When too much sport is never enough.

The second weekend in July represents all that is great about being a sports fanatic in Australia. While the results so far may not have given us all the warm fuzzy feeling we desire going into a working week, many of us will still be rubbing the sleep from our eyes on Tuesday afternoon thanks to the sheer volume of elite sport that has graced our stadiums and TV sets this weekend.

As usual the NRL and AFL have provided many opportunities over the weekend for the purists of each code to obtain their weekly fix.

A Suncorp stadium double header on Friday night continued a poor week for Queensland league fans with both the Bronco’s and Titans cleaned up by NSW infiltrators. The hapless Roosters run of outs continued with a devastating 90 mtr try by the Warriors condemning the Roosters to their 13th loss and cementing their wooden spoon position on the NRL table.

In the AFL, competition front runners St Kilda and Geelong continued on their winning ways. Reining premier Hawthorn raised the hopes of their supporters ending Collingwood’s seven game winning streak and in the battle for the “Caretaker Cup” Richmond and North Melbourne made Nathan Buckley’s future even more cloudy by fighting out the first draw of the AFL season.

But even with all of this football action gracing our TV screens this weekend true sports nuts could be forgiven for having seen very little of it.

For nearly two weeks now the “Tour de France” had wound its way through the French countryside delighting cycling fans. The coverage as usual has provided a visual smorgasbord for viewers, blurring the lines between sporting coverage and a four hour long travel infomercial.

As wonderful as “Le Tour” is to watch, many sports nuts have had to pass on the 2009 version as it clashes with cricket’s greatest rivalry “The Ashes”. As Ricky Ponting leads his team mates into battle against the oldest of enemies, SBS has also had to battle fans as the free to air rights holder for both of these classic events. The cricket won out with the cycling being shunted to the SBS2 channel available only to the chosen few digital consumers.

To make matters worse (or better) for sports fans, this weekend has also been home to arguably golf’s biggest challenge, the British Open. Accepting that “The Masters” is the Wimbledon of the golfing calendar, the “Open” on a links course provides a unique challenge for the biggest names in the sport as well as essential viewing for sports fans.

So, from Friday night sports fans have had the difficult choice between two football codes, the world best cycling tour, the worlds number one cricket contest and world golfs biggest challenge, an impossible choice for any sports freak.

For those who survived their “Friday Night Fight”, Saturday brought no relief for the sleep deprived. Once again sports fans were faced with version II of the Friday night viewing line up with a twist. As difficult as the Friday night decisions were for sports fans the addition of a Bledisloe Cup Rugby Test on Saturday night was enough to send even the most level headed sporties into mental meltdown.

So bring on Sunday and just when we thought the Aussies painful Lords performance and Cadel Evans unfortunate situation in the Tour would provide much needed relief for the seriously sleep deprived, Tasmanian golfer Matt Goggin has condemned Aussie sports fans to another late night. With one round remaining Goggin is a serious contender to become Australia’s latest major winner by positioning himself only one shot from the lead.

So the July sports smorgasbord is complete with side servings of champions trophy hockey, Usain Bolts 9.79s Golden League 100mtr performance and weekend horse racing. Now as a new working week dawns Aussie sports nuts will have to break out the strong coffee and look forward to the relaxation that only a job can provide.