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January

Jan. 1 -- Ron Dayne picked up his second straight Rose Bowl MVP award, running for 200 yards and a touchdown as Wisconsin beat Stanford 17-9 and became the first Big Ten team to win consecutive Rose Bowls.

Jan. 2 -- Kurt Warner joined Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks in NFL history with 40 touchdown passes in a season, and Marshall Faulk broke Barry Sanders' total yardage record in the St. Louis Rams' 38-31 loss to Philadelphia. Faulk finished with 2,429 yards, surpassing Sanders' 2,358.

Jan. 2 -- The Miami Heat opened their new area defeating Orlando 111-103 in overtime. The $215-million, 19,600-seat American Airlines Arena was the sixth new arena to open in the NBA this season.

Jan. 3 -- New York Islanders forward Gino Odjick was suspended eight games without pay by the NHL for sucker-punching Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis in a game on Dec. 30.

Jan. 4 -- Top-ranked Florida State, the preseason No. 1, held off Virginia Tech 46-29 in the Sugar Bowl to finish 12-0 and win the national championship. Florida State is the first team to go wire-to-wire in The Associated Press' poll since preseason rankings began in 1950.

Jan. 8 -- Kevin Dyson sped 75 yards down the left sideline with a lateral from Frank Wycheck on a kickoff for the winning touchdown with three seconds remaining, lifting the Tennessee Titans to a 22-16 playoff victory over the stunned Buffalo Bills.

Jan. 8 -- Eddie House scored 61 points to tie Lew Alcindor's Pac-10 record and lead the Sun Devils to 111-108 double-overtime victory over California.

Jan. 9 -- Pittsburgh tackle Wayne Gandy was fined $20,000 by the NFL, but was not suspended for shoving referee Tom White during a Jan. 2 game against Tennessee. Gandy was the sixth player in NFL history to be fined for making contact with an official.

Jan. 11 -- The New York Jets were sold to Robert Wood Johnson IV, heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical empire, for nearly $635 million.

Jan. 11 -- Washington Redskins guard Tre Johnson was fined $50,000 and suspended for the first game of the 2000 season for fighting and hitting an official in a game on Jan. 8. Fifteen Redskins and eight Detroit Lions were fined an NFL-record $154,000 for the melee in Washington's 27-13 first-round playoff victory.

Jan. 11 -- Carlton Fisk and Tony Perez were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Fisk caught the most games in major league history (2,226) and hit a record 351 of 376 home runs playing the position. Fisk won Game 6 of the 1975 World Series when he homered in the bottom of the 12th inning at Fenway Park. He spent 11 seasons with the Boston Red Sox and 13 with the Chicago White Sox. Perez, a former World Series rival of Fisk and also a teammate, finished with 379 career homers and 1,652 RBIs, winning two World Series with the Cincinnati Reds.

Jan. 12 -- Charlotte Hornets guards Bobby Phills and David Wesley were racing each other in Porsches when Phills lost control and was killed in a wreck. The accident scene was less than a mile from the Charlotte (N.C.) Coliseum, where the Hornets were practicing.

Jan. 12 -- Jeremy Wotherspoon of Canada set a world record in the 1,000-meter sprint, racing to victory in the Canadian sprint speed skating championships in 1 minute, 8.49 seconds. His time beat the record of 1:08.55 set by Dutch skater Jan Bos last year on the same Olympic Oval in Calgary.

Jan. 14 -- Australian Matt Welsh set a short-course world record in the 50-meter backstroke beating American Lenny Krayzelburg in 24.11 seconds, shaving 0.01 of a second off the world mark set by another American, Neil Walker, in Washington on Nov. 18, 1999.

Jan. 14 -- Ray York, who rode Determine to victory in the 1954 Kentucky Derby, became the first jockey to ride competitively in seven decades at Santa Anita. York, 66, rode 37-1 longshot Culebra to a 10th-place finish in the eighth and final race of the day. York, who rode in his first parimutuel race in 1949, was riding in competition for the first time since 1991.

Jan. 14 -- Jock Callander of the Cleveland Lumberjacks set an IHL scoring record during the team's 5-4 victory over Houston. Callander's goal gave him 1,383 career points to break the 30-year-old record previously held by Len Thornson.

