December 2008 in sports
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Deaths in December
Deaths in December 2008:
Current sporting seasons
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December 31, 2008 (Wednesday)
December 30, 2008 (Tuesday)
December 29, 2008 (Monday)
December 28, 2008 (Sunday)
- National Football League Week 17:
(Teams that have made playoffs are in boldface)
- Carolina Panthers 33, New Orleans Saints 31
- The Panthers win the NFC South title and earn a first-round bye in the NFC playoffs.
- Houston Texans 31, Chicago Bears 24
- The Bears loss knocks them out of the playoffs.
- Pittsburgh Steelers 31, Cleveland Browns 0
- Green Bay Packers 31, Detroit Lions 21
- The Lions earn the first 0–16 season in NFL history.
- Cincinnati Bengals 16, Kansas City Chiefs 6
- New England Patriots 13, Buffalo Bills 0
- The Pats win, but are eliminated from the playoffs when the Dolphins and Ravens both win.
- Minnesota Vikings 20, New York Giants 19
- Oakland Raiders 31, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24
- Atlanta Falcons 31, St. Louis Rams 27
- The Falcons will play in Glendale next Saturday against the Cardinals.
- Indianapolis Colts 23, Tennessee Titans 0
- Philadelphia Eagles 44, Dallas Cowboys 6
- The Eagles earn the last NFC wild card berth thanks to sloppy play by Dallas, with five turnovers leading to 24 Eagles points.
- Baltimore Ravens 27, Jacksonville Jaguars 7
- The Ravens clinch the last AFC wild card spot.
- Miami Dolphins 24, New York Jets 17
- The Dolphins win the AFC East, and will host Baltimore next Sunday.
- Arizona Cardinals 34, Seattle Seahawks 21
- San Francisco 49ers 27, Washington Redskins 24
- San Diego Chargers 52, Denver Broncos 21
- The Chargers win the AFC West title and will host the Colts next Saturday in a wild card game.
December 27, 2008 (Saturday)
December 26, 2008 (Friday)
December 25, 2008 (Thursday)
December 24, 2008 (Wednesday)
December 23, 2008 (Tuesday)
December 22, 2008 (Monday)
December 21, 2008 (Sunday)
- National Football League Week 16:
(Teams in boldface are in the playoffs; teams in italics are eliminated)
- New England Patriots 47, Arizona Cardinals 7
- Cincinnati Bengals 14, Cleveland Browns 0
- Miami Dolphins 38, Kansas City Chiefs 31
- New Orleans Saints 42, Detroit Lions 7
- The Lions' 15th straight loss sets a new record for futility at the start of a season and clinches the first pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.
- Tennessee Titans 31, Pittsburgh Steelers 14
- San Diego Chargers 41, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24
- The Chargers stay in contention for the AFC West title.
- San Francisco 49ers 17, St. Louis Rams 16
- Buffalo Bills 30, Denver Broncos 23
- The Broncos' loss and the Chargers win set up a winner-take-all game for the AFC West title next Sunday in San Diego.
- Oakland Raiders 27, Houston Texans 16
- Seattle Seahawks 13, New York Jets 3
- Atlanta Falcons 24, Minnesota Vikings 17
- The win gives the Falcons a playoff spot.
- Washington Redskins 10, Philadelphia Eagles 3
- New York Giants 34, Carolina Panthers 28 (OT)
- The Giants clinch home-field advantage in the playoffs after a Brandon Jacobs touchdown in overtime.
December 20, 2008 (Saturday)
- World Cup in Adventure Mountain, China:
December 19, 2008 (Friday)
- World Cup in Adventure Mountain, China:
December 18, 2008 (Thursday)
- Euroleague, week 8:
(teams in bold advance to the Top 16; teams with strike are eliminated)
- Group A:
- Group B:
- Group C:
- Group D:
- FIFA Club World Cup in Japan:
- Semifinal 2:
- Match for fifth place:
- UEFA Cup group stage, matchday 5:
(Teams in bold advance to the last-32 round; teams with strike are eliminated)
- Group A:
- Group B:
- Group C:
- Group D:
December 17, 2008 (Wednesday)
- Euroleague, week 8:
(teams in bold advance to the Top 16; teams with strike are eliminated)
- Group A:
- Group B:
- Group C:
- Group D:
December 16, 2008 (Tuesday)
December 15, 2008 (Monday)
December 14, 2008 (Sunday)
- National Football League Week 15:
(Teams in bold clinched a playoff berth; teams in italics are eliminated)
- New York Jets 31, Buffalo Bills 27
- The Bills are eliminated from playoff contention.
- Indianapolis Colts 31, Detroit Lions 21
- The Lions drop to 0–14, the third team ever to lose the first 14 games of a season (1976 Buccaneers, 1980 Saints).
- Jacksonville Jaguars 20, Green Bay Packers 16
- The Packers are eliminated with the loss.
