2001 NCAA Division I-A football season, End of season upsets and BCS drama
Miami was left at the top of all the polls, and the debate began about who deserved to play in the Rose Bowl. Many felt Colorado was the hottest team in the country after dismantling Nebraska and then beating the Longhorns in the Big 12 title game, but their 2 losses at the beginning of the year were tough to ignore. Others felt Oregon deserved the honor, being ranked in some polls as the number 2 team in the country. Ultimately, after all of the upsets, Nebraska ended up as the number 2 team in the BCS, despite being the team to start all of the drama 3 weeks earlier.


2001 NCAA Division I-A football season, Rules changes
The NCAA Rules Committee adopted the following rules changes for the 2001 season:


2001 NCAA Division I-A football season, Conference and program changes
One team upgraded from Division I-AA, thus increasing the number of Division I-A schools from 116 to 117.


2001 NCAA Division I-A football season, Regular season top 10 matchups
Rankings reflect the AP Poll. Rankings for Week 8 and beyond will list BCS Rankings first and AP Poll second. Teams that failed to be a top 10 team for one poll or the other will be noted.


2001 NCAA Division I-A football season, Heisman Trophy voting
The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award is given to the Most Outstanding Player of the year.


2001 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game
The 2001 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Montana Grizzlies and the Furman Paladins. The game was played on December 21, 2001, at Finley Stadium, home field of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The culminating game of the 2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season, it was won by Montana, 13–6.


2001 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game, Teams
The participants of the Championship Game were the finalists of the 2001 I-AA Playoffs, which began with a 16-team bracket. In a change from recent postseasons, the NCAA seeded only the top four seeds, while placing other teams in the bracket based on geographical considerations in order to minimize travel.


2001 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game, Teams, Montana Grizzlies
Montana finished their regular season with an 11–1 record (7–0 in conference); their only loss was to Hawaii of Division I-A. Seeded first in the playoffs, the Grizzlies defeated Northwestern State, Sam Houston State, and Northern Iowa to reach the final. This was the fourth appearance for Montana in a Division I-AA championship game, having won in 1995, and having lost in 1996 and 2000.


2001 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game, Teams, Furman Paladins
Furman finished their regular season with a 9–2 record (7–1 in conference); one of their losses was to Wyoming of Division I-A. The Paladins, seeded third, defeated Western Kentucky, Lehigh, and second-seed Georgia Southern to reach the final. This was the third appearance for Furman in a Division I-AA championship game, having won in 1988 and having lost in 1985.


2001 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game, Game summary, Scoring summary
When there is no time left on the clock at the end of the fourth quarter, NCAA rules only allow for a conversion attempt if it could affect the outcome of the game.


2001 NCAA Division I-AA football rankings
The 2001 NCAA Division I-AA football rankings are from the Sports Network poll of Division I-AA head coaches, athletic directors, sports information directors and media members. This is for the 2001 season. Due to the events of September 11, 2001, all college football games were suspended during the following weekend. As a result, the poll released on September 18 was a repeat of the one released a week earlier.


2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season
The 2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I-AA level, began in August 2001, and concluded with the 2001 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game on December 21, 2001, at Finley Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Montana Grizzlies won their second I-AA championship, defeating the Furman Paladins by a score of 13–6.


2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season, Conference champions
Atlantic 10 Conference – Hofstra, Maine, Villanova, and William & MaryBig Sky Conference – MontanaGateway Football Conference – Northern IowaIvy League – HarvardMetro Atlantic Athletic Conference – DuquesneMid-Eastern Athletic Conference – Florida A&MNortheast Conference – Sacred HeartOhio Valley Conference – Eastern IllinoisPatriot League – LehighPioneer Football League – DaytonSouthern Conference – Furman and Georgia SouthernSouthland Football League – McNeese State and Sam Houston StateSouthwestern Athletic Conference – Grambling State


2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season, Postseason, NCAA Division I-AA playoff bracket
The top four teams in the tournament were seeded; seeded teams were assured of hosting games in the first two rounds.


2001 NCAA Division I-AA football season, Postseason, NCAA Division I-AA playoff bracket
* By team name denotes host institution* By score denotes overtime


2001 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2001 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament was the 45th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college basketball in the United States.


2001 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
Officially culminating the 2000–01 NCAA Division II men's basketball season, the tournament featured forty-eight teams from around the country.


2001 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
The Elite Eight, national semifinals, and championship were played, for the first time, at the Centennial Garden in Bakersfield, California.


2001 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
After losing in the previous year's final, Kentucky Wesleyan (31–3) defeated Washburn in the final, 72–63, to win their record eighth Division II national championship. It was additionally their second title in three years and fourth consecutive appearance in the title game.


2001 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament
The Panthers were coached by Ray Harper. Kentucky Wesleyan's Lorico Duncan was the Most Outstanding Player.


2001 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship
The 2001 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship was the 30th annual tournament held by the NCAA to determine the top men's Division II college soccer program in the United States.


2001 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship
Tampa (19-0-2) defeated defending champions Cal State Dominguez Hills in the tournament final, 2–1.


2001 NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship
This was the third national title for the Spartans, who were coached by Keith Fulk.


2001 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2001 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament was the 20th annual tournament hosted by the NCAA to determine the national champion of Division II women's  collegiate basketball in the United States.


2001 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
Cal Poly Pomona defeated North Dakota in the championship game, 87–80 after overtime, to claim the Broncos' fourth NCAA Division II national title and first since 1986.


2001 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament
The championship rounds were contested at Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Minnesota.


2001 NCAA Division II football rankings
The 2001 NCAA Division II football rankings are from the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). This is for the 2001 season.


2001 NCAA Division II football season
The 2001 NCAA Division II football season, part of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division II level, began on August 30, 2001, and concluded with the NCAA Division II Football Championship on December 8, 2001 at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama, hosted by the University of North Alabama.


2001 NCAA Division II football season
North Dakota defeated Grand Valley State in the championship game, 17–14, to win their first Division II national title.


2001 NCAA Division II football season
The Harlon Hill Trophy was awarded to Dusty Bonner, quarterback from Valdosta State, his second consecutive Hill Trophy.


2001 NCAA Division II football season, Conference summaries
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association – Virginia UnionGreat Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – Grand Valley StateGreat Northwest Athletic Conference – Western WashingtonGulf South Conference – Valdosta StateLone Star Conference – Tarleton State and Texas A&M–KingsvilleMid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association – Pittsburg StateNorth Central Conference – North DakotaNortheast-10 Conference – C.W. PostNorthern Sun Intercollegiate Conference – Winona StatePennsylvania State Athletic Conference – Bloomsburg (East), Indiana (PA) (West)Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference – Chadron StateSouth Atlantic Conference – CatawbaSouthern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – Fort Valley State, Morehouse and TuskegeeWest Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – Glenville State


2001 NCAA Division II football season, Postseason
The 2001 NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs were the 28th single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division II college football. The championship game was held at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Alabama for the 15th time.


2001 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament
The 2001 NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament was played at the end of the 2001 NCAA Division III baseball season to determine the 26th national champion of college baseball at the NCAA Division III level. The tournament concluded with eight teams competing at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, Wisconsin for the championship. Eight regional tournaments were held to determine the participants in the World Series. Regional tournaments were contested in double-elimination format, five four regions consisting of six teams and three regions consisting of four teams, for a total of 42 teams participating in the tournament. The tournament champion was St. Thomas, who defeated Marietta for the championship.


2001 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2001 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament was the 27th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champions of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's Division III collegiate basketball in the United States.


2001 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament
The field contained sixty-four teams, and each program was allocated to one of four sectionals. All sectional games were played on campus sites, while the national semifinals, third-place final, and championship finals were contested at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia.


2001 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament
Catholic defeated William Paterson, 76–62, in the championship, clinching their first national title.


2001 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament
The Cardinals (28–5) were coached by Mike Lonergan. Lonergan would later coach at Division I programs Vermont and George Washington.


2001 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament
Pat Maloney, also from Catholic, was named Most Outstanding Player.


2001 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 2001 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament was the culmination of the 2000–01 season, the 18th such tournament in NCAA history. It concluded with Plattsburgh State defeating RIT in the championship game 6-2. All Quarterfinals matchups were held at home team venues, while all succeeding games were played in Rochester, New York.


2001 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Qualifying teams
The following teams qualified for the tournament. Automatic bids were offered to the conference tournament champion of seven different conferences with one at-large bid for the best remaining team. No formal seeding was used while quarterfinal matches were arranged so that the road teams would have the shortest possible travel distances.


2001 NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, Format
The tournament featured three rounds of play. In the Quarterfinals, teams played a two-game series where the first team to reach 3 points was declared a winner (2 points for winning a game, 1 point each for tying). If both teams ended up with 2 points after the first two games a 20-minute mini-game used to determine a winner. Mini-game scores are in italics. Beginning with the Semifinals all games became Single-game eliminations. The winning teams in the semifinals advanced to the National Championship Game with the losers playing in a Third Place game. The teams were seeded according to geographic proximity in the quarterfinals so the visiting team would have the shortest feasible distance to travel.


