Prosser theater will host Fiesta Bowl party

YAKIMA, Wash. — The Princess Theatre in Prosser will be showing the Fiesta Bowl on its movie screen on Jan. 4.

Boise State (13-0), led by former Prosser High quarterback Kellen Moore, will take on the 12-0 TCU Horned Frogs in the first meeting of unbeaten teams in a non-BCS championship game under the current system.

Doors at the Princess will open at 4:15 p.m. and the game begins at 5 p.m. Admission is free. Pizza and concessions will be available.

The Valley Theater Company, the non-profit group that manages the facility will accept donations to help offset operating costs.

Packers embarrass Seahawks

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — As the Green Bay Packers piled up points on the hapless Seattle Seahawks, Aaron Rodgers had more than a passing interest in the out-of-town scoreboard.

With a blowout victory over the Seahawks secure, the Packers needed the Carolina Panthers to beat the New York Giants to clinch a playoff berth with a week left in the season.

What was Rodgers thinking?

“Hang on, boys,” Rodgers said. “Hang on.”

Carolina did, routing New York and sending the Packers to the postseason.

For Green Bay (10-5), Sunday’s 48-10 victory completed an impressive rebound from last year’s 6-10 finish and a disappointing 4-4 start to this season.

Several Packers players, including Charles Woodson and Greg Jennings, acknowledged fans during a lap around Lambeau Field after the game.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy got the obligatory sports drink bath from players as the clock was running out, but reminded everyone afterward that his team must improve to have a chance to advance in postseason play.

“Let’s be honest: We still have work ahead of us,” McCarthy said.

Green Bay’s defense certainly was working Sunday, forcing four interceptions by Matt Hasselbeck.

It was Hasselbeck’s second straight four-interception game in what is shaping up as a miserable season for the Seahawks (5-10). Hasselbeck also was picked off four times in a loss to Tampa Bay last week.

“Two weeks in a row personally just giving the ball to them,” Hasselbeck said. “Like I said, I’m searching for answers. I wish I had a good one.”

Seahawks coach Jim Mora Jr. said the thought of taking Hasselbeck out of the game crossed his mind, but he stuck with the veteran — for now, anyway.

“We’re trying to fix this thing,” Mora said. “We always put the guys out there that give us the best chance to win and have a successful down. Matt’s our quarterback and we’re going to keep him in there.”

With Seattle already trailing 24-3 at halftime, Hasselbeck threw his third interception on the first possession of the second half. Aaron Rodgers then converted a third-down pass to tight end Jermichael Finley, setting up Brandon Jackson’s 6-yard touchdown run to give Green Bay a 31-3 lead.

Hasselbeck threw yet another interception on the Seahawks’ next possession, and Rodgers completed another long pass to Finley to drive for a 4-yard touchdown run by Jackson — the third score of the game by the Packers’ backup running back, who caught a 13-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

That was the end of the day for Rodgers, who was lifted in favor of backup Matt Flynn after completing 12 of 23 passes for 237 yards and a touchdown.

“We realize this is just the beginning for us,” Rodgers said.

And Rodgers got in the last word in a weeklong feud with Seattle defender Darryl Tapp.

Earlier in the week, Rodgers said Tapp bit him during last year’s game against Seattle; Tapp denied it, saying it was impossible to bite another player while wearing a helmet and facemask.

Rodgers said Sunday that he regretted bringing the issue up in public and tried to talk to Tapp about it during the game — but didn’t get much of a response.

“I made it a point to talk to him during one of the TV timeouts just to make sure everything’s OK,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers, however, didn’t back off his story.

Tapp continued to insist afterward that video of the incident shows he didn’t bite Rodgers.

Meanwhile, Tapp acknowledged that the Packers’ offense left Seahawks defensive players scratching their heads.

“They’re an explosive team,” Tapp said. “They’re on the playoff track for a reason. We need to get back to Seattle and watch film of what happened and try to find some corrections. I honestly can’t even give you an explanation right now.”

While Rodgers and the passing game generally define the Packers’ offense, Green Bay turned to the running game for most of its points Sunday.

In addition to Jackson’s three scores, Ryan Grant added a pair of touchdown runs — including a 56-yarder in the second quarter — and Ahman Green scored in the fourth quarter.

“I don’t think you could ask for a better day,” Grant said.

Woodson certainly felt that way — that’s why he was one of the players leading the postgame victory lap.

“It was fan appreciation day,” Woodson said. “You didn’t know that?”

Notes: Struggling kicker Mason Crosby hit a 29-yard field goal just before halftime, then added a 52-yarder in the fourth quarter. … Mora said RB Julius Jones aggravated a rib injury and hurt his ankle and CB Josh Wilson had a hip pointer. … McCarthy said S Derrick Martin injured his ankle.

Florida’s Meyer changes mind, unresigns

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Florida coach Urban Meyer changed his mind Sunday and said he was taking an indefinite leave of absence instead of resigning. Despite ongoing concerns with his health, he expects to be on the sideline leading the Gators when next season opens.

“I do in my gut believe that will happen,” Meyer said at a Sugar Bowl news conference.

Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio will run the team during Meyer’s absence, but Meyer will be the coach against No. 4 Cincinnati on New Year’s Day.

“It’s full speed ahead. We’re going to do everything possible to win this game,” he said.

Less than 24 hours earlier Meyer stunned all of college football, saying he was resigning due to health concerns, leaving the school after five seasons and two national titles.

But that was not to be the final decision, after all.

Earlier in the week university president Bernie Machen offered and encouraged Meyer to take a leave of absence instead of just leaving. After conferring with his wife and three children and athletic director Jeremy Foley, Meyer pulled back and said he was accepting that offer instead “to improve my health.”

The 45-year-old Meyer said being with his players at a “spirited practice” Sunday morning persuaded him not to resign.

“To not try would not be the right thing to do,” he said.

Still, his health concerns remain.

After the Southeastern Conference championship game three weeks ago, Meyer spent several hours in a Gainesville, Fla., hospital because of chest pains.

Meyer said he had experienced similar problems at times this season but had not had a heart attack. However, he would not elaborate on his physical condition. Asked if doctors advised him to stop coaching, Meyer again declined to answer.

Foley said when he went to bed Saturday night he did not think there was any chance Meyer would change his mind.

“It was a long night for everybody in Gator nation,” Foley said. “The intent here is to make sure Urban goes and deals with the issues we discussed last night.”

Gators quarterback Tim Tebow said he and several of his teammates cried when they found out that Meyer was stepping down and were elated when he told them he changed his mind.

“We want him to do what’s best for him,” Tebow said. “We want him to get himself right, and when he’s right then come back to coaching, then get back into ball.”

Tebow will be playing his last game in the Sugar Bowl against an unbeaten Cincinnati team that will be led by an interim coach. Brian Kelly left the Bearcats earlier this month to take over at Notre Dame.

Meyer is 56-10 with Florida, including 32-8 in the SEC and a school-record 22-game winning streak that was snapped by the Crimson Tide in the conference title game on Dec. 5.

Last month, Sports Illustrated chronicled Meyer’s coaching career and reported that he suffered from persistent headaches caused by a cyst that becomes inflamed by stress, rage and excitement.

Meyer told the magazine that since the diagnosis in the early 2000s he has tried to stay composed during games.

A tireless recruiter and creative motivator, Meyer came to Florida from Utah in fall 2004 amid speculation he would end up at Notre Dame.

Meyer brought most of his staff with him — some of whom worked with him at Bowling Green (2001-02) and Utah (2003-04). Together, they restored the program to national prominence two years later with the school’s second national championship.

The Gators upset Ohio State 41-14 in Glendale, Ariz.; they won another one last January by beating Oklahoma 24-14 in Miami.

With just about his entire team returning this fall, Meyer spent all season coaching under intense pressure and sky-high expectations. He said he welcomed it all as the defending national champions tried to become just the second team in the last 14 years to repeat.

But the season was far from smooth. Florida dealt with distraction after distraction, prompting Meyer to call it “the year of stuff.”

“I had a 30-year coaching career in nine years,” Meyer said Sunday. “You just can’t do that.”

Unblemished records among the biggest stories of the year gone by

Perfection, as defined by Webster’s New World College Dictionary, means “the quality or condition of being perfect; extreme degree of excellence according to a given standard.”

And since 2009 will soon go final, as they say, perfection played a major role in the most compelling local sports stories over the last year of this century’s first decade.

Voted No. 1 by the Herald-Republic’s sports staff was Eisenhower’s 10-0 regular-season run and a victory in a first-round Class 4A state playoff game.

The Cadets’ postseason push reached the quarterfinals and was as unexpected as it was flawless. Preseason favorites a year earlier, Ike finished 5-5.

This time, the Cadets won an 11th game for the first time in school history and returned to the state playoffs for the first time in 17 years.

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Senior defensive end Ryan Watson, senior linebacker Seth Kline and junior offensive lineman Abel Soto were named first-team All-State by The Associated Press for coach Dan Eyman.

Ike wasn’t the only local team to post perfection, though.

Central Washington, thought to be rebuilding after the loss of All-American quarterback Mike Reilly, rode a dominant defense to an 11-0 regular season and No. 1 national ranking among NCAA Division II teams.

Led by senior linebacker Buddy Wood, the Wildcats held opponents to a national-low 11.9 points per game, smothered Tarleton State 27-6 in a second-round playoff game for a school-record 12th win, and lost to eventual national champion Northwest Missouri in the quarterfinals 21-20 on a blocked extra point with six seconds left.

The season left coach Blaine Bennett’s two-year record at 22-3, and CWU’s unexpectedly bold run at No. 2 on the year’s top 10 list.

CWU, however, wasn’t Kittitas County’s lone source of football fever. Ellensburg rode the passing connection of Ethan Sterkel to Kramer Ferrell to a 12-0 record, CWAC championship, No. 1 state ranking and a berth in the Class 2A semifinals.

The Bulldogs of coach Randy Affholter were voted the No. 3 local story of 2009.

No. 4 was a tale of yet more perfection, with Eisenhower’s boys basketball team accomplishing the unlikely feat of going 20-0.

Despite trips to the typically-hostile venues of Richland, Pasco, Walla Walla and Moses Lake, coach Pat Fitterer’s Cadets negotiated the entire schedule without a loss, and won their first 22 before falling. Ike made it to state, but didn’t place.

Story No. 5 took us back to football and back to perfection — at least from a won-lost standpoint.

JOE PARSONS’ GOLD-MEDAL RUN

Boise State, which has become a perennial thorn in the BCS’s side, rolled to a 13-0 mark with Prosser’s Kellen Moore at quarterback. A redshirt sophomore, Moore led the nation in passing efficiency (167.3) and his 39 TD throws ranked second.

Two scoring strikes went to his brother, true freshman Kirby Moore. And they had father Tom, who had stepped aside after 23 years (and four state championships) as Prosser’s head coach, to watch them.

The next story wasn’t at all about perfection, but it was about guts.

Naches Valley’s baseball team, having suffered excruciating losses in final four action the previous two seasons — once with one out left in the title game and once in a semifinal — brought many of the same players to Yakima County Stadium last May. And this time, they came away champions.

Unfazed by four second-inning errors, the Rangers of coach Bill Walker beat Kalama 8-6 to claim the school’s first state baseball title since 1991 and provide an oh-so-sweet triumph for five seniors who formed the core of NV’s squad.

Months earlier, Yakima Valley Community College’s first women’s wrestling team traveled to Hampton, Va. for the National Collegiate Wrestling Association championships.

And when the final points were tallied, the Yaks had compiled more than any of the 18 colleges or universities listed in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association women’s division — including four-year schools such as the University of Colorado and Auburn University.

Co-coached by Mike Schmitt and Tito Pimentel with the help of longtime YVCC mentor Bob Spain, Yakima Valley boasted three individual champions and four others who were second or third and thus earned All-American status. Their story was voted No. 7.

Next was Reilly, who started every Central game for four years and became the most celebrated quarterback in school history. Though disappointed at not being drafted last April, he signed as a free agent with Pittsburgh before being released in the Steelers’ final round of cuts.

Last month, Reilly joined the Green Bay Packers practice squad, and earlier this month was signed off that list and onto the regular roster of the St. Louis Rams, with whom he is signed through the 2010 season.

No. 9 saw Yakima snowmobiler Joe Parsons win two Winter X Games gold medals at Aspen, Colo., and 10th was West Valley High School’s move from Class 3A to Class 2A for the 2010-12 athletic cycle after 22 other schools in the state opted to go the other direction. WV’s school board chose not to move back to 3A.

So that’s it for 2009 — an exceptional local sports year which featured an extraordinary amount of perfection.

The best part? A new year and new decade await.

So stay tuned.

Top 10 local sports stories of the year

1. NO ONE LIKE IKE: Cadets football team completes a 10-0 regular season, then sets a school record with its 11th win in the Class 4A state opener.

2. TOP CATS: Central doesn’t miss a step and rolls to an undefeated regular season and a national No. 1 ranking before losing to eventual Division II national champions Northwest Missouri State in the national quarterfinals.

3. DOG GONE GOOD: Ellensburg football team wins all 12 of its games and is ranked No. 1 much of the season before falling in the Class 2A state semifinals.

4. CRUISING CADETS: Eisenhower boys basketball team goes unbeaten in the regular season and wins its first 22 games and advances to the state tournament.

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5. MORE FROM THE MOORES: Legendary Prosser football coach Tom Moore steps down as varsity coach in part to see his sons Kellen and Kirby play at Boise State. Kellen, a sophomore, doesn’t disappoint, leading the nation in passing efficiency and ranking second in touchdown passes — two of those to Kirby, a freshman. The Broncos finish the regular season 13-0.

6. RANGER REDEMPTION: After falling short in the previous two final fours, the Naches Valley baseball team wins the Class 1A state title.

7. QUITE A START: In its first year, the Yakima Valley Community College women’s wrestling team wins a national championship and three wrestlers win individual titles.

8. THE LIFE OF REILLY: CWU quarterback Mike Reilly wins multiple honors and ties for runner-up in the Harlon Hill award — the Division II equivalent of the Heisman Trophy — and today is on the St. Louis Rams roster after a stint on Green Bay practice squad.

9. COLD GOLD: Yakima’s Joe Parsons wins a pair of Winter X Games gold medals in snowmobile events at Aspen, Colo.

10. MAKING A MOVE: After 22 schools opt up from Class 2A to 3A, West Valley is left in 2A for the 2010-12 cycle. The school board votes not to opt up.

2009 in review: A chronology

Jan. 1 — The Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-4 in the cold at Wrigley Field in the NHL’s Winter Classic. A crowd of 40,818 attended the game.

Jan. 1 — Southern California defeated Penn State 38-24 to become the first team to win three consecutive Rose Bowls.

Jan. 2 — Mississippi beat Texas Tech in the final Cotton Bowl played in the stadium of the same name. Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell did end up with the most career touchdowns in major college football (four in this game made it 134, breaking the record of 131 set by Hawaii’s Colt Brennan) and first player with two 5,000-yard passing seasons.

Jan. 2 — Utah finished 13-0 with a convincing 31-17 win over No. 4 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. The Utes became the first team from a non-BCS conference to win two BCS bowls.

Jan. 2 — Doug Weight had a pair of assists for the New York Islanders in a 5-4 loss to Phoenix to become the eighth American-born player to reach the 1,000-point mark. He was the 73rd player overall to reach the total.

Jan. 5 — Pittsburgh made it to the top of The Associated Press’ college basketball poll for the first time. Pitt had been ranked second nine times since 1987-88. The Panthers were one of a record nine Big East teams in the poll.

Jan. 8 — Tim Tebow won the matchup of Heisman winners as No. 1 Florida beat No. 2 Oklahoma and this year’s Heisman winner Sam Bradford 24-14. It was the Gators’ second BCS championship in three years. Florida finished far ahead of Utah, the only undefeated BCS team, in the final Associated Press poll, receiving 48 of 65 first-place votes.

Jan. 10 — Arizona, the lone NFC team not to make it to a conference championship game since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, got to host its’ first NFC championship game after a stunning 33-13 win at Carolina.

Jan. 11 — Philadelphia, led by Donovan McNabb, eliminated the New York Giants 23-11 to reach the NFC title game for the fifth time in eight seasons. This was the first game in NFL history to finish 23-11.

Jan. 12 — Rickey Henderson, baseball’s career leader in runs scored and stolen bases, was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot, and Jim Rice made it in on his 15th and final try.

Jan. 12 — Boston set a club record with 22 points in overtime. Paul Pierce scored nine of his season-high 39 points in the 115-109 win over Toronto. The Celtics bettered the mark set on Jan. 2, 1963, when they outscored the San Francisco Warriors 21-6 in a 135-120 win.

Jan. 13 — Orlando made an NBA-record 23 3-pointers in a 139-107 victory at Sacramento. The Magic made 23 of 37 attempts in breaking the old mark of 21, set by Toronto on March 13, 2005, against Philadelphia.

Jan. 18 — The Arizona Cardinals advanced to their first Super Bowl with a 32-25 win over Philadelphia. Arizona built a 24-6 halftime lead on Larry Fitzgerald’s three first-half touchdown receptions. Donovan McNabb led Philadelphia’s second-half rally from 18 points down to take a 25-24 lead. Kurt Warner put the Cardinals ahead with an 8-yard scoring pass to rookie Tim Hightower with 2:53 left.