- San Diego Chargers 22, Kansas City Chiefs 21
- Miami Dolphins 14, San Francisco 49ers 9
- Seattle Seahawks 23, St. Louis Rams 20
- Atlanta Falcons 13, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 10 (OT)
- Houston Texans 13, Tennessee Titans 12
- The Texans' win prevents Tennessee from getting home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs for this week.
- Cincinnati Bengals 20, Washington Redskins 13
- Minnesota Vikings 35, Arizona Cardinals 14
- Carolina Panthers 30, Denver Broncos 10
- New England Patriots 49, Oakland Raiders 26
- Pittsburgh Steelers 13, Baltimore Ravens 9
- The win gives the Steelers the AFC North title and a first-round playoff bye, and sets up a showdown with the Titans for AFC playoff home field advantage next Sunday.
- Dallas Cowboys 20, New York Giants 8
- The Giants loss now sets up a showdown with Carolina for home field advantage in the NFC playoffs next week.
- World Cup 5 in Nagano, Japan:
- 500 m women:
- 500 m men:
- 1000 m women:
- 1000 m men:
- 100 m women:
- 100 m men:
December 13, 2008 (Saturday)
- 2008 Heisman Trophy:
- With three underclassman quarterbacks as the finalists, Oklahoma's Sam Bradford becomes the second sophomore to win the prestigious award. Last year's winner, Tim Tebow of Florida, had the most first place votes, but lost four of the six regions to Bradford and finished third in total votes behind runnerup Colt McCoy of Texas.
- NCAA Division I FCS semifinal at Cedar Falls, Iowa:
- Richmond 21, Northern Iowa 20
- Trailing 20–7 in the fourth quarter, the Spiders come back to score the winning touchdown and extra point with 14 seconds remaining.
- NCAA Division II Championship at Florence, Alabama:
- Minnesota-Duluth 21, Northwest Missouri State 14
- The Bulldogs win their first national title in football, while the Bearcats lose in the title game for the fourth straight year, with each loss being by a touchdown or less.
December 12, 2008 (Friday)
December 11, 2008 (Thursday)
- Euroleague, week 7:
(teams in bold advance to the Top-16 round)
- Group A:
- Air Avellino 72–86 Maccabi Tel Aviv
- Maccabi (4–3) need one more win or Avellino (2–5) loss to qualify to the Top-16. As a result of Maccabi's win, Olympiacos (5–2) qualifies to the Top-16 and Le Mans (0–7) is eliminated.
- Group B:
- Group C:
- Group D:
- European Short Course Championships in Rijeka, Croatia:
- Men:
- 400m Freestyle: (1) Paul Biedermann 3:37.73 (2) Massimiliano Rosolino 3:39.33 (3) Mads Glæsner 3:39.77
- 200m Backstroke: (1) Stanislav Donets & Aschwin Wildeboer 1:49.22 (3) Pierre Roger 1:52.26
- 200m Individual Medley: (1) James Goddard 1:53.46, (2) Vytautas Janušaitis 1:54.51, (3) Alan Cabello Forns 1:55.70
- 50m Freestyle: (1) Amaury Leveaux 20.63sec, (2) Frédérick Bousquet 20.69, (3) Duje Draganja & Evgeny Lagunov 21.15
- Leveaux sets a world record of 20.48sec in semi-final.
- 4 x 50m Medley Relay: (1) Italy (Mirco Di Tora, Alessandro Terrin, Marco Belotti, Filippo Magnini) 1:32.91 (world record), (2) Germany (Thomas Rupprath, Marco Koch, Johannes Dietrich, Steffen Deibler) & Russia (Stanislav Donets, Sergei Geybel, Evgeny Korotyshkin, Evgeny Lagunov) 1:33.31
- Russia set a world record of 1:33.77 in a heat earlier on Thursday.
- Women:
- European Championships in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden:
(All times CET)
- Men:
- Play-off:
- Division B play-off:
- Women:
- Round 9:
(teams in bold qualify to the play-off)
- Tie break for 8th place:
- Netherlands 6–7 England
- England will play against the winner of division B for a berth in 2009 World Championship.
- Play-off:
- Division B play-off:
December 10, 2008 (Wednesday)
- According to reports from ESPN.com, CC Sabathia has signed a seven year, US $160 million deal with the New York Yankees. The deal, averaging out to nearly $23 million/year, will make Sabathia the highest paid pitcher in baseball history.
- Euroleague, week 7:
(teams in bold advance to the Top-16 round)
- Group A:
- Cibona Zagreb 89–70 Le Mans
- Le Mans' losing streak streches to 7 games. They will be eliminated from Top-16 if Maccabi wins on Thursday.
- Unicaja Málaga 60–56 Olympiacos
- Cibona and Unicaja get level with Olympiacos on 5–2.
- Group B:
- Group C:
- Group D:
- UEFA Champions League group stage, matchday 6:
(teams in bold advance to the last-16 round; teams in italics go to UEFA Cup last-32 round; teams with strike are eliminated from all European Cups)
- Group E:
- Group F:
- Group G:
- Group H:
- European Championships in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden:
(teams in bold qualify to the play-off)
- Men:
- Round 8:
- Switzerland 7–4 Norway
- Switzerland secures at least a tie for fourth place.