2001 NCAA Division III football season
The 2001 NCAA Division III football season, part of the college football season organized by the NCAA at the Division III level in the United States, began in August 2001, and concluded with the NCAA Division III Football Championship, also known as the Stagg Bowl, in December 2001 at Salem Football Stadium in Salem, Virginia. The Mount Union Purple Raiders won their sixth, and second consecutive, Division III championship by defeating the Bridgewater (VA) Eagles, 30−27.


2001 NCAA Division III football season
The Gagliardi Trophy, given to the most outstanding player in Division III football, was awarded to Chuck Moore, running back from Mount Union.


2001 NCAA Division III football season, Postseason
The 2001 NCAA Division III Football Championship playoffs were the 29th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division III college football. The championship Stagg Bowl game was held at Salem Football Stadium in Salem, Virginia for the ninth time. This was the third bracket to feature 28 teams since last expanding in 1999.


2001 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans
The Consensus 2001 College Basketball All-American team, as determined by aggregating the results of four major All-American teams. To earn "consensus" status, a player must win honors from a majority of the following teams: the Associated Press, the USBWA, The Sporting News and the National Association of Basketball Coaches.


2001 NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament
The 2001 NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament was the 32nd annual tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA men's collegiate indoor volleyball. The single elimination tournament was played at The Pyramid in Long Beach, California during May 2001.


2001 NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament
BYU defeated UCLA in the final match, 3–0 (30–26, 30–26, 32–30), to win their second national title. The Cougars (23–4) were coached by Carl McGown.


2001 NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament
BYU's Mike Wall was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Wall, along with five other players, comprised the All-Tournament Team.


2001 NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament, Qualification
Until the creation of the NCAA Men's Division III Volleyball Championship in 2012, there was only a single national championship for men's volleyball. As such, all NCAA men's volleyball programs, whether from Division I, Division II, or Division III, were eligible. A total of 4 teams were invited to contest this championship.


2001 NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament, Format
The rules were modified this year so that teams needed to score 30 points, rather than 15, to win each individual set. However, teams still needed to win three sets, of five, to win each match.


2001 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
The 2001 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship was the 33rd annual NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship to determine the national champion of NCAA men's collegiate water polo. Tournament matches were played at Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford, California during December 2001.


2001 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
Stanford defeated UCLA in the final, 8–5, to win their ninth national title. The Cardinal (22–1) were coached by Dante Dettamanti.


2001 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
The Most Outstanding Player of the tournament was Tony Azevedo from Stanford. Azevedo, along with six other players, comprised the All-Tournament Team.


2001 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
Kevin Witt, from Loyola Marymount, was the tournament's leading scorer, with 6 goals.


2001 NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship, Qualification
Since there has only ever been one single national championship for water polo, all NCAA men's water polo programs (whether from Division I, Division II, or Division III) were eligible. A total of 4 teams were invited to contest this championship.


2001 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Tournament
The 2001 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Tournament involved four schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of women's NCAA Division I college ice hockey. The 2001 tournament was the first women's ice hockey tournament to be sponsored by the NCAA. The tournament began on March 23, 2001, and ended with the championship game on March 25.


2001 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Tournament, Qualifying teams
The at-large bids, along with the seeding for each team in the tournament, were announced on Sunday, March 18.


2001 NCAA Rifle Championships
The 2001 NCAA Rifle Championships were contested at the 22nd annual NCAA-sanctioned competition to determine the team and individual national champions of co-ed collegiate rifle shooting in the United States. The championship was hosted by Ohio State University at the Lt. Hugh W. Wylie Range in Columbus, Ohio.


2001 NCAA Rifle Championships
Two-time defending champions Alaska once again topped the team standings, finishing 108 points (6,283–6,175) ahead of Kentucky. This was the Nanooks' third consecutive and fourth overall team title.


2001 NCAA Rifle Championships
The individual championships, for smallbore rifle and air rifle, went to Matthew Emmons (Alaska). Emmons became the third person to win both individual titles during the same year.


2001 NCAA Rifle Championships, Qualification
With only one national collegiate championship for rifle shooting, all NCAA rifle programs (whether from Division I, Division II, or Division III) were eligible. A total of nine teams contested this championship.


2001 NCAA Skiing Championships
The 2001 NCAA Skiing Championships were contested at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl in Hancock, Vermont as part of the  48th annual NCAA-sanctioned ski tournament to determine the individual and team national champions of men's and women's collegiate slalom and cross country skiing in the United States.


2001 NCAA Skiing Championships
Defending champions Denver, coached by Kurt Smitz, won the team championship, the Pioneers' second co-ed title and sixteenth overall.


2001 NCAA Skiing Championships, Venue
This year's championships were contested at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl in Hancock, Vermont. Middlebury College served as hosts.


2001 NCAA Skiing Championships, Venue
These were the ninth championships held in the state of Vermont.


2001 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championship
The 2001 NCAA Women's Gymnastics championship involved 12 schools competing for the national championship in women's NCAA Division I gymnastics. It was the twentieth NCAA gymnastics national championship and took place in Athens, Georgia, hosted by the University of Georgia in Stegeman Coliseum. The 2001 Championship was won by UCLA, which also won the 2000 Championship. Onnie Willis, UCLA, 39.525, and Elise Ray, Michigan, 39.525 shared the individual championship.


2001 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship
The 2001 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship was the first annual tournament to determine the national championship of NCAA women's collegiate water polo. The single elimination tournament was played at the Avery Aquatic Center in Stanford, California during May 2001.


2001 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship
UCLA defeated Stanford in the final, 5–4, to win their first NCAA championship. The Bruins (19–4) were coached by Adam Krikorian. Krikorian also won a championship as the coach of UCLA's men's water polo team during the same 2000–01 season.


2001 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship
The leading scorer for the tournament was Kelly Heuchan, from UCLA, with 4 goals. First and second All Tournament Teams were also named, with seven players comprising the former (including the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, Coralie Simmons from UCLA) and six for the latter.


2001 NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship, Qualification
Since there has only ever been one single national championship for women's water polo, all NCAA women's water polo programs (whether from Division I, Division II, or Division III) were eligible. A total of 4 teams were invited to contest this championship.


2001 NECBL season
The 2001 NECBL season was the eighth season of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. The league expanded to ten franchises with the addition of a second New Hampshire franchise, the Concord Quarry Dogs of Concord, New Hampshire. Also, the league's West Warwick, Rhode Island franchise rejoined the league as the Riverpoint Royals. The league's Cranston, Rhode Island franchise, the Rhode Island Gulls, moved to Newport, Rhode Island and became the Newport Gulls. The league's Lowell, Massachusetts franchise, the Mill City All-Americans, was renamed the Lowell All-Americans.


2001 NECBL season
In the semifinal playoff rounds, Newport defeated Eastern 2-1, and Keene defeated Torrington 2-1. In the championship round, Newport defeated Keene 2-1 to win the NECBL championship.


2001 NFL Draft
This is the current revision of this page, as edited by AnomieBOT (talk | contribs) at 16:14, 10 October 2021 (Substing/adjusting templates to reduce #ifexist parserfunction usage: {{NFLDraft-row}}). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this version.


2001 NFL Draft
The 2001 NFL Draft was the 66th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting," was held at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on April 21–22, 2001.


2001 NFL Draft
Each team is assigned one pick per round with the order based generally on the reverse order of finish in the previous season with the team with the worst record receiving the first draft slot. Exceptions to this are the Super Bowl participants from the previous season — the champion Baltimore Ravens were assigned the final draft slot and the runner-up New York Giants assigned the 30th slot in each round. The draft was broadcast on ESPN and ESPN2. Due to previous trades, the Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans did not have selections in the first round. More than half of the players selected in the draft's first round (17 of 31) would eventually be elected to at least one Pro Bowl.


2001 NFL Draft
The first player selected in the draft was quarterback Michael Vick from Virginia Tech, who was selected by the Atlanta Falcons after they acquired the first pick in a trade with the San Diego Chargers. Vick spent six seasons with the Falcons before being sentenced to 21 months in prison for his involvement in an illegal interstate dog fighting ring, eventually rebounding his career with the Philadelphia Eagles after being released from prison and winning the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year Award in 2010.


2001 NFL Draft
Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke, the 2000 winner of the Heisman Trophy, awarded to the player deemed most outstanding in college football, was selected in the fourth round by the Carolina Panthers. After being a regular starter for the Panthers in his first season, during which Carolina posted a 1–15 record, Weinke played only 12 games over his final five seasons before being released. The last player selected, who traditionally receives the unofficial title Mr. Irrelevant, was Tevita Ofahengaue of Brigham Young University, who was chosen by the Arizona Cardinals. Ofahengaue never played in the NFL, and in 2011 was charged with stealing gasoline from a construction company in Salt Lake City. He is currently the Player Personnel Director at BYU.


