2001 at a glance

January February March

April May June

July August September

October November December

July

 July 2 -- Beethavean Scottland, 26, a light-heavyweight boxer comatose for six days after he was knocked out in the waning seconds of a televised 10-round fight, died from his injuries. Scottland was knocked out by a left-right combination with just 37 seconds left in his bout with undefeated George Khalid Jones. He was initially able to answer questions in the ring, but fell unconscious within minutes.

 June 3 -- NBA owners gave unanimous approval, clearing the way for the Vancouver Grizzlies to play in Tennessee next season. It was the league's first franchise relocation since the Kings moved from Kansas City to Sacramento in 1985.

 July 3 -- D'Angelo Jimenez hit San Diego's fourth sacrifice fly of the game -- tying the NL record -- to lift the Padres over Colorado 6-5. Ryan Klesko, Wiki Gonzalez and Woody Williams also had sacrifice flies.

 July 6 -- Jim Thome hit three two-run homers to power the Cleveland Indians to a 14-2 rout over the St. Louis Cardinals.

 July 8 -- Venus Williams won her second consecutive Wimbledon title by beating Belgian Justine Henin 6-1, 3-6, 6-0.

 July 9 -- Goran Ivanisevic became one of Wimbledon's most improbable champions, beating Patrick Rafter in five riveting sets after barely getting into the tournament. Two points away from defeat, Ivanisevic rallied to beat Rafter 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 and become the second player to win a Wimbledon singles title without being seeded. Boris Becker did it in 1985. Ivanisevic needed a wild-card invitation simply to play.

 July 9 -- Justyna Bak of Poland shattered the world record in the women's 3,000 steeplechase, covering the distance in nine minutes, 25.31 seconds at the Nikaia Grand Prix meet in Nice, France. Bak slashed nearly 15 seconds off the old mark of 9:40.20 set by Romania's Cristina Iloc-Casandra on Aug. 30, 2000, in Reims, France.

 July 10 -- Cal Ripken upstaged every big name in the ballpark, hitting a home run and winning the MVP award in his final All-Star appearance to lead the American League over the Nationals 4-1. Derek Jeter and Magglio Ordonez connected for consecutive home runs as the AL won its fifth in a row.

 July 12 -- Mark McGwire hit his 563rd homer to tie Reggie Jackson for sixth on baseball's career list in a 7-5 loss to the Tigers. It was also McGwire's 200th homer since joining the Cardinals at the trade deadline in 1997, making him only the third player in history to hit 200 homers in both leagues.

 July 13 -- Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympics, winning the games for the world's most populous country for the first time.

 July 14 -- John Campbell scored an unprecedented sixth victory in the $1 million Meadowlands Pace as Real Desire wore down favored Bettor's Delight in the stretch. Real Desire paced the mile in 1:49.3 in matching the record set by The Panderosa two years ago in the race that gave Campbell his fifth win. The 46-year-old Campbell has won a $1 million race 19 times.

 July 14 -- In a bout that seemed to feature as much clutching as punching, Hector Camacho won a unanimous 12-round decision over 50-year-old Roberto Duran in Denver. The 39-year-old Camacho captured the fringe National Boxing Association title Duran carried into the ring. Since 1967, Duran he has fought at least once every year except 1985, and his 104-16 record spans five decades.

 July 15 -- Shigeki Maruyama became the first Japanese player to win a PGA Tour event on the mainland, beating Charles Howell III in a playoff in the Greater Milwaukee Open. The only other Japanese winner on the PGA Tour was Isao Aoki, who won the 1983 Hawaiian Open.

 July 16 -- Jacques Rogge, a Belgian surgeon and Olympic sailor with a squeaky-clean reputation, was elected to succeed Juan Antonio Samaranch as president of the International Olympic Committee.

 July 16 -- Lisa Leslie broke her own WNBA All-Star game record with 20 points and added nine rebounds to lead the Western Conference to an 80-72 victory over the Eastern Conference.

 July 17 -- Lance Armstrong surged past his rivals to win a grueling climb in the French Alps in the Tour de France. Armstrong won the 10th stage -- his first stage victory of the race -- and moved from 23rd place to fourth in the overall standings.

