2001 at a glance

January February March

April May June

July August September

October November December

May

 May 3 -- Dallas, with a an 84-83 win over Utah, became the sixth team in NBA history to win a five-game series after trailing 0-2. The Mavericks rallied from double-digit deficits in all three wins. They were down by 17 in Game 5.

 May 4 -- Raul Mondesi of the Blue Jays, went 4-for-4, with two homers, two doubles, and six RBIs, leading Toronto to an 8-3 victory over Seattle.

 May 5 -- Monarchos won the Kentucky Derby carrying Jorge Chavez across the finish line in 1:59 4-5, only two-fifths of a second off the track record set by Secretariat en route to the Triple Crown in 1973. Monarchos won by a dominating 4 3/4 lengths over Invisible Ink.

 May 5 -- Sammy Sosa homered and had four RBIs, and Julian Tavarez pitched seven solid innings as the Chicago Cubs beat Los Angeles 20-1 at Wrigley Field. The Cubs scored eight runs in each of the last two innings.

 May 6 -- Scott Dixon, a 20-year-old rookie, became the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing when he held off Kenny Brack to capture the CART Lehigh Valley Grand Prix. The New Zealand driver eclipsed the mark of Sam Hornish Jr., 21, who won this season in the Indy Racing League. Dixon beat Brack by 0.366 seconds.

 May 8 -- Randy Johnson became only the third pitcher to strike out 20 in nine innings, but didn't finish the game as the Arizona Diamondbacks went on beat Cincinnati 4-3 in 11 innings. Johnson, the first left-hander to stke out 20, missed out on the chance to join Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood as the record-holders for a nine-inning game because Arizona could not finish off the Reds in regulation.

 May 9 -- The Atlanta Falcons signed quarterback Michael Vick to the richest rookie contract in league history. The No. 1 pick in the NFL draft received a $62 million, six-year deal.

 May 9 -- A stampede at a packed soccer match between two top teams from Ghana killed 126 people in Accra, Ghana. Accra Hearts, the hometown team, was leading 2-1 against Asante Kotoko with five minutes left when Asante supporters began throwing bottles and chairs onto the field. Police responded by firing tear gas, creating panic in the stands.

 May 9 -- Donna Caponi, whose 24 victories and four major championships fell short of the toughest Hall of Fame standards in sports, was elected through the Veteran's Committee and will be inducted as the 19th member from the LPGA Tour.

 May 9 -- Allen Iverson set a team playoff record with 54 points as Philadelphia evened its second-round series at 1-1 with a 97-92 victory over Toronto. Iverson, was 21-of-39 from the floor and scored 19 of the 76ers' final 20 points.

 May 10 -- The XFL folded after one season that was a critical and TV ratings disappointment for the football league founded by the World Wrestling Federation and jointly owned by NBC. The WWF said its share of after-tax losses will be about $35 million. NBC's loss should be similar.

 May 10 -- Jeromy Burnitz went 3-for-4 with three homers and six RBIs as the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cubs 11-1.

 May 11 -- Vince Carter scored 34 of his 50 points in the first half and tied an NBA playoff record with nine 3-pointers in leading Toronto to a 102-78 win over Philadelphia. Carter set an NBA playoff record for most 3-pointers in a half when he hit eight during the first half. He then tied Rex Chapman's four-year-old league playoff mark by finishing with nine 3-pointers.

 May 11 -- Nine of the 22 umpires terminated by baseball two years ago following a failed mass resignation were given their jobs back by an arbitrator. Major league baseball was ordered to rehire Drew Coble, Gary Darling, Bill Hohn, Greg Kosc, Larry Poncino, Larry Vanover and Joe West. In addition, arbitrator Alan Symonette ordered baseball to take back two umpires who have said they intend to retire: Frank Pulli and Terry Tata.

 May 12 -- A.J. Burnett pitched an unlikely no-hitter -- overcoming a record nine walks -- to lead Florida over San Diego 3-0.

 May 14 -- Morgan Pressel, shot a 2-under par 70 to become one of the youngest qualifiers for the U.S. Women's Open. The 12-year-old seventh-grader was among the youngest to qualify for the event. Beverly Klass was 10 years old when she played in the 1967 U.S. Women's Open.

 May 15 -- Allen Iverson, who led the Philadelphia 76ers to the best record in the East, was picked as the NBA's Most Valuable Player. Iverson -- at 6 feet the shortest player in NBA history to win the award as well as the lightest at 165 pounds -- (31.1 ppg) led the league in scoring for the second time in three years.

 May 15 -- Seattle SuperSonics forward Ruben Patterson was sentenced to a year in jail with all but 15 days suspended under a modified guilty plea to an attempted rape charge.

 May 16 -- Allen Iverson scored 52 points -- including 29 in the first half -- as Philadelphia routed Toronto 121-88 to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals. It is only the second time anyone's had two 50 point games in a series since Michael Jordan did it against Cleveland in 1988.

 May 16 -- Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa hit his 400th career home run in a 6-2 loss to Houston. Sosa connected off Shane Reynolds in the fourth inning to become the 33rd major leaguer -- the seventh active -- to reach 400 homers.

 May 19 -- Point Given, performing the way he was expected to in the Kentucky Derby, won the Preakness as Derby winner Monarchos finished out of the money. Point Given, who finished fifth at Churchill Downs, took the lead in the upper stretch and held off A P Valentine to win.