2001 NFL Draft
There were 31 compensatory selections distributed among 16 teams during rounds three through seven, with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills receiving 4 picks each. The University of Miami was the college with the most players selected in the first round, with Dan Morgan, Damione Lewis, Santana Moss and Reggie Wayne all picked at that stage. Across the whole draft, however, Florida State University had the most players selected, a total of nine compared to Miami's seven.


2001 NFL Draft
No teams elected to claim any players in the 2001 supplemental draft.


2001 NFL Draft
Until 2021, the last remaining active player from this draft was Drew Brees, who was drafted 32nd overall by the San Diego Chargers, and went on to win Super Bowl XLIV as a member of the New Orleans Saints, with whom he had played from the 2006 season until his retirement in 2021.


2001 NFL Draft, Trades
In the explanations below, (D) denotes trades that took place during the draft, while (PD) indicates trades completed pre-draft.


2001 NFL Draft, Players by position
The 246 players chosen in the draft were composed of:


2001 NFL Europe season
The 2001 NFL Europe season was the 9th season in 11 years of the American Football league that started out as the World League of American Football.


2001 NFL Europe season, World Bowl IX
Berlin 24-17 BarcelonaSaturday, June 30, 2001 Amsterdam ArenA  Amsterdam, Netherlands


2001 NFL season
The 2001 NFL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Football League (NFL). In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the NFL's week 2 games (September 16 and 17) were postponed and rescheduled to the weekend of January 6 and 7, 2002. In order to retain the full playoff format, all playoff games, including Super Bowl XXXVI, were rescheduled one week later. The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, defeating the St. Louis Rams 20–17 at the Louisiana Superdome.


2001 NFL season
This is the final season with 31 teams as the Houston Texans were introduced as an expansion team the following season.


2001 NFL season, Player movement, Draft
The 2001 NFL Draft was held from April 21 to 22, 2001 at New York City's Theater at Madison Square Garden. With the first pick, the Atlanta Falcons selected quarterback Michael Vick from Virginia Tech.


2001 NFL season, Officiating changes
Mike Pereira became the league's Director of Officiating, succeeding Jerry Seeman, who had served the role since 1991.


2001 NFL season, Officiating changes
Bill Leavy and Terry McAulay were promoted to referee. Phil Luckett returned to back judge, while another officiating crew was added in 2001 in preparation for the Houston Texans expansion team, the league's 32nd franchise, in 2002.


2001 NFL season, Officiating changes
Due to labor dispute, the regular NFL officials were locked out prior to the final week of the preseason. Replacement officials who had worked in college football or the Arena Football League officiated NFL games during the last preseason week and the first week of the regular season. A deal was eventually reached before play resumed after the September 11 attacks.


2001 NFL season, Regular season
Following a pattern set in 1999, the first week of the season was permanently moved to the weekend following Labor Day. With Super Bowls XXXVI-XXXVII already scheduled for fixed dates, the league initially decided to eliminate the Super Bowl bye weeks for 2001 and 2002 to adjust.


2001 NFL season, Regular season
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, the games originally scheduled for September 16 and 17 were postponed and rescheduled to the weekend of January 6 and 7. To date, this was the last major interruption to regular season NFL games. In order to retain the full playoff format, all playoff games, including the Super Bowl, were rescheduled one week later. The season-ending Pro Bowl was also moved to one week later. This was the last season in which each conference had three divisions, as the conferences would be realigned to four divisions for the 2002 NFL season.


2001 NFL season, Regular season
Canceling the games scheduled for September 16 and 17 was considered and rejected since it would have canceled a home game for about half the teams (15 of 31). It would have also resulted in an unequal number of games played: September 16 and 17 was to have been a bye for the San Diego Chargers, so that team would still have played 16 games that season and each of the other teams would have played only 15 games (the Chargers ultimately finished 5–11, making any competitive advantages to playing an extra game irrelevant).


2001 NFL season, Regular season
As a result of rescheduling Week 2 as Week 17, the Pittsburgh Steelers ended up not playing a home game for the entire month of September (their only home game during that month was originally scheduled for September 16). The ESPN Sunday Night Football game for that week was also changed. It was originally scheduled to be Cleveland at Pittsburgh, but it was replaced with Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, which was seen as a more interesting matchup. Ironically, the Eagles and Buccaneers would both rest their starters that night, and would meet one week later in the playoffs.


2001 NFL season, Regular season
In recognition of this, when NBC began airing Sunday Night Football in 2006, there would be no game initially scheduled for Weeks 11 to 17 – a game initially scheduled in the afternoon would be moved to the primetime slot, without stripping any teams of a primetime appearance. This way of “flexible scheduling” would not be utilized at all in 2007, and since 2008, it is only utilized in the final week.


2001 NFL season, Regular season
The games that eventually made up Week 17 marked the latest regular season games to be played during what is traditionally defined as the "NFL season" (under the format at the time, the regular season could not end later than January 3 in any given year; this will change in 2021, as the NFL expanded to 17 games with the end of the regular season pushed back one week as a result; the 2021 regular season will end on January 9, and under the new format, the latest the regular season could end is January 10).


2001 NFL season, Regular season
Another scheduling change took place in October, when the Dallas at Oakland game was moved from October 21 to October 7 to accommodate a possible Oakland Athletics home playoff game on October 21. The rescheduling ended up being unnecessary as the Athletics would not make it past the Division Series round.


2001 NFL season, Regular season, Scheduling formula
Inter-conferenceAFC East vs NFC WestAFC Central vs NFC CentralAFC West vs NFC East


2001 NFL season, Milestones
The following teams and players set all-time NFL records during the season:


2001 NFL season, Milestones
* – Sack statistics have only been compiled since 1982.


2001 NFL season, Stadium changes
In addition, the AstroTurf at Veterans Stadium was replaced with NexTurf after a preseason game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens was canceled for poor field conditions. Ravens coach Brian Billick told officials of the NFL that he refused to have his team play on a slippery and bouncy turf field which he deemed unsafe.


2001 NFL season, Uniform changes
Following 9/11, every jersey had a patch to remember those who died on that day, while the New York Jets and New York Giants wore a patch to remember the firefighters who died.


2001 NHK Trophy
The 2001 NHK Trophy was the final event of six in the 2001–02 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Aqua Dome Kumamoto in Kumamoto on November 29 – December 2. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2001–02 Grand Prix Final. The compulsory dance was the Golden Waltz.


2001 NHL Entry Draft
The 2001 NHL Entry Draft was the 39th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 23 and 24, 2001 at the National Car Rental Center in Sunrise, Florida.


2001 NLL season
The 2001 National Lacrosse League season is the 15th season in the NLL that began on December 21, 2000 and concluded with the championship game on April 27, 2001. The Philadelphia Wings won their 6th NLL championship, defeating the Toronto Rock 9-8 in Toronto. Philadelphia had now won twice as many championships as any other team in NLL history (the Buffalo Bandits had won three, and the Rock two). The Championship game was one of only two games (out of ten) the Rock lost at home during the 2001 season, and ended Toronto's bid for an unprecedented third straight Championship.


2001 NLL season
The NLL expanded its schedule from 12 games to 14 during this season.


2001 NLL season
The lowest-scoring game in NLL history happened during the 2001 season, as the Toronto Rock and Albany Attack combined for only 11 goals in a 7-4 Toronto win at the Air Canada Centre.


2001 NLL season, Team movement
For the 2001 season, one expansion team was added to the NLL, the Columbus Landsharks. In addition, the Syracuse Smash ended a dismal existence (dead last in the standings for three straight years) in Syracuse, moving to Ottawa, Ontario to become the Rebel. Unfortunately, the Rebel would finish in the basement three straight years as well. The Pittsburgh CrosseFire, formerly the Baltimore Thunder, moved again, this time to Washington, becoming the Washington Power.


2001 NLL season, Team movement
In addition, the Toronto Rock moved from the aging Maple Leaf Gardens to the Air Canada Centre for the 2001 season. The first Rock game at the ACC was a 17-7 Toronto win over the Ottawa Rebel on the opening night of the season, December 21, 2000.


2001 NLL season, Regular season
x: Clinched playoff berth; c: Clinched playoff berth by crossing over to another division; y: Clinched division; z: Clinched best regular season record; GP: Games PlayedW: Wins; L: Losses; GB: Games back; PCT: Win percentage; Home: Record at Home; Road: Record on the Road; GF: Goals scored; GA: Goals allowedDifferential: Difference between goals scored and allowed; GF/GP: Average number of goals scored per game; GA/GP: Average number of goals allowed per game


2001 NLL season, Awards, Weekly awards
Each week, a player is awarded "Player of the Week" honours.


2001 NLL season, Awards, Monthly awards
Awards are also given out monthly for the best overall player and best rookie.


2001 NLL season, Statistics leaders
Bold numbers indicate new single-season records. Italics indicate tied single-season records.


