A few observations as the first weekend of football season closes and the major league pennant chases heat up:

• One of the more intriguing stories this baseball season has to be the realistic chance someone in the National League will win the Triple Crown.

The last time a player led either league in batting average, home runs and RBIs was Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

But this year, Cincinnati's Joey Votto, St. Louis' Albert Pujols and Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez (increasingly known by the snappy nickname CarGo) are within the top five league leaders in those three categories.

Ryan Howard's ankle injury is what opened the door, because he almost certainly would've won the RBI title if he hadn't gotten hurt. And with one of his typical monster Septembers, Howard still could catch RBI leader Votto, but it'll be awfully tough.

Votto, by the way, would be my pick right now for NL Most Valuable Player.

• I completed my fantasy football draft Thursday, having decided in advance I was going to employ a different strategy. It's usually recommended that you go for running backs early, but after my top two picks last year — Michael Turner and Brandon Jacobs — were major disappointments (Turner got hurt and Jacobs just stank), it was time to try something new.

So with the sixth choice overall, I opted for Houston wide receiver Andre Johnson, considered by most fantasy sites to be the top wideout available. And in the second round, I went for Arizona wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. I realize that was something of a risk, because he'll have journeyman quarterback Derek Anderson throwing to him instead of Kurt Warner. However, I can't imagine the Cardinals won't figure out some way to get the ball into the hands of a game-changer like Fitzgerald.

• Looking at Penn State's schedule, I'm predicting the Nittany Lions will finish 8-4, with home wins over Youngstown State, Kent State, Temple, Illinois, Michigan, Northwestern and Michigan State and a road victory over Indiana. The losses will come against No. 1 Alabama (I worry that this game won't even be competitive), Iowa (whom PSU never beats, no matter how good the Hawkeyes are), Ohio State and Minnesota on the road.

A ninth win, against Minnesota, isn't out of the question. Of course, neither is a home loss to Temple — which was invited to a bowl game last season for the first time since Jimmy Carter was president — so I'm sticking with 8-4.

• On the other hand, as I examine the Eagles' schedule, I have no idea what's going to transpire.

As much as it pains me to say, I expect the Birds will lose both games to the Cowboys, but beyond that I really don't have a clue what kind of season it'll be.

If they then split with the Giants and Redskins, that gives them a 2-4 divisional record starting out. What makes it so tough to extrapolate beyond that is that they play some very good teams at home (Packers, Colts and Vikings) and some mediocre ones (Lions and Jaguars) on the road.

If they defeat the bad and middling teams on the road and steal a few wins against the top teams at home, they could finish 9-7 and maybe — just maybe — 10-6, which would put them in the hunt for playoff spot.

Regardless, I promise to be patient with new QB Kevin Kolb and not scream and holler for the return of Donovan McNabb. Maybe Kolb isn't the long-term answer, but it'll take much more than a few games till we know that.

Paula Wolf, a sports enthusiast who uses a wheelchair because of rheumatoid arthritis, is a staff writer for the Sunday News. E-mail her at pwolf@lnpnews.com.