Jan. 18 — The Pittsburgh Steelers bullied the Baltimore Ravens 23-14 to win the AFC Championship and reach their seventh Super Bowl.

Jan. 18 — Ryan Smyth and Milan Hejduk scored their 300th career goals in Colorado’s 6-2 victory over Calgary to become just the second set of players in NHL history to reach the milestone in the same game.

Jan. 19 — Renee Montgomery scored 21 points to help No. 1 Connecticut rout No. 2 North Carolina 88-58, dominating a matchup of unbeaten teams from start to finish. Maya Moore had 19 points and 12 rebounds for Connecticut (18-0).

Jan. 21 — New Jersey Institute of Technology ended its 51-game losing streak, getting 26 points from Jheryl Wilson in a 61-51 victory over Bryant.

Jan. 24 — Alissa Czisny made a rebound for the ages, winning the women’s title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The 21-year-old, who last year finished a disastrous ninth, wasn’t perfect, but her elegant program was still superior to the highly touted up-and-comers.

Jan. 25 — Travis and Chavis Holmes became the highest scoring twin brothers in Division I history. The 6-foot-4 brothers from Virginia Military Institute combined for 47 points in the Keydets’ 92-85 win over High Point to move them 10 points past former VMI twins Ramon and Damon Williams as the top-scoring twin brothers with 3,262 points.

Jan. 25 — Jeremy Abbott won his first title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. It was the second major title in as many months for Abbott, who won the Grand Prix final in December.

Jan. 25 — Alex Ovechkin sealed the Eastern Conference’s 12-11 victory in the NHL All-Star game with a goal in the third round of the shootout. Alex Kovalev, of host Montreal, earned MVP honors with a pair of breakaway goals and then another in the shootout.

Jan. 27 — Rick Nash scored all three goals in Columbus’ 3-2 overtime victory against Detroit.

Jan. 27 — Mo Williams and LeBron James became the first teammates to have at least 23 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in the same NBA game since Cleveland’s Butch Beard and John Johnson on Dec. 23, 1971, at Atlanta. Williams had 43 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds in Cleveland’s 117-110 win over Sacramento. James had 23 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists.

Jan. 29 — Serena Williams, by reaching two finals at the Australian Open, broke golf star Annika Sorenstam’s record for career prize money by a female athlete with nearly $23 million. Williams paired with older sister Venus to win the Australian doubles title — their eighth Grand Slam title as partners — and surpassed Sorenstam’s total of $22.5 million.

Jan. 30 — Rafael Nadal held off Fernando Verdasco in longest match in Australian Open history. Verdasco double-faulted after saving two match points, and Nadal won 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (1), 6-4 in the 5-hour, 14-minute semifinal between the Spanish left-handers.

Jan. 30 — Bernard Lagat won the Wanamaker Mile for the seventh time at the Millrose Games held at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Lagat finished in 3:58.44 to edge Nick Willis by more than a second and tied Eamonn Coghlan’s record of seven victories in the race.

Jan. 31 — Serena Williams routed Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-3 to win her fourth Australian Open — her 10th Grand Slam title — and return to the No. 1 ranking.

Jan. 31 — Bruce Smith and Rod Woodson were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. They were joined by senior nomination Bob Hayes, Randall McDaniel, Derrick Thomas and Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson.

Feb. 1 — Rafael Nadal held off Roger Federer in another momentum-swinging five-set final to win the Australian Open. After playing the longest match in the tournament’s history in the semifinals, Nadal needed 4 hours, 23 minutes to win 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2. Nadal won his sixth Grand Slam and became the first Spaniard to win the Australian title.

Feb. 1 — Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh offense ended a Super Bowl of incredible swings with a final-minute touchdown for a record victory, 27-23 over the Arizona Cardinals. Santonio Holmes made a brilliant 6-yard catch deep in the right corner of the end zone with 35 seconds remaining, lifting the Steelers to a sixth Super Bowl win.

Feb. 2 — Kobe Bryant broke the current Madison Square Garden record with 61 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 126-117 victory over New York. Bryant eclipsed the previous visitor record of 55 held by Michael Jordan and the overall record of 60 set by Bernard King.

Feb. 4 — LeBron James had a season-high 52 points and added 11 assists in Cleveland’s 107-102 victory over New York. James joined Michael Jordan as the only visiting players with multiple 50-point games at the present Madison Square Garden.

Feb. 5 — Tennessee Pat Summitt became the first Division I basketball coach — man or woman — to win 1,000 career games as her Lady Vols beat Georgia 73-43.

Feb. 5 — Michael Phelps was suspended from competition for three months by USA Swimming, the latest fallout from a photo that showed the Olympic great inhaling from a marijuana pipe. Hours earlier, Kellogg Co. announced it would drop its endorsement deal with the swimmer.

Feb. 8 — Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald caught five passes for 81 yards and two touchdowns and 44-year-old John Carney kicked two fourth-quarter field goals as the NFC rallied to a 30-21 victory over the AFC in the Pro Bowl. The Cardinals’ receiver, coming off a record-breaking postseason and a spectacular Super Bowl, earned MVP honors.

Feb. 9 — Lindsey Vonn won the downhill for her second gold at the World Championships in Val D’isere, France. Vonn became the second American woman to win two golds at a worlds. Andrea Mead Lawrence won the slalom and giant slalom at the 1952 Oslo Olympics, which doubled as the worlds.

Feb. 15 — Yelena Isinbayeva broke her own indoor world pole vault record, first clearing 16 feet, 3 1/2 inches and then 16-4 3/4 at the Pole Vault Stars held in Donetsk, Ukraine. The 26-year-old Russian set the previous record at last year’s Pole Vault Stars, clearing 16-2 3/4.

Feb. 15 — Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 27 points and Shaquille O’Neal added 17 points in just 11 minutes, and the Western Conference beat the East 146-119 in the NBA All-Star game. Back on the same team for the first time in nearly five years, Bryant and O’Neal shared the game MVP award.

Feb. 15 — Matt Kenseth won the rain-shortened Daytona 500, taking over the lead two laps before NASCAR stopped the season-opening event. Kenseth passed Elliott Sadler with 54 laps to go. NASCAR stopped the race two laps later when the rain arrived.

Feb. 16 — Harness driver Brian Sears drove seven winners on the Presidents Day afternoon card at the Meadowlands, including Oliver Cleo in the featured $73,500 Art Unger Stake. The last driver to win seven races on a 10-race card at the Meadowlands was John Campbell on Feb. 3, 1983.

Feb. 18 — Meseret Defar of Ethiopia broke the women’s 5,000-meter indoor world record by more than three seconds at the GE Gala in Stockholm. Defar was timed in 14:24.37. Tirunesh Dibaba, also of Ethiopia, set the old mark of 14:27.42 in 2007.

Feb. 19 — San Jose’s Claude Lemieux earned his first NHL point since his return from a 5 1/2-year retirement. The 43-year-old Lemieux assisted on Milan Michalek’s third-period goal in the Sharks’ 4-2 home win over Los Angeles.

Feb. 20 — Lindsey Van of the United States nailed a perfect second jump to become the first women’s ski jumping world champion. Women’s ski jumping is debuting at this year’s Nordic skiing world championships in Liberec, Czech Republic. Todd Lodwick won the opening Nordic combined event to give the United States two golds in one day. Before Van’s victory, the United States had not won a gold at a Nordic skiing worlds since 2003, when Johnny Spillane took a Nordic combined sprint.

Feb. 20 — The WTA fined Dubai Tennis Championships organizers a record $300,000 after Israeli player Shahar Peer was denied a visa by the United Arab Emirates.

Feb. 20 — LeBron James scored 55 points, one short of his career high, in Cleveland’s 111-103 win at Milwaukee.

Feb. 20 — Phoenix became the first team in 18 seasons to score at least 140 points in three consecutive games, beating Oklahoma City 140-118. The Portland Trail Blazers did it from Nov. 13-17 in 1990. The Suns did it for the first time in franchise history.

Feb. 22 — Japanese teenager Shiho Sakai set a short-course world record in the women’s 100-meter backstroke at Japan’s national championship. Sakai touched the wall in 56.15 seconds to take 0.36 off the mark set by American Natalie Coughlin in November 2007.

Feb. 22 — Portland’s Steve Blake tied the NBA record for assists in a quarter when he handed out 14 during the first period in the Blazers’ 116-87 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. San Antonio’s John Lucas set the record of 14 assists during the second quarter against Denver on April 15, 1984. Blake finished with 17 assists, one shy of his career high.

Feb. 22 — Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth made it two victories in a row, holding off a late challenge from Jeff Gordon to win the Auto Club 500. It was the first time a Cup driver won the first two races of the season since Gordon did it in 1997.

Feb. 24 — Syracuse beat St. John’s 87-58 to give coach Jim Boeheim his record 31st 20-win season. Boeheim entered the game tied with former North Carolina coach Dean Smith for the Division I record for 20-win seasons.

Feb. 25 — Senior guard A.J. Price scored a career-high 36 points as No. 2 Connecticut beat No. 8 Marquette 93-82 to give coach Jim Calhoun his 800th career victory. Calhoun became only the seventh coach in Division I history to win 800 or more games.

Feb. 27 — Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth agreed to a seven-year deal worth about $100 million, including an NFL-record $41 million in guaranteed money, with the Washington Redskins.

March 5 — Tampa Bay farmhand Steve Downie was suspended for 20 games by the American Hockey League for slashing an official with his stick late in a Feb. 28 game for the Norfolk Admirals.

March 6 — The Florida State football program was placed on probation for the next four years as part of its punishment for a widespread academic cheating scandal.

March 6 — In a stadium without spectators in Malmo, Sweden, Dudi Sela outlasted Andreas Vinciguerra 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 11-9 to pull Israel even with Sweden in the Davis Cup. The match was played without fans because of Swedish organizers’ fears of demonstrations and protests against Israel due to the recent offensive in the Gaza Strip. Thomas Johansson returned from injury to beat Harel Levy 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 8-6 in the opening match.

March 6 — Cycling’s world governing body banned German rider Stefan Schumacher for two years after he tested positive for a banned drug at the 2008 Tour de France.

March 8 — Federica Pellegrini lowered her world record in the 200-meter freestyle at an Italian swim meet. Pellegrini clocked 1:54.47, shaving 0.35 seconds off her winning time at the Beijing Olympics last year.

March 10 — A scrappy Netherlands team eliminated the Dominican Republic from the World Baseball Classic. Eugene Kingsale singled in the tying run and scored the game-winner in the 11th inning as the Netherlands rallied for a 2-1 victory over the heavily favored Dominicans, earning an astonishing spot in the second round.

March 11 — Mike Singletary led Texas Tech to the biggest rally in Big 12 tournament history, scoring all 29 of Texas Tech’s points during a second-half surge that pushed the Red Raiders to a 88-83 win against the Aggies. The Red Raiders erased a 21-point deficit as Singletary outscored A&M 29-18 to give Tech the lead for the first time. Singletary finished with 43 points for the conference tournament scoring record.

March 11 — Wesley Matthews scored 20 points and Marquette held St. John’s to a Big East tournament-record 10 points in the first half on the way to a 74-45 victory. The 10 points were the lowest ever in a half in a Big East tournament game.

March 12 — Lindsey Vonn won the super-G season finale at the World Cup finals in Are, Sweden, becoming the first American woman to capture the championship title in the discipline. A day earlier, she clinched the World Cup overall title for the second straight year by winning the downhill. This was Vonn’s ninth World Cup win this winter, another U.S. record for the most World Cup wins in one season — male or female.

March 12 — Syracuse outlasted No. 3 Connecticut in the second-longest Division I game ever played, capping a Big East tournament quarterfinal doubleheader in which the second- and third-ranked teams in the country both lost. Andy Rautins hit a 3-pointer 10 seconds into the sixth overtime, giving the Orange their first lead since regulation and they went on to a 127-117 victory over the third-ranked Huskies. Much earlier in the evening, West Virginia beat No. 2 Pittsburgh 74-60. The game finished one overtime short of the record set in Cincinnati’s 75-73 victory over Bradley on Dec. 21, 1981.

March 13 — Cleveland’s LeBron James scored 51 points, including six in overtime, and the Cavaliers clinched the Central Division title by beating Sacramento 126-123.

March 13 — The Philadelphia 76ers played a final game at the Spectrum, their old home, beating Chicago 104-101. The Sixers, who normally play across the street at the Wachovia Center, played their first game at the Spectrum, scheduled to be demolished later this year, since April 19, 1996.

March 14 — Miami’s Dwyane Wade had 50 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists in a 140-129, triple-overtime win over Utah.

March 15 — Detroit beat Columbus 4-0 to become the first team in NHL history to top 100 points in nine straight seasons. The Stanley Cup champion Red Wings, the NHL leader with 101 points, broke a tie with Montreal (1974-75 through 1981-82).

March 15 — The Big East became the first conference to have three teams named No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. Louisville, Pittsburgh and Connecticut got the top spots. North Carolina, the regular-season Atlantic Coast conference champion, was the other top seeded team.

March 16 — Jo Jackson set a world record in the 400-meter freestyle at the British swimming championships. Jackson finished in 4:00.66, lowering Federica Pellegrini’s mark of 4:01.53 set at an Italian meet earlier this month.

March 17 — Sweden’s Therese Alshammar broke her own 50-meter butterfly world record at the Australian swimming titles but was later disqualified by Swimming Australia for wearing two swimsuits.

March 17 — New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur broke Patrick Roy’s NHL record for career wins by a goaltender by recording his 552nd win in a 3-2 decision over the Chicago Blackhawks.

March 19 — The Cleveland Cavaliers committed only two turnovers, tying an NBA record and setting a franchise mark for fewest in a game, during a 97-92 overtime win over Portland. Cleveland matched the record set by Milwaukee against Indiana on April 1, 2006.

March 20 — In Planica, Slovenia, Gregor Schlierenzauer of Austria became the first ski jumper to win 13 World Cup events and reach more than 2,000 points in a season. Schlierenzauer, who claimed the overall World Cup title last week, jumped 203 meters to edge Adam Malysz of Poland by 1.1 points and win the season-ending meet and finish with 2,038 points.

March 23 — Japan defended its 2006 World Baseball Classic title with a 5-3 win over South Korea at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

March 25 — Simona Krupeckaite of Lithuania set a world record in the women’s 500-meter time trial at the track world championships in Pruszkow, Poland. Krupeckaite finished in 33.296 seconds to break the previous record of 33.588 set by Anna Meares of Australia in March 2007.

March 26 — All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada received a sentence of one year of probation for misleading Congress about the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Tejada faced possible prison time, but was issued a sentence of probation, 100 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine.

March 26 — Evan Lysacek became the first American in 13 years to win the men’s title at World Figure Skating Championship. Lysacek was the first U.S. skater since Todd Eldredge in 1996 to take the world crown.

March 28 — Stretching the lead with every stride over the final 600 yards, Well Armed, ridden by Aaron Gryder, ran away with the $6 million Dubai World Cup by a record 14 lengths. The 6-year-old gelding’s winning margin nearly doubled the record of 7 3/4 lengths set by Curlin last year.

March 28 — Kim Yu-na easily won the women’s title at the World Figure Skating Championships, giving South Korea its first world title. Kim’s 207.71 points were the highest scored under figure skating’s current judging system, shattering the old mark by eight.

March 29 — A stampede at a World Cup qualifying soccer match in the Ivory Coast killed at least 19 people and wounded 132. Fans at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny arena pushed against each other shortly before the game between Ivory Coast and Malawi, setting off a panic that led to the stampede. Ivory Coast won the match 5-0.

April 1 — Kevin Martin scored a career-high 50 points for Sacramento, but the Kings lost 143-141 in overtime to Golden State.

April 1 — Eastern Kentucky played Kentucky State on April Fools’ Day, and the result was no joke: EKU led 49-1 when the teams stopped it after five innings, and they canceled the second game. EKU began substituting during its 22-run first inning. Coach Jason Stein would not accept a forfeit for the canceled second game.

April 2 — Jamelle Cornley scored 18 points and Penn State used a big second half to beat Baylor 69-63 to win the NIT title, just the second postseason tournament championship in school history.

April 3 — Oklahoma sophomore forward Blake Griffin was the runaway choice as The Associated Press’ college basketball player of the year. The 6-10 Griffin averaged 22.7 points and led the nation with 14.4 rebounds per game. Bill Self, who led Kansas from a decimated national champion to a fifth straight Big 12 title, was selected coach of the year.

April 4 — Michigan State Spartans ran roughshod over Connecticut for an 82-73 upset in the NCAA men’s basketball semifinal. Ty Lawson scored 22 points and Wayne Ellington had 20 more as the North Carolina eased to an 83-69 win over Villanova in the second semifinal.

April 4 — Connecticut’s Maya Moore became only the second sophomore to win The Associated Press’ college basketball player of the year. Moore averaged 19.2 points and 8.9 rebounds and joined Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris, who won as a sophomore in 2007. Moore’s coach Geno Auriemma picked up his sixth Associated Press coach of the year award.

April 5 — Angel McCoughtry scored 14 of her 18 points in the second half and added 11 rebounds, to help Louisville beat Oklahoma 61-59 in the NCAA women’s national semifinals. Renee Montgomery scored 26 points, Maya Moore added 24, and as No. 1-ranked Connecticut cruised to its first title game in five years with an 83-64 win over No. 2 Stanford and set up an all-Big East final.