 July 18 -- The Baltimore Orioles were forced to postpone their game against the Texas Rangers because of a train derailment in the vicinity of Camden Yards. Oriole Park was evacuated after the train carrying hazardous materials derailed in a tunnel that runs about one mile north from the Camden Yards sports complex.

 July 18 -- Jeff Bagwell became the first Astros player to hit for the cycle since Andujar Cedeno on Aug. 25, 1992, in Houston's 17-11 win over St. Louis. Bagwell went 4-for-5 with a walk. He singled in the first, doubled and homered in the fifth, and tripled in the seventh.

 July 18 -- Roger Cedeno was 4-for-5 with a double, triple, two homers and six RBIs in Detroit's 12-4 win over the New York Yankees in the second game of a day-night doubleheader.

 July 18 -- Two transformers in the light tower at Qualcomm Stadium blew out in the third inning, causing the suspension of the Arizona Diamondbacks-San Diego Padres game. The two explosions occurred about 45 seconds apart in the third inning, with Arizona pitcher Curt Schilling at bat and the Diamondbacks leading 1-0.

 July 19 -- Randy Johnson struck out 16, a major league record for a reliever, and came within four outs of combining with Curt Schilling on a no-hitter as Arizona beat San Diego 3-0 in the completion of their suspended game. Wiki Gonzalez hit an opposie-field single to right with two outs in the eighth for the Padres.

 July 21 -- Chris Webber signed the second-biggest contract in NBA history, agreeing to a seven-year deal worth $122.7 million to return to the Sacramento Kings.

 July 21 -- In their highest-scoring game in 58 years, the Dodgers routed Colorado 22-7. The 22 runs were the most scored by the Dodgers since Brooklyn beat Pittsburgh 23-6 on July 10, 1943, at Ebbets Field.

 July 21 -- Sammy Sosa hit two homers, becoming the eighth player to have at least 50 career multihomer games as Chicago beat the Astros 5-4.

 July 22 -- David Duval shot a 4-under 67 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes to win the British Open title, his first major championship. He finished at 10-under 274 for a three-stroke victory over Sweden's Niclas Fasth (67).

 July 23 -- Michael Finley re-signed with the Dallas Mavericks, getting a seven-year contract worth more than $100 million.

 July 23 -- Shooting guard Allan Houston re-signed with the New York Knicks for $100 million for six years.

 July 24 -- Ian Thorpe set his second world record of the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, winning the 800-meter freestyle final in 7 minutes, 39.16 seconds. The 18-year-old Aussie stripped 2.43 seconds off the world record he set at the Australian trials at Hobart in March.

 July 24 -- Arizona's Randy Johnson combined on a one-hitter against San Diego for the second time in six days, and Luis Gonzalez homered twice to reach 40 as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Padres 11-0. Johnson allowed a first-inning single by Bubba Trammell and struck out 14 in 7 1-3 innings. Troy Brohawn got two outs and Erik Sabel pitched the ninth to complete the one-hitter.

 July 25 -- Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss agreed to a $75 million, eight-year deal making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the league and third best-paid player overall.

 July 25 -- Incoming Florida freshman Eraste Autin died of complications related to heat stroke, six days after collapsing and falling into a coma following a workout with teammates. Autin fell unconscious just outside Florida Field on July 19 while jogging back to the locker room after one of the football team's voluntary summer conditioning sessions.

 July 26 -- Troy Glaus, Darin Erstad and Garret Anderson hit consecutive home runs in the first to help the Angels beat Tampa Bay 5-3.

 July 28 -- Vinny Castilla hit three homers and drove in five runs but Houston loss 9-8 after leading the Pirates 8-2 with two outs in the ninth inning. Down 8-2 with two outs in the ninth inning, the Pirates scored seven runs, including Brian Giles' game-winning grand slam.

 July 29 -- Craig Monroe homered in his first major league at-bat as the Texas Rangers beat Tampa Bay 2-0.

 July 29 -- Lance Armstrong won his third straight Tour de France, ending three weeks of grueling competition and once again dominating the world's toughest cycling event. He became the first American to win the Tour three times in a row.