KICKOFF 2000 EXTENDED!...AT LEAST IN HOUSTON

The NFL’s official Kickoff 2000 Weekend is September 3-4, but two days later, Houston, Texas will be staging its own NFL kickoff -- Lone-Star style. On September 6, the nickname, logo and colors of the Houston team that begins play in the NFL in 2002 will be revealed in front of an expected crowd of 20,000 fans in downtown Houston, with similar ceremonies in San Antonio and Austin. Several city streets will be closed for the celebration, with one boulevard turned into a 100-yard football field with goalposts. "It’s been in the works for months," says ROBERT MC NAIR, the NFL’s newest owner. "We want to do it up right because we can only do it once. When we announce the nickname and unveil the logos and colors, we’ll finally have an identity. We’ll no longer be the Houston Whatchamacallits." And are the Whatchamacallits anxious to begin play? They’ve already announced their five preseason games for ’02: the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game (opponent undetermined), and contests against the Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and -- who else? – the cross-state, and immediate big-time rival, Dallas Cowboys.

ITEM TWO:

JUST IN TIME FOR THE SEASON -- "THE MIRACLE" IMMORTALIZED

It won’t sell in Buffalo. But line up in Nashville! One of the highlights of the 1999 season – the Tennessee Titans’ "Music City Miracle" last-minute touchdown runback that won them a Wild Card game over the Buffalo Bills, and immediately became a classic NFL play and memory – will be revealed by the team as a full-color print available to fans just in time for NFL Kickoff 2000. The Titans commissioned nationally-renowned artist DOUGLAS HESS to create a 1,000-edition print of the 75-yard kickoff return by KEVIN DYSON, along with sequences of the handoff and lateral that led up to the scoring dash. Each print will be personally autographed by Dyson, Titans head coach JEFF FISHER, and FRANK WYCHECK and LORENZO NEAL, the two Titans who set up Dyson’s scamper. The print debuts at an appropriate time. The Titans play the Bills in Buffalo on Kickoff Sunday night (9/3) on ESPN (8:35 PM ET).

ITEM THREE:

TOP HIGH SCHOOLS QBs READY FOR COLLEGE

The college football season began last weekend. Right behind the starters at quarterback is a freshman QB class rated highly by observers. Who’ll be the next DREW BREES or MICHAEL VICK? Following are the rankings by PrepStar magazine of the top 11 high school quarterbacks of last season and the colleges they have entered: BROCK BERLIN, Florida; CASEY CLAUSEN, Tennessee; JEFF SMOKER, Michigan State; CHANCE MOCK, Texas; CRAIG OCHS, Colorado; ZAC WASSERMAN, Penn State; CHRIS RIX, Florida State; ANDREW WALTER, Arizona State; JASON CAMPBELL, Auburn; CARLYLE HOLLIDAY, Notre Dame; and JOHN RATTAY, Arizona.