London 2012: What to watch, Saturday, July 28

Feeling suitably eyeball-fed by the opening ceremonies? No? You say you're just getting started and need you some Olympics?

Great, today's the first full day of competitions and there are 19 different events to catch your eye. Too much? Alright, then, here's a smaller list of the more compelling things to watch:

Rowing. Canada once again has a strong group in this sport, including the men's eights, who'll be pulling together all they can to attempt a decisive heat victory. A good showing here and they can move directly into the finals on August 1st. A failure and it's the dreaded "repechage." Kind of like the mulligan of water sport. Nobody likes that, however, as your may burn way too much energy with an extra race and doom yourself in the final. Day one of the rowing competition is live on CTV, beginning at 3 a.m. ET. Canadians are scheduled to hit the water at around 5am ET.

Cycling, road race style. Two months ago, if I typed the name Ryder Hesjedal here, the average, heck even above average Canadian might have said "who or what is a Ryder Hesjedal?" But, now we know. He's a Canadian super cyclist, winner of the Giro d'Italia. First Canadian to win one of those European grand cycling competitions. He followed it up with a Tour de France appearance, but had to shut it down after being injured in the 6th leg. Of the race, that is. He only has two, of course. The Olympic mens' road race goes at 5 am ET on TSN. Jamie Campbell has the call, and will do it without Blue Jays baseball partner Gregg Zaun beside him. So, likely no wisecracks about goofy looking helmets.

Womens' soccer, Canada vs South Africa. Can the Canadian women rebound after their 2 - 1 opening game loss to Japan? They'd better. They're not in danger of missing the next round, necessarily, but a loss to the 61st-ranked South Africans would see the 7th-ranked Canucks in dire straits. Speaking of Dire Straits, they'd have been an excellent pick to pen and perform the official song of the 2012 Olympics. Christine Sinclair, Captain of the Canadian team, was largely held in check by the Japanese and will be in a bit of a foul mood. Tune in to see if she can actually cause one of her opponents to crumple to the turf with just the intensity of her gaze. Soccer is part of the CTV package that begins at 8 am ET, with the game itself a go about an hour and a half later.

And...

American swimmer Michael Phelps takes his first strokes towards perhaps becoming the most medal-laden Olympian ever. He needs three to do it and will begin his quest in the 400 m individual medley. They should make him wear all 16 of his Olympic medals while he does it, just to make it challenging. 2:30 pm ET, on CTV.

For a look at the Canadian Broadcast Consortium's full schedule, click here.