2001 NRL Grand Final
The 2001 NRL grand final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2001 NRL season. It was contested at Stadium Australia in Sydney by the Newcastle Knights (who had finished the regular season in third place), and the Parramatta Eels (who had finished the regular season in first place), after the other six teams that had competed in the top-eight finals series had been eliminated. The attendance of 90,414 was the third-highest ever seen at a rugby league match in Australia and it was the first nighttime grand final in the competition’s 103-year history. Domestically, live free-to-air television coverage was provided by Nine's Wide World of Sports. The match was also broadcast live in the United States by Fox Sports World. Newcastle Knights won, with their captain Andrew Johns receiving the Clive Churchill Medal for man-of-the-match.


2001 NRL Grand Final, Background
The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation), it was contested by thirteen Australian-based clubs plus one New Zealand-based club. Parramatta came into the game as raging hot favourites after thrashing the New Zealand Warriors in week one of the finals series, and then defeating the defending premiers Brisbane in the preliminary final. The Eels had also finished as minor premiers, breaking several records in the process which, as of 2020, still stand, including most points scored in a regular season, most points scored in a full season and most tries scored in a season.


2001 NRL Grand Final, Background
Newcastle had finished in third place at the end of the regular season and defeated Sydney Roosters and Cronulla-Sutherland in the finals series to progress through to the grand final.


2001 NRL Grand Final, First half
The Knights were first to score with a try to Bill Peden in the third minute, with Andrew Johns converting to take the Knights out to a 6–0 lead. Four minutes later, the Knights scored again through Steve Simpson, with Johns failing to convert, taking the score to 10–0. Johns not long after took a shot at penalty goal due to a leg pull from Brad Drew which was penalised by referee Bill Harrigan to make the score 12–0.


2001 NRL Grand Final, First half
By the 24th minute, the Knights already had an 18–0 lead to the courtesy of Peden’s second try and another conversion by Johns. Not long after, the Eels had their best chance of the first half with Andrew Ryan getting over the line but he was held up by Simpson (who was injured in the process of making the tackle) and failed to score.


2001 NRL Grand Final, First half
In the following set, the Eels spread the ball wide to the left, but a pass which would have put Luke Burt in for a try in the corner was directed well behind him and he failed to catch it. In the 32nd minute, Ben Kennedy scored for the Knights, with Johns converting again to take the score to 24–0. The Eels had a couple of chances in the Knights’ half after that but failed to capitalise on their opportunities ,so the score remained the same until halftime. The 24 points scored by Newcastle remains the highest total by a team in the first half of a Grand Final and the biggest ever Grand Final half-time lead.


2001 NRL Grand Final, Second half
The Eels were the first to score in the second half to make the score 24–6. In the 64th minute, the Knights seemed to have wrapped up the 2001 Premiership following a wide pass from Peden to Johns who put up a towering bomb to Timana Tahu's wing. Tahu got tangled up with Burt before getting the ball down about 50 cm inside the touch-in-goal line. Two minutes later, however, Jamie Lyon scored for Parramatta to make it 28–12, thus keeping the Eels in the game.


2001 NRL Grand Final, Second half
Three minutes later, the Knights once again made the margin three converted tries at 30–12 thanks to a penalty goal to Johns after an attempted short goal-line drop-out by Drew went out on the full. One more try each to both Lyon and Brett Hogdson in the final ten minutes got the scoreline back to a difference of a converted try (30–24), but despite this comeback, there was to be no further scoring in the match, leaving the Knights to clinch the 2001 Premiership, their second title in five seasons.


2001 NRL Grand Final, Second half
The combined tally of 54 points for the match remains the second-highest in a Grand Final after the 1951 Grand Final in which 56 were scored (an era during which tries were worth only three points). The 2001 decider was also the first Grand Final in which 20 or more points were scored in both halves, a feat which was replicated in the 2020 NRL Grand Final.


2001 NRL Grand Final, Second half
Newcastle have not played in another Grand Final since then, whilst Parramatta were unsuccessful in 2009 when it lost to the Melbourne Storm, stretching their premiership drought which goes back to 1986.


2001 NRL Grand Final, Aftermath
In 2011, 10 years after Newcastle's grand final victory, Kennedy spoke to the media at The Once a Knight reunion lunch recalling his memories of the 2001 final. Kennedy said ‘‘They came into the game under a shitload of pressure but for us, it was just a good time and a heap of fun. Parra were shitting themselves and we were having a good time". Newcastle centre Mark Hughes recalled the game saying "I remember how nervous and stiff Parramatta were". "The Parramatta players came dressed to the grand final breakfast wearing Miami Vice black suits.


2001 NRL Grand Final, Aftermath
Newcastle prop Josh Perry said of the week building up to the game that he knew Newcastle were going to win saying "It started at the midweek grand final breakfast. We lined up next to Parramatta to walk out onto the stage, and they were so tense. They weren't talking to us, while we were being ourselves and having a joke and enjoying the moment – they were anything but that. From that moment on we knew we were going to win".


2001 NRL Grand Final, Aftermath
Parramatta captain Nathan Cayless in 2017 spoke of the game saying "It was disappointing for us, and it took a long time to get into another grand final [2009]. We'd had a good season, and just wanted to stick to what we had done, and what worked for us so well. We didn’t change too much and just looked at it as if it were another game of football. Newcastle just played out of their skins".


2001 NRL Grand Final, Match summary
3rd: Newcastle 6–0 (Peden try; Johns goal)7th: Newcastle 10–0 (Simpson try)13th: Newcastle 12–0 (Johns goal)24th: Newcastle 18–0 (Peden try; Johns goal)31st: Newcastle 24–0 (Kennedy try; Johns goal)57th: Eels 24–6 (Hodgson try; Hodgson goal)63rd: Newcastle 28–6 (Tahu try)65th: Eels 28–12 (Lyon try; Hodgson goal)68th: Newcastle 30–12 (Johns goal)73rd: Eels 30–18 (Lyon try; Hogdson goal)79th: Eels 30–24 (Hodgson try; Hodgson goal)


2001 NRL season
The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested by thirteen Australia-based clubs plus one New Zealand-based club. The Newcastle Knights claimed their second premiership in five seasons, defeating minor premiers Parramatta Eels in the NRL's first ever night-time grand final.


2001 NRL season, Season summary
Early in the season NRL matches involving the Bulldogs were marred by off-field violence from the club's supporters.


2001 NRL season, Season summary
The Parramatta Eels looked set to break their fifteen-year premiership drought as they compiled one of the most dominant season records in rugby league history, losing just four of their 26 regular season games with the League's best attack and defensive record. In 2001 they established the standing record for most points by a club in a season with 943, blitzing the Brisbane Broncos' previous record tally of 871 set in 1998. The Eels tally was significantly contributed to by Jason Taylor, who that year surpassed Daryl Halligan's mark of 2,034 to become the greatest point-scorer in the history of club competition in Australia.


2001 NRL season, Season summary
The Warriors made the finals for the first time in their seven-year history under rookie coach Daniel Anderson, but were hammered 56-12 by the aforementioned minor premiers.


2001 NRL season, Season summary
After Warren Ryan retired in 2000, the Newcastle Knights appointed former player Michael Hagan to the coaching position. Hagan proceeded to become the first coach since Phil Gould in 1988 to win a premiership in his first season as coach. Ricky Stuart would follow suit with the Roosters the following season. Tim Sheens was sacked as the coach of the North Queensland Cowboys during the season and was replaced by Murray Hurst. Mal Meninga resigned as Canberra coach following the club's disappointing season and in turn was replaced by Matthew Elliott.


2001 NRL season, Season summary
Preston Campbell was a deserved winner of the Dally M medal after being an instrumental player in the Sharks' rise to fourth position on the table. Newcastle's Andrew Johns would have been clear winner but was not in contention due to missing two matches through suspension. Brian Smith was recognised as Coach of the Year whilst Braith Anasta won Rookie of the Year.


2001 NRL season, Season summary
It was during the 2001 finals series that the new NRL Telstra Premiership logo was used, first seen on the field in the first qualifying final between the Sharks and the Broncos. That logo was to be used until the end of the 2006 season. Coincidentally, the Brisbane Broncos were also involved in the last match to use that logo, albeit in a modified finals version seen on the ground in the 2006 NRL Grand Final.


2001 NRL season, Season summary
At the end of the season a squad of players from the NRL premiership went on the 2001 Kangaroo tour.


2001 NRL season, Season summary
Every team except Penrith played at least one drawn match during the course of the season. The Bulldogs had three drawn matches, the most of any team during the season.


2001 NRL season, Season summary, Teams
Auckland were renamed the New Zealand Warriors for the 2001 season.


2001 NRL season, Season summary, Advertising
With a new CEO in David Moffat from 2000 the NRL late that year moved their account to a new advertising agency in Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney.