April 5 — Spanish swimmer Rafael Munoz set a world record in the men’s 50-meter butterfly. Munoz finished in 22.43 seconds at the Spanish championships to break Roland Schoeman’s previous mark of 22.96 set in Montreal in 2005.

April 5 — Brittany Lincicome sank a 6-foot eagle putt on No. 18 to win the Kraft Nabisco Championship, capturing her first victory in a major. Trailing by one, the Lincicome broke through with an amazing sequence of shots on the par-5 18th to finish with a 3-under 69, Kristy McPherson finished tied for second with Cristie Kerr one shot back.

April 6 — Michael Jordan, along former Dream Team teammates David Robinson and John Stockton, were elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan and Rutgers women’s coach C. Vivian Stringer were also part of a class.

April 6 — North Carolina won the national championship, ending Michigan State’s inspirational run with a 89-72 rout. Tyler Hansbrough scored 18 points, Wayne Ellington had 19 and Ty Lawson led all scorers with 21 and also had a record eight steals. The Tar Heels were up 55-34 at halftime, breaking a 42-year-old title-game record for biggest lead at the break and setting the mark for most points at the half.

April 6 — Tony Clark and Felipe Lopez each homered from both sides of the plate to lead Arizona to a 9-8 victory over Colorado.

April 6 — Alfonso Soriano hit his 50th career leadoff home run as Chicago beat Houston 4-2.

April 7 — Tina Charles had 25 points and grabbed 19 rebounds as Connecticut routed Louisville 76-54 and captured the its sixth women’s basketball title. UConn (39-0) won every one of its 39 games by double digits, a first in college basketball.

April 8 — The Cleveland Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to have two 15-game winning streaks at home in the same season by beating Washington 98-86.

April 8 — Toronto’s Curtis Joseph tied the late Gump Worsley’s NHL loss record with No. 452 in the Maple Leafs’ 3-1 loss to Buffalo. The 41-year-old Joseph is fourth on the career victory list with 454.

April 8 — Four Phillies walked with the bases loaded during an eight-run seventh inning and Philadelphia rallied for a 12-11 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

April 9 — Angel McCoughtry of Louisville was chosen by the Atlanta Dream with the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft.

April 9 — Mike Ribeiro skated in backward and flipped a shot into the net off Peter Budaj to lift the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 shootout victory against Colorado.

April 10 — Boston University senior defenseman Matt Gilroy received the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as the top college hockey player.

April 11 — Colby Cohen got the winning goal on a slap shot that ricocheted high off sliding Miami defenseman Kevin Roeder’s leg 11:47 into OT to give Boston University its fifth NCAA hockey championship. Trailing by two goals with a minute left in regulation, the top-seeded Terriers stormed back to force overtime, then beat Miami (Ohio) 4-3 in the extra session.

April 12 — Angel Cabrera became the first Argentine to win the Masters, beating 48-year-old Kenny Perry with a two-putt par on the second hole of a playoff. Cabrera, the U.S. Open winner two years ago at Oakmont, closed with a 71 to match Perry and Chad Campbell at 12 under. Campbell dropped out with a bogey on the first extra hole.

April 12 — In Hameenlinna, Finland, the United States won its second straight women’s World Hockey Championship title, beating Canada 4-1 behind defenseman Caitlin Cahow’s two goals.

April 12 — Dwyane Wade scored 55 points, one shy of the franchise record, and Miami beat New York 122-105.

April 12 — In the last game of the season, Brandon Dubinsky scored a short-handed goal in the New York Rangers’ 4-3 victory over Philadelphia to end the Flyers’ bid to become the second team in NHL history to play an entire season without allowing one.

April 13 — Orlando Hudson hit for the cycle as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat San Francisco 11-1.

April 13 — Chicago’s Jermaine Dye and Paul Konerko reached 300 career homers with consecutive drives in the second inning of the White Sox’s 10-6 win over Detroit. They became the first teammates to hit century milestone home runs of at least 300 in the same game.

April 13 — Jody Gerut christened the Mets’ new home, Citi Field, with a leadoff homer in San Diego’s 6-5 win over New York. Gerut’s shot off Mike Pelfrey marked the first time in history that the first batter homered in a regular-season opener at a major league ballpark.

April 15 — Ian Kinsler of Texas became the fourth player in team history to hit for the cycle, and was 6-for-6 in the Rangers’ 19-6 win over Baltimore.

April 16 — Grady Sizemore hit a grand slam and Cleveland ruined the first game at the new Yankee Stadium by beating New York 10-2.

April 16 — Martin Havlat’s goal at 12 seconds of overtime in Chicago’s 3-2 victory over Calgary matched the third-fastest overtime goal in NHL playoff history. Havlat was 3 seconds off the NHL record of 9 seconds set by Brian Skrudland for Montreal in 3-2 victory over Calgary on May 18, 1986.

April 17 — Jason Kubel completed the ninth cycle in Twins history with a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning that helped Minnesota to an 11-9 victory over the Angels.

April 18 — Emma Hendrickson, a 100-year-old woman from Morris Plains, N.J., became the oldest competitor in the history of the United States Bowling Congress Women’s Championships. Hendrickson was presented with a plaque and a medallion to commemorate her 50th consecutive appearance in the tournament. The great-great-grandmother rolled a 115, 97 and 106 for a 318 series during team competition at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno.

April 18 — Asdrubal Cabrera and Mark DeRosa went a combined 8-for-13, with 11 RBIs in Cleveland’s 22-4 victory against New York at Yankee Stadium. The Indians scored 14 runs in the second inning — the most ever allowed by New York in an inning. Cleveland hit six home runs, including a grand slam by Cabrera. The Indians second baseman drove in five runs in the second inning.

April 19 — Rafael Nadal became the first player to win five straight Monte Carlo Masters titles by beating Novak Djokovic 6-3, 2-6, 6-1. The top-ranked Spaniard, however, lost a set at the clay court tournament for the first time since the 2006 final against Roger Federer.

April 20 — Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga pulled away before Heartbreak Hill and won the Boston Marathon in 2:08.42, almost a full minute ahead of Kenya’s Daniel Rono. Merga’s win was just the third time in 19 years that a Kenyan failed to win. A Kenyan won the women’s race, when Salina Kosgei outsprinted defending champion Dire Tune of Ethiopia to beat her by less than a stride, in 2:32:16.

April 20 — Marleen Veldhuis broke world records in the 50-meter butterfly and 50-meter freestyle at the Amsterdam Swim Cup meet. Veldhuis first lowered Swede Therese Alshammar’s butterfly record from 25.46 seconds to 25.33. In the evening’s last race, Veldhuis shaved one hundredth of a second off Australian Libby Trickett’s 50-freestyle record, setting a world mark of 23.96.

April 22 — Chicago’s Derrick Rose, who led his hometown Bulls to the playoffs, won the NBA’s rookie of the year award. Rose led all rookies with 6.3 assists per game and was second in scoring average at 16.8.

April 23 — Martin Brodeur made 44 saves to tie Patrick Roy’s NHL record for playoff shutouts with his 23rd, and David Clarkson scored a power-play goal in New Jersey’s 1-0 win over Carolina.

April 23 — Ichiro Suzuki lined James Shields’ second pitch of the game for a home run, the only run of Seattle’s 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. It was the 22nd time a leadoff homer was the deciding run in a game.

April 23 — Alain Bernard of France broke the world record in the 100-meter freestyle at the French championships, becoming the first swimmer to go under the 47-second mark.

April 24 — Tennessee’s Lady Volunteers set a world record in the rarely contested 6,000-meter relay at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia. The team of Chanelle Price, Phoebe Wright, Rolanda Bell and Sarah Bowman clocked the winning time of 17:08.34 seconds, beating the world mark of 17:09.75 set by Australia in 2000.

April 25 — The Detroit Lions began one of the biggest rebuilding jobs in NFL history by officially drafting Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford first overall. The Lions had already signed Stafford a day before the draft.

April 25 — San Antonio’s Tony Parker matched George Gervin’s franchise playoff record for points in a half, scoring 31 by halftime of the Spurs’ 99-90 loss to Dallas in Game 4 of their series. Parker helped the Spurs take a 55-51 halftime lead and finished with 43 points.

April 26 — French swimmer Frederick Bousquet set a world record in the 50-meter freestyle, becoming the first person to break the 21-second barrier. Bousquet set the record at the French championships by finishing in 20.94 seconds. He beat Australian swimmer Eamon Sullivan’s record of 21.28, set in March 2008.

April 27 — West Virginia State’s Bo Darby hit home runs in five consecutive at-bats over two games, including four in one contest. The sophomore outfielder homered in his first four trips to the plate against Salem International. He also connected in his final at-bat two days earlier against the University of Charleston. Darby homered twice more in the second game of the doubleheader, giving him six for the day with 14 RBIs.

April 27 — The Denver Nuggets matched the biggest victory in playoff history with their 121-63 rout of New Orleans in Game 4 of their first-round series. The Minneapolis Lakers had the other 58-point postseason victory, beating the St. Louis Hawks 133-75 in 1956.

April 27 — Colorado’s Dexter Fowler tied a modern-day rookie mark with five stolen bases in the Rockies’ 12-7 win over San Diego. Fowler became the first rookie to steal that many bases since Damian Jackson on June 28, 1999. That contest also involved Colorado and San Diego.

April 28 — Washington’s Sergei Federov beat Henrik Lundqvist with a screened wrist shot with 4:59 left in the third period, and Washington edged the New York Rangers 2-1 in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference series. Not only did Washington come back from a 3-1 deficit, but it was the franchise’s first series victory since the 1997-98 season, when Washington made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals.

April 29 — The Nationwide Tour postponed the Mexico Open golf tournament scheduled for May 21-24 because of the swine flu outbreak.

April 30 — Derrick Rose scored 28 points and blocked Rajon Rondo’s potential winner as Chicago held on for a 128-127 triple-overtime victory over Boston to force Game 7. John Salmons led the Bulls with 35 points. Ray Allen scored a career playoff-high 51 points for the Celtics, tying the NBA playoff record with nine 3-pointers.

May 1 — New York catcher Jorge Posada’s home run in its 10-9 win over the Angels was the 29th homer at the new Yankee Stadium, tying Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium (1955), Houston’s Enron Field (2000) and Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park (2003) for most homers in the first eight games at a major league ballpark.

May 2 — Mine That Bird, ridden by Calvin Borel, stunned the field by capturing the Kentucky Derby with a dynamic stretch run through the mud at Churchill Downs. Borel found room along the rail deep in the stretch then pulled away to give the 50-1 longshot one of the biggest upsets in the 135-year history of the Run for the Roses. Pioneerof the Nile held off Musket Man for second.

May 2 — Rich Behm, a Dallas Cowboys scouting assistant, was permanently paralyzed from the waist down after his spine was severed during the collapse of the team’s tent-like practice structure during a severe storm in Irving, Texas. Behm was among a dozen people hurt in the accident.

May 3 — Carl Crawford tied a modern major league record with six stolen bases to help Tampa Bay beat Boston 5-3. Crawford was 4-for-4 with an RBI and became the fourth player to swipe six bases in a game, joining Eddie Collins, Otis Nixon, and Eric Young.

May 4 — The Los Angeles Dodgers became the first National League team since 1900 to win their first 11 home games, beating Arizona 7-2.

May 4 — Cleveland’s LeBron James, unstoppable at both ends of the floor this season, was named the NBA’s MVP. James, who easily outdistance Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers in the voting, averaged 28.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.2 assists.

May 4 — Alex Ovechkin recorded his first NHL playoff hat trick and netted the winning goal in Washington’s 4-3 win over Pittsburgh in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference series. Sidney Crosby of the Penguins also scored three goals in a losing cause.

May 5 — Angered by the Phoenix Coyotes’ bankruptcy filing, the NHL stripped owner Jerry Moyes of the authority to run the club.

May 6 — The Los Angeles Dodgers broke the modern major league record for home winning streak to start a season with their 13th straight victory, 10-3 over the Washington Nationals. The Dodgers surpassed the 12-0 record of the 1911 Detroit Tigers.

May 7 — Los Angeles Dodgers star Manny Ramirez was suspended for 50 games by Major League Baseball. Ramirez tested positive for HCG, human chorionic gonadotropin, which is popular among steroid users because it can mitigate the side effects of ending a cycle of the drugs. Baseball added HCG to its list of banned substances in 2008.

May 7 — Yankees closer Mariano Rivera gave up home runs to consecutive batters for the first time in his major league career, with Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria connecting in the ninth inning of Tampa Bay’s 8-6 victory. Rivera had not given up back-to-back homers in 862 games coming in.

May 7 — The Red Sox tied a modern major-league record with 12 runs in an inning before making an out in a 13-3 win over Cleveland. Jason Bay hit a three-run homer and an RBI double and four other batters had two-run hits in the sixth. The Red Sox tied the mark set by the Brooklyn Dodgers on May 24, 1953. The previous AL record was set by the Tigers, who scored 11 runs in the sixth inning in a 19-1 win at the Yankees on June 17, 1925.

May 9 — Jeremy Mayfield was suspended indefinitely by NASCAR for failing a random drug test, becoming the first driver to violate a toughened new policy that went into effect this season. Mayfield tested positive for a banned substance last weekend at Richmond International Raceway.

May 9 — LeBron James scored 47 points to lift Cleveland to a 97-82 win over Atlanta. The Cavaliers kept up its dominating run through the playoffs, setting an NBA record with its seventh straight double-figure win to eclipse the mark set by the 2004 Indiana Pacers.

May 10 — Japan’s Ryosuke Irie set a world record in the men’s 200-meter backstroke in a meet against Australia in Canberra. Irie finished in 1:52.86 to break the previous record, held by American Ryan Lochte, by more than a second. Lochte set the previous mark of 1:53.94 while winning the gold medal at last year’s Beijing Olympics.

May 10 — Russia defended its gold medal at the World Hockey Championships, beating Canada 2-1 on in a rematch of last year’s final. Sweden won the bronze medal, beating the United States 4-2 earlier.

May 11 — Cleveland made it an NBA-record eight straight wins by double digits with an 84-74 victory over Atlanta to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. The Cavaliers became the second team to sweep the first two rounds of the playoffs since the NBA expanded the first round to best-of-seven in 2003. The Miami Heat started with sweeps of New Jersey and Washington in the 2005 playoffs before losing to Detroit in the East finals.

May 11 — Seattle’s Felix Hernandez hit the first grand slam by an American League pitcher in 37 years in the second inning of a 5-2 over the New York Mets. Hernandez, who was one out short of being eligible for a win, sprained his ankle covering home plate on a wild pitch and left the game.

May 12 — Ryan Zimmerman extended his hitting streak to 30 games, getting a first-inning single in the Nationals’ 9-7 loss to the Giants.

May 13 — Alfonso Soriano hit his 53rd leadoff homer in Chicago’s 6-4, rain-shortened win against San Diego, tying Craig Biggio for second on baseball’s career list and setting a club record.

May 13 — Pittsburgh Adam LaRoche and Florida’s Ross Gload were the first to have home runs taken away following a video replay review. LaRoche became the first player and wound up with a double for Pittsburgh at PNC Park. The Pirates beat St. Louis 5-2. About 2 1/2 hours later, Gload’s pinch-hit drive was finally called foul at Milwaukee and he eventually struck out.

May 13 — Ryan Zimmerman’s 30-game hitting streak ended when he went 0 for 3 with two walks in the Washington Nationals’ 6-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

May 16 — Rachel Alexandra became the first filly to win the Preakness Stakes since 1924, holding off a late charge by Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird to capture the middle jewel of the Triple Crown by a length. Calvin Borel, who rode Mine That Bird in the Derby, switched to Rachel Alexandra and guided her to a sixth straight victory.

May 18 — Mark Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate as the New York Yankees finished a four-game sweep of Minnesota with a 7-6 victory.

May 19 — Washington became the fourth team in major league history to score at least five runs in each game of a six-game losing streak. The Nationals lost 8-5 in 10 innings to Pittsburgh after they rallied to tie the game with a run in the ninth, but another letdown from a bullpen with a collective 1-14 record allowed them to join the 1929 Pirates, 2004 Cincinnati Reds and 2005 Texas Rangers.

May 20 — NASCAR suspended driver Carl Long for 12 Sprint Cup races and fined crew chief Charles Swing $200,000, the largest penalty in the sport’s history. Swing also was suspended until Aug. 18 for using an engine that was too big for NASCAR’s specifications last weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway

May 20 — Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera hit consecutive home runs for the New York Yankees in an 11-4 victory over Baltimore. All three solo shots to right field came in the second inning off Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie — with two strikes.

May 21 — Evgeni Malkin scored three goals — two in the third period — for his first NHL playoff hat trick and led Pittsburgh to a 7-4 win over Carolina and a 2-0 advantage in the Eastern Conference finals. Sidney Crosby scored a record-tying sixth goal to start a playoff game. Bobby Hull of the Blackhawks (1962) and Edmonton’s Fernando Pisani in 2006 also had six game-opening goals in a playoff year.

May 22 — Michael Cuddyer hit for the cycle and matched his career high with five RBIs as Minnesota defeated Milwaukee 11-3.

