Sports Bars Will be Crowded on Saturday Night with Pacquiao-Marquez, UFC, and Stanford-Oregon

While Manny Pacquiao prepares for Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas in a welterweight boxing title fight on Saturday night on pay-per-view, UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and top contender Junior dos Santos will meet at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. and air on FOX.

That same evening, No. 3 Stanford host No. 6 Oregon in a Pac-12 showdown that had BCS title implications, on ABC.

In other words, sports fans will need to make sure they have their priorities set for Saturday night. There will be a lot of action, and sports bars throughout the nation will be packed.

The Pacquiao-Marquez fight is scheduled for 9 PM EST, but what time the opening bell actually rings is any one's guess. The national anthems of the Philippines and Mexico will be sung, and the boxers' entrances might be elaborate and time consuming, as others fights have been over the years.

Pacquiao is a hero in the Philippines, and Mexican fans have gravitated to Marquez and his brother Rafael over the years, so the bout will be quite an event in those countries, as well as in the U.S. This is the rubber bout between the two elite pound-for-pound stars as the last two fights were pulsating battles that ended without a convincing winner.

According to bodog.com, Pacquiao is favored 9-1.

The Velasquez-dos Santos fight, on the other hand, will certainly be on from 9PM to 10 PM, as UFC President Dana White runs an efficient MMA organization that rarely goes off without a problem. FOX is anticipating a large audience for the event, and have advertised during NFL games.

The line for the fight has shifted in recent days, with Cain (9-0) favored over dos Santos (13-1) at -155, and dos Santos at +125.

Stanford (9-0) and Oregon (8-1) kick off at 8PM EST, so from 9-10PM, the game should still be in the first half. However, the Cardinal and the Ducks will likely play an exciting game as both have high-octane offenses. Stanford is led by quarterback and Heisman Trophy favorite Andrew Luck, and Oregon has perhaps the fastest offense in the nation.

Stanford already played an epic game this season when they recently defeated USC in triple overtime in Los Angeles, and haven't lost a game since Oct. 2, 2010, when Oregon beat them in Eugene, 52-31. Oregon went into the season with the goal of winning the National Championship, but were defeated in the first game of the season by the current top-ranked team, LSU. The Ducks have run up the score against their opponents since then with an eight-game winning streak.

The Cardinal are favored by three points.

Saturday will be great for sports fans with low attention spans.

For all others, the DVR and Tivo will be in full effect.