Nielsen Weekly Sports Ranking

READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL: The season premiere of "Monday Night Football" on ABC led the ratings period of Sept. 8-14 for sports programming. ABC's 13.0/22 was up 1.6 percent from last year's season-opener (Pittsburgh vs. New England), which scored a 12.8/23. The 2001 opener (N.Y. Giants vs. Denver) posted a 13.2/23.

NFL ON CABLE: ESPN's second Sunday night telecast of the season (Chicago vs. Minnesota) led the week's cable sports programs, but slipped 2.2 percent from the 8.9/15 cable rating for the Week 1 game (Oakland vs. Tennessee). The Week 2 rating also is down 2.2 percent from last year's Week 2 rating, a 8.9/14 for Oakland vs. Pittsburgh.

QUIET IN LOUDON: The 3.0/8 national rating (3.7 cable rating) for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Sylvania 300 on TNT compares with a 3.7/8 for last year's race, broadcast on NBC. The race was the second of two WCS races this year for New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, N.H. The July 20 New England 300 posted a 4.7/12 cable rating on TNT, ranking it No. 1 for sports cable programs in the July 14-20 period.

Click here for the top 10 network and top 10 cable sports telecasts.