Sports Calendar

September 1

National Football League season opening

The Dallas Cowboys are the defending Super Bowl champions, but the wheels may already be coming off the wagon. Player departures, injuries, and various distractions (including Deion Sanders' attempt to play three positions) could prevent a repeat performance. Neil O'Donnell, who quarterbacked Pittsburgh against Dallas on Super Sunday, became a free agent and signed with the New York Jets. The Cleveland Browns are no more, having relocated to Baltimore and changed colors and their name, to Ravens. And in Miami, Jimmy Johnson has taken the coaching reins from Don Shula, who retired.

September 8

US Open tennis finals

The tournament, begun this past Monday in New York, concludes with women's and men's title matches being played, for the first time, on the same day.

September 9

Solidarity Meeting for Sarajevo '96 (track and field)

Two days after the track and field community wraps up its season-long points race at the Mobil Grand Prix Final in Milan, Italy, many competitors will board a chartered flight to Sarajevo for this specially arranged meet. Double Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson is expected to run the 400 meters.

September 13-15

Presidents Cup (men's team golf)

Former President George Bush serves as honorary chairman at this biennial competition, begun in 1994, which pits the world's top non-European players against a 12-member American squad. The Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Lake Manassas, Va., is the venue. (Europeans play Americans in the Ryder Cup.)

September 20-22

Solheim Cup (women's team golf)

The home team has won this transatlantic competition all three times. Thus, if form holds, the European pros should beat the Americans when they tee it up in St. Pierre, Wales.

September 21

Florida vs. Tennessee (college football)

For Tennessee, a preseaon No. 1 pick, this is an opportunity to make amends for last fall's 62-37 loss to the Gators, which ruined an otherwise perfect campaign. Quarterback Danny Wuerffel guides Florida, while Peyton Manning, the son of former University of Mississippi star Archie Manning, directs the Vols.

September 29

Baseball regular season ends

At the top of the home stretch, the Atlanta Braves own the best record in the majors. The tightest division races are shaping up in the National League Central (Houston, St. Louis, et.al) and West (San Diego, Los Angeles, and Colorado).