May 22 — The seven homers in the Phillies’ 7-3 win over New York raised the Yankee Stadium total to 82, a record for the first 21 games at a major league park and five more than were hit at Houston’s Enron Field in 2000.

May 23 — Alabama sophomore Kelsi Dunne became the first player to throw back-to-back no-hitters in NCAA postseason play. Dunne held Jacksonville State hitless for the second straight day in a 9-0 softball victory. The two no-hitters tied the NCAA postseason record. It was Dunne’s fourth of the season and gave her a school-record six for her career.

May 24 — Northwestern won its fifth straight NCAA championship in women’s Division I lacrosse with a 21-7 victory over North Carolina. Northwestern (23-0) broke the record for goals in the title game and has 20 consecutive tournament wins, one shy of the record set by Maryland from 1995 to 2002.

May 24 — Brazil’s Helio Castroneves became the ninth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 three times. The 34-year-old Castroneves pulled away over the final laps to beat Dan Wheldon of England and Danica Patrick, who eclipsed her fourth-place finish as a rookie in 2005 by crossing the strip of bricks in third.

May 23 — Jason Giambi hit his 400th homer in the Oakland Athletics’ 8-7 loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks, becoming the 44th player to reach the milestone.

May 25 — Syracuse rallied from a three-goal deficit in the final 3:37 of regulation to beat Cornell 10-9 and win its second straight NCAA lacrosse championship. The Big Red took a 9-6 lead with 5:31 left in the fourth before the Orange came back to win their unprecedented 11th college lacrosse title. Kenny Nims scored with 4.5 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.

May 25 — Cleveland rallied from a 10-0 deficit in the fourth as Victor Martinez’s two-out, two-run single in the ninth capped a seven-run inning and lifted the Indians to an 11-10 victory over Tampa Bay.

May 30 — Travis Tucker hit an RBI single with one out in the top of the 25th inning, leading Texas to a 3-2 victory over Boston College in the longest baseball game in NCAA history.

May 31 — Rafael Nadal’s unbeaten run at the French Open ended when the four-time defending champion lost to Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the fourth round, stopping his record winning streak at Roland Garros at 31 matches. Defending women’s champion Ana Ivanovic also lost, marking the first time two defending champions lost in the same round at a Grand Slam tournament since 2004. Only four times in the Open era have both defending champions failed to reach the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.

May 31 — Stephen Cardullo set a tournament record with seven hits, including three of Florida State’s NCAA-record 15 doubles, as the Seminoles routed Ohio State 37-6 advanced to the super regionals. Florida State set NCAA postseason records with 37 runs, 38 hits and 66 total bases.

June 4 — Randy Johnson earned his 300th win, becoming the 24th major league pitcher to reach the milestone by leading San Francisco to a 5-1 victory over the Washington Nationals in the first game of a doubleheader. The Big Unit tossed two-hit ball over six innings and became the sixth left-hander to win 300, and the first pitcher to do it on his first try since Tom Seaver in 1985.

June 6 — Svetlana Kuznetsova won her second Grand Slam title, beating top-ranked Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2 in an all-Russian final at the French Open. Kuznetsova also won the 2004 U.S. Open.

June 6 — Summer Bird won the Belmont Stakes, rallying past Mine That Bird to spoil jockey Calvin Borel’s attempt at winning all three legs of the Triple Crown. Mine That Bird, with Borel aboard, came from last to take the lead right before the final turn. But Summer Bird galloped to the front and pulled away to beat Dunkirk by 2 3/4 lengths, with Mine That Bird third.

June 7 — Roger Federer completed a career Grand Slam, winning his first French Open title. Federer won his 14th major title to tie Pete Sampras’ record by sweeping surprise finalist Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4. He played in his 19th Grand Slam final to match Ivan Lendl’s record.

June 11 — The NCAA placed Alabama’s football program and 15 other of the school’s athletic teams on three years’ probation for major violations due to misuse of free textbooks, stripping the Crimson Tide of 21 football wins over a three-year period. The NCAA said 201 athletes in 16 sports obtained “impermissible benefits” by using their scholarships to obtain free textbooks for other students.

June 12 — Max Talbot scored two second-period goals, and the Pittsburgh Penguins overcame the loss of captain Sidney Crosby to beat the defending champion Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in Game 7 and win the Stanley Cup Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, the playoff scoring leader with 36 points, earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason MVP.

June 12 — New York Mets second baseman Luis Castillo dropped Alex Rodriguez’s lazy popup with two outs in the ninth inning as two runs scored, helping the Yankees escape with a wild 9-8 victory over the Mets.

June 13 — Torii Hunter of the Angels hit three consecutive solo homers in Los Angeles’ 9-1 win over San Diego.

June 14 — Anna Nordqvist shot a 4-under par 68 to become the second straight rookie to win the LPGA Championship. Nordqvist finished at 15-under 273, four shots ahead of Lindsey Wright.

June 14 — The Los Angeles Lakers won their 15th championship, beating the Orlando Magic 99-86 in Game 5 of the NBA finals. Kobe Bryant, the MVP, scored 30 points in winning his fourth title, the first without Shaquille O’Neal. It was the 10th championship for coach Phil Jackson, moving him past Boston’s Red Auerbach for the most all-time.

June 16 — Olympic champion Tyler Hamilton, 38, received an eight-year ban from cycling, all but ending his drug-tainted career after he admitted to taking a steroid. This was Hamilton’s second anti-doping violation.

June 16 — The San Diego Padres set a major-league record with their 12th straight loss in interleague play when they fell 5-0 to Seattle.

June 18 — NASCAR driver Carl Long’s suspension was reduced to eight races from a record 12, but his record $200,000 fine remained.

June 18 — Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin was named the NHL’s most valuable player for the second straight year after leading the league with 56 goals. Tim Thomas, who had a 2.10 goals-against average, won the Vezina Trophy for best goalie

June 20 — Wladimir Klitschko again showed his dominance of the heavyweight division, stopping Ruslan Chagaev in a hastily put together title fight before 61,000 fans at a German soccer stadium in Gelsenkirchen. The IBF and WBO champion added the Ring Magazine belt to his haul, knocking Chagaev down in the second round and opening a cut over the Uzbekistan-born fighter’s left eye in the eighth. Referee Eddie Cotton stopped the fight before the 10th round.

June 21 — St. Louis’ Tony La Russa joined Connie Mack (3,831) and John McGraw (2,763) as the only managers with 2,500 victories following a 12-5 win over Kansas City.

June 22 — Lucas Glover won the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, finishing with a final round of 3-over 73 to win by two strokes over Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Ricky Barnes. It was Gover’s second victory of his PGA Tour career.

June 23 — Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Brian Leetch were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. All were eligible for the first time. New Jersey Devils president Lou Lamoriello was also elected in the builder category.

June 24 — The United States stunned top-ranked Spain 2-0 on goals by Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey, advancing to the Confederations Cup final with one of the Americans’ biggest soccer victories. The Americans became the first team to defeat Spain since Romania in November 2006.

June 24 — Ed Thomas, Aplington-Parkersburg High School’s football coach of 34 years, was gunned down inside a weight room adjacent to the school while holding an offseason team workout. Former player Mark Becker, 24, walked past about 20 students before shooting Thomas several times and walking back out. Thomas, 58, had a 292-84 record with two state titles while sending four players to the NFL.

June 25 — German swimmer Britta Steffen set a world record of 52.85 seconds in the 100 meter freestyle at a meet in Berlin. Steffen’s record was three-hundredths of a second better than the previous mark set by Australia’s Lisbeth Trickett in March 2008.

June 25 — The Los Angeles Clippers selected Blake Griffin with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. Griffin was the consensus college player of the year after leading the nation with 14.4 rebounds per game while averaging 22.7 points last season for Oklahoma.

June 26 — The New York Islanders selected London Knights center John Tavares with the No. 1 pick in the 2009 NHL entry draft. Tavares led the Ontario Hockey League with 58 goals this season and broke Peter Lee’s 33-year-old league record of 213 career goals.

June 26 — Andre Ethier had his first three-homer game and drove in a career-high six runs to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 8-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

June 27 — Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi won his 100th career Moto GP race at the Assen TT, claiming victory in 42 minutes 14.611 seconds.

June 27 — Germany’s Britta Steffen set a world record in the 100 meter freestyle, finishing in 52.56 seconds at a swim meet in Berlin. She shaved 29-hundredths of a second off her previous record, set two days earlier.

June 27 — Federica Pellegrini of Italy set a world record in the 400-meter freestyle at the Mediterranean Games. Pellegrini, finished in 4:00.41 to lower the mark of Jo Jackson of Britain by 0.25 seconds. Jackson had a 4:00.65 finish in March at the British swimming championships to break Pellegrini’s world record.

June 28 — Mariano Rivera earned his 500th save, becoming the second reliever to reach the milestone, and the New York Yankees beat the Mets 4-2 for a Subway Series sweep. Rivera even contributed offensively by drawing a bases-loaded walk from Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth for his first career RBI.

June 28 — Teenager Joey Logano became the youngest winner in the history of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, winning the rain-shortened race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The 19-year-old rookie came back from a crash in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 and won his first Cup race in his 20th start.

June 29 — Indoor tennis at Wimbledon. The new retractable roof over Centre Court was closed after rain halted play during a fourth-round match with Amelie Mauresmo leading top-ranked Dinara Safina, 6-4, 1-4.

June 30 — Nick Markakis hit a two-run double off Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon to complete the biggest comeback in Baltimore Orioles history for an 11-10 win. Baltimore trailed 10-1 before scoring five runs in the seventh inning and five more in the eighth.

July 1 — Spain’s Aschwin Wildeboer Faber set a world record in the 100-meter backstroke with a 52.38-second leg in the 4×100 medley relay final at the Mediterranean Games. Faber’s time beat American Aaron Peirsol’s 52.54 mark set in the Beijing Olympics. Spain won the relay in 3:34.22.

July 1 — Hanley Ramirez extended his RBI streak to 10 games in the Florida Marlins’ 5-3 victory over the Washington Nationals. Ramirez hit a two-run double in the third inning to become the first shortstop in NL history with an RBI streak of double-digit games.

July 2 — The Williams sisters advanced to another Grand Slam final — Venus for the eighth time and Serena for the fifth. The Williams-vs.-Williams final was the fourth at the All England Club and eighth in a Grand Slam title match. Two-time champion Serena overcame Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6 in a tense, drama-filled match. Venus completed a 6-1, 6-0 demolition of Dinara Safina in 51 minutes — the most lopsided women’s semifinal since 1969.

July 2 — The Astros beat the San Diego Padres 7-2, but only after waiting out a 52-minute delay in the top of the ninth inning caused when a swarm of bees took over part of left field at Petco Park.

July 3 — Roger Federer beat Tommy Haas in straight sets to move within one win of a record 15th Grand Slam title. Federer won 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-3 to become the first man to make it to seven consecutive Wimbledon finals in the history of a tournament that began in 1877. The five-time champion reached his record 20th Grand Slam final, breaking a tie with Ivan Lendl.

July 4 — Serena Williams beat her big sister Venus 7-6 (3), 6-2 for her third Wimbledon title and 11th Grand Slam championship. In the fourth all-Williams final at Wimbledon, Serena came out on top for the third time.

July 5 — Roger Federer won his record 15th Grand Slam title when he outlasted Andy Roddick for his sixth Wimbledon championship in a marathon match that went to 16-14 in the fifth set. Federer served 50 aces and overcame the resilient American 5-7, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 16-14 to break the record of major titles he shared with Pete Sampras.

July 6 — Chase Utley hit a three-run homer and Shane Victorino and Greg Dobbs each had two-run shots during a 10-run first inning, helping the Philadelphia Phillies rout the Cincinnati Reds 22-1.

July 7 — Paul Konerko hit a career-high three home runs, including a go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning, to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 10-6 win over Cleveland.

July 8 — Andruw Jones homered in his first three at-bats to help Texas rout the Los Angeles Angels 8-1.

July 8 — Aaron Peirsol reclaimed his world record in the 100-meter backstroke at the U.S. national championships in Indianapolis. Peirsol became the first person ever to swim under 52 seconds in the event, finishing in 51.94. Spain’s Aschwin Wildeboer Faber set the record on July 1, swimming in 52.38 on the backstroke leg of the 400 medley relay at the Mediterranean Games.

July 9 — Michael Phelps broke the world record in the 100-meter butterfly at the U.S. national championships in Indianapolis. Phelps swam the two-lap final in 50.22 seconds, lowering Ian Crocker’s mark of 50.40 set at the 2005 world championships in Montreal.

July 10 — Jonathan Sanchez pitched the majors’ first no-hitter this season, recording a career-high 11 strikeouts in San Francisco’s 8-0 win over the San Diego Padres. The only runner the Padres managed came on an error by third baseman Juan Uribe in the eighth.

July 11 — Nick Johnson, Josh Willingham and Adam Dunn homered in consecutive at-bats and the Nationals set season highs for hits and runs in a 13-2 win at Houston.

July 11 — Aaron Peirsol broke the world record in the 200-meter backstroke at the U.S. national championships in Indianapolis. Peirsol finished in 1:53.08, beating Ryan Lochte who owned the previous mark of 1:53.94 set in Beijing.

July 12 — Eun Hee Ji of South Korea made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole, finishing off an even-par 71 to win the U.S. Women’s Open. Ji finished at even-par 284, one stroke better than Candie Kung of Taiwan who had a 2-under 69.

July 14 — The American League continued its dominance over the National League with a 4-3 win in the All-Star game. Carl Crawford of Tampa, robbed Brad Hawpe of a go-ahead homer in the eighth and took home MVP honors. The AL, 12-0-1 since its 1996 defeat at Philadelphia, continued the longest unbeaten streak in All-Star history.

July 15 — Richard Gasquet escaped a lengthy doping ban when the International Tennis Federation’s tribunal panel ruled that he inadvertently took cocaine by kissing a woman in a nightclub. The 23-year-old Frenchman, who was cleared to resume playing after completing a 2 1/2-month ban. The ITF provisionally suspended Gasquet when the test result was announced in May and he was forced to miss the French Open and Wimbledon.

July 19 — Stewart Cink wins the British Open in a playoff. Tom Watson squandered a chance to become golf’s oldest major champion. The 59-year-old missed an 8-foot putt on the 72nd hole of the British Open, then lost a four-hole playoff by six shots.

July 19 — Eighty-one-year-old Hershel McGriff became the oldest driver to take part in a national NASCAR series race, finishing 13th in a Camping World West Series event at Portland International Raceway.

July 20 — Lauren Lappin homered to start a three-run rally in the third inning, and the United States beat Australia 3-1 in the World Cup of Softball championship game at Oklahoma City.

July 21 — China’s Guo Jingjing won her fifth straight world championship in 3-meter springboard. Guo finished with 388.20 points, far ahead of anyone else in the 12-woman final. Guo captured her first springboard world title in 2001, and she hasn’t lost since in the every-other-year competition. She also is a two-time Olympic champion in the event and has nine world titles overall.

July 23 — Mark Buehrle pitched the 18th perfect game in major league history, a 5-0 win over Tampa Bay. Buehrle fanned six in his second no-hitter — the first coming on April 18, 2007, against Texas. Chicago’s DeWayne Wise, just into the game as a defensive replacement, robbed Gabe Kapler of a leadoff home run in the ninth inning to preserve the perfect game.

July 24 — Ron Hornaday Jr., held off a late challenge from Mike Skinner to win the AAA Insurance 200, making him the first driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to win four consecutive races.

July 24 — Swimming’s governing body, FINA, passed a rule banning the sort of high-tech bodysuits that have been credited — or blamed — for rewriting the record book. More than 100 world marks fell in 2008. Nearly 30 had already gone down this year.

July 25 — Mark Calcavecchia birdied nine straight holes at the Canadian Open to break the PGA Tour record. He broke the record set by Bob Goalby in his 1961 St. Petersburg Open victory and matched by five others. Calcavecchia opened the second round Saturday with two pars, then reeled off the nine straight birdies.

July 26 — Alberto Contador won the Tour de France for a second time, and Lance Armstrong capped his return to the race with an impressive third-place finish. Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, Contador’s biggest rival among title contenders in the mountains, was second overall.

July 27 — Michael Vick was reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

July 27 — Washington’s Josh Willingham became the 13th player to hit two grand slams in a game, achieving the feat in the Nationals’ 14-6 win at Milwaukee.

July 27 — Nick Swisher homered from both sides of the plate for the New York Yankees in an 11-4 win over Tampa Bay.

July 28 — Chicago White Sox ace Mark Buehrle set a major league record by retiring 45 straight batters. Coming off a perfect game in his last start against Tampa Bay, Buehrle retired the first 17 Twins batters to surpass the record of 41 straight set by and San Francisco’s Jim Barr in 1972 and tied by teammate Bobby Jenks, a reliever, in 2007. The streak ended with two outs in the sixth and Minnesota went on to win 5-3.

July 28 — Germany’s Paul Biedermann handed Michael Phelps his first major individual loss in four years, setting a world record in the 200-meter freestyle at the world championships in Rome. Biedermann touched in 1:42.00, beating Phelps’ record of 1:42.96 set at last year’s Beijing Olympics. Phelps was a body length behind, touching in 1:43.22. It was Phelps’ first loss in a major international meet since Ian Crocker beat him in the final of the 100 butterfly at the 2005 world championships.

