2009 was filled with sports news. Here is a review of the biggest sports news events that took place during the last year of the first decade of the new millennium.

Jan. 8- Florida wins the NCAA BCS Championship college football game against Oklahoma in Miami, defeating Oklahoma 24-14. Tim Tebow's two touchdown passes and Percy Harvin's two-yard run led the Florida Gators to their second National Championship in three years.

Feb. 1- In what has been one of the better Super Bowl games to date, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 in Super Bowl XLIII, in Tampa, Fla. The Steelers marched 78-yards to score on wide receiver Santonio Holmes's 6-yard game-winning touchdown catch with 35 seconds left in the game.

Feb. 1- Olympic great Michael Phelps acknowledged "regrettable" behavior and "bad judgment" after a photo in a British newspaper showed him smoking a bong, which is a type of water pipe for smoking marijuana.

Feb. 17- New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez formally apologized for taking banned drugs from 2001-2003 while he was with the Texas Rangers.

March 18- Lance Mackey crosses the finish line in of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Nome, Alaska to win his third Iditarod in a row.

April 6- North Carolina wins the NCAA basketball championship with an 89-72 victory over Michigan State in Detroit. The victory was North Carolina's fifth national championship.

April 9- Los Angeles Angels rookie starting pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in an auto accident in Fullerton, California.

April 12- Angel Cabrera wins his first Masters golf tournament in a sudden-death playoff at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. Kenny Perry was leading for most of the day until he finished with bogies at 17 and 18. Perry finished tied with Cabrera and Chad Campbell, leading to a three way playoff. Cabrera pared the third playoff hole to win the tournament. Cabrera became the first Argentinean to win the Masters.

May 2- Calvin Borel rode Mine That Bird to a victory in the 135th Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs Saturday, in Louisville, Ky. Mine That Bird, came back from dead last out of the first turn to take the lead in the final furlong, and had the longest margin of victory in over 60 years. He was the longest-odds horse to win the Derby in over 85 years with 50-1 opening odds .

May 8- The Dodgers Manny Ramirez's was issued a 50-game suspension by Major league baseball for testing positive for a banned substance. The most humorous item was the fact that the substance in question was a female fertility drug.

May 24- Helio Castroneves, of Brazil, wins the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis. He won the race from the pole position, and became the first driver born outside the United States to win the race more than twice as he also won in 2001 and 2002.

June 12- The Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals in Detroit to win the Stanley Cup. They became just the second team, after the 1971 Montreal Canadians, to win the trophy after losing the first two games of the series on the road.

June 14- The Los Angeles Lakers' defeat the Orlando Magic 99-86 in Game 5 of the NBA finals to win the NBA Championship 4 games to 1 in Amway Arena in Orlando. It was the Lakers' 15th NBA title, and Kobe Bryant was awarded the MVP.

June 22- Lucas Glover wins the U.S. Open Golf Championship with a 4 under par score of 276 at Bethpage State Park's Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y.  Glover birdied 16 and made par on the final two holes to seal the victory.

July 14- The American League defeats the National League 4-3 in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. This was the seventh straight win for the American League since the All-Star game has been used to determine home-field advantage for the World Series. Outfielder Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays was named MVP.  

July 15- Roger Federer defeats Andy Roddick 5–7, 7–6(6), 7–6(5), 3–6, 16–14 in the men's final tennis match to win at Wimbledon. Federer's victory gave him his 15th career Grand Slam title, to make him the most successful male player in Grand Slam history.

July 26- Alberto Contador of Spain wins the Tour de France, Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, placed second, and American seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, placed third. after the 21st and final stage of the Tour de France in Paris.

Aug. 16- Jamaica's Usain Bolt sets a new Men's 100 meter World Record at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin. The Jamaican sprinting sensation put on another amazing performance at the world championships, shattering his own world record in the 100 meters by .11 seconds to take it down to an almost inhuman 9.58 seconds.

Sept. 13- Kim Clijsters, of Belgium, after being granted a wild card entry, and after more than two years of retirement wins the women’s U.S. Open Tennis Tournament over Caroline Wozniacki, of Denmark, in straight sets: 7–5, 6–3, in New York. Clijsters became the first mother to win a Grand Slam event since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.

Sept. 13- Tiger Woods wins the BMW Championship golf tournament in Lemont, Ill. Woods won the tournament with a 19-under 265, assuring himself the No. 1 ranking.

Sept. 14- Juan Martín del Potro defeated Roger Federer in five sets 3–6, 7–6(5), 4–6, 7–6(4), 6–2 in the men’s U.S. Open Tennis Tournament in New York. In so doing he became the third Argentinian to win the US Open title, and the first South American to win a men's Grand Slam event on a hard court.

Oct. 28- News breaks that Andre Agassi's autobiography contains an admission he used crystal meth in 1997 and failed a drug test, a result thrown out after he lied by saying he "unwittingly" took the substance. The autobiography also states that he wore a blonde wig during his career on the court and that he never really even liked playing tennis.

Nov. 4- The New York Yankees defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in the Major League Baseball World Series in Yankee Stadium in New York. The Yankees won 7-3 to win the World Series, 4 games to 2. Hideki Matsui was named MVP of the series, batting .615 with 3 home runs, 8 RBI’s, and 3 runs scored in the series. He was the first MVP by a Japanese born player as well as the first player to win it as a full-time designated hitter.

Dec. 4- Jimmy Johnson was formally awarded his record-breaking fourth consecutive NASCAR championship. Johnson's unprecedented four consecutive titles surpassed the previous mark of three in a row, which had been shared Johnson and Cale Yarborough.

Dec. 8- Danica Patrick announced that she will drive for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s NASCAR Nationwide Series team in 2010, and that GoDaddy will sponsor her car. The announcement ended months of speculation about whether Patrick would race in NASCAR.

Dec. 11- Tiger Woods announced an indefinite leave of absence from professional golf to focus on his marriage after his past infidelities came to light following an altercation with his wife and an automobile accident outside his California home.