There was a time when July 4 was ruled by the three Bs -- barbecues, beach and baseball.

One of my fondest July 4 memories as a kid was sitting on the beach in Carpenteria, eating grilled hot dogs and listening as the Angels swept a doubleheader from the Washington Senators and the Dodgers won a pair from the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.

Those victories left both the Dodgers and Angels in first place on July 4, 1962 -- the Dodgers at 56-29, a half-game ahead of the Giants, and the Angels at 45-34, a half-game ahead of the Yankees and Indians.

While you can still barbecue, go to the beach and watch or listen to baseball on this Fourth of July weekend, the TV menu is much more of a smorgasbord than a weenie roast.

On the baseball front, Southern California fans have access to the Dodgers-Giants, Blue Jays-Angels and Padres-Diamondbacks games on Friday and all weekend. And today's Cubs-Cardinals game is on WGN.

Saturday's national game on Fox has the Red Sox facing the Yankees.

Before Sunday's Cubs-Cardinals game, TBS has the "All-Star Game Selection Show" at 11 a.m. Also on Sunday, WGN has the Athletics visiting the White Sox, while the Red Sox and Yankees clash again in ESPN's night game.

Baseball, however, is only a small part one of the busiest and most diverse sports weekends of the year.

- Olympic trials: What could be better for a star-spangled weekend than U.S. Olympic trials in swimming and track and field?

At 8 p.m. Friday, NBC has the men's 200-meter backstroke final, men's 200 individual medley final and women's 100 freestyle final from the swimming trials in Omaha, Neb. At 11 p.m., the USA Network will show the men's 1,500-meter semifinal, women's 5,000 final and men's 10,000 final from the track and field trials at Eugene, Ore.

On Saturday, the 8 p.m. swimming trials on NBC include the finals of the men's 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle and the women's 200 backstroke and 800 freestyle. The 2 p.m. track trials will include the semifinals of the men's and women's 200 and the final of the men's 3,000 steeplechase.

NBC will roll the swimming and track into one show Sunday at 7 p.m., showing the finals of the women's 50 freestyle and men's 1,500 freestyle in swimming and the men's and women's 200 and 1,500 finals in track.

- Beach volleyball: NBC has the men's final of the AVP Crocs Tour Slam Boulder at noon Saturday, with the women's final at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. The four-event Crocs Tour is used to decide the U.S. two-person beach teams for the Olympics.

The broadcast will feature NBC's No. 1 announcing team of former San Diego State basketball/volleyball stars Chris Marlowe and Mike Dodd, as well as Karch Kiraly and Heather Cox.

- Softball: In keeping with the Olympic theme, ESPN has a pair of games featuring Team USA on its 62-game tour leading up to its departure for Beijing. Team USA faces Canada at 4:30 p.m. Friday and Virginia Tech at 9 a.m. Saturday.

- Motorsports: ESPN2 has live coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series' 250-mile race from Daytona, Fla., at 4 p.m. Friday. On Saturday at 5 p.m., TNT will show the NASCAR Sprint Cup Daytona 400. There are a pair of big races Sunday, with the IRL Watkins Glen Grand Prix at 12:30 p.m. on ABC and the Formula One British Grand Prix at 10 a.m. on Fox.

- Tennis: It's an all-American women's final Saturday at Wimbledon, with sisters Venus and Serena Williams playing each other in the title match of a Grand Slam event for the first time since 2003. NBC, which begins its coverage at 6 a.m., is looking for huge ratings.

The men's final is at 6 a.m. Sunday on NBC. Rafael Nadal meets Rainer Schuettler in one men's semifinal today at 4 a.m. on ESPN, while Roger Federer plays Marat Safin at 9 a.m. on NBC in the other semi.

- NFL: The NFL Network's July 4 weekend is filled with top-10 lists like "Top 10 Power Backs," "Top 10 Draft Steals" and "Top 10 Bad Weather Games." Shows start at 3 a.m. and run through 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

- Arena football: ESPN has three divisional playoff games this weekend, at noon and 4 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. ESPN2 will broadcast a game at 5 p.m. Monday.