Aug. 1 — Rachel Alexandra beat the boys again to win the $1.25 million Haskell Ivitational at Monmouth Park and establish herself as one of the greatest fillies in thoroughbred racing. The bay filly, ridden by Calvin Borel, beat Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird by six lengths.

Aug. 1 — Andrew McCutchen homered three times and had a career-high six RBIs to help Pittsburgh rout Washington 11-6.

Aug. 2 — Melky Cabrera became the first Yankees player in 14 years to hit for the cycle, leading New York to an 8-5 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

Aug. 2 — Catriona Matthew won the Women’s British Open for her first major title, beating Karrie Webb by three strokes just 10 weeks after giving birth to her second child. Matthew closed with a 1-over 71 to finish at 3-under 285 at historic Royal Lytham and St. Annes. Webb finished with a 68.

Aug. 2 — The World Swimming championships in Rome ended with Michael Phelps helping the U.S. 400-meter medley relay team set the 43rd world record of the fastest meet in history. Phelps captured five golds and a silver at the Foro Italico.

Aug. 6 — Orlando Magic forward Rashard Lewis tested positive for an elevated testosterone level and was suspended for the first 10 regular-season games for which he is eligible and physically able to play.

Aug. 6 — In Dayton, Ohio, minor league pitcher Julio Castillo who threw a baseball that went into the stands and injured a fan during an on-field melee in Ohio last year was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years probation.

Aug. 6 — Andy Roddick won the 500th match of his professional career with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Sam Querrey in the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic. Roddick became the 36th player to reach the milestone.

Aug. 6 — Jessica Hardy, returning from a one-year ban because of a failed drug test, set the world record in the 50 breaststroke with a split of 29.95 seconds when she time-trialed the 100 breaststroke at the U.S. Open.

Aug. 7 — Jessica Hardy broke the world record in the 100-meter breaststroke by nearly half a second at the U.S. Open. The American was timed in 1:04.45, lowering the old mark of 1:04.84 set by American Rebecca Soni at last month’s world championships in Rome.

Aug. 9 — Jennifer Song became the second woman to win two U.S. Golf Association championships in the same year, beating Jennifer Johnson 3 and 1 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur final. The 19-year-old Song, coming off her freshman year at Southern California, won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links in June. Pearl Sinn is the only other woman to win two USGA titles in a year, taking the 1988 Amateur and Public Links. Five men have accomplished the feat.

Aug. 9 — Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira hit consecutive homers in the eighth inning to lead the New York Yankees to a 5-2 victory and a four-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox. It was the sixth time this season Damon and Teixeira hit consecutive homers, the most ever for a pair of Yankees in one season.

Aug. 10 — Troy Tulowitzki had five hits, hit for the cycle and had a career-high seven RBIs to help Colorado beat the Chicago Cubs 11-5.

Aug. 13 — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Cleveland Browns receiver Donte’ Stallworth for the entire season, barring him from team activities until he is reinstated after the Super Bowl. Stallworth struck 59-year-old crane operator Mario Reyes the morning of March 14 in Miami. He pleaded guilty June 16 to DUI manslaughter, a second-degree felony, and was suspended indefinitely by Goodell two days later. Stallworth drew a 30-day jail sentence and reached an undisclosed financial settlement with the family of Reyes.

Aug. 13 — Police charged John Macchione, 21, with two misdemeanor counts in connection with a beer-throwing incident at Wrigley Field that showered Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino on Aug. 12.

Aug. 13 — Jonny Gomes homered in his first three at-bats in Cincinnati’s 7-0 victory over Washington.

Aug. 14 — Felix Pie became the fourth player in Orioles history to hit for the cycle, and Baltimore tied club records for extra-base hits and doubles in a 16-6 rout of the Los Angeles Angels.

Aug. 14 — New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning officially became the NFL’s highest paid player. Manning signed the six-year extension through 2015, paying him an average salary of $15.3 million starting next season. Manning was guaranteed $35 million under terms of the $97 million extension.

Aug. 14 — The Philadelphia Eagles signed quarterback Michael Vick.

Aug. 16 — Y.E. Yang of South Korea became the first Asian player to win one of golf’s majors with a three-stroke win over Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship. Yang shot 2-under 70 and finished at 8-under 280 and Woods, who led by two strokes when the day began, shot a 75.

Aug. 16 — Usain Bolt ran to another world record, winning the 100-meter race in 9.58 seconds at the world championships in Berlin. Bolt shaved .11 seconds off the record he set at the Beijing Olympics, beating defending champion Tyson Gay, who set a U.S. record of 9.71 seconds.

Aug. 19 — Facing questions about her gender, South African teenager Caster Semenya easily won the 800-meter gold medal at the world championships in Berlin. Her win came on the same day track and field’s ruling body said she was undergoing a gender test because of concerns she does not meet requirements to compete as a woman.

Aug. 20 — Usain Bolt set a world record of 19.19 seconds in the 200 meters at the world championships, adding to the gold he won in the 100. Exactly one year after taking gold at the Beijing Games with a record of 19.30, Bolt had an even greater run, shaving 0.11 seconds off his previous mark.

Aug. 20 — Facing the prospect of spending at least 3 1/2 years behind bars, one-time Super Bowl star Plaxico Burress accepted a plea bargain with a two-year prison sentence for accidentally shooting himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub.

Aug. 20 — Trey Hardee of the United States won the decathlon gold medal at the world championships at Berlin. Hardee had personal bests in three of the 10 events and collected 8,790 points for the gold medal, his highest total to date and the best in the world this year.

Aug. 20 — The NCAA stripped Memphis of every victory in its 38-win season under coach John Calipari that ended in the national title game last year, saying the school used an ineligible player.

Aug. 22 — Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland set a world record of 255 feet, 9 inches in the women’s hammer throw at the world championships in Berlin. Wlodarczyk broke the old record of 255-3 set by Tatyana Lysenko of Russia in 2006.

Aug. 23 — Eric Bruntlett turned an unassisted triple play to finish Philadelphia’s wild 9-7 victory over the New York Mets.

Aug. 23 — Morgan Pressel delivered the clinching point with her 3-and-2 victory over Anna Nordqvist, and the Americans won their third straight Solheim Cup with a 16-12 decision over Europe.

Aug. 24 — Quarterback Philip Rivers signed a six-year contract extension through the 2015 season with the San Diego Chargers worth $93 million, with $38 million guaranteed.

Aug. 28 — Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia broke her pole vault record again with a leap of 16 feet, 7 1/4 inches. She set her latest record on her first attempt at the Weltklasse meet. Isinbayeva has broken the outdoor and indoor marks 27 times. Her previous mark of 16-6 3/4 came a year ago at the Beijing Games.

Aug. 28 — John Hester hit a long homer in his first major league at-bat, helping Arizona beat Houston 14-7. Hester became the 101st player to homer in his first big league at-bat — and the second Diamondbacks player this season. Gerardo Parra did it May 13 against Cincinnati.

Aug. 30 — For the second straight year, the U.S. Amateur crowned the youngest champion in a history that dates to 1895. Byeong Hun-An defeated Clemson senior Ben Martin 7 and 5 in the 36-hole final. An, who turns 18 on Sept. 17 and is the second straight champion born in South Korea, is about a month and a half younger than Danny Lee was when he broke Tiger Woods’ record last year.

Aug. 30 — California came up big late to win the Little League World Series. Bulla Graft’s single scored the go-ahead run in the fourth inning and Chula Vista rallied to defeat Taoyuan, Taiwan, 6-3 to take the Little League crown.

Sept. 3 — Jorge Posada hit his 20th homer of the season and drove in four runs to help New York beat Toronto 7-5. Posada’s homer gave New York a major league-leading seven players with at least 20 — the first time in team history. The seven 20-homer players matches a major league record done three times previously.

Sept. 4 — Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount was suspended for the remainder of season after he slugged Boise State defensive end Byron Hout following the 16th-ranked Ducks’ 19-8 loss to No. 14 Boise State.

Sept. 4 — Kenya beat the oldest world record in track at the Van Damme Memorial, eclipsing the 32-year-old 4×1,500 meter mark of West Germany. William Biwott, Gideon Gathimba, Geoffrey Rono and Augustine Choge clocked 14:36.23, more than 2 1/2 seconds better than the old record of 14:38.8 set by the West Germans in 1977.

Sept. 5 — Iowa blocked two field goals in the closing seconds to hold off lower-division Northern Iowa 17-16. After the Hawkeyes’ Broderick Binns blocked Billy Hallgren’s 40-yard try on first down, Iowa’s Jeremiha Hunter wanted to scoop up the loose ball. But teammates told him to leave it alone, and the Panthers recovered and got a second chance to win the game. Hunter snuffed the second kick and the Hawkeyes walked away with an improbable victory.

Sept. 6 — Chris Young hit three home runs in Arizona’s 13-5 loss to Colorado. He began the game at Coors Field with only seven homers in 340 at-bats this season.

Sept. 7 — The Pittsburgh Pirates were assured of a record-breaking 17th straight losing season, falling to the Chicago Cubs 4-2. By losing their 10th in 11 games, the Pirates dropped to 54-82 and will finish below .500, just as they have every season since 1993. The string of losing seasons — which followed the Pirates’ three consecutive NL East titles from 1990-92 — is the longest for any team in the four major North American pro team sports. Only the Phillies (1933-48) have had as many as 16 losing seasons in a row.

Sept. 7 — Runnning Brook Gal won the All American Futurity. The 2-year-old Utah filly, got a clean break on a wet track and wasted no time getting into a full sprint to win the $2 million All American Futurity, the biggest event in quarter horse racing.

Sept. 7 — John Isner lost to 10th-seeded Fernando Verdasco in four sets. With his loss, no American man in the quarterfinals for the first time in history of a tournament that started 128 years ago.

Sept. 12 — Serena Williams was closed out on a foot fault and a point penalty in the women’s U.S. Open semifinal match against Kim Clijsters. Williams’ tirade began after a line judge called her for a foot fault, on a second serve, leading to match point. After her outburst, Williams received the point penalty for her reaction, ending the match. She was fined $10,000 for her conduct.

Sept. 13 — Ichiro Suzuki became the first player in major league history with at least 200 hits in nine straight seasons. In the second inning of the nightcap of doubleheader, Suzuki beat out a slow roller to shortstop Elvis Andrus to break a tie with Willie Keeler, who did it for eight consecutive seasons (1894-1901).

Sept. 13 — Drew Brees of New Orleans matched a franchise record with six touchdown passes, finishing with 358 yards in a 45-27 victory over Detroit.

Sept. 13 — Brandon Stokley only caught one pass — but it was a big one. He grabbed a deflection and ran 87 yards with 11 seconds left to give Denver a 12-7 win over Cincinnati. Stokley even burned a few extra seconds by taking his time going into the end zone.

Sept. 13 — Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets became the fourth rookie quarterback since the merger to win his first start on opening day on the road. Sanchez completed 18 of 31 passes for 272 yards with a touchdown and an interception in a 24-7 win at Houston.

Sept. 13 — Kim Clijsters made history capping a comeback from two years out of tennis to become the first unseeded woman to win the U.S. Open — and the first mom to win a major since 1980. Clijsters won her second U.S. Open title with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over No. 9 Caroline Wozniacki.

Sept. 14 — Roger Federer amazingly let the U.S. Open championship slip from his grasp two points from victory against Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. The sixth-seeded del Potro came back to win his first Grand Slam title by upsetting the No. 1-seeded Federer 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2. The Williams sisters won the U.S. Open women’s doubles title. Serena teamed with her older sister, Venus, to defeat defending champions Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6-2, 6-2 for their 10th career Grand Slam doubles title.

Sept. 15 — David Ortiz hit his record-breaking 270th homer as a designated hitter and had an RBI single in Boston’s 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

Sept. 16 — The NFL assessed $125,000 in fines to the New York Jets and former coach Eric Mangini for violating the league’s rules on injury reporting with former quarterback Brett Favre last season. The league announced it had fined the Jets $75,000, and Mangini and Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum $25,000 apiece.

Sept. 18 — Radek Stepanek overcame a record 78 aces to defeat Ivo Karlovic in five sets in one of the longest matches in tennis history, giving the Czech Republic a 1-0 lead over Croatia in the Davis Cup semifinals. Stepanek won 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-7 (2), 16-14 in a match that lasted 5 hours, 59 minutes. The longest known Davis Cup match was 6 hours, 22 minutes between John McEnroe and Mats Wilander in 1982. The 82 games equaled the Davis Cup record since tiebreakers were introduced in 1989.

Sept. 19 — Texas College of the NAIA was trounced 75-6 by Texas Southern, a week after losing 92-0 to Stephen F. Austin. The Steers fell to 0-4, being outscored 300-12.

Sept. 20 — The Chicago Cubs suspended volatile outfielder Milton Bradley for the rest of the season, one day after he criticized the team in a newspaper interview.

Sept. 20 — The first game at the Cowboys Stadium set an NFL regular-season attendance record with a crowd of 105,121, and most of them went home disappointed after the Giants won 33-31. The game broke the previous mark of 103,467 between Arizona and San Francisco in Mexico City in 2005.

Sept. 20 — Minnesota Vikings QB Brett Favre set an NFL record with his 271st straight start in a 27-13 win over the Detroit Lions. Defensive end Jim Marshall had the previous mark for consecutive starts, 270 games in a row for Minnesota from 1961-1979. The Lions lost their 19th straight game and tie the second-longest skid in NFL history. The Chicago Cardinals, in the 1940s, and the Oakland Raiders, in the 1960s, also lost 19 straight.

Sept. 20 — Philip Rivers threw for a career-high 436 yards and two touchdowns in San Diego’s 31-26 loss to Baltimore.

Sept. 20 — Frank Gore rushed for 207 yards, including a 79-yard and 80-yard touchdowns, in San Francisco’s 23-10 win over Seattle. Gore became only the second player in NFL history to have two TD runs of 79 or more yards in the same game, joining Barry Sanders. Sanders had runs of 80 and 82 yards at Tampa Bay on Oct. 12, 1997.

Sept. 20 — Arizona’s Kurt Warner completed his first 15 passes and broke the NFL’s single-game record for completion percentage in the Cardinals’ 31-17 win over Jacksonville. By completing 92.3 percent of his passes, he broke the previous record set by Vinny Testaverde in 1993. Testaverde, playing for Cleveland, completed 21 of 23 passes against the Los Angeles Rams.

Sept. 20 — New Orleans beat Philadelphia 48-22, making the Saints the first team to score at least 45 points in the first two games of the season since the 1968 Oakland Raiders. The Saints opened the season with a 45-27 victory over Detroit.

Sept. 24 — Los Angeles beat Washington 7-6 to hand the Nationals their 100th loss of the season. The Nationals, who were 59-102 last season, are the first NL franchise to lose 100 games in consecutive seasons since the San Diego Padres, who dropped 102 in both 1973 and 1974.

Sept. 26 — Brandon Banks of Kansas State became the 12th player in NCAA history to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in a game. Banks had a 93-yard return in the first quarter following a touchdown by Tennessee Tech. Then he caught the second-half kickoff on the Kansas State 8 and went 92 yards to tie the NCAA one-game record.

Sept. 27 — Japan’s Kimiko Date Krumm, one day shy of her 39th birthday, became the oldest winner of a WTA Tour tournament since Billie Jean King in 1983. Date Krumm beat second-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-3, 6-3 for the Korea Open title. King was 39 years, 7 months, 23 days when she won at Birmingham, England. The title was Date Krumm’s first in 13 years and eighth of her career.

Sept. 27 — With rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford leading the way, Detroit ended a 19-game losing streak with a 19-14 victory over the Washington Redskins. The Lions had not won since Dec. 23, 2007, and their skid matched the second longest in NFL history.

Sept. 27 — Mark Sanchez of the New York Jets became the first rookie quarterback to win his team’s first three games of the season after leading the Jets to a 24-17 win over Tennessee.

Sept. 27 — Philadelphia’s Kevon Kolb passed for 327 yards in a 34-14 win over Kansas City. Kolb became the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for 300 yards in each of his first two career starts.

Sept. 27 — New England beat Atlanta 26-10 for the 16th straight regular-season victory of the NFC, the longest steak any team has posted against the opposite conference since the 1970 merger.

Sept. 27 — Pittsburgh’s Hines Ward had 82 yards receiving in a 23-20 loss to Cincinnati to surpass the 10,000-yard mark (10,022).

Sept. 27 — The New York Yankees beat Boston 4-2 to clinch the AL East title and home-field advantage throughout the postseason. The Yankees won their 16th division title since 1969, matching Atlanta’s mark.

Sept. 29 — Toronto hit six homers — three for Adam Lind — to beat the Boston 8-7 to send them to their fifth consecutive loss. But Boston backed into the AL wild-card berth when the Angels beat the Rangers 5-2 and eliminated Texas from the race.

Sept. 29 — Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi was named the WNBA’s most valuable player. Taurasi, a four-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, led the league in scoring at 23.8 points per game as the Mercury went a league-best 23-11 in the regular season.

Sept. 30 — Francisco Rodriguez of the New York Mets became the first pitcher since Lee Smith in 1995 to allow two game-ending grand slams in the same season. Justin Maxwell’s two-out homer capped a five-run ninth inning off the All-Star closer and gave Washington a 7-4 victory.