2001 NRL season, Season summary, Advertising
There was no umbrella campaign in 2001, no season launch gala ad. NRL Marketing Director, Mark Wallace insisted that the League's marketing budget remained the same as in prior years but that the focus was to be on promoting individual games and complementing the clubs' own marketing activities.


2001 NRL season, Season summary, Advertising
An ad was produced to promote certain key games. The scene is a deserted, eerie CBD street. The sound of a squeaky wheel gets louder until a clown rides into the middle of shot on a tricycle and turns to camera pouting and frowning. The voice over comes up: "This Easter long weekend the Dragons v Roosters at Sydney Football Stadium. You'd be a clown to miss it".


2001 NRL season, Finals series
To decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams, the NRL adopted the McIntyre Final Eight System.


2001 NRL season, Grand Final
The 2001 NRL grand final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2001 NRL season. It was contested at Stadium Australia in Sydney by the Newcastle Knights (who had finished the regular season in third place), and the Parramatta Eels (who had finished the regular season in first place), after the other six teams that had competed in the top-eight finals series had been eliminated. The attendance of 90,414 was the third-highest ever seen at a rugby league match in Australia and it was the first nighttime grand final in the competition’s 103-year history. Domestically, live free-to-air television coverage was provided by Nine's Wide World of Sports. The match was also broadcast live in the United States by Fox Sports World. Newcastle Knights won, with their captain Andrew Johns receiving the Clive Churchill Medal for man-of-the-match.


2001 Nabisco Championship
The 2001 Nabisco Championship was a women's professional golf tournament, held March 22–25 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California. This was the thirtieth edition of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, and the nineteenth as a major championship.


2001 Nabisco Championship
Annika Sörenstam shot a final round 69 to win the first of her three titles at this event, three strokes ahead of five runners-up; it was the third of her ten major titles. She won eight times on tour in 2001 and this was the third in a streak of four consecutive; she successfully defended this title the following year.


2001 Nabisco Championship, Final leaderboard
Amateurs: Lorena Ochoa (+2), Aree Song (+12), Naree Song (+12).


2001 Nagoya Grampus Eight season, International results, Asian Cup Winners' Cup
Nagoya Grampus Eight qualified for this tournament as winners of the 1999 Emperor's Cup


2001 Narayanganj bombing
The 2001 Narayanganj bombing was a bomb attack on 16 June 2001 at a meeting of Bangladesh Awami League in Narayanganj, Bangladesh that resulted in the death of 22 people. The reason cited by investigators for the attack is that the local member of Parliament had banned senior leaders of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh. Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, who were patronized by Jammat, decided to attack Shamim Osman, the local member of parliament, who attending the meeting.


2001 Narayanganj bombing, Attacks
On 16 June 2001 there was bomb attack at a meeting of Bangladesh Awami League in the local party office in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. The local Member of Parliament Shamim Osman was injured in the attack. The roof composed of corrugated tin was destroyed in the explosion. The bomb was under a table in the office.


2001 Narayanganj bombing, Trial
In April 2001 27 people were accused in the cases filed over the bomb attack. The case was closed under the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government. The case Was reopened in 2009 after the Bangladesh Awami League came to power. The trial has stalled because of the prosecution has failed to bring the accused to court. Mufti Hannan, chief of Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, is in custody but cannot be presented in court dates because he is accused in 51 cases all over Bangladesh. This has delayed trial. Two of the accused are in Jail in New Delhi, India and two other have been freed on bail.


2001 NatWest Series
The 2001 NatWest Series was a One Day International cricket tri-series sponsored by the National Westminster Bank that took place in England between 7 and 23 June 2001. The series involved the national teams of England, Australia and Pakistan. Ten matches were played in total, with each team playing one another thrice during the group stage. The teams which finished in the top two positions following the group stages qualified for the final, which Australia won by defeating Pakistan at Lord's on 23 June by 9 wickets. Preceding the series, England played Pakistan in a two Test series, while following the series, 61st The Ashes series.


2001 NatWest Series, Squads
Matthew Hoggard called up to the England Squad to cover for injured Andy Caddick.


2001 National Basketball Development League draft
The 2001 NBDL Draft was the inaugural draft of the National Basketball Development League (NBDL), which was later renamed the NBA Development League (NBADL). The draft was held on November 1, 2001 before the 2001–02 season. In this draft, the league's eight charter teams took turns selecting players who had all competed at the college level in the United States at some point.


2001 National Basketball Development League draft
Chris Andersen of Blinn Community College (Brenham, Texas) was the first overall selection and was taken by Fayetteville Patriots. Consequently, this makes him the first-ever selection in the history of the NBADL. The first non-American selected was Gabe Muoneke, a Nigerian who was the fourth overall pick by the Columbus Riverdragons. Eight nations in all were represented in the 2001 NBDL Draft, with the most being the United States (87) followed by Senegal (3).


2001 National Basketball Development League draft
No players selected in this draft have ever been named an NBA D-League All-Star, largely because the annual contest did not come into existence until the 2006–07 season. Two league award winners were taken in this draft, however: Fred House of the North Charleston Lowgators (46th overall) was named the 2001–02 NBDL Rookie of the Year, while Jeff Myers of the Greenville Groove (67th overall) was tabbed the Defensive Player of the Year. Four players were also NBA Draft selections: DeeAndre Hulett, Mark Karcher and Jaquay Walls were all picked in the 2000 NBA Draft, while Kris Bruton was picked in 1994.


2001 National Basketball Development League draft
Although some of the players chosen in the 2001 NBDL Draft had played semi-professional and/or professional basketball after college graduation, only the United States colleges they attended are listed.


2001 National Basketball Development League draft, Draft
^ a: Tyrone Ellis has become a naturalized citizen of Georgia since the 2001 NBDL Draft.


2001 National Basketball Development League draft, Draft
All information summarised in this table comes from the NBA draft announcement except the nationalities.


2001 National Basketball Development League supplemental draft
The 2001 NBDL Supplemental Draft was a supplemental draft for the newly formed National Basketball Association Development League (abbreviated NBDL from 2001 through 2004, then NBADL since 2005). It was held on November 3, 2001, before the league's inaugural 2001–02 season, and took place two days after the 2001 NBDL Draft. The supplemental draft was a one-time occurrence designed to fill out the league's rosters and to ensure competitive play. In this draft, all eight of the league's charter teams took turns selecting available recent college graduates, semi-professional and/or professional players.


2001 National Basketball Development League supplemental draft
The draft consisted of four rounds of eight selections each, but there were five instances of a team passing on their draft selection. In all, 27 players were drafted out of 32 possible selections; the Huntsville Flight and Fayetteville Patriots passed on two players apiece, while the Columbus Riverdragons passed on one.


2001 National Basketball Development League supplemental draft
Lorenzo Coleman, a 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) center who graduated from Tennessee Tech in 1998, was the first overall selection. Nearly half (11) of the 27 players selected in the supplemental draft were also chosen in an NBA Draft. Among them, Kaniel Dickens later became an NBA Development League All-Star after the annual contest began in 2007. No other players in the NBDL Supplemental Draft were ever selected as D-League All-Stars.


2001 National Basketball Development League supplemental draft
The oldest player taken in the 2001 NBDL Supplemental Draft was Dwayne Schintzius, who had graduated from Florida in 1990 and was 33 years old on draft day. Schintzius had spent the 1990s playing in the NBA for six different teams before ending up in the D-League. The D-League's first-season MVP was Ansu Sesay, who had been selected 14th overall in the Supplemental Draft by the Greenville Groove.


2001 National Basketball Development League supplemental draft
There were two schools that had two different players drafted. Florida's Schintzius and Brent Wright were selected 18th and 22nd overall, respectively, while Charlotte had Kelvin Price and Galen Young go 7th and 19th overall, respectively.


2001 National Camogie League
The 2001 National Camogie League, the second most important elite level inter-county competition in the women's team field sport of camogie was won by Cork, who defeated Galway in the final, played at McDonagh Park, Nenagh. Cork completed an unprecedented run of seven National League titles in a row. Vivienne Harris became the first person to captain three National League winning camogie teams in succession.


2001 National Camogie League, Arrangements
The final was delayed because of the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001. Galway were in the throes of team building under new boss Billy Carr and coach Damian Coleman and the delay meant that Galway were without their seven () players who had qualified for the All-Ireland club final. In addition Olivia Broderick had retired. Tipperary were beaten by Cork in their opening League match. Galway had the misfortune to have their opening match against Kilkenny postponed due to the foot-and-mouth alert.


2001 National Camogie League, The Final
Three goals from Jennifer O'Leary helped Cork win their seventh successive title. Galway got off to a flying start and were 0-6 to 0-1 after eleven minutes. Cork then came more into the game. In the 22nd minute, Lynn Dunlea scored a goal to put Cork back in the game. A minute later, Galway scored a point and managed to lead by just one point 0-7 to 1-3 at half-time. Jennifer O'Leary had the ball in the Galway net within a minute of the restart and scored her second goal six minutes later. O'Leary had her third goal in the 46th minute to leave 4-7 to 0-9 and further goals Catherine Corkery and Una O'Donoghue put the finishing touches on Cork’s victory.


