student, i think that what i'll miss the most is the crucible theatre, where these championships are staged each april/may. sure, i'll be able to watch the highlights in the evenings once i've entered the world of work, but it just won't be the same is flicking that red button at 10.30, and not really doing much else for the next 12 hours. just allowing the calm, hypnotic thrill of watching grown men turn a seemingly mundane activity into the kind of sporting drama to which few others can compare. from john virgo's broad tones, the cringeworthy video packages between frames, and the new thrill of entrance music (!) for the players, the crucible hosts a peculiarly british tradition, and one which i look forward to more than, well, the others. forget lambs in the fields, you know it's spring when the snooker hits your tv screen. this year, as with most years, ronnie o'sullivan is the pre-tournament favourite, provided that he arrives in the right frame of mind. his opening round match against liang wenbo is the pick of the first round draw, but also look for ali carter vs jamie cope (sunday) and mark selby vs ken doherty (saturday) to produce the early headlines. as you may have picked up, i'm pretty excited.

amstel gold race, sunday.

remember those wonderful weekends i was talking about earlier? well, a slight drawback can be scheduling conflicts. the amstel gold race is an which even non-cycling fans can be excited by, and with 31 climbs over 259km, it's not hard to see why. put it this way, it's going to take my attention from the snooker, so you know it's got to be good right?

the lumpy profile usually ensures that by the time we reach the finish at the cauberg, all that remains of the race is an elite selection of riders, and the ensuing ascent always, but always, produces fireworks. the dutch pair of robert gesink and karsten kroon will be looking to win on home soil, having finished 2nd and 3rd last year, but they'll be tracked by damiano cunego (pictured), the schleck brothers, philippe glbert, and joaquin rodriguez, amongst others.

i'm aware that these names probably don't mean that much to you, but trust me, these are seriously aggressive dudes, riding up nastily steep hills, travelling through eye-watering countryside. it's a beautiful race, and one i'd recommend if you fancy getting a flavour of what the sport is about. best viewed in dutch.

santos v sao paulo, paulista A1 semi-final 2nd leg, 8pm sunday, bet365.com

after a pulsating 1st leg, which saw santos take a 3-2 lead, this tie is finely poised ahead of sunday's game in the port city of santos. the winners will be through to the state final, and should have enough to beat whoever they face there (gremio prudente or santo andre play in the 2nd semi-final at 10.30 on sunday night). the brazilian state championship system is a maligned one, but in the strong sao paulo state, the standard is high enough to justify its continued existence, at least in my book. sure, there could be less games (it takes 23 to win the paulista, and then the 38-round national league starts in early may), but this year has seen the emergence of santos, my favourite footballing story of 2010 so far.

best known as pele's team, they are actually a small club who rarely draw over 10,000 fans at home games, which makes their current form all the more extraordinary. you might think that robinho has spearheaded their rise, but in actual fact he's been out injured for much of the time, and their fine youth system has continued to produce promising attacking midfielders and forwards- graduates include elano, diego, and fenerbahce's alex.

the 2010 vintage could well be the best in living memory. neymar is the headline-grabber, an 18 year old with a cool head and deadly movement, this kid is headed straight to the top of the world game. paulo henrique ganso (21) is a more traditional playmaker, and is already blessed with great vision and a deft touch. andre felipe completes the trio, a 20-year old centre-forward who is more than capable of slotting home the chances created for him by robinho and paulo henrique.

these 3 surely won't be together for too much longer- rumours continue to surround neymar, with manchester city apparently holding first refusal over him. but before they head to europe, they'll be looking to claim some honours in their homeland, starting with the paulista championship. catch them if you can.

enjoy.