Oct. 1 — Pitcher Chris Carpenter hit a grand slam and drove in six runs to lead St. Louis to a 13-0 victory over the Reds. Carpenter’s first career homer capped a five-run second inning for the Cardinals. He added a two-run double during a four-run fifth to match the career RBI total he brought into the game. The last pitcher to have six RBIs in a game was Micah Owings for Arizona at Atlanta on Aug. 18, 2007.

Oct. 2 — Rio de Janeiro was awarded the 2016 Olympics, putting the games in South America for the first time.

Oct. 2 — Ninth-grader Alexis Thompson shot a 3-under 69 for a share of the lead with top-ranked Lorena Ochoa and three others after the second round of the Navistar LPGA Classic. Ochoa would win the event, snapping an 11-start winless streak. The 14-year-old Thompson would finish tied for 27th at 6 under.

Oct. 2 — B.J. Upton became the first player in Tampa Bay history to hit for the cycle. He went 5 for 5 with a career-high six RBIs in a 13-4 win over the Yankees.

Oct. 3 — Donald Buckram and Texas-El Paso ran all over Houston, knocking off the 12th-ranked Cougars in a 58-41 shootout. Buckram ran for 262 yards and four touchdowns. Case Keenum completed 51 of 76 passes for 536 yards and five touchdowns for the Cougars.

Oct. 4 — Aqib Talib had three interceptions in Tampa Bay’s 16-13 loss at Washington.

Oct. 4 — Peyton Manning set a franchise record by throwing for 300 or more yards in four consecutive games, going 31 of 41 for 353 yards in a 34-17 victory over Seattle. Manning connected with Reggie Wayne and joined Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks in league history to throw 55 TD passes to two different receivers.

Oct. 4 — Minnesota beat Kansas City 13-4 to force a one-game playoff with Detroit. The slumping Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3.

Oct. 4 — Alex Rodriguez homered twice and drove in an AL-record seven runs in a 10-run sixth inning as New York pounded Tampa Bay 10-2. Rodriguez hit a three-run homer off Wade Davis, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead. He added his 18th career grand slam later in the inning after Andy Sonnanstine issued an intentional walk to league co-home run champion Mark Teixeira to load the bases.

Oct. 4 — New Orleans safety Darren Sharper had a 99-yard interception return for a touchdown in a 24-10 win over the New York Jets. It was the 10th career interception for a touchdown. Only Rod Woodson has more with 12.

Oct. 6 — Alexi Casilla singled home the winning run with one out in the 12th inning to lead Minnesota to a 6-5 victory over Detroit, giving the Twins the AL Central Division title. The Tigers held a seven-game lead on the Twins on Sept. 6, but limped to an 11-16 finish.

Oct. 8 — Matt Holliday botched a catch with two outs in the ninth inning, leading to a two-run rally that gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a 3-2 victory and a 2-0 lead over St. Louis in the best-of-5 NL series.

Oct. 8 — J.P. Losman threw two touchdowns passes and Dede Dorsey scored twice to help the Las Vegas Locomotives win the first game in United Football League history, 30-17 over the California Redwoods.

Oct. 9 — Golf and rugby were added to the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics.

Oct. 9 — Diana Taurasi scored 26 points and Cappie Pondexter added 24 as the Phoenix Mercury held off the tenacious Indiana Fever 94-86 in the deciding Game 5 of the WNBA finals.

Oct. 9 — Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez hit homers to give New York a 4-3, 11-inning victory over the Minnesota Twins and a 2-0 lead in their AL playoff series. Rodriguez hit a tying, two-run homer off Joe Nathan in the ninth after a leadoff single by Teixeira. Teixeira hit a leadoff drive in the 11th inning for the win.

Oct. 10 — Conor Casey scored his first two international goals in the second half, Landon Donovan added another and the United States clinched its sixth straight World Cup berth by rallying past Honduras 3-2.

Oct. 11 — Miles Austin caught 10 passes for a franchise-record 250 yards and scored the winning TD in OT in Dallas’ 26-20 win over Kansas City.

Oct. 11 — Roddy White set a team record with 210 yards receiving on eight catches and scored two TDs in Atlanta’s 45-10 win over San Francisco.

Oct. 11 — Peyton Manning finished 36 for 44 for 309 yards and three TD passes in Indianapolis’ 31-9 win over Tennessee. With his 309-yard performance, Manning joined Kurt Warner and Steve Young as the only NFL quarterbacks to open a season by throwing for at least 300 yards in the first five games.

Oct. 11 — Kurt Warner passed for 301 yards in Arizona’s 28-21 win over Houston. It was the 50th 300-yard game for Warner in 113 games, making him the fastest to reach 50 in NFL history. Dan Marino, who took 176 games to reach the mark, was the fastest.

Oct. 11 — Michael Vick completed his first pass in 33 months and had an 11-yard run in Philadelphia’s 33-14 win over Tampa Bay.

Oct. 11 — The Los Angeles Angels shrugged off their postseason failures and beat Boston 7-6, scoring three runs off Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth inning to advance to the AL championship series.

Oct. 12 — Ryan Howard hit a two-run double with two outs in the ninth inning and scored on Jayson Werth’s single as Philadelphia rallied past the Colorado Rockies 5-4 in Game 4 to reach the NL championship series.

Oct. 12 — Brent Seabrook scored 26 seconds into overtime and the Chicago Blackhawks matched the biggest comeback in NHL history, rallying from a five-goal deficit to beat the Calgary Flames 6-5. Chicago fell behind 5-0 in the first period before overtaking the Flames.

Oct. 14 — NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. headlined the five inductees into the first Hall of Fame class. Richard Petty, the seven-time Cup champion and NASCAR’s all-time wins leader, Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR’s other seven-time champion, Bill France Jr. and Junior Johnson were the other inductees.

Oct. 15 — Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European defenseman and eighth overall to reach 1,000 points, assisting on two goals in Detroit’s 5-2 win over Los Angeles.

Oct. 17 — Alex Rodriguez hit a tying homer in the 11th inning and the New York Yankees edged Los Angeles 4-3 on Maicer Izturis’ error in the 13th for a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Oct. 18 — Tom Brady, Patriots, threw six touchdown passes — five in one quarter, an NFL mark, in a 59-0 win in the snow against Tennessee. Brady’s five TD passes in the second quarter were a record for one period. The six touchdown throws tied Brady’s own Patriots record. The 59-point margin matched the largest since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the Los Angeles Rams’ 59-0 win over the Atlanta Falcons in 1976. New England’s 45-0 halftime lead was the biggest in league history.

Oct. 18 — Kurt Warner of Arizona completed 32 of 41 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-3 victory over Seattle. Warner tied Dan Marino’s NFL record for being the fastest to throw for 30,000 yards, 114 games.

Oct. 18 — Thomas Jones set a franchise-record with 210 yards rushing and the New York Jets finished with 318 yards on the ground in a 16-13 overtime loss to Buffalo.

Oct. 18 — Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger had his second career 400-yard game to lead the Steelers to their 12th consecutive victory against Cleveland. Roethlisberger was 23 of 35 for 417 yards in the 27-14 win over the Browns.

Oct. 19 — The WNBA’s Detroit Shock announced a move to Tulsa, Okla. Detroit made its debut in the league in 1998 and won titles in 2003, 2006 and 2008.

Oct. 19 — Jeff Mathis drove home Howie Kendrick with a two-out double in the 11th inning, and the Angels survived a second straight ALCS thriller, beating New York 5-4 to trim the Yankees’ series lead to 2-1.

Oct. 19 — Jimmy Rollins lined a two-run double with two outs in the ninth inning off closer Jonathan Broxton and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 for a 3-1 lead in the NL championship series.

Oct. 21 — Olympic champion Liu Zige knocked a stunning 1.6 seconds off the world record in the women’s 200-meter butterfly at China’s National Games. Liu was timed in 2:01.81, eclipsing the previous world mark of 2:03.41 set by Australia’s Jessicah Schipper at the world championships in July.

Oct. 21 — Jayson Werth homered twice, Shane Victorino and Pedro Feliz also connected and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 in Game 5 to win their second straight NL pennant.

Oct. 22 — The Los Angeles Angels responded to the Yankees’ six-run comeback with a three-run rally of their own in the seventh inning for a 7-6 victory. The inning a jaw-dropping, 45-minute, 63-pitch frame trimmed the New York’s ALCS lead to 3-2.

Oct. 25 — The Vikings-Steelers game was the first in NFL history to feature three return touchdowns of 75 yards or longer in a fourth quarter. All three scores — two by Pittsburgh, one by Minnesota — came in the final 6 1/2 minutes of Pittsburgh’s 27-17 victory. LaMarr Woodley returned Brett Keisel’s forced fumble of Brett Favre 77 yards to push the Steelers’ lead to 20-10 with 6:23 remaining. Percy Harvin answered 14 seconds later with an 88-yard kickoff return. The Steelers completed the frantic fourth quarter by scoring on linebacker Keyaron Fox’s 82-yard return of an interception with one minute remaining.

Oct. 25 — Shonn Greene ran for 144 yards and two scores, and Thomas Jones had 121 yards and a touchdown in the New York Jets’ 38-0 win over Oakland. After gaining 318 yards rushing last week, the Jets became the sixth team to top 300 in consecutive games, and first since Buffalo did it in 1975.

Oct. 25 — The New York Yankees, the sport’s top spenders finally cashed in with their first pennant in six years, beating the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 in Game 6 of the AL championship series.

Oct. 26 — Chicago dropped Minnesota to 0-8 on the road with a 3-1 win. Minnesota became the first NHL team to earn zero points in its opening eight road games since Pittsburgh in 1996.

Oct. 27 — The $845 million sale of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field and other assets from the Tribune Co. to the Ricketts family was completed, more than 2 1/2 years after the baseball franchise was put on the market.

Oct. 28 — Chase Utley hit two solo homers off CC Sabathia to help the defending champion Philaldelphia Phillies beat the New York Yankees 6-1 in Game 1 of the World Series.

Oct. 31 — Houston’s Case Keenum threw for a career-high 559 yards and had five touchdowns, the last a 46-yarder to Patrick Edwards with 21 seconds remaining, and the No. 15 Cougars beat Southern Mississippi 50-43.

Oct. 31 — Terrell Hudgins of Elon set an FCS (formerly I-AA) record with his 24th 100 yard receiving game, surpassing NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, who set the previous mark from 1981-84 at Mississippi Valley State. Hudgins had 11 catches for 153 yards and three touchdowns as Elon beat Wofford 34-6.

Oct. 31 — Niklas Backstrom made 34 saves and Minnesota won on the road for the first time this season with a 2-1 win at Pittsburgh. Kyle Brodziak and Eric Belanger scored in the first period for the Wild, who avoided being the first NHL team in 17 years to start 0-9 on the road.

Nov. 1 — Chris Johnson finished with 24 carries for a franchise-record 228 yards and two touchdowns in Tennessee’s 30-13 win over Jacksonville. Chris Johnson scored on runs of 52 and 89 yards and Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew scored from 80 and 79 yards. It was the only game in league history with four touchdowns rushing of 50 yards or longer.

Nov. 1 — Ted Ginn Jr. ran back kickoffs 100 and 101 yards for touchdowns in Miami’s 30-25 win over the New York Jets. Ginn, the first to have two touchdowns of 100 yards in the same game, also became the first player to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same quarter since Green Bay’s Travis Williams in 1967.

Nov. 1 — Jairus Byrd had two interceptions in Buffalo’s 31-10 loss to Houston. Byrd became the first player since San Francisco’s Dave Baker in 1960 to have two or more interceptions in three straight games.

Nov. 1 — Matt Stover was 4 for 4 on field goals in Indianapolis’ 18-14 win over San Francisco. The Colts’ Jim Caldwell became the first rookie coach since the 1970 merger to win his first seven NFL games.

Nov. 1 — Meb Keflezighi, became the first U.S. man in 27 years to win the New York City Marathon. Keflezighi, who moved from his native Eritrea to San Diego when he was in the sixth grade, finished with a time of 2:09:15 for a personal best. Ethiopian runner Derartu Tulu won the women’s marathon title in 2:28:52.

Nov. 1 — Alex Rodriguez delivered the biggest hit of his career, a go ahead two-out double in the ninth inning off Brad Lidge as the New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-4 for a 3-1 lead in the World Series.

Nov. 2 — The Phoenix Coyotes’ bumpy six-month journey through U.S. Bankruptcy Court came to an end with a judge’s approval of the sale of the franchise to the NHL.

Nov. 2 — Doug Barron, a 40-year-old journeyman who lost his tour card three years ago, became the first player to be suspended by the PGA Tour for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. Barron was suspended for one year.

Nov. 2 — Gerald Wallace had 24 points and 20 rebounds and the Charlotte Bobcats held the New Jersey Nets without a point for more than 10 minutes in rallying for a 79-68 victory. The Nets’ ineptitude allowed Charlotte to go on a 24-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters in the longest scoring drought in the NBA in nearly four years.

Nov. 2 — Chase Utley hit two home runs to raise his World Series total to a record-tying five, Cliff Lee won again and the Philadelphia Phillies staved off elimination with an 8-6 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 5. Utley hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the first off A.J. Burnett and added a solo shot in the seventh. He joined Reggie Jackson as the only players to hit five home runs in a single World Series.

Nov. 4 — Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was released after serving most of a 15-month sentence in a gambling scandal.

Nov. 4 — Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony woke up the unbeaten Nuggets in a 44-point third quarter and Denver continued its best start since 1985-86 with a 122-94 victory over the winless Nets. The win was the fifth straight for Denver, one shy of the 85-86 start, and it handed the Nets their fifth straight loss, tying the worst start in franchise history, set in 1996-97.

Nov. 4 — The New York Yankees won the World Series, beating the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6 behind Hideki Matsui’s record-tying six RBIs. Andy Pettitte won the clinchert, pitching the Yankees to their elusive 27th championship and first since 2000. Matsui homered, doubled and singled, and tied Bobby Richardson’s 49-year-old record for RBIs in a Series game. His two-run homer off Pedro Martinez in the second inning started the Yankees on their way.

Nov. 5 — Nancy Lieberman was named the first female head coach of an NBA Development League team. Lieberman will coach the Frisco franchise that will begin play during the 2010-11 season.

Nov. 6 — Life Is Sweet led a parade of longshots to the winner’s circle at the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita. Garrett Gomez guided Life Is Sweet from last to first during their stretch run for a 2 1/2-length victory in the $2 million Ladies’ Classic. She was the fourth longshot to win in the six Breeders’ Cup races.

Nov. 7 — David Haye won the WBA heavyweight title with a majority decision over Nikolai Valuev in Nuremberg, Germany. The brash British boxer used his superior quickness over the huge Russian. Haye beat the tallest and heaviest champion in history, in his third fight since moving up from cruiserweight.

Nov. 7 — Zenyatta came from last after a poor start and fought off Gio Ponti in the stretch to win the $5 million Classic, beating a loaded field of 11 males and becoming the first female to win the race in its 26-year history. The 5-year-old mare, ridden by Mike Smith, ran her record to 14-0 in the most impressive effort of her career.

Nov. 7 — The New Jersey Devils won their eighth straight road game with a 3-2 comeback victory over the Ottawa Senators. The 8-0 record away from New Jersey is the second-longest road winning streak to open a season in NHL history. The Buffalo Sabres started 10-0 on the road to start the 2006-07 season.

Nov. 8 — Indianapolis became the fourth team in league history with 17 consecutive regular-season wins with a 20-17 victory over Houston. New England did it twice — winning a record 21 straight from 2006-08 and 18 in a row from 2003-04. Chicago won 17 straight from 1933-34. The Colts’ Jim Caldwell became the NFL’s first rookie coach to start 8-0 since Potsy Clark in 1931.

Nov. 8 — Italy clinched the Fed Cup title after Flavia Pennetta beat U.S. Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin 7-5, 6-2. Pennetta’s victory gave the experienced Italians an insurmountable 3-0 lead over a young United States team in the best-of-five series on an outdoor clay court at the Rocco Polimeni club. Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone also scored straight-set singles victories the previous day.

Nov. 9 — Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount, who was suspended for the season after punching a Boise State player in the wake of the season opener, was reinstated. The university requested Blount’s reinstatement, which was approved by Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott. Blount missed eight games.

Nov. 11 — A total of nine world records were set in the World Cup swim meet in Stockholm, three by Jing Zhao of China.

Nov. 12 — Niclas Bergfors had a goal and two assists and the New Jersey Devils closed within a victory of tying the NHL record of 10 consecutive road victories to start a season, beating Pittsburgh 4-1.

Nov. 13 — McKendree coach Harry Statham won his 1,000th game with a 79-49 victory over East-West University. The 72-year-old Statham is 1,000-381 at the NAIA school. Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summit, who is 1005-193 in 35 seasons, is the only other coach of a four-year school to reach 1,000 wins.

Nov. 14 — Toby Gerhart rushed for 178 yards and three touchdowns as Stanford annihilated Southern California 55-21. It was the most points ever conceded by the Trojans, who played their first game in 1888.

Nov. 14 — Daniel Passafiume set the NCAA record for most receptions in a single game, catching 25 passes for Division III Hanover College. Passafiume finished with 153 yards receiving and two touchdowns in a 42-28 loss to Franklin. His 25 receptions were one more than the previous all-divisions mark shared by Jerry Rice and Chas Gessner.

