Summer is just about over. That usually means Major League Baseball fans are feverishly checking the standings as the playoff races tighten up in the last weeks of the season. But this year, virtually every division title and wild card slot have been sewn up. Could an unexciting September lead to a dramatic October? Robert Siegel talks to sportswriter Stefan Fatsis.

Australian Owen Wright won the first pro-surfing competition held in New York. Wright beat out Kelly Slater, a ten-time world champion surfer, for the $300,000 prize.

Not only is the Green Bay Packers' Randall Cobb notable for his year of birth (1990), he's now in the record books as well for his touchdown run.

Melissa Block talks with NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman about the start of the professional football season. The first regular season game is taking place Thursday night — the New Orleans Saints are in Green Bay to take on the Packers. It's a matchup of the previous two Super Bowl champions.

Russia is grieving along with ice hockey fans and players around the world. A private jet carrying one of the country's top teams crashed Wednesday, killing 43 people — most of the team's players and coaching staff.

The NFL regular season kicks off Thursday night with the New Orleans Saints traveling to Green Bay to take on last year's Super Bowl champions, the Packers.