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September

Sept. 2 -- Tennessee won its 700th game with a 19-16 win over Southern Mississippi.

Sept. 2 -- With Nebraska's game against San Jose State unavailable on television, Cornhuskers fans had to turn to the Internet. The FOXSports.com webcast was the first college or pro football game ever produced and shown on a Web site directly linked to a major television network.

Sept. 3 -- Duce Staley ran for 201 yards and a touchdown to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a 41-14 rout of the Dallas Cowboys. Staley became the Eagles' first 200-yard runner since Steve Van Buren in 1949.

Sept. 3 -- Kenny Lofton tied a major league record by scoring in his 18th straight game in the first inning of Cleveland's 12-11, 13-inning victory over Baltimore. Red Rolfe set the record in 1939 for the New York Yankees.

Sept. 4 -- Kurt Warner opened his second season as a starter by throwing for 441 yards and three touchdowns as St. Louis opened defense of its NFL title with a 41-36 victory over Denver.

Sept. 4 -- Kenny Lofton's record run-scoring streak came to an end as the Cleveland Indians beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 5-1. Lofton, who went 1-for-5, failed to score a run for the first time in 19 games.

Sept. 6 -- Scott Sheldon of the Texas Rangers became just the third player ever to play all nine positions in one game when he did it in a 13-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Sheldon joined Bert Campaneris (Sept. 8, 1965) and Cesar Tovar (Sept. 22, 1968) as true utility players.

Sept. 9 -- Venus Williams beat Lindsay Davenport 6-4, 7-5 for the U.S. Open women's singles championship, her first Grand Slam title. Williams beat Davenport at Wimbledon to start her current 26-match winning streak.

Sept. 9 -- Yale became the first school to win 800 games as Rashad Bartholomew scored three touchdowns and rushed for 201 yards in a 42-6 victory over Dayton.

Sept. 9 -- Cos DeMatteo had six touchdown receptions to set an NCAA Division I-AA record as Chattanooga beat Mississippi Valley State 72-17. DeMatteo caught touchdown passes of 61, 8, 57, 28, 23 and 4 yards to break the mark of five held by five players, including Jerry Rice.

Sept. 10 -- Coach Bob Knight was fired by Indiana University for what was called a pattern of unacceptable behavior. The firing ended Knight's 29-year relationship with the school where he posted a 661-240 record. Besides his three NCAA championships, Knight led the Hoosiers to 11 Big Ten titles and was undefeated in 1976, the last time a college basketball team accomplished the feat. Knight had a 763-290 record overall, including six years at Army.

Sept. 10 -- Marat Safin beat Pete Sampras 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 to become the first Russian to win the U.S. Open. Safin, 20, won his first major title in the most lopsided victory over a former champion in 25 years. No one had lost in the Open final so badly since Edberg beat Jim Courier in 1991. And no former champion had gone down so hard since Jimmy Connors lost to Manuel Orantes in 1975.

Sept. 10 -- Tiger Woods completed a great summer in style, winning the Canadian Open by one stroke over Grant Waite. Woods, who finished at 266, earned his fifth victory in seven tournaments this summer. Woods won for the third straight time, and for the ninth time this year, the most PGA Tour victories in one year since Sam Snead won 11 times in 1950. Woods also became the only other player besides Lee Trevino in 1971 to win the U.S. Open, British Open and Canadian Open in the same year.

Sept. 10 -- Cleveland's Chris Gardocki set an NFL record, extending his streak of punts without a block to 630. He averaged 48 yards on seven punts in the Browns' 24-7 victory over Cincinnati.

Sept. 10 -- Jimmy Smith had a career-high 291 yards and three touchdowns on 15 catches in Jacksonville's 39-36 loss to Baltimore. He had TD catches of 45, 43 and 41 yards.

Sept. 10 -- Arizona's Randy Johnson became the 12th player to reach the 3,000 strikeout plateau, fanning a season-high 14 in seven innings as the Diamondbacks lost to Florida 4-3 in 12 innings. Johnson also recorded his 300th strikeout for the third consecutive season and the fourth time overall. Nolan Ryan is the only other pitcher to accomplish the feat.

Sept. 12 -- Race-fixing charges against Herve Filion, who won nearly 15,000 harness races, were dismissed in exchange for a guilty plea on a misdemeanor tax charge.

Sept. 16 -- American Nancy Johnson captured the first gold medal of the Sydney Olympics, winning the women's 10-meter air rifle. In the pool, Yana Klochkova of Ukraine set a world record in winning the women's 400-meter intermediate medley in 4:33.59. Ian Thorpe of Australia won the 400-meter freestyle in a world-record time of 3:40.59. Thorpe also anchored Australia's 400-meter freestyle relay team that finished in a world-record 3:13.67. Jenny Thompson of the United States won her sixth career gold medal, helping set a world record as part of the 400-meter freestyle relay team.

Sept. 16 -- Chicago's Sammy Sosa became only the third player to hit 50 home runs in three different seasons, joining Babe Ruth and Mark McGwire. Sosa homered in the Cubs' 7-6 loss to St. Louis, joining McGwire as the only players to hit 50 in three straight years.

