The past couple of weekends have been kind of relaxing.

The football teams at Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Miss have all had byes, while Alcorn State has played a couple of Thursday and Friday games. High school football always keeps us busy on Friday night, but it’s nice to have a more laid back Saturday with a reduced schedule.

This weekend is shaping up to be the exact opposite. It’s looking like a sports fan’s dream and a sports writer’s nightmare.

There are nearly a dozen events on the schedule for Friday and Saturday, in a number of sports. It’s a sports smorgasbord. A buffet of balls. A cornucopia of competition.

Once we clear through the Friday night football schedule — Vicksburg High and Warren Central are both at home — the real fun begins bright and early Saturday with the 29th annual Over the River Run.

The OTRR, for short, is a fun 5-mile run and race walk across the Old Mississippi River Bridge beginning at 8 a.m. Even if you’re not the competitive sort, you can register and walk it. It’s always fun to brag about how you walked to Louisiana and back that morning.

At noon at the Vicksburg Country Club, the inaugural Red Carpet Bowl golf tournament will begin. The two-day tournament has the potential for some serious play. First prize to the winning three-man team is $1,000, which should attract some truly skilled golfers. The event continues Sunday at 10:30 a.m.

At 1:30 p.m., Warren Central’s slow-pitch softball team hosts Harrison Central in the third round of the MHSAA Class III playoffs. The winner advances to the semifinals, and this is as deep in the playoffs as the team has been since 2000.

So if you have a hankering for slow-pitch softball, support the Lady Vikes. If not, there’s plenty of college football to watch at home. Mississippi State plays at home against BYU at 11 a.m. Alcorn State has its homecoming game against Prairie View at 2 p.m., while Ole Miss kicks off against Vanderbilt in Oxford a half-hour after that. LSU and Auburn also start their game at 2:30 in Baton Rouge.

Southern Miss doesn’t kick off until 6 p.m. in Hattiesburg against UTEP for its homecoming. That might be the worst time slot of the season for Warren County’s Golden Eagle fans. There’s a good chance they’ll be worn out and ready for a nap when kickoff rolls around.

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Ernest Bowker is a sports writer for The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com