To know list: 5 weeks till spring training!

(1) November 2004 All times Eastern

TUE 2

Nuggets at Lakers (10:30 p.m., TNT). The NBA season opens with Day 1 of the collapse of Kobe's Lakers. Don't expect Shaq to be shedding a tear in Miami if Carmelo Anthony outplays Kobe.

THU 4

It's the first day of the BDO Curling Classic--one of the Grand Slam of Curling events (but you knew that already) in Hamilton, Ontario. Something has to be happening on the ice in Canada, so break out those brooms and teapots.

SUN 7

Why watch the New York City Marathon (3 p.m., NBC)? It's inspirational to see these abnormally skinny people trek across bridges and up avenues. It makes you want to lace up the sneakers and hit the road. For about a day.

MON 8

Gary Bettman can't padlock the Hockey Hall of Fame. Today Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey and Larry Murphy get Inducted. If any speech contains the words cost certainty or free marketplace, the jackets get taken away.

Vikings at Colts (9 p.m., ABC). Peyton Manning and Daunte Culpepper--now this is a football game. Enough of the running up the middle for short gains. No one wants to see that.

SAT 13

Georgia at Auburn. Our 2004 preseason No. 1 vs. our 2003 preseason No. 1--that Auburn pick was just a little ahead of its time. This is a possible preview of the SEC championship game, and both teams still could be in the BCS picture.

Miami at Virginia. Check your listings, because if the BCS rankings say the Hurricanes still are in line for an Orange Bowl bid, everything could come crashing down on them in this one.

SUN 14

MLS Cup (3:30 p.m., ABC). Turn off American football this afternoon for some of the rest of the world's football. Terrell Owens has nothing on these post-score celebrations.

TUE 16

Brains at Canadiens. Don't miss this one, as the intensity is always high in this ... oh, wait, never mind.

SAT 20 OK, so Ohio State pretty much stinks this year, but that hardly will matter when Michigan visits the Buckeyes (1 p.m., ABC). Also today: Wisconsin at Iowa, with the Big Ten title--and more--potentially at stake.

SUN 21

Grey Cup. The CFL plays its Super Bowl in Ottawa, with a whole bunch of traditions--like riding a horse into a hotel lobby--and no known federal fines for baring breasts at halftime.

Ford 400 (12:30 p.m., NBC) at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup finally will be decided, meaning all drivers can swear without penalty from now until the first race of next season.

MON 22

Tired of Days of Our Lives yet determined to keep lounging around? Put on some early-season college basketball. North Carolina, Texas, Stanford and Louisville are among the teams at the Maui Invitational, where the first of three days of games brings us an ESPN2 quadrupleheader beginning at 2:30 p.m.

Thu 25

Colts at Lions (12:30, CBS) and Bears at Cowboys (4 p.m., FOX). What's more American than a Manning boy on Thanksgiving and a little Tuna for dessert? It's good, but not nearly as good without John Madden and the many-legged turkey.

FRI 26

Heat at Pistons (8 p.m., ESPN). With Shaq playing for Miami, has the balance of power shifted in the East? Far more important, what will Ben Wallace do with his hair?

TUE 30

Michigan State at Duke (9 p.m., ESPN) in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. It's not March Madness, but the Cameron Crazies won't know the difference.--Kara Yorio

(2) TSN TOP 50

Heroes of the hardwood

The Magic probably did the right thing in keeping its No. 1 draft pick this year--eight of the past 12 top overall picks rank among this year's TSN Top 50 NBA players (see page 20). In all, 34 of the 50 were lottery picks. Ten were selected later in the first round, four were second-rounders, and two---Ben Wallace and Brad Miller--were undrafted.

Meanwhile, the notion that Duke alums don't make good pros should be laid to rest--three former Blue Devils made the list, tied with Arizona for top college. And it's clear why the league has turned to high schoolers and international players:

Players in TSN Top 50

ACC              9
High school      7
International    6
Big Ten          6
Big East         5
Pac 10           5
SEC              3
Others           9

(3) COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Seven weeks of good luck

Worried your favorite one-loss team is hopelessly out of the BCS title hunt? Maybe it's not as bad as you fear. Remember that scary-good team from Baton Rouge last season? Yeah, well, LSU was ranked 12th when the first BCS poll came out.

It didn't take anything extraordinary for the Tigers to rise to No. 2 by the end of the regular season; a few timely losses by other contenders--and some computers that favored the Tigers over Southern California--did the trick.

Might there be a similar occurrence this season? One-loss teams including Florida State---No. 5 in this year's first BCS poll---California (8), Tennessee (9) and Georgia (10) hope so. In sports, crazier things happen every day.--Steve Greenberg