Nov. 14 — Brandon Jennings scored 55 points, breaking Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s franchise rookie record of 51, to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a come-from-behind 129-125 victory over Golden State.

Nov. 14 — Manny Pacquiao put on another dominating performance, knocking down Miguel Cotto twice and turning his face into a bloody mess before finally stopping him 55 seconds into the 12th round. Pacquiao used his blazing speed and power from both hands to win his seventh title in seven weight classes and cement his stature as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Nov. 15 — Donovan McNabb completed 35 for 50 for 450 yards and two touchdowns in Philadelphia’s 31-23 loss to Oakland.

Nov. 15 — Sidney Rice had seven receptions for 201 yards in Minnesota’s 27-10 win over Detroit.

Nov. 15 — Tampa Bay’s Connor Barth tied an NFL record held by three other kickers when he made three field goals of 50 yards or more in a 25-23 loss to Miami. The field goals covered 51, 50 and 54 yards — the three longest kicks of his career. Dan Carpenter of Dolphins made four field goals including the go-ahead 25-yarder with 10 seconds left.

Nov. 15 — Michelle Wie earned her first win on the LPGA Tour, closing with a 3-under 69 to finish two strokes ahead of Paula Creamer in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. The 20-year-old Wie qualified for a USGA event at age 10 and played an LPGA event when she was 12.

Nov. 15 — A weekend short-course World Cup swim meet at Berlin featured 16 world records.

Nov. 16 — The NFL fined Titans owner Bud Adams $250,000 for making an obscene gesture at Buffalo fans while celebrating Tennessee’s 41-17 victory over the Bills.

Nov. 16 — The Philadelphia Flyers edged New Jersey 3-2 to snap the Devils’ eight game winning streak. The Devils fell one win short of tying the NHL record of 10 road victories to start the season, set by the 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres.

Nov. 17 — Kobe Bryant scored 40 points for the 100th time in his career, and the Los Angeles Lakers avoided a rare three-game losing streak with a 106-93 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Bryant trails only Wilt Chamberlain (271) and Michael Jordan (173) in 40-point games in NBA history.

Nov. 19 — South African sports ministry announced South African runner Caster Semenya will keep her 800-meter gold medal from the world championships, and the results of her gender tests will be kept confidential according. The IAAF did not confirm the South African ministry statements.

Nov. 20 — The Sacramento Monarchs, one of the WNBA’s original eight franchises, ceased operations.

Nov. 21 — Colt McCoy passed for 396 yards and four touchdowns, earning his NCAA record 43rd career victory as a starter in a 51-20 win over Kansas.

Nov. 22 — Jimmie Johnson won a NASCAR record fourth consecutive championship with a fifth-place finish in the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Johnson needed only to finish 25th or better to beat teammate Mark Martin in the race, won by Denny Hamlin, to give team owner Rick Hendrick his own NASCAR record, a 12th championship.

Nov. 22 — Robbie Russell scored in the seventh round of penalty kicks and the scrappy underdogs from Real Salt Lake beat David Beckham and the rest of the star-studded Los Angeles Galaxy 5-4 on penalties for its first MLS title.

Nov. 22 — Matthew Stafford completed 26 of 43 for 422 yards and five touchdowns in Detroit’s 38-37 win over Cleveland. Stafford set the record for most yards by a rookie quarterback and became the first rookie to throw five TDs in a game since Ray Buivid did it for the Bears in 1937.

Nov. 22 — Leigh Bodden had three interceptions and returned one of them 53 yards for a touchdown in New England’s 31-14 win over the New York Jets.

Nov. 22 — Indianapolis (10-0) beat Baltimore 17-15 to extend its regular-season winning streak to 19 games. It is the second-longest in NFL history behind a 21-game run by the New England Patriots (2006-08). In addition, their eight consecutive 10-win seasons ranks second behind San Francisco’s 16 (1983-98). The New Orleans Saints, also went to 10-0 with a 38-7 rout of Tampa Bay. It was the third time in NFL history that the league had two 10-0 teams.

Nov. 22 — Brett Favre passed for four touchdowns in Minnesota’s 35-9 rout of Seattle. It was the 22nd game Favre had four or more touchdowns in a game, breaking Dan Marino’s record of 21.

Nov. 23 — Joe Mauer became only the second catcher in 33 years to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award, finishing first in a near-unanimous vote. The Minnesota Twins star, who received 27 of 28 first-place votes, lead the AL in batting average (.365), on-base percentage (.444) and slugging percentage (.587), the first AL player to top all three categories in the same season since George Brett in 1980.

Nov. 23 — Northeastern University announced it was ending its football program after 74 seasons.

Nov. 23 — Dwayne Roloson made 58 saves — the most by an NHL goalie in 18 years — and Josh Bailey scored at 4:18 of overtime to give the New York Islanders a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The last goalie to turn aside at least 58 shots was Ron Tugnutt, who had 70 saves for the Quebec Nordiques at Boston on March 21, 1991.

Nov. 24 — Albert Pujols won the National League MVP unanimously, becoming the first player to repeat since Barry Bonds won four in a row from 2001-04. Pujols also won in 2005. Pujols led the majors in homers (47), runs (124), slugging percentage (.658) and intentional walks (44), and topped the NL in on-base percentage (.443). He was second in the league in doubles (45) and third in batting average (.327) and RBIs (135).

Nov. 24 — Roger Federer rallied to beat Andy Murray 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the ATP World Tour Finals and ensuring he will have the year-end No. 1 ranking for the fifth time.

Nov. 27 — Graham Gano kicked a 33-yard field goal in overtime to give the Las Vegas Locomotives a 20-17 victory over the Florida Tuskers in the inaugural UFL championship game.

Nov. 27 — Carmelo Anthony scored a career-high 50 points as the Denver Nuggets beat the New York Knicks 128-125.

Nov. 28 — Clemson’s C.J. Spiller set an NCAA record with his seventh career kickoff return for a touchdown to start the 15th-ranked Tigers’ 34-17 loss at South Carolina. Spiller surpassed the six of Southern California’s Anthony Davis and Tulsa’s Ashlan Davis.

Nov. 28 — Jang Mi-ran of South Korea set a world record and claimed two gold medals in the women’s super heavyweight division at the World Weightlifting Championships, winning her fourth straight title. Svetlana Podobedova of Kazakhstan set three world records to claim three gold medals in the women’s 165-pound division.

Nov. 29 — A few hours after New Jersey fired coach Lawrence Frank, the Nets matched the worst start to an NBA season. The Nets suffered their 17th straight loss, losing 106-87 to the Los Angeles Lakers,

Nov. 29 — Francesco and Edoardo Molinari became the first brother combination to win the World Cup of Golf, giving Italy its first title in the team event with a one-stroke victory over Sweden and Ireland.

Nov. 29 — Nikolay Davydenko beat U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4 to win the ATP World Tour Finals.

Nov. 29 — The Indianapolis Colts earned their 20th straight regular-season victory with a 35-27 win over Houston. The Colts have come back from a fourth-quarter deficit in each of their past five games and are the first team in NFL history to win five in a row when trailing in the fourth quarter in each contest.

Nov. 29 — Chris Johnson had 18 carries for 154 yards and a touchdown in Tennessee’s 20-17 win over Arizona. Johnson matched the NFL mark held by Earl Campbell (1980) and Eric Dickerson (1984) by running for at least 125 yards in his sixth straight game. Johnson also turned in the most yards rushing in November, a mark previously held by Barry Sanders (1997).

Nov. 30 — Serena Williams was fined a record $82,500 for her tirade at a U.S. Open line judge. Grand Slam administrator Bill Babcock’s ruling said Williams faces a “probationary period” at tennis’ four major championships in 2010 and 2011. If she has another “major offense” at a Grand Slam tournament in that time, the fine would increase to $175,000 and she would be barred from the following U.S. Open.

Dec. 1 — Brent Seabrook scored in the 11th round of a shootout and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 to give coach Joel Quenneville his 500th career victory. Quenneville became the 14th NHL coach to reach 500 wins.

Dec. 2 — The New Jersey Nets were pounded into NBA infamy, falling 117-101 to the Dallas Mavericks for their 18th straight loss to start the season. The Nets passed the 1988-89 Miami Heat and 1999 Los Angeles Clippers, who both dropped their first 17 games.

Dec. 3 — Hofstra announced it will drop football, marking the end of a sport at the school that had been around since the university’s founding in 1937.

Dec. 4 — Central Michigan quarterback Dan LeFevour set the major college football record for touchdowns passing, rushing and receiving as the Chippewas defeated Ohio 20-10 in the Mid-American Conference playoff. LeFevour threw for two scores, giving him 148 career TDs and surpassing the mark set by Hawaii’s Colt Brennan in 2007 and matched by Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell in 2008.

Dec. 4 — The New Jersey Nets won for the first time this season, ending the worst start in NBA history at 18 losses by beating the Charlotte Bobcats 97-91. Brook Lopez had 31 points and 14 rebounds, and Courtney Lee scored a career-high 27 points in his return to the starting lineup for the Nets in their first game under Kiki Vandeweghe, their general manager who will coach the rest of the season.

Dec. 5 — Hunter Lawrence kicked a 46-yard field goal as time expired, and No. 3 Texas defeated 21st-ranked Nebraska 13-12 to win the Big 12 title and avert a BCS meltdown. Texas got a huge break when an out-of-bounds kickoff gave the Longhorns the ball on their 40 with 1:44 to go. Then a replay review put a second back on the clock after it ran down to :00 as McCoy threw the ball out of bounds.

Dec. 5 — Second-ranked Alabama cruised into the national title game, winning the SEC championship with a 32-13 victory against defending national champion and top-ranked Florida.

Dec. 5 — Spain won the Davis Cup for the second straight year clinching the best-of-five series when Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco won the doubles match against Czech Republic.

Dec. 6 — Jessica McDonald scored in the third minute and North Carolina won its second straight NCAA championship on Sunday with a 1-0 win over Stanford in the Women’s College Cup final.

Dec. 6 — Switzerland’s Carlo Janka won the giant slalom to become the first man in more than 2 1/2 years with three consecutive World Cup victories. Janka won the super combined event two days earlier and the downhill yesterday.

Dec. 6 — Indianapolis posted a 27-17 win over Tennessee for its 21st straight. The Colts matched New England’s record, set from 2006-08 and extended their own NFL record of consecutive 12-win seasons to seven, and tied the 1990s San Francisco 49ers for most wins in a decade (113).

Dec. 6 — Drew Brees was 35 for 49 for 419 yards with two touchdowns and one interception as New Orleans stayed undefeated with a 33-30 overtime win at Washington. New Orleans and Indianapolis both improved to 12-0, marking the first time in NFL history that two teams have been unbeaten this late in the season.

Dec. 6 — Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre set an NFL record by playing in his 283rd consecutive game, a 30-17 loss to Arizona. With his first snap against Arizona, the 40-year-old Favre broke the record of 282 held by longtime Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall.

Dec. 6 — LaDainian Tomlinson scored his 150th career TD on a 4-yard run in San Diego’s 30-23 win over Cleveland. Tomlinson reached 150 TDs faster than any player in league history, hitting the milestone in his 137th game. Emmitt Smith needed 160 games to reach 150 and Jerry Rice didn’t score his 150th until his 167th.

Dec. 7 — Manager Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey were elected to the baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.

Dec. 9 — The International Olympic Committee reallocated two individual medals stripped from Marion Jones for doping, but in an unprecedented move withheld her 100-meter prize from Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou because of her “disgraceful” behavior in evading drug tests at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The decision means the first two runners across the line in Sydney have both been denied the winner’s medal for doping violations, and the gold in sprinting’s marquee event will remain without an owner — believed to be a first in the 113-year history of the modern Olympics.

Dec. 9 — Cassidy Schaub rolled consecutive 300 games and set a Professional Bowlers Association 16-game scoring record, averaging 257.25 to retain the second-round lead in the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open. Schaub had a 16-game total of 4,116 pins to erase the PBA record of 4,095 set by John Mazza in Las Vegas in 1996.

Dec. 10 — Steve Sullivan scored the winning goal in the fifth round of the shootout to lift Nashville over Columbus 4-3. Sullivan beat goalie Mathieu Garon with a wrist shot under the goalie’s pad for the winner. Garon had won an NHL-record 13 consecutive shootouts.

Dec. 10 — Rajon Rondo scored 21 points and had 11 assists to the Boston Celtics to their ninth straight victory, 104-102 over Washington. Ray Allen added 18 and became the 32nd NBA player to score 20,000 points.

Dec. 11 — American Shani Davis lowered his own world record in the 1,500 meters at a speedskating World Cup meet in Kearns, Utah. Davis covered the distance in 1:41.04, bettering his old mark of 1:41.80 set on March 6 at the oval.

Dec 12 — Mark Ingram completed the trophy case at Alabama, delivering the first Heisman to a school that boasts one of the richest histories in college football. The sophomore tailback, who won the closest vote in the award’s 75-year history, received 227 first-place votes and 1,304 points. Stanford running back Toby Gerhart got 222 first-place votes and 1,276 points.

Dec. 13 — At the European short-course swimming championships in Istanbul, 13 more world records are set.

Dec. 13 — New Orleans and Indianapolis remained undefeated, joining five other NFL teams to reach 13-0. The Colts beat Denver 28-16, breaking NFL records for most consecutive regular-season wins (22) and most wins in a decade (114). Indy’s 114th victory of the decade broke a tie with the 1990s San Francisco 49ers and set a franchise record with its 13th consecutive home win. Denver’s Brandon Marshall set the NFL record with 21 catches, surpassing the mark San Francisco’s Terrell Owens set on Dec. 17, 2000. Marshall finished with 200 yards and two touchdowns and bettered his team record of 18 catches, set on Sept. 14, 2008, against San Diego.

Dec. 13 — New England’s Wes Welker finished with 10 catches for 105 yards in a 20-10 win over Carolina, his fifth 100-yard performance of the season. Welker, with 105 receptions, joined Marvin Harrison, Jerry Rice and Herman Moore as the only receivers with at least three consecutive 100-catch seasons.

Dec. 13 — DeSean Jackson scored on 72-yard punt return and a 60-yard pass in Philadelphia’s 45-38 shootout victory over the New York Giants. Jackson with eight touchdowns of 50-plus yards this year, tied the NFL mark also held by Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch in 1951 and Devin Hester (2007).

Dec. 13 — San Diego’s LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for a touchdown in the Chargers’ 20-17 win at Dallas. Tomlinson has at least 10 rushing touchdowns in each of the first nine seasons to start his career, the longest such streak in NFL history.

Dec. 16 — Tiger Woods was voted Athlete of the Decade by members of The Associated Press. Woods received 56 of the 142 votes cast by AP member editors. Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor who won the Tour de France six times this decade, finished second with 33 votes, followed by tennis Grand Slam champion Roger Federer with 25 votes.

Dec. 17 — Luol Deng scored 24 points, John Salmons added 20 as Chicago rallied from 17 down to beat New York 98-89. The Knicks led by as many as 17 in the first quarter. New York attempted an NBA-record 29 3-pointers in the first half, hitting nine.

Dec. 18 — Cesar Cielo of Brazil broke the world record in the 50-meter freestyle clocking 20.91 seconds during a swim meet in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Frederick Bousquet of France set the previous mark of 20.94 on April 26 in Montpellier, France.

Dec. 19 — Michael Phelps helped his American team trounce a group of European all-stars in the Duel in the Pool, anchoring a relay to one of the eight world records the U.S. set over the two-day meet in Manchseter, England.

Dec. 20 — Ben Roethlisberger went 29 of 46 with three TDs and 503 yards, becoming the first Pittsburgh quarterback to throw for 500 yards in a game during a 37-36 win over Green Bay. He hit rookie Mike Wallace for a 19-yard touchdown on the final play. It was first 37-36 game in NFL history.

Dec. 20 — Cleveland’s Jerome Harrison scored his third touchdown with 44 seconds left for the winning points and rushed for a team-record 286 yards in a 41-34 win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Joshua Cribbs of the Browns had two kickoff returns for touchdowns, setting an NFL career record with seven. After his 100-yard return in the first quarter broke the mark, Cribbs sped 103 yards in the second quarter.

Dec. 21 — Martin Brodeur surpassed Terry Sawchuk’s 40-year-old NHL record with his 104th career shutout, leading New Jersey to a 4-0 victory over Pittsburgh.

Dec. 22 — Nebraska ’s Ndamukong Suh, spurred by a dominant performance against Texas in the Big 12 title game, became the first defensive player voted The Associated Press College Football Player of the Year.

Dec. 23 — Maya Moore scored 23 points and Tina Charles added 20 to help top-ranked Connecticut win its 49th straight game, an 80-68 victory over No. 2 Stanford.

Dec. 23 — Gary Patterson, who guided TCU to its best season in 70 years, became the first Associated Press Coach of the Year from outside the six conferences with automatic BCS bids.

Florida’s Meyer stepping down

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida coach Urban Meyer, who was admitted to a hospital because of chest pains following the Southeastern Conference championship game, is stepping down because of health concerns.

