Events in Sports History in 2003

Jan 11 Washington right wing Jaromír Jágr scores his 10th career hat-trick and adds 4 assists for 7 points and his 1,200th NHL point in a 12-2 win against Florida; Jágr has 20+ goals in each of his 13 NHL seasons

Jan 26 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Andre Agassi of the US wins his 8th and last Grand Slam title; beats Rainer Schuttler of Germany 6-2, 6-2, 6-1

Mar 2 America's Cup, Auckland: Swiss yacht Alinghi beats Team New Zealand by 0.44s to sweep series, 5-0; Alinghi's Russell Coutts wins last 14 America's Cup races he's competed in as skipper; most in history

Mar 23 Cricket World Cup, Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, RSA: Ricky Ponting scores 140 no as defending champions Australia beat India by 125 runs; Sachin Tendulkar, Player of Series

Mar 30 In a final match decider, England beats Ireland 42-6 in Dublin to complete a Grand Slam and win the Six Nations Rugby Championship; Jonny Wilkinson kicks 3 conversions, a penalty and 2 dropped goals for England

Mar 30 Kraft Nabisco Championship Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Patricia Meunier-Lebouc of France wins her only major title, 1 stroke ahead of the 2-time defending champion Annika Sörenstam of Sweden

Mar 30 PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Davis Love III shoots a final round 64 to win his 2nd Players title, 6 strokes ahead of runners-up Jay Haas and Pádraig Harrington

Mar 31 Cincinnati Reds open their new home, The Great American Ball Park, with a 10-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates; former President George H. W. Bush throws first ceremonial pitch

Apr 2 At 27 years, 249 days Texas Rangers infielder Alex Rodriguez becomes the youngest MLB player to hit 300 home runs; homers off Ramon Ortiz in 5th inning of an 11-5 loss to the Angels in Anaheim

Apr 8 22nd NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Connecticut beats Tennessee, 73-68; UConn guard Diana Taurasi is named Most Outstanding Player

Apr 16 Washington Wizards' Michael Jordan plays his final NBA game, in Philadelphia, where he receives a 3 minute standing ovation.

Apr 21 107th Boston Marathon: Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot of Kenya men's champion in 2:10:11; Svetlana Zakharova of Russia women's winner in 2:25:19

Apr 22 Patrick Roy plays his final career NHL game

Jun 8 French Open Men's Tennis: Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero claims his lone major title; beats Dutchman Martin Verkerk 6-1, 6-3, 6-2

Jun 15 NBA Finals: San Antonio Spurs beat New Jersey Nets, 88-77 in Game 6 for franchise's second title; MVP: Tim Duncan

Jun 15 US Open Men's Golf, Olympia Fields CC: American Jim Furyk wins his only major title by 3 from Stephen Leaney of Australia

Jun 17 "Moneyball", a book about the 2003 Oakland Athletics baseball team and GM Billy Beane's sabermetric approach, inspired by Bill James, is published

Jun 23 Barry Bonds steals second base against the LA Dodgers, becoming the first player in MLB history to have 500 career homers and 500 steals

Jun 26 NBA Draft: St. Vincent–St. Mary HS (Akron, Ohio) small forward LeBron James first pick by Cleveland Cavaliers

Jun 29 US Senior Open Men's Golf, Inverness Club: Bruce Lietzke wins by 2 strokes from Tom Watson

Jul 4 LA Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant is arrested in Eagle, Colorado for sexual assault, charges eventually dismissed

Jul 6 Martina Navratilova claims her 20th all-time Wimbledon title as she and Leander Paes beat Andy Ram & Anastassia Rodionova 6-3, 6-3 in the mixed doubles final

Jul 6 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Roger Federer beats Australian Mark Philippoussis 7-6, 6-2, 7-6 for his first Grand Slam title

Jul 7 US Open Women's Golf, Pumpkin Ridge GC: Hilary Lunke wins in a playoff with Kelly Robbins & Angela Stanford for her only career LPGA tournament victory

Jul 20 British Open Men's Golf, Royal St George's GC: American Ben Curtis becomes first debut winner since Tom Watson in 1975; in his first major appearance at #396 in world rankings beats runners-up Thomas Bjørn and Vijay Singh by 1 stroke

Aug 16 Cristiano Ronaldo (18) makes his debut for Manchester United and the Premier League in a 4–0 home victory over Bolton Wanderers

Sep 14 Solheim Cup Women's Golf, Barsebäck G & CC: Europe regains Cup; after Catriona Matthew beat Rosie Jones 3 & 1 to clinch, amid controversy 4 of 5 remaining matches are conceded for final score of 17½-10½

Oct 14 Fan Steve Bartman deflects the ball away from Chicago Cubs outfielder Moises Alou. Cubs give up eight runs in the inning and lose to the Marlins 8-3, and the Bartman incident is seen as the turning point in the series

Oct 31 Bethany Hamilton, aged 13, has her arm bitten off by a shark while surfing in Hawaii

Nov 16 16-year old Lionel Messi makes his official debut for FC Barcelona when he comes on as a substitute in a friendly against Porto

Nov 23 Federation Cup Women's Tennis, Moscow, Russia: Amélie Mauresmo beats American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-2, 6-1 to give France an unassailable 3-0 lead (ends, 4-1) and their second title

Dec 22 Ballon d'Or: Juventus' Czech midfielder Pavel Nedvěd is named best football player in Europe ahead of Arsenal forward Thierry Henry and Milan defender Paolo Maldini

Dec 22 The New York Knicks hire Isiah Thomas as President of Basketball Operations