To know list: 6 more half-price hockey tickets sold this week

[1] September 2005

All times Eastern

SAT 3

Southern California at Hawaii (7 p.m., ESPN2). The Trojans' Pro Bowl-like roster gets a Pro-Bowl-like reward for its back-to-back national titles. Anyway, you can't spell Leinart without lei.

* Notre Dame at Pittsburgh (8 p.m., ABC). The Fighting Irish are hoping the coaching debut of Charlie Weis will help them get revenge against that *#@$% Tyler Palko kid and the Panthers.

SUN 4

Are you ready for some tape-delayed futbol? It's the USA vs. Mexico (2:30 a.m., ESPN2) in a World cup qualifying match Columbus. Will you be awake for some futbol?

MON 5

Miami at Florida State (8 p.m., ABC). The star: Seminoles kicker Gary Cismesia. The sequel: Wide One Way or the Other.

THU 8

Raiders at Patriots (9 p.m., ABC). New season, old results. Sorry, Randy Moss lovers.

FRI 9

The rest of baseball goes back to oblivion as Baseball Tonight kicks off its three-night obsession with Red Sox at Yankees. Just what is the key to the big Aaron Small-Doug Mirabelli matchup?

SAT 10

Texas at Ohio State (8 p.m., ABC). Who's the better athlete, Vince Young or Ted Ginn? Which alumnus is more misguided, Ricky Williams or Maurice Clarett?

* U.S Open tennis, women's final (8 p.m., CBS). Maria, I just bet on a girl named Maria ...

SUN 11

NFL Kickoff Weekend (1 p.m., FOX and CBS). Yes, pro football finally is in full swing, but it's hard to forget this date for other reasons. Here's to you, Pat Tillman.

* U.S. Open tennis, men's final (4 p.m., CBS). Everybody Loves Roger so much that he'll be King of Queens in Two and a Half Sets.

MON 12

Eagles at Falcons (9 p.m., ABC). See Donovan run. See Michael run. See Terrell ... won't we?

THU 15

Survivor: Guatemala (8 p.m., CBS) won't be the first time former Cowboys quarterback Gary Hogeboom has been stranded hopelessly with a bunch of castaway--she ended his career with the Cardinals.

SAT 17

March Madness comes six months early with this triple play on the ESPN channels: Kentucky at Indiana, Connecticut at Georgia Tech and Wisconsin at North Carolina. Wait, these aren't basketball games? Never mind.

SUN 18

Patriots at Panthers (1 p.m., CBS). It looks like a rematch of Super Bowl 38, but it also just might be a prematch of Super Bowl 40.

* How many races does it take to Chase a Championship? The first of 10 is the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire (12:30 p.m., TNT), where the light bulb went on for Kurt Busch last year.

SUN 25

Giants at Chargers (8:30 p.m., ESPN). So much for Eli Manning not playing quarterback in San Diego--now he'll have nothing left in common with Philip Rivers.

MON 26

Angels at As. First place in the A.L. West comes down to this four-game set beginning tonight, with the Oakland A's of Alameda rating a slight edge.

TUE 27

Blue Jackets at Penguins. Sidney Crosby finally makes his preseason debut at the Igloo, otherwise known as the House That Lemieux Is Asking Him to Rebuild.

FRI 30

Opening in theaters everywhere: The Greatest Game Ever Played.

Which reminds me: What do you call a non-Caddyshack movie about golf? A slow-motion picture.

--Vinnie Iyer

[2] DOWN THE STRETCH WE COME

Big names, top teams ... and the N.L. West

Remember these words as you try to survive baseball's September stretch (see story beginning on page 20):

Randy Johnson will meet Curt Schilling. Two Yankees-Red Sox series remain on the schedule, including one on the season's final weekend. Let's just hope when the aging aces finally face off, they leave behind their rocking chairs and pitch like it's, oh, 2004.

Jonny Gomes will become a household name. Well, in Boston and New York, anyway. In a season sure to be remembered for its rookie class--see Jeff Francoeur, Zach Duke and Huston Street, among others--Gomes has been overlooked. (What do you expect? He plays for the Devil Rays.) But watch the young outfielder impact the A.L. East race--the Rays have 13 games left against the Red Sox and Yankees.

Someone will score on the Marlins' young aces. Really. Dontrelle Willis, Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett put up nothing but zeros last week, and the Marlins won three consecutive shutouts. How well the trio holds up may decide who wins the N.L. wild card.

Vlad Guerrero will hit a home run on a pitch 3 feet wide. The way teams have been pitching around the Angels' slugger, that may be his only chance.

Someone will win the N.L. West. It's in the rules.--Stan McNeal

[3] COLLEGE BASKETBALL'S POSTSEASON

It's status quo for now

One sure result from the NCAA's purchase last week of the National Invitation Tournament: Never again will you hear out-of-town NIT scores announced while attending the NCAA Tournament. NCAA president Myles Brand has figured out it isn't smart to play secondary tournament games on the same nights as the main event.

Otherwise, fans shouldn't notice an immediate difference in the college basketball postseason. The new NIT is kind of a blank page. Aside from maintaining a five-year agreement to keep the preseason and postseason NIT championship games at New York's Madison Square Garden and continuing a TV contract with ESPN, the NCAA has not determined how it will run these events.