2001 National Camogie League, Division 2
The Junior National League, known since 2006 as Division Two, was won by Cork intermediates who defeated Derry in the delayed final on November 4 at the Thomas Davis grounds in Dublin by 3-14 to 4-3. Two opening first half goals from Paula McAtamney had Derry ahead at the break 3-1 to 0-5. Cork turned on the power in the second half with three opening points from Ger Collins and Colette Desmond paving the way for victory.


2001 National Games of China
The 9th National Games of China was a multi-sport event that was held in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China from 11–25 November 2001.


2001 National Games of China
The main stadium for the games was the Guangdong Olympic Stadium. A total of 345 events were contested in 30 sports – 27 were summer sports and the remaining three were skating winter sports. The games featured 8608 athletes from 45 delegations, including the various Chinese provinces and regions as well as occupational divisions (e.g. People's Liberation Army, China Railway Corporation). The President of China Jiang Zemin officially opened the games at the opening ceremony.


2001 National Games of China
The ninth national games were hosted soon after Beijing had been successful in its host bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics. As a result, many prominent international guests were invited to the games in Guangzhou, including IOC president Jacques Rogge. The international dimension of the games was increased in comparison to previous years as many of the delegations had appointed foreign-born coaches and foreign referees were invited to the event to improve impartiality judge-based sports. High performances levels were achieved in a number of sports: seven women's weightlifting world records were broken, six Asian records were beaten in swimming, cycling and athletics, and a total of 37 Chinese national records were set during the 15-day competition.


2001 National Games of China, Sports
There were a total of 30 sports at the 9th National Games.


2001 National Hockey League All-Star Game
The 2001 National Hockey League All-Star Game took place on February 4, 2001, at Pepsi Center in Denver, home to the Colorado Avalanche. The final score was North America 14, World 12.


2001 National Hockey League All-Star Game, Super Skills Competition
The North America All-Stars won their first-ever skills competition since the North America–World All-Star format was in place. Colorado Avalanche's Joe Sakic, Vancouver Canucks' Ed Jovanovski and Philadelphia Flyers' Simon Gagne teamed to win the puck control relay, while the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim's Paul Kariya would win his third-straight individual Puck Control Relay event. Colorado Avalanche Ray Bourque won the Shooting Accuracy event again. Bourque has won the event for the eighth time. Tampa Bay Lightning's Fredrik Modin won the Hardest-Shot title. His shot was clocked at 102.1 miles per hour.


2001 National Hockey League All-Star Game, Super Skills Competition
Boston Bruins' Bill Guerin won the Fastest Skater event with a time 13.69 seconds. Joe Sakic, Bill Guerin, and Los Angeles Kings' Luc Robitaille pot three goals in the inaugural pass and score competition. Buffalo Sabres' Dominik Hasek faces breakaways from Dallas Stars' Brett Hull, Ray Bourque and Pittsburgh Penguins' Mario Lemieux in the breakaway relay.


2001 National Hockey League All-Star Game, Highlights
The 2000–01 season was highlighted by the return of Mario Lemieux. After three-and-a-half years in retirement, Lemieux returned to NHL action and with it came a selection to his ninth NHL All-Star Game. Notching a goal and an assist for the North America All-Stars, Lemieux's All-Star totals climbed to 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points. He trails only Wayne Gretzky for the All-Star Game's all-time leading scoring title (13–12–25).


2001 National Hockey League All-Star Game, Highlights
Bill Guerin, Tony Amonte and Doug Weight played as an all-American line, combining for 13 points (six goals and seven assists). In his All-Star Game debut, Guerin recorded a hat-trick and added two assists, capturing MVP honors. The North America All-Stars defeated the World All-Stars 14–12, setting a new All-Star Game record for most goals scored by both teams in one game (26).


2001 National Hurling League
The 2001 National Hurling League, known for sponsorship reasons as the Allianz National Hurling League, was the 70th edition of the National Hurling League (NHL), an annual hurling competition for the GAA county teams. Tipperary  won the league, beating Clare in the final.


2001 National Hurling League, Structure
There are 14 teams in Division 1, divided into 1A and 1B. Each team plays all the others once, either home or away. Teams earn one point for a draw and two for a win. The top two teams in 1A and 1B play each other in the NHL semi-finals and final. The bottom teams in each group play each other in a relegation playoff.


2001 National Hurling League, Structure
There are 10 teams in Division 2. The top two play each other in the final, with the winner promoted. The bottom team is relegated.


2001 National Hurling League, Structure
There are 9 teams in Division 3. The top two play each other in the final, with the winner promoted.


2001 National Indoor Football League season
The 2001 National Indoor Football League season was the first season of the National Indoor Football League (NIFL). The league champions were the Mississippi Fire Dogs, who defeated the Wyoming Cavalry in Indoor Bowl I.


2001 National Invitation Tournament
The 2001 National Invitation Tournament was the 2001 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.


2001 National Invitation Tournament, Selected teams
Below is a list of the 32 teams selected for the tournament.


2001 National Invitation Tournament, Bracket
Below are the four first round brackets, along with the four-team championship bracket:


2001 National Justice Party leadership election
A leadership election was held by the People's Justice Party (KeADILan) on 10 November 2001. It was won by incumbent President of KeADILan, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.


2001 National League Championship Series
The 2001 National League Championship Series (NLCS) saw the Arizona Diamondbacks defeat the Atlanta Braves in five games to win the National League pennant in the franchise's fourth year of existence. The Diamondbacks went on to defeat the New York Yankees in seven games to win the World Series.


2001 National League Championship Series, Background
The Diamondbacks won their division with a 92–70 record. The strength of their team was clearly the pitching duo of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling. The primary weapon for Arizona on offense was Luis Gonzalez, who belted 57 home runs during the season. The Diamondbacks had outlasted the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS to reach their first NLCS.


2001 National League Championship Series, Background
The Atlanta Braves won their tenth straight division title, but it had not been by a wide margin in 2001. They struggled to an 88–74 record, their worst since 1990. Greg Maddux had another big season for the Braves, winning 17 games. Chipper Jones was the leader of the Atlanta offense, batting .330 during the season to go along with his 38 home runs. After their embarrassing defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2000 NLDS, the underdog Braves blitzed the Houston Astros in the 2001 NLDS, sweeping them in three games.


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 1
Tuesday, October 16, 2001 at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 1
The 2001 NLCS began with a pitching matchup of multiple-Cy Young Award winners Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux. Reggie Sanders plated a run in the first with a single to give Arizona a 1–0 lead. The Diamondbacks went ahead 2–0 after Luis Gonzalez drove in Craig Counsell, who doubled with two outs with a single in the fifth. Though Maddux went seven innings, Johnson pitched a complete-game three-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts.


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 2
Wednesday, October 17, 2001 at Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 2
The Braves responded to Johnson's dominating performance with one of their own from Tom Glavine. Marcus Giles led the game off with a home run for the Braves off Miguel Batista. Glavine went seven innings, scattering five hits and giving up one run in the sixth when Reggie Sanders walked with two outs and scored two batters later on Matt Williams's single. In the top of the seventh, Andruw Jones walked two outs off of Batista before Javy López hit a two-run homer to make it 3–1.


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 2
Atlanta scored five runs in the eighth with two outs to break the game open. Julio Franco singled and Chipper Jones walked off of Mike Morgan before both scored on Brian Jordan's double. Greg Swindell relieved Morgan and allowed a two-run home run to B. J. Surhoff. Bobby Witt relieved Swindell and allowed back-to-back singles to Jones and Lopez before Rey Sanchez's RBI single made it 8–1 Braves. Steve Karsay and John Smoltz pitched perfect eighth and ninth, respectively as the Braves' win tied the series 1–1 heading to Atlanta.


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 3
Curt Schilling, who earned an MVP award in the 1993 NLCS against the Braves, got the start in Game 3 in Atlanta. Braves starter John Burkett gave up two runs in the third when Steve Finley doubled with two on. That would be all Schilling would need, as he, much like Johnson, controlled the Braves lineup.


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 3
Atlanta got a run in the fourth when Marcus Giles hit a leadoff double and scored on Chipper Jones's one-out single, but with the bases loaded with one out, Steve Reed relieved Burkett and a Chipper Jones error at third base on Matt Williams's groundball allowed two runs to score. Mike Remlinger relieved Reed and allowed an RBI single to Finley. Ahead 5–1, Schilling cruised the rest of the way, tossing a complete game and striking out 12 men.