Meyer resigned Saturday, calling it quits after five seasons in Gainesville and two national titles. He leaves Florida with a 56-10 record that includes a 32-8 mark in league play and a school-record 22-game winning streak snapped early this month against Alabama.

Meyer says he consulted with his family, his doctors, school president Bernie Machen and athletic director Jeremy Foley before deciding it is in his best interest to focus on his health and family.

Meyer will hold a news conference in New Orleans on Sunday afternoon and will coach his final game in the Sugar Bowl against Cincinnati on New Year’s Day.

Florida’s press release follows:

Urban Meyer is stepping down as head coach of the University of Florida football team, Athletics Director Jeremy Foley announced Saturday afternoon.

“I have given my heart and soul to coaching college football and mentoring young men for the last 24-plus years and I have dedicated most of my waking moments the last five years to the Gator football program,” said Meyer. “I have ignored my health for years, but recent developments have forced me to re-evaluate my priorities of faith and family.”

“After consulting with my family, Dr. Machen, Jeremy Foley and my doctors, I believe it is in my best interest to step aside and focus on my health and family.

“I’m proud to be a part of the Gainesville community and the Gator Nation and I plan to remain in Gainesville and involved with the University of Florida.

“I’m very appreciative for the opportunity I’ve had to be a part of a tremendous institution – from Dr. Machen to Jeremy Foley and the entire administrative staff at UF. I’m also very thankful for the chance to work with some of the best assistants in college football and coach some of the best college football players and watch them grow both on and off the field as people. I will cherish the relationships with them the most.”

Meyer will coach his last game for UF in the Gators’ Sugar Bowl match-up vs. Cincinnati on January 1st in New Orleans, La.

“Coach Meyer and I have talked this through and I realize how hard this was for him to reach this decision,” said Foley. “But, the bottom line is that Coach Meyer needed to make a choice that is in the best interest of his well being and his family. I certainly appreciate what he has meant to the University of Florida, our football program and the Gator Nation. I have never seen anyone more committed to his players, his family and his program. Above all, I appreciate our friendship.”

“Urban Meyer’s integrity, work ethic and commitment to his players are some of the reasons we asked him to become head football coach at the University of Florida,” said Machen, who hired Meyer at the University of Utah in 2003, the year before he came to UF. “As a Gator, Urban has done everything we asked of him and more. He leaves a lasting legacy on the field, in the classroom and in the Gainesville community. I am saddened that Urban is stepping down but I have deep respect for his decision.”

Meyer captured two National Championships in his five years at Florida (2006 and 2008), two Southeastern Conference Championships (2006 and 2008), three SEC Eastern Division crowns (2006, 2008 and 2009) and led UF to five straight January bowl games, including three BCS bowl games. He was recently named Sporting News and Sports Illustrated “Coach of the Decade.”

He is the only coach in the nation to win two Bowl Championship Series National Championships and the only coach in the history of the SEC to win two outright National Championships.

The three-time National Coach of the Year, is currently the nation’s most active winningest coach, posting 95 victories against just 18 losses for a .841 winning percentage in his nine seasons.

His .848 winning percentage at UF is the best in school history. Meyer’s five-year record at Florida is 56-10, including a school-record stretch of 22 straight consecutive wins, the fourth longest ever streak by an SEC team and the longest in the conference in 15 years. His teams have currently won 14 straight SEC games, the second longest streak in school history. Meyer was 15-1 against UF’s traditional rivals (Tennessee, Georgia , Florida State and Miami).

Meyer, 45, holds a 32-8 (.800) mark in SEC play at Florida, which is the top career SEC winning percentage among head coaches who spent five years or more in the conference.

Since the SEC’s inception in 1933, no coach had begun his SEC career faster than Meyer. With this year’s win vs. Arkansas, Meyer collected his 50th win as an SEC head coach, reaching that mark in just 59 games. That ties Frank Thomas of Alabama for the fastest to achieve 50 wins as an SEC head coach.

In 2008, Meyer accomplished the unprecedented feat of knocking off the BCS No. 1-ranked team in consecutive games, downing Alabama in the SEC Championship Game before dispatching Oklahoma in the BCS National Championship Game. Add in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game victory over Ohio State, and Meyer is the only coach to have defeated three BCS No. 1-ranked teams in his career.

Meyer owns a 54-4 (.931) record at home in his career, including a 32-2 (.941) in The Swamp. Meyer was 11-3 vs. top 10 teams at UF and his Gator teams have been ranked in 82 consecutive polls, including 63 weeks in the top 10 and 16 weeks at No. 1.

There have been 17 Gators selected in the NFL Draft under Meyer, including four first round picks. No team in the nation had more players selected than Florida’s nine in 2007. Overall, Meyer has coached 62 players who have signed NFL contracts.

Seventy four of his players have graduated at UF and two were named among UF’s Outstanding Senior Leaders on campus (Chris Leak, 2006 and Tim Tebow, 2009). One hundred and seven of his student athletes were named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll at Florida, including a league-record 37 in 2008. More than 37 percent of his scholarship players earned above a 3.0 GPA in the Spring of 2009 and Tebow recently won the William V. Campbell Trophy, also known as the Academic Heisman.

Meyer is one of two active coaches to win a pair of outright national championships (2006 and 2008), coach a Heisman Trophy winner (Tim Tebow) and coach a first-overall draft pick in the NFL Draft (Alex Smith).

Meyer also connected with the fans, student body and the Gator Nation. He initiated the Gator Walk, a pre-game tradition that had the players enter the stadium through a tunnel of enthusiastic and vibrant fans two hours before kick off. He began the tradition of players signing the school fight song to the student section at the conclusion of home games. Meyer invited former players back with open arms and had Captains’ Legacy Weekend – inviting all former UF captains back for Homecoming weekend.

Meyer also spearheaded the plans for a $28 million expansion of the football facility which features an expanded weight room, new football offices and the Bill Heavener Football Complex. The state-of-the art building pays tribute to Florida’s proud tradition, championships and all-time great players.

In addition to his on the field accomplishments, Meyer has also championed efforts in community service in Gainesville.

A new initiative beginning in 2009, UF football players performed more than 400 hours of community service each year, as each student-athlete attended at least two Goodwill Gator events per semester.

In the spring of 2009, the “Swamp Field Trip” was available to local middle schools as a reward for their students who achieved good grades, were involved in community service, had major improvements, etc. The students had the opportunity to speak with a group of players and had a special tour of the football facility given by the players.

The UF football team held the inaugural Gator Charity Challenge in August of 2008 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in front of approximately 1,800 people. The fundraiser featured the 2008 Gators challenging each other in a series of strength competitions to raise funds and awareness for six charities that were selected by the football program and are affiliated with Shands, a University partner. The charities were the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, Children’s Miracle Network, March of Dimes and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The Gator Charity Challenge was held in association with Uplifting Athletes.

In the spring of 2008, Florida Coach Urban Meyer initiated a mentor program for young at-risk males. Working with the African-American Accountability Alliance of Alachua County task force, the program BLAQUE (Bold Leaders, Achieving Quality, Unity and Excellence) was developed. The program partnered 15 area middle school children with a Gator football player and a community leader. The goal is to affect change in the lives of at-risk black youth.

In the spring of 2005 and 2006, Meyer worked closely with student-body leaders on campus on a community service initiative surrounding the annual Orange and Blue Spring Game. Student leaders sold Orange and Blue spirit bands prior to the Spring Game with proceeds benefiting the Children’s Miracle Network. Fans that purchased the bands were then asked to assist members of the UF coaching staff and football team in the planning of more than 400 crape myrtle trees on Radio Road on campus.

Meyer’s goodwill efforts have extended beyond his football family. Inspired by Tim Tebow’s missionary work, Meyer and his family spent time in the Dominican Republic on a missionary trip in June of 2008.

Meyer has mentored seven coaches who have gone on to become Division I head coaches. Six of the seven served as coordinators under Meyer. Former Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong was hired as the head coach at the University of Louisville on December 9^th. In 2003, Gregg Brandon succeeded Meyer as head coach at Bowling Green, while 2005 saw Kyle Whittingham take over for Meyer at Utah. Also  in 2005, Mike Sanford took the reins at UNLV. Tim Beckman was named head coach at Toledo in December of 2008. This season was Dan Mullen’s first as head coach at Mississippi State following his time as offensive coordinator at UF. Most recently, John “Doc” Holliday, an assistant for UF in 2005 and 2006 was named Head Coach at Marshall December 17^th.

Meyer came to UF from Utah, where Meyer closed out his stint in Salt Lake City with 16 consecutive wins. He began his UF career with four straight wins to extend his head coaching winning streak to 20 games. With its post-season bid to the Fiesta Bowl, Utah made history by becoming the first school from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference to earn a berth in a BCS Bowl. Utah finished as the outright 2004 Mountain West Conference champion to become the only back-to-back outright winners in the league’s history.

Meyer began his head coaching career at Bowling Green in 2001, where he engineered the top turnaround in NCAA Division I-A football, showing a six-win improvement from the previous season. The Falcons rebounded from a 2-9 record to post their first winning season since 1994 with an 8-3 finish.

Meyer’s 17-6 record at Bowling Green included a 5-0 mark against BCS teams and two wins over ranked opponents.

Meyer apprenticed at Ohio State (1986-87), Illinois State (1988-89), Colorado State (1990-95) and Notre Dame (1996-2000) before getting the head job at Bowling Green. The Ashtabula, Ohio, native learned the coaching trade from the likes of Sonny Lubick, Lou Holtz, Earle Bruce and Bob Davie.

Tall Vashon, diminutive Granger, White Swan highlight SunDome slate

YAKIMA, Wash. — So what’s your pleasure? Because, for high school hoops junkies, there’s lots to look forward to this week in the SunDome.

The comparatively munchkin-like Granger girls can look forward to, well, looking up at three six-footers — one of them a 6-foot-5 tower — when they open the SunDome Shootout on Tuesday. La Salle can look forward to that same crick in the neck come Wednesday.

The White Swan and Granger boys can look forward to a rematch of their spirited clash in the 2008 Shootout, in which the Cougars, now a Class 2B powerhouse, rallied from a 5-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to knock off their former SCAC brethren.

Fans can look forward to seeing the odds-on favorite to capture its second straight Class 1A boys basketball title and the latest edition of the state’s premier small-school girls program.

And every one of the 1A and 2A teams that make up the bulk of next week’s two-day SunDome Shootout, hosted by Zillah, will get a chance to get comfortable in the same arena that will house their state tournaments two months from now.

Vashon boys coach Andy Sears’ Pirates dominated the 1A tournament last March, but he’s not taking lightly his team’s tourney reascendancy — hence the trip to the SunDome to take on perennial contender Cashmere and Colville.

“We’re going over there to get experience in the Dome, for sure, and to get as good competition as we can get. That’s what we’re hoping for,” Sears said. “When you get an opportunity to play a couple games in the place where your state tournament goes, that’s what we want — to get exposed a little bit, to find out what our weaknesses are.”

So far, those weaknesses have seemed minimal. The Pirates are led by 6-foot-9, Stanford-bound John Gage (scoring at an 18.0-point clip) and 6-7 junior point guard Alex Wegner (15.7), who’s already generating Division I interest of his own. And the only blemish on their 5-1 record is a 49-45 nailbiter loss to reigning 2A champion Squalicum.

A team as yet without a blemish is 4-0 Granger, which has over the last two years won six of eight 1A tournament games in the SunDome, finishing third in 2008 and second last spring.

“We love being in the Dome. Our kids love that atmosphere,” said Granger girls coach Andy Affholter, whose team will face the 1A ranks’ tallest team (Vashon) and the winningest team in SunDome history (Colfax) on back-to-back days. “We’re excited about it, and it’ll be a good test to see where we’re at.”

Normally, any girls team facing Colfax, which has won five state titles in the last six years (four of them at the SunDome), would have only the Bulldogs in mind. But Granger isn’t even beginning to look ahead to its Wednesday showdown with Colfax, simply because of what awaits the Spartans on Tuesday.

“We haven’t even talked about Colfax,” Affholter said. “Vashon is going to be quite the test, too. I heard last summer they had a 6-4 girl who moved in from Germany, and she had 21 points, 15 blocks and 12 rebounds against Eatonville.”

Close. The Pirates’ German transfer, Elisa Wendt, is only — only — 6 feet tall, but she’s one of three 6-footers on the team who are averaging right around 10 points per game. And one of them — 6-5 Charlotte Kehoe — did indeed have that 21-15-12 performance against Eatonville.

Considering that Granger’s lineup is filled with player heights ranging from 5-7 to 5-9, the Spartans will have a veritable mountain to climb — but then, they’re accustomed to that.

“We know who we are. We know what we do,” Affholter said. “That’s what I love about our kids: We know what we do well, and we’ll try to do what we do well.”

To help the Spartan girls prepare to deal with facing the long-armed, shot-blocking Kehoe, Affholter has been putting volunteer coach Chris Cardenas — a 2004 Granger graduate and former Spartan star who stands 6-3 — on the floor to play some post defense.

Granger boys coach Miguel Bazaldua probably wouldn’t mind having Cardenas in his lineup, which doesn’t have anybody over 6-2. Nonetheless, the Spartans are 4-0, thanks in large part to junior standout Mitchell Zapien’s vastly improved all-around game; once primarily a shooter, Zapien is averaging nearly six assists to go with his 19.2-point scoring.

“Our philosophy this year is if you give up the ball, you get it back to score. The more you give it up, the more you score,” Bazaldua said. “When our guys give it up, it comes back to them off a cut or a weakside rebound, and they score off it. And all the kids buy into it. We’re going to run and shoot and board and run some more.”

After facing Lakeside on Tuesday, the Spartans will face White Swan in a 7:30 p.m. Wednesday game that figures to be one of the Shootout’s best matchups. The Cougars’ 5-1 start includes wins over Wapato, Toppenish and Sunnyside Christian, with the only loss coming against reigning 1B state champion Tri-Cities Prep.

“I think we match up real well,” Bazaldua said. “White Swan is quicker than quick, and we’re pretty quick, too. They’ve got some good 3-point shooters, and we’ve got some shooters, too.

“I’m excited. Win or lose, I think it’s going to be a great game.”

SunDome Shootout Schedule

Tuesday

Girls court

Noon: Burbank vs. La Salle

1:30 p.m.: White Swan vs. Cashmere

3 p.m.: Naches Valley vs. Colville

4:30 p.m.: Deer Park vs. Connell

6 p.m.: Colfax vs. Lakeside

7:30 p.m.: Granger vs. Vashon

9 p.m.: Zillah vs. Newport

Boys court

Noon: White Swan vs. Connell

1:30 p.m.: Colfax vs. Burbank

3 p.m.: La Salle vs. Newport

4:30 p.m.: Colville vs. Naches Valley

6 p.m.: Vashon vs. Cashmere

7:30 p.m.: Deer Park vs. Zillah

9 p.m.: Lakeside vs. Granger

Wednesday

Girls court

Noon: Colville vs. Burbank

1:30 p.m.: Newport vs. Naches Valley

3 p.m.: Vashon vs. La Salle

4:30 p.m.: Cashmere vs. Deer Park

6 p.m.: Colfax vs. Granger

7:30 p.m.: Lakeside vs. Zillah

9 p.m.: White Swan vs. Connell

Boys court

Noon: Newport vs. Naches Valley

1:30 p.m.: Colville vs. Vashon

3 p.m.: Burbank vs. Deer Park

4:30 p.m.: Colfax vs. La Salle

6 p.m.: Connell vs. Cashmere

7:30 p.m.: Granger vs. White Swan

9 p.m.: Zillah vs. Lakeside

SportsYakima.com among nation’s best

YAKIMA, Wash. — The Yakima Herald-Republic’s sports Web site, SportsYakima.com, was honored as one of the 20 best in the nation in its classification the Associated Press Sports Editors announced Friday.

SportsYakima.com earned honorable mention among sites with fewer than 1 million unique visitors a month.

Copy editor Marcus Michelson and news producer TJ Mullinax are largely responsible for the day-to-day operation of the site with help from the rest of the newspaper’ sports and web departments.

“The judges came away very impressed by the efforts evidenced on the day we randomly selected,” said Gerry Ahern, assistant managing editor for Yahoo Sports. “From microsites for specific local teams and sports, to video, to blogs, to live chats, to breaking news, the editors clearly understand the importance of not only drawing, but trying to engage their audiences.

“Getting down to a top 20 in each category was very difficult. There’s a lot of great work being done.”

TOP 10: The Capital Times/Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.); Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer; Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal; Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star; Tulsa (Okla.) World; The Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal; The (DeKalb, Ill.) Daily Chronicle; Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News; The (Tacoma) News Tribune; The (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise.

HONORABLE MENTION: Yakima Herald-Republic; Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World; Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, Ill.); Florida Today (Melbourne, Fla.); Newport News (Va.) Daily Press; Canton (Ohio) Repository; Honolulu Star-Bulletin; Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard; Colorado Springs (Colo.) Gazette; The Times of Northwest Indiana (Munster, Ind.)

Quarterbacks Club on the move

YAKIMA, Wash. — The Monday Morning Quarterback Club is changing the location of its weekly meetings.

Starting Monday, the club will meet at the new Holiday Inn at 802 E. Yakima Ave. Meetings will begin at 7:15 a.m., with the exception of the first Monday of every month, when meetings will begin at 11:30 a.m.

The public is welcome.

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