- France 5–6 Scotland
- Scotland secures a play-off berth and eliminates France.
- Spain 2–9 Czech Republic
- The Czechs win their 4th game in a row and remain in contention for a play-off berth.
- Germany 10–2 Sweden
- Germany secures at least a tie for first place, while Sweden is eliminated.
- Ireland 5–11 Denmark
- Denmark stay in contention for a play-off berth.
- Standings with one round remaining: Germany 7–1, Norway, Scotland 6–2, Switzerland 5–3, Czech Republic, Denmark 4–4.
- Round 9:
- Women:
December 9, 2008 (Tuesday)
- Euroleague, week 7:
- Group C:
- ALBA Berlin 72–63 Fenerbahçe Ülker
- Both teams are level in 4th place on 3–4, with identical head-to-heat record since Fenerbahçe won their first encounter 82–73.
December 8, 2008 (Monday)
- Baseball Hall of Fame balloting:
- For the fourth consecutive election in which post-World War II players were considered, the Veterans Committee fails to elect a single player, with no player gaining more than 39 of the 48 votes required for election.
- However, in the first election specifically for players whose careers began before World War II, second baseman Joe Gordon, best known for his years with the New York Yankees in the late 1930s and early 1940s, is elected by a special panel of the Veterans Committee.
- Other news:
- NBA news: The Minnesota Timberwolves fire head coach Randy Wittman. Kevin McHale is named Wittman's replacement in an effective demotion, as McHale had been the T-Wolves' vice president of basketball operations and had the final say on all player personnel decisions. Wittman is the fourth head coach axed this season, the most in league history before Christmas.
- England in India:
- News: The English team arrive to Chennai for the first Test due to start there on Thursday, after it was decided on Sunday night at the team's training camp in Abu Dhabi to continue the tour.
December 7, 2008 (Sunday)
- National Football League Week 14:
- New Orleans Saints 29, Atlanta Falcons 25
- Indianapolis Colts 35, Cincinnati Bengals 3
- Tennessee Titans 28, Cleveland Browns 9
- The Titans clinch the AFC South division and a first round bye.
- Houston Texans 24, Green Bay Packers 21
- Chicago Bears 23, Jacksonville Jaguars 10
- Minnesota Vikings 20, Detroit Lions 16
- The Lions losing streak streches to 13 games.
- Philadelphia Eagles 20, New York Giants 14
- Despite their defeat, the Giants clinch the NFC East as a result of Dallas' loss.
- Denver Broncos 24, Kansas City Chiefs 17
- Miami Dolphins 16, Buffalo Bills 3, at Toronto, Ontario
- This was the first NFL regular season game to be played in Canada.
- New England Patriots 24, Seattle Seahawks 21
- San Francisco 49ers 24, New York Jets 14
- Pittsburgh Steelers 20, Dallas Cowboys 13
- The Steelers make a 17–0 run in the fourth quarter to score their 10th win.
- Arizona Cardinals 34, St. Louis Rams 10
- The Cardinals clinch the NFC West title and guarantee a home game in the playoffs for the first time in the franchise history since 1947, when they played the championship at Comiskey Park.
- Baltimore Ravens 24, Washington Redskins 10
December 6, 2008 (Saturday)
December 5, 2008 (Friday)
- England in India:
- News: The England cricket team is training in Abu Dhabi, while ECB officials and a security advisor inspect the security conditions in Chennai and Mohali, the cities scheduled to host the two Test matches. The delegation is due to report its findings to the team on Sunday, and then a decision should be made whether the tour will continue with the first Test in Chennai next Thursday.
December 4, 2008 (Thursday)
- Euroleague, week 6:
(teams in bold advance to the top-16 round)
- Group A:
- Maccabi Tel Aviv 88–83 Cibona Zagreb
- Cibona's second loss in succession means Olympiacos (5–1) have sole possession of first place in this group.
- Group B:
- Group C:
December 3, 2008 (Wednesday)
- NBA news: The Toronto Raptors fire Sam Mitchell as head coach, making him the league's third head coach axed this season. His interim replacement is assistant Jay Triano, the first Canadian coach in NBA history.
December 2, 2008 (Tuesday)
- NFL news:
- The New York Giants suspend Plaxico Burress for the remainder of the season, a day after he was charged with felony weapons possession stemming from an incident in which he accidentally shot himself.
December 1, 2008 (Monday)
- U-20 Women's World Cup in Chile:
- Quarterfinals:
- Japan 1–2 North Korea
- Defending champion North Korea win the all-Asian battle and earn a semifinal match against France.
- Brazil 2–3 Germany
- Twins Sylvie and Nicole Banecki score a goal each for Germany, that eliminate the reigning bronze medallists and will next play USA in a repeat of 2002 and 2004 semifinals. On the previous two occasions, the winner went on to win the title.