Jan. 14 -- Vermont president Judith Ramaley canceled the final 15 games of its men's ice hockey season after the school determined players had lied to investigators about reports that freshmen players were hazed last fall.

Jan. 15 -- The Jacksonville Jaguars steamrolled their way into the history books and the AFC championship game. In the second-most overpowering playoff performance ever, the Jaguars routed the Miami Dolphins 62-7. The 55-point margin also is the second-largest in playoff history.

Jan. 15 -- Shaun King became the first rookie quarterback to win a playoff game since 1976 as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wiped out a 13-point second-half deficit for 14-13 win over the Washington Redskins.

Jan. 15 -- Roy Jones Jr. won every round on all three judges' cards in outpointing David Telesco and retaining the WBC, WBA and IBF light heavyweight titles on the first fight card in the 68-year history of Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Jan. 16 -- In the first home playoff game in the city's 33-season NFL history, the Rams showed their entire awesome repertoire in routing the Minnesota Vikings 49-37. Kurt Warner finished 27-for-33 and set team playoff records for yards passing (391) and TD throws (5). The Vikings scored three desperate touchdowns in the dying moments, making it the second-highest scoring playoff game in NFL history. Philadelphia's 58-37 victory over Detroit in 1995 was the highest.

Jan. 16 -- Cliff Robinson scored a career-high 50 points and tied the Phoenix record for points in a quarter with 23 as the Suns beat Denver 113-100.

Jan. 16 -- Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann broke the women's world 5,000-meter record and Rintje Ritsma won his sixth men's all-around title at the European Speedskating Championships in Hamar, Norway. Niemann-Stirnemann, of Germany, was timed in 6 minutes, 56.84 seconds, improving her world mark by .4 seconds.

Jan. 18 -- Australian Ian Thorpe lowered his own short-course world record in the 200 freestyle while compatriot Susie O'Neill did the same in 200 butterfly at a World Cup swim meet in Sydney, Australia. Thorpe finished in 1 minute, 42.54 seconds, eclipsing his previous time of 1:43.28. O'Neill knocked .27 seconds off her own record.

Jan. 19 -- One year after retiring from the NBA, Michael Jordan joined the struggling Washington Wizards as part-owner and president of basketball operations.

Jan. 19 -- Casey Martin made his debut as the first PGA Tour member on wheels, shooting a 4-under 68 at the Bob Hope Classic. Martin trailed first-round leader David Toms by five shots.

Jan. 20 -- Ross Perot Jr. officially announced his sale of the Dallas Mavericks to billionaire Mark Cuban for $280 million.

Jan. 20 -- Minnesota wide receiver Randy Moss was fined $40,000 by the NFL for squirting a water bottle at an official in the Vikings' playoff loss to the St. Louis Rams.

Jan. 21 -- Valeri Bure's second goal of the game gave Calgary a 5-4 overtime victory over visiting Nashville. The Flames improved their overtime record to 9-1-5 this season, breaking the NHL record of eight overtime victories in a season set by Winnipeg in 1987-88. Calgary finished the season with an 11-5-10 record in OT.

Jan. 22 -- Katia Zini set a world record in the women's 500 meters at the European Short Track Speedskating Championships in Bormio, Italy. Zini, a resident of the Bormio valley in the Italian Alps, delighted fans with her record of 44.551 seconds in the final. The time broke the record of 44.620 seconds set last year by another Italian, Marinella Canclini.

Jan. 23 -- The Tennessee Titans advanced to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history, beating the Jacksonville Jaguars for the third time this season, 33-14 in the AFC Championship game.

Jan. 23 -- Kurt Warner threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Proehl with 4:44 to go, lifting the mistake-prone St. Louis Rams to an 11-6 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Championship.

Jan. 23 -- With Dallas' 99-91 victory over Detroit, Mavericks coach Don Nelson recorded his 900th career victory. He became the sixth coach in NBA history to reach the mark.

Jan. 23 -- Chris Witty of West Allis, Wis., and Hiroyasu Shimizu of Japan set world outdoor records at the Essent World Cup speedskating sprints in Butte, Mont. Witty covered the women's 1,000 meters in 1 minute, 16.96 seconds. Shimizu won the men's 500 in an outdoor record 35.27 seconds.