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 4
Looking to tie the series, Bobby Cox started Greg Maddux on short rest. For two innings, the move appeared to work. The Braves struck first off of Diamondback starter Albie Lopez when Marcus Giles walked to lead off the first and scored on RBI double by Chipper Jones. Next inning, a lead off homer by Andruw Jones made it 2–0 Braves. However, the wheels came off for Atlanta in the third when two errors, a single, and fielder's choice allowed Arizona to load the bases with two outs.


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 4
Steve Finley's single scored two with Finley going to second on another error, then Matt Williams and Mark Grace hit back-to-back RBI singles to put Arizona up 4–2. Manager Bob Brenly went for the jugular in the fourth, pinch hitting David Dellucci for Lopez to lead off the inning. Dellucci singled, then Tony Womack singled before Craig Counsell hit a two-run double to left to make it 6–2. Brian Anderson, who picked up the win, pitched 3+1⁄3.


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 4
The Braves scored in the seventh off of Mike Morgan on Brian Jordan's RBI single with the run charged to Anderson, but in the eighth, Arizona got the run back off of Steve Karsay when Womack singled with one out and scored on Counsell's double. The Braves loaded the bases in the bottom half on three straight leadoff singles off of Jason Marquis, but Byung-Hyun Kim in relief allowed just one run on Javy López's double play.


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 4
In the ninth, Jason Marquis struck out the first two men he faced, but a walk and error was followed by Counsell's RBI single. Luis Gonzalez's three-run homer broke the game open at 11–4 Arizona, all four runs unearned. Kim pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth as the win put Arizona firmly in control of the series, ahead three games to one with a rested Randy Johnson set to pitch.


2001 National League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 5
Game 1 winner Randy Johnson and Game 2 winner Tom Glavine faced off as Arizona looked to advance to their first ever World Series appearance. Former Brave Danny Bautista broke a scoreless tie in the fourth by singling home Mark Grace. The Braves promptly tied the game when veteran Julio Franco led off the fourth with a home run, the first run Johnson had allowed the whole series. However, Arizona answered right back in the top of the fifth when Erubiel Durazo hit a two-out two-run blast off Glavine to make it 3–1, both runs unearned. In the seventh, Franco added another RBI with a single that made it 3–2. However, Byung-Hyun Kim came into the game and kept the Braves from getting any closer. He pitched two scoreless innings and Arizona won its first National League pennant.


2001 National League Championship Series, Media coverage
Fox carried the National League Division Series over its network with its top broadcast team, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, calling the action of Game 1 and Game 2, and Thom Brennaman (himself a Diamondbacks broadcaster) and Steve Lyons calling the action of Game 3, Game 4 and Game 5. Game 5 of the 2001 NLCS was played at the same time as Game 4 of the 2001 ALCS and was a split national broadcast on Fox and Fox Sports Net. ESPN Radio provided national radio coverage for the fourth consecutive year, with Charley Steiner and Dave Campbell calling the action.


2001 National League Championship Series, Media coverage
Locally, the NLCS was called on KTAR-AM in Phoenix by Greg Schulte, Jeff Munn, Rod Allen and Jim Traber, and on WSB-AM in Atlanta by Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton, and Joe Simpson.


2001 National League Championship Series, Aftermath
After dominating the National League in the 1990s, this would be the closest that Atlanta would get to going back to the World Series in the Bobby Cox era. The Braves would return to the postseason in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005, but they would not get past the National League Division Series. By their 2004 and 2005 teams, the Braves gave significant playing time to their younger players and had moved on from star veterans such as Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Gary Sheffield, and Javy Lopez. Atlanta would not win another playoff series until 2020. Bobby Cox would retire in 2010, leading managers all-time in multiple categories, such as playoff appearances, 100-win seasons (shared at six with John McGraw), and ejections.


2001 National League Division Series
The 2001 National League Division Series (NLDS), the opening round of the 2001 National League playoffs, began on Tuesday, October 9, and ended on Sunday, October 14, with the champions of the three NL divisions—along with a "wild card" team—participating in two best-of-five series. The teams were:


2001 National League Division Series
The Diamondbacks and Braves went on to meet in the NL Championship Series (NLCS). The Diamondbacks became the National League champion, and defeated the American League champion New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series.


2001 National League Division Series, Houston vs. Atlanta
The Atlanta Braves won their tenth straight division title, despite having the worst record (88–74) among playoff teams. With that record, 2001 was also the Braves' worst season since 1990, when they had the worst record in baseball. The Houston Astros were in the playoffs for the seventh time, hoping to avenge two postseason losses in the 1990s to the Braves. At 93–69, and having home field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Astros were heavily favored to win this series.


2001 National League Division Series, Houston vs. Atlanta, Game 1
In Game 1, Greg Maddux of Atlanta faced Wade Miller of Houston. Brian Jordan drove in the first two runs of the game, hitting a sacrifice fly in the first with runners on first and third and a homer in the fourth. Brad Ausmus's two-run homer after a walk tied the game in the fifth for the Astros. Then Moisés Alou's groundout with runners on second and third in the sixth gave the Astros the lead, but the Braves refused to concede.


2001 National League Division Series, Houston vs. Atlanta, Game 1
In the eighth, Keith Lockhart hit a leadoff double off of Mike Jackson and scored on Marcus Giles's single to tie the game. Julio Franco reached on an error before Billy Wagner relieved Jackson and allowed a tie-breaking three-run home run to Chipper Jones. Andruw Jones's leadoff home run in the ninth off of Mike Williams made it 7–3. Vinny Castilla's leadoff home run in the bottom half gave the Astros that run back, but John Smoltz got the save as the Braves won 7–4.


2001 National League Division Series, Houston vs. Atlanta, Game 2
In Game 2, Tom Glavine and Dave Mlicki started a classic pitching duel. In the top of the second, B. J. Surhoff doubled to lead off the inning. Then Andruw Jones singled to the shortstop and an error by Julio Lugo put Surhoff on third. Rey Sánchez would then ground into a double play, but Surhoff would score to make it 1–0 Braves. In all but two innings the Astros had a hit and stranded five in the game. Glavine pitched eight innings and Smoltz recorded his second consecutive postseason save.


2001 National League Division Series, Houston vs. Atlanta, Game 3
In Game 3, Shane Reynolds of Houston faced John Burkett of the Braves. In the bottom of the second, Rey Sanchez doubled with two outs before Paul Bako's two-run homer put the Braves up 2–0. In the third, Julio Franco homered to make it 3–0. Then a squeeze play sacrifice bunt by Bako in the fourth with runners on first and third made it 4–0. Reynolds only lasted four innings and Burkett cruised until giving up a two-run homer to Daryle Ward in the sixth.


2001 National League Division Series, Houston vs. Atlanta, Game 3
Chipper Jones's two-run homer provided insurance in the bottom of the eighth of off Octavio Dotel and Smoltz once again dominated the ninth. Ausmus flied to center to end the series. Once again, the Astros had been denied by the Braves for their first ever postseason series win. This was the last postseason series win by the Braves until 2020, when they swept the Cincinnati Reds in the newly-added Wild Card Series.


2001 National League Division Series, Arizona vs. St. Louis
The St. Louis Cardinals were making their second straight postseason appearance and they hoped to avenge their NLCS loss against the New York Mets in 2000. The Arizona Diamondbacks were making their second playoff appearance and they too were stunned by the Mets in 1999, having won 100 games that year.


2001 National League Division Series, Arizona vs. St. Louis, Game 1
Game 1 was a game of excellent starting pitching. Matt Morris faced Curt Schilling, who made the most of his first playoff start in eight years. Both pitchers were on even terms until Arizona scored the game's only run in the bottom of the fifth when Steve Finley singled home Damian Miller, who was hit by a pitch leading off the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Schilling pitched a complete-game three-hit shutout as Arizona won 1–0 to take a 1–0 series lead.


2001 National League Division Series, Arizona vs. St. Louis, Game 2
In Game 2, Woody Williams of St. Louis faced Randy Johnson of Arizona. Johnson seemingly had the Cardinals in the first when he got Plácido Polanco to ground into a double play. But Édgar Rentería walked and the soon-to-be-named NL Rookie of the Year Albert Pujols hit his first playoff home run to make it 2–0. Williams hit a leadoff doubled in the third, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on Polanco's sac fly that made it 3–0 Cardinals.


2001 National League Division Series, Arizona vs. St. Louis, Game 2
The D'Backs scored a run in the eighth on Danny Bautista's groundout off of Steve Kline with runners on second and third (the run charged to Williams), but an errant throw to first by pitcher Miguel Batista in the ninth on Kerry Robinson's ground ball with runners on second and third gave the Cardinals that run back. Steve Kline got the save in the bottom of the ninth to even the series.


2001 National League Division Series, Arizona vs. St. Louis, Game 3
In Game 3, Batista returned to the mound to start for Arizona. Opposing him would be Darryl Kile. Both pitchers kept the game scoreless until Jim Edmonds's two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth gave the Cardinals a 2–0 lead. Luis Gonzalez responded with a homer off the right field pole to make it a one-run game in the sixth. Then the Diamondbacks came back in dramatic fashion.