- Golf: It's the usual array of weekend events, with coverage of the European PGA Tour and Champions Tour on The Golf Channel and the LPGA and PGA tours on CBS. The LPGA's NW Arkansas Championship has 26 of the tour's top-30 players entered, while the PGA's AT&T National has most of the top players -- but not tournament host Tiger Woods. The Golf Channel will show the AT&T National on Friday.

- Cycling: The Tour de France begins Saturday. Versus has live daily coverage at 5:30 a.m., with repeats most days at 7:30 a.m. as well as 1, 5 and 9 p.m. The race runs through July 27.

- WNBA: ABC will show Sunday's Washington Mystics-San Antonio Silver Stars game at 10 a.m.

- Hot dog eating: Live at 9 a.m. Friday, ESPN has the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest from New York's Coney Island. For the first time, the event will be carried in HD, so you can get every water-soaked chokedown much more clearly.

This year's event figures to be a battle between world-record holder Joey Chestnut (66 hot dogs in 12 minutes in 2007), who dethroned six-time champion Takeru Kobayashi last year. If you miss the live telecast, there is a repeat at 1 p.m.

Welcome back

Harold Reynolds has been out of the national TV spotlight for two years, losing his job at ESPN after being charged with sexual harassment. Reynolds later settled a $5 million wrongful termination suit against ESPN.

This week, Reynolds returned to the national stage, as TBS announced that he'd be added to its studio team.

Reynolds said he "stood on principle and never wavered. I'm moving on, and a lot of doors are opening."

He makes his TBS debut Sunday on the "All-Star Game Selection Show." He will also work some of TBS' regular-season Sunday games.

TBS also added Dennis Eckersley to its studio lineup.

Ratings game

- The six games of the NBA finals on ABC were the six highest-rated and most-watched TV programs in June. The Lakers' Game 5 win over the Celtics led the way with a 10.2 rating and was watched by 17.4 million. Boston's title-clinching victory in Game 6 was second (10.7 rating, 16.9 million), followed by Game 3 (9.2, 14.5), Game 4 (8.7, 13.8), Game 2 (8.5, 13.5) and Game 1 (8.7, 13.4).

- The Belmont Stakes on ABC was seventh in June with an 8.2 rating. The final round of golf's U.S. Open on NBC (7.5) was ninth.

- Ratings for Wimbledon on ESPN2 are up 24 percent. ESPN2 was averaging 510,000 homes through Monday, so the numbers don't reflect one of Thursday's ladies semifinals and Friday's men's semifinals.

Local notes

- Escondido resident John Hernandez will host "Inside Racing" the next two weekends on KLAC (570 AM), sitting in for regular host Jason Levin, who is on vacation. The show airs from 8-9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

- XTRA Sports 1360 will add "Thoroughbred Los Angeles" to its weekend morning lineup from 9-10. The show is hosted by Carlsbad resident and Daily Racing Form national correspondent Jay Privman on Saturday and Santa Anita publicist Mike Williams on Sunday. Former Vista High basketball standout Bob Ike and Carlsbad resident Jon Lindo join the show as handicappers.

Around the dial

- The first installment of "Baseball's Golden Age," a 13-week Sunday series, starts at 8 p.m. this week on Fox Sports Net. Each 30-minute show features highlights from color movies from 1920-60 with interviews from players, broadcasters and club executives. Many of the highlights were borrowed from fans and have never been seen on TV before.

- With the Olympics just around the corner, HBO is replaying some of its most popular and compelling Olympic documentaries. On Tuesday at 7 p.m., it's "Fists of Freedom: The Story of the '68 Summer Games." The 1999 Peabody Award-winning show revisits the controversial actions of U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos and their black-gloved salute on the medal stand at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

- HBO will replay the June 28 lightweight title bout between David Diaz and Manny Pacquiao at 10 p.m. Saturday.

John Maffei's TV/Radio Column appears every Friday. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.