Jan. 23 -- NFL star Derrick Thomas was injured Jan. 23 when the speeding car he was driving flipped on an icy road. The 33-year-old nine-time Pro Bowl player, died on Feb. 8.

Jan. 24 -- Chicago billionaire Michael Heisley purchased the Vancouver Grizzlies for a reported $160 million.

Jan. 24 -- The NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Rules Committees announced officials previously prohibited from using video replay were now required to use it under well-defined circumstances, starting Jan. 28.

Jan. 25 -- Martina Navratilova, whose power game reshaped women's tennis and perhaps all of women's sports, entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In a career that stretched from 1973 until 1994, Navratilova won 167 singles titles and 165 doubles crowns, both records. Her singles titles include a record nine Wimbledons, four U.S. Opens, three Australian Opens and two French Opens. She was joined by Australian Davis Cup star Malcolm Anderson and Robert Kelleher, who led the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association into the Open era.

Jan. 27 -- The Bowl Championship Series and ABC agreed to a four-year contract extension worth about $400 million. The new deal will run through the 2005 season, which includes bowl games in January 2006.

Jan. 29 -- Lindsay Davenport ended Martina Hingis' three-title run in the Australian Open and won her third Grand Slam championship with a 6-1, 7-5 victory.

Jan. 29 -- Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott, architects of San Francisco's Super Bowl dynasty, were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Joining them were Howie Long, Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, and Dave Wilcox, who made it as an old-timer nominee.

Jan. 29 -- Utah's Karl Malone became the third player in NBA history to score 30,000 points when he made a layup with 8:53 left in the third quarter of a 96-94 loss to Minnesota. The 36-year old forward joined Wilt Chamberlain and career leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Jan. 29 -- Montreal's Trent McCleary was struck in the throat with a slap shot and underwent emergency surgery, leaving him in critical condition. McCleary, who had a fractured larynx and collapsed lung, was given a tracheotomy after being hit during the Canadiens 2-2 tie with Philadelphia.

Jan. 29 -- Canada's Jeremy Wotherspoon and the Netherlands' Jakkojan Leeuwangh set world speedskating records at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alberta. Wotherspoon smashed his world record in the 500 meters, clocking 34.63 seconds. He set the previous mark of 34.76 last year at the Oval. Leeuwangh set the record in the 1,500 with a time of 1:45.56, shaving nearly a second off the mark of 1:46.43 set by Norway's Adne Sondral in 1998 at the Oval.

Jan. 30 -- Andre Agassi claimed his second Australian Open and sixth Grand Slam title with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Agassi is the first player to reach four straight major finals since Rod Laver won the Grand Slam in 1969. In less than a year, he won the French, U.S. and Australian Opens and finished runnerup at Wimbledon.

Jan. 30 -- The St. Louis Rams rediscovered their offensive firepower just in time, and the Tennessee Titans came up just 1 yard short. Kurt Warner's 73-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce with 1 minute, and 54 seconds left, gave the Rams their first Super Bowl with a 23-16 victory. On the game's final play with six seconds left, Steve McNair's pass was caught by Kevin Dyson at the Rams 5. He scrambled for the end zone only to be stopped just short by Mike Jones, as Dyson's outstretched arm held the ball toward the goal line in vain.

Jan. 30 -- Germany's Gianni Romme of the Netherlands broke his own world record in the men's 5,000, finishing in 6:18.72 in a World Cup speedskating event in Calgary, Alberta. Germany's Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann broke her own mark in the women's 3,000. She finished in 4:00.51, bettering the mark of 4:01.67 set in Calgary in 1998.

Jan. 31 -- John Rocker was suspended until May 1 by baseball commissioner Bud Selig for racial and ethnic remarks that "offended practically every element of society." The Atlanta Braves reliever also was fined $20,000 and ordered to undergo sensitivity training for disparaging foreigners, homosexuals and minorities in a Sports Illustrated interview in December.

Jan. 31 -- Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis was charged with murder in the slayings of two people outside an Atlanta nightclub hours after the Super Bowl. Lewis, middle linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens and the NFL's leading tackler this season, was arrested after a day of investigation into the slayings near the Cobalt Lounge in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood about 4 a.m.

Files from AP