 May 19 -- Barry Bonds homered three times as San Francisco beat the Atlanta Braves 6-3.

 May 20 -- Barry Bonds hit two homers in the San Francisco Giants' 11-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves, giving him a total of five in two games, becoming the 23rd player in history to do so.

 May 20 -- Jason Varitek went 4-for-4 with three home runs and seven RBIs as Boston beat Kansas City 10-3.

 May 21 -- Barry Bonds tied the major league record with his eighth home run in five games, but San Francisco lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2. The homer, off Arizona's Curt Schilling, equaled the mark set by Frank Howard, who did it twice in 1968 with Washington. It also set the National League record held by Jim Bottomley (1929), Johnny Bench (1972) and Mike Schmidt (1979).

 May 21 -- Al Davis and his Oakland Raiders lost a $1.2 billion lawsuit that claimed the NFL sabotaged a deal for a new stadium and forced the team to leave Los Angeles.

 May 22 -- The NFL unanimously approved realignment for 2002, shifting Seattle from the AFC to the NFC but keeping most of the divisions intact. The move creates eight four-team divisions for the 32-team league that will include expansion Houston.

 May 24 -- John Lieber of the Chicago Cubs threw a 79-pitch, one-hit shutout in a 3-0 blanking of the Reds. It was the first shutout of the Reds in an NL-record 208 games.

 May 25 -- Kerry Wood of the Chicago Cubs allowed only one hit and struck out 14 in a 1-0 win over the Brewers. Wood took a no-hit bid into the seventh before giving up a leadoff single to Mark Loretta.

 May 25 -- Hideo Nomo of the Boston Red Sox tossed a one-hitter and struck out 14 in a 4-0 win over Toronto. Nomo faced one batter over the minimum of 27, giving up a leadoff double in the fourth to Shannon Stewart.

 May 27 -- Indy rookie Helio Castroneves led teammate and fellow Brazilian Gil de Ferran in a 1-2 Roger Penske finish, giving the renowned owner a triumphant return to the Indianapolis 500. The victory was Penske's record 11th at Indy. Tony Stewart raced in the 500 and NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 in Concord, N.C. on the same day for the second time in three years. Stewart led for a while and wound up sixth in the 500 and finished third in the NASCAR race.

 May 27 -- The Los Angeles Lakers finished off the San Antonio Spurs, the team with the best regular-season record in the NBA, 111-82 for their 19th victory in a row. Their 11-0 playoff run matches the NBA record set by the 1989 Lakers.

 May 27 -- Hicham El Guerrouj ran the fastest outdoor mile ever in the United States, and high school sensation Alan Webb broke four minutes outdoors. El Guerrouj won in a sizzling 3 minutes, 49.92 seconds, shattering the U.S. all-comers' record of 3:50.86 by Algerian Noureddine Morceli at Atlanta in 199. Webb, the 18-year-old from Reston, Va., put on a brilliant last-lap burst and finished fifth at 3:53.43, smashing the high school record of 3:55.3 set by Jim Ryun in 1965. En route, Webb broke Ryun's record for 1,500 meters. Webb's time of 3:38.26 erased Ryun's mark of 3:39.0.

 May 28 -- Matias Boeker of Georgia became the third player to sweep the NCAA men's tennis titles. Boeker, part of the team championship last week, won the singles and doubles titles to join Stanford's Alex O'Brien (1992) and Bob Bryan (1998) as the only players to win all three titles since the current format was adopted in 1977. Boeker beat Virginia's Brian Vahaly 6-2, 6-4 to take the singles title, then teamed with Travis Parrott to defeat SMU's Johan Brunstrom and Jon Wallmark 6-4, 7-5.

 May 28 -- Lindsey Collins hit a solo home run and Jennie Finch pitched a four-hitter as Arizona beat UCLA 1-0 for the championship of the Women's College World Series and its sixth national championship.

 May 28 -- After Princeton blew a four-goal lead, B.J. Prager's goal with 41 seconds left in overtime gave the Tigers a 10-9 win over Syracuse in the NCAA Lacrosse championship game.

 May 29 -- The Supreme Court ruled disabled golfer Casey Martin may use a cart to ride in tournaments, saying federal law requires a leveling of the playing field for the handicapped, even in pro sports. The decision means the PGA Tour must make allowances for Martin, whose degenerative leg ailment makes it almost impossible to walk an 18-hole course.

 May 30 -- Moses Malone, among the first to go straight from high school to the pros, and college coaches Mike Krzyzewski and John Chaney entered the Basketball Hall of Fame.

 May 30 -- Barry Bonds hit two home runs, moving past Willie McCovey and Ted Williams into 11th place on the career list with 522. Bonds with 17 home runs in May, surpassed the mark set by Mark McGwire in 1998 and Mickey Mantle in 1956.

 May 31 -- Pat Day became the third jockey to reach 8,000 wins by guiding Camden Park to a one-length victory on the turf in the sixth race at Churchill Downs. The 47-year-old Day trails only Laffit Pincay Jr. (9,147) and Bill Shoemaker (8,833).

 May 31 -- Pete Sampras walked off the clay at the French Open a loser again, beaten by Spanish journeyman Galo Blanco, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2. Dating back to 1989, Sampras is 0-for-12 at the only Grand Slam tournament he has yet to win.