Sept. 16 -- Zippy Chippy, a 9-year-old gelding, finished third in the eighth race at the Three-County Fair in Northampton, Mass., extending his record as the losingest horse in American thoroughbred history to 88 races.

Sept. 17 -- The St. Louis Rams exceeded 30 points for an NFL-record ninth straight game and beat the San Francisco 49ers 41-24 for the third straight time after losing 17 in a row.

Sept. 17 -- In Sydney, Australia, Tom Dolan of the United States won the the 400-meter individual medley in a world-record time of 4:11.76. Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands won the 100-meter butterfly in a world-record time of 56.61 seconds.

Sept. 18 -- In Sydney, Australia, Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands upset Australia's Ian Thorpe in the 200 freestyle to win the gold and tie his own world record of 1:45.35 seconds.

Sept. 18 -- Bartolo Colon of the Cleveland Indians pitched a one-hitter for a 2-0 victory over the New York Yankees.

Sept. 19 -- In Sydney, Australia, with Ian Thorpe swimming the first leg, Australia won the gold medal in the men's 800-meter freestyle relay in a world-record time of 7:07.05. Pieter van den Hoogenband broke the world record in the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.84. The previous record of 48.18 was set by Michael Klim of Australia during the 400-meter freestyle relay on Sept. 16. Hoogenband became the first man to sweep the 100 and 200 freestyles since American Mark Spitz in 1972. The Americans stranded a staggering 20 baserunners in an 11-inning, 2-1 loss to Japan which ended their 112-game winning streak. It was the first loss for the U.S. women softball since the 1998 world championships. After 21 games, Cuba lost for the first time in the Olympics. Hensley Meulens' bases-loaded double drove in three runs as the Netherlands held on for a 4-2 victory. Cuba won the gold in Barcelona and Atlanta while going unbeaten.

Sept. 20 -- Patrick Ewing's 15-year career with the Knicks ended when New York sent him to Seattle in a four-team, 12-player trade also involving the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix. The Knicks received Glen Rice from the Lakers and Luc Longley from the Suns. Among the other major players moving were Horace Grant from Seattle to Los Angeles, and Chris Dudley from New York to Phoenix. The Knicks got Vernon Maxwell, Vladimir Stepania and Lazaro Borrell from Seattle and Travis Knight from Los Angeles. New York also got first-round draft picks in 2001 from the Lakers and Sonics, and two second-round picks in 2001 from Seattle. The Lakers also get Greg Foster, Chuck Person and Emanuel Davis from Seattle. Phoenix gets the Knicks' No. 1 pick in 2001.

Sept. 20 -- Baltimore's Chuck McElroy made 603 appearances in relief before starting the opener of a day-night doubleheader against Oakland. The Orioles won 2-0, and McElroy earned the victory by allowing just three hits in five innings. He set a major league record for most games pitched before his first start, breaking the mark of 552 by Mike Stanton.

Sept. 21 -- Colorado's Jeff Cirillo doubled twice in a 13-4 win over San Diego, giving him 51 doubles for the year. Cirillo and Todd Helton (57) became the seventh pair of teammates in major league history to reach 50 doubles in the same season.

Sept. 22 -- Houston's Jose Lima set an NL single-season record by allowing his 47th homer in the Astros' 12-5 loss to Cincinnati. The major league record for home runs allowed in a season is 50, set by Minnesota's Bert Blyleven in 1986.

Sept. 23 -- Rafael Palmeiro homered in Texas' 15-4 loss to Anaheim, becoming the 32nd player to hit 400 home runs.

Sept. 23 -- Tampa Bay's Fred McGriff hit his 24th homer in a 7-6 win over Toronto. McGriff became the second player to hit 200 homers in both the American and National leagues, joining Hall of Famer Frank Robinson.

Sept. 23 -- Ben Matthews tied an NCAA record with five interceptions as Bethel beat Gustavus 14-13. Matthews tied the all-division record shared by eight players.

Sept. 23 -- In Sydney, Australia, the United States won the women's 400-meter medley relay in a world-record 3:58.30 and the men's 400-meter medley relay in a world-record 3:33.73.

Sept. 24 -- Charlie Garner ran for a team-record 201 yards and a TD on 36 carries in San Francisco's 41-24 victory over Dallas.

Sept. 24 -- Miami beat New England 10-3 to become the first team in NFL history to allow just one touchdown in its first four games.

Sept. 25 -- The Cleveland Indians played the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins at Jacobs Field in baseball's second three-team doubleheader since 1900. The Indians beat Chicago 9-2 in the opener, then lost 4-3 to the Twins. It was the first three-team doubleheader in the majors since Sept. 13, 1951, when the St. Louis Cardinals faced the New York Giants and Boston Braves at Sportsman's Park.

Sept. 25 -- Peyton Manning completed 23 of 46 passes for a franchise-record 440 yards and a career-high four touchdowns in the Indianapolis Colts' 43-14 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Sept. 25 -- In Sydney, Australia, Cathy Freeman became the first Aborigine to win an individual Olympic gold medal, capturing the women's 400 meters. Michael Johnson was the first man to successfully defend a 400-meter title.

Sept. 26 -- Atlanta clinched the NL East -- its record ninth straight division title -- by beating the New York Mets 7-1.

Sept. 26 -- In Minnesota's 4-2 loss to Cleveland, manager Tom Kelly used a starting lineup with eight players who spent part of the season at Triple-A Salt Lake City, and a ninth, shortstop Jason Maxwell, who was a 74th-round draft pick in 1993. Maxwell was the 1,667th player taken in the 1993 draft (by the Chicago Cubs), making him the lowest draft pick in history to make it to the majors.

Sept. 26 -- The Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets 7-1 to clinch the NL East and win their record ninth straight division title.

Sept. 26 -- Fox landed exclusive TV rights to major league baseball's postseason and All-Star game from 2001-2006 with an offer of about $2.5 billion.

Sept. 26 -- In Sydney, Australia, The U.S. softball team completed a stunning comeback by edging Japan 2-1 in extra innings to win their second straight gold medal.

Sept. 27 -- The Women's British Open was elevated to major championship status on the LPGA Tour, replacing the du Maurier Classic. The other majors are the Nabisco Championship, the LPGA Championship and the U.S. Open.

Sept. 27 -- In Sydney, Australia, the U.S. Olympic baseball team beat Cuba 4-0 to capture its first baseball gold medal. Cuba got just three hits off Ben Sheets. Sheets retired 11 batters in a row and got 12 groundball outs in the first six innings. He allowed only one runner as far as second base in the entire game. In a reversal of titanic proportions, Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin, unbeaten in 13 years and a three-time defending gold medalist, was defeated in the super heavyweight title match by an unheralded American, Rulon Gardner. Gardner, never an NCAA champion or a world medalist, beat the unbeatable Russian. Venus Williams became only the second player to win Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Olympics in the same year with her 6-2, 6-4 victory over Elena Dementieva.

Sept. 27 -- Houston's Jeff Bagwell homered in a 10-1 rout of Pittsburgh, giving him 131 RBIs and 151 runs scored. The last major leaguer to score 150 runs in a season was Ted Williams in 1949.

Sept. 27 -- Seattle's Kazuhiro Sasaki escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning and earned his 36th save as the Mariners beat Texas 6-4. Sasaki tied the major league record for saves by a rookie set by St. Louis' Todd Worrell in 1986.

Sept. 27 -- Anaheim's Darin Erstad was 4-for-5 with an RBI in a 9-7 loss to Oakland. Erstad with 99 RBIs, broke the major league record for RBIs in a season by a leadoff batter set by Boston's Nomar Garciaparra (98) in 1997.

Sept. 28 -- In Sydney, Australia, Venus Williams earned her second Olympic gold medal, teaming with sister Serena in the final of women's doubles to beat Miriam Oremans and Kristie Boogert of the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-1.

Sept. 28 -- Tampa Bay forward Gordie Dwyer was suspended for 23 games by the NHL for manhandling two officials in attempts to fight opponents during an exhibition game on Sept. 19 against Washington. Dwyer, who has served two games of the suspension, will miss the first 21 games of the regular season, costing him $39,511 in pay.

Sept. 29 -- Baltimore set an AL mark with their second 10-run inning in as many games, putting up 10 in the second inning against New York in its 13-2 rout of the Yankees. The Orioles scored 10 runs in the fourth inning the night before against Toronto.

Sept. 29 -- In Sydney, Australia, the U.S. men's basketball team the escaped the humiliation of playing for a bronze medal with an 85-83 victory over Lithuania in the semifinals. It was the closest victory and biggest scare for a U.S. Olympic team since NBA players started competing in 1992.

Sept. 30 -- In Sydney, Australia, Marion Jones won gold in the U.S. women's 1,600-meter relay and bronze with the 400-meter squad -- making her the only woman to win five track medals at one Olympics. Cuban heavyweight Felix Savon joined famed countryman Teofilo Stevenson as a winner of three Olympic boxing gold medals. The 6-foot-6 Savon, blood streaming down his face from a cut suffered in a semifinal bout, outpointed Sultanahmed Ibzagimov of Russia 21-13. Savon, 33, became only the third boxer to win three Olympic golds.

Sept. 30 -- Alex Rodriguez homered twice and drove in seven runs in Seattle's 21-9 rout of Anaheim.

Sept. 30 -- Oakland defeated Texas 23-2, setting a franchise record for runs. Earlier in the year the A's scored 21 runs against Kansas City. The 23 runs were the most ever allowed by the Rangers. Oakland's Miguel Tejada hit a grand slam in the fifth inning to give the A's a major league-record 14 grand slams.

Sept. 30 -- Chicago's Jose Valentin homered in the third inning of the White Sox's 9-1 win over Kansas City batting from the left side. In the eighth he hit his career-high 25th batting from the right side -- his first homer all season batting righty.

Sept. 30 -- Michigan became the first Division I-A football program to reach 800 wins with a a 13-10 victory over Wisconsin.

Files from AP