2001 National League Division Series, Arizona vs. St. Louis, Game 3
After Kile allowed a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh, Mike Matthews came on in relief and allowed a one-out single before Greg Colbrunn tied the game with an RBI single. A fielder's choice put two men on for eventual NLCS MVP Craig Counsell. He then hit a three-run home run to right that put the D'Backs up 5–2. Rentería's home run in the bottom of the inning off of Brian Anderson made it 5–3, but Byung-hyun Kim closed the door in the ninth despite allowing a leadoff single and subsequent walk. Tragically, this wound up being Kile's final playoff game.


2001 National League Division Series, Arizona vs. St. Louis, Game 4
Albie Lopez looked to close the door on the Cards. Opposing him would be Bud Smith. Smith got into trouble in the top of the first when he allowed two walks and Steve Finley singled home a run to make it 1–0 Diamondbacks. However, Fernando Viña hit a leadoff single, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on J. D. Drew's single to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning. Then Jim Edmonds's home run in the bottom of the second put the Cardinals up for good. Fernando Viña's two-run homer after a walk in the third gave the Cardinals insurance. Both bullpens held the other team to nothing for the rest of the game as the series was once again tied.


2001 National League Division Series, Arizona vs. St. Louis, Game 5
In the clinching Game 5, Matt Morris once again faced Curt Schilling. Both pitchers were on their game, allowing only one run throughout the entire game. Morris was the first to falter in the bottom of the fourth when he gave up a solo home run to Reggie Sanders. Schilling was masterful and was four outs away from winning the series. He was working on a four-hit shutout when J. D. Drew tied the game with a home run in the eighth.


2001 National League Division Series, Arizona vs. St. Louis, Game 5
Schilling pitched a complete game and in the ninth, a leadoff double by Matt Williams off of Dave Veres put the winning run on base. A sacrifice bunt by Damian Miller put pinch runner Midre Cummings on third. Steve Kline relieved Veres and after Greg Colbrunn was walked intentionally, Cummings tried to steal home on the squeeze play attempt and got caught. Colbrunn went to second and Danny Bautista came on to pinch run. Then Tony Womack delivered the series winning single to left field. The Diamondbacks won their first postseason series ever and were now going to their first ever NLCS.


2001 National League Division Series, Media coverage
For the first and only time, Fox Family and Fox carried the National League Division Series, with Kenny Albert and Rod Allen calling the action of Game 1 and Game 2 of the Atlanta–Houston series for Fox Family, while Mel Proctor and Rod Allen called the action of Game 3 of the Atlanta–Houston series for Fox.


2001 National League Division Series, Media coverage
Fox Family and Fox carried the National League Division Series, with Thom Brennaman (himself a Diamondbacks broadcaster) and Steve Lyons calling the action of Game 1 and Game 2 of the Arizona–St. Louis series for Fox Family, while Joe Buck and Tim McCarver called the action of Game 3, Game 4 and Game 5 of the Arizona–St. Louis series for Fox Family (Games 3–4), and Fox (Game 5). ESPN Radio provided national radio coverage for the fourth consecutive year, with Wayne Hagin and Buck Showalter calling the action of the Atlanta–Houston series, while Charley Steiner and Dave Campbell called the action of the Arizona–St. Louis series.


2001 National League Division Series, Media coverage
Locally, the Arizona–St. Louis portion of the 2001 NLDS was called on KTAR-AM in Phoenix by Greg Schulte, Jeff Munn, Rod Allen (Games 4–5) and Jim Traber, and on KMOX-AM in St. Louis by Jack Buck (Games 3–4), Mike Shannon and Dan McLaughlin (Games 1–2, 5), while the Atlanta–Houston portion of the 2001 NLDS was called on WSB-AM in Atlanta by Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton and Joe Simpson, and on KTRH-AM in Houston by Milo Hamilton and Alan Ashby.


2001 National Liberation Party presidential primary
A primary election was held among the members of Costa Rica’s National Liberation Party (PLN) on June 3, 2001 in order to choose PLN’s nominee for presidency in the 2002 general election. PLN was then the main opposition party facing then in government Social Christian Unity Party. This, as was common since the 70s, was an open primary and as such all Costa Ricans could vote in it with the only requirement be signing membership of the party moments before entering the polls.


2001 National Liberation Party presidential primary
Previous candidate José Miguel Corrales who ran as PLN’s nominee in the 1998 election (losing to PUSC’s candidate Miguel Ángel Rodríguez) tried to be nominated again. His main rivals were former party’s president Rolando Araya Monge (nephew of ex president Luis Alberto Monge) and former minister Antonio Álvarez Desanti, the younger of the candidates. Araya won the nomination with 51% of the votes. A noticeable affected José Miguel Corrales acknowledged the defeat and announce his resignation to future attempts for presidency, while on the contrary Desanti also acknowledged the results but also that he will try to be nominated in coming elections. Araya lost the presidential race against PUSC candidate Abel Pacheco.


2001 National Soccer League Grand Final
The 2001 National Soccer League Grand Final was held on 3 June 2001 between Wollongong Wolves and South Melbourne at Parramatta Stadium. Soccer Australia deemed Wollongong's 14,000 capacity home ground WIN Stadium too small for the centrepiece of the NSL season. Ironically the crowd attendance was 13,402. Wollongong won the match 2–1, with two goals in as many minutes from Sasho Petrovski and Stuart Young putting them ahead. Although John Anastasiadis got a goal for South Melbourne, it wasn't enough. This won the Wolves their second consecutive National Soccer League championship and their second overall. Matt Horsley won the Joe Marston Medal.


2001 National Soccer League Grand Final, Route to the Final
As top-two finishers, South Melbourne and Wollongong Wolves were placed into the second week of the final series, with the winner to host the grand final. Wollongong won both legs 2–1 to qualify for the grand final with a 4–2 aggregate. In the preliminary final, South Melbourne defeated fourth-placed Sydney Olympic to qualify for the final.


2001 National Soccer League Grand Final, Route to the Final
Soccer Australia chose Parramatta Stadium as the grand final venue, expecting a larger crowd than the 14,000-capacity WIN Stadium could hold.


2001 National Soccer League Grand Final, Route to the Final
The Soccer Australia board initially refused an offer from the Seven Network to show the match live on free-to-air television. The board intended for the match to be played at 3pm, however Seven had pre-existing Australian Football League (AFL) commitments. Eventually, the board changed the time to midday and Seven showed the match live outside of Sydney.


2001 National Society of Film Critics Awards
The 36th National Society of Film Critics Awards, given on 4 January 2002, honored the best in film for 2001.


2001 National Society of Film Critics Awards, Winners, Best Picture
1. Mulholland Drive2. Gosford Park3. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring


2001 National Society of Film Critics Awards, Winners, Best Director
1. Robert Altman – Gosford Park2. David Lynch – Mulholland Drive3. Peter Jackson – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring


2001 National Society of Film Critics Awards, Winners, Best Actor
1. Gene Hackman – The Royal Tenenbaums2. Denzel Washington – Training Day3. Tom Wilkinson – In the Bedroom


2001 National Society of Film Critics Awards, Winners, Best Actress
1. Naomi Watts – Mulholland Drive2. Sissy Spacek – In the Bedroom3. Charlotte Rampling – Under the Sand (Sous le sable)


2001 National Society of Film Critics Awards, Winners, Best Supporting Actor
1. Steve Buscemi – Ghost World2. Ben Kingsley – Sexy Beast3. Brian Cox – L.I.E.


2001 National Society of Film Critics Awards, Winners, Best Supporting Actress
1. Helen Mirren – Gosford Park2. Maggie Smith – Gosford Park3. Marisa Tomei – In the Bedroom


2001 National Society of Film Critics Awards, Winners, Best Screenplay
1. Julian Fellowes – Gosford Park2. Daniel Clowes and Terry Zwigoff – Ghost World3. Christopher Nolan – Memento


2001 National Society of Film Critics Awards, Winners, Best Cinematography
1. Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping Bin – In the Mood for Love (Faa yeung nin wa)2. Peter Deming – Mulholland Drive3. Roger Deakins – The Man Who Wasn't There


2001 National Society of Film Critics Awards, Winners, Best Foreign Language Film
1. In the Mood for Love (Faa yeung nin wa)2. The Circle (Dayereh)3. Amores perros


2001 National Society of Film Critics Awards, Winners, Best Non-Fiction Film
1. The Gleaners and I (Les glaneurs et la glaneuse)2. The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition3. My Voyage to Italy (Il mio viaggio in Italia)


2001 Nations Cup (snooker)
The 2001 Nations Cup (officially the 2001 Coalite Nations Cup) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place at The Hexagon, in Reading, Berkshire, England, from 13 to 21 January 2001. It was a World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association team competition held as part of the 2000–01 snooker season and the third and final edition of the Nations Cup. The competition was contested by eight nations of three players each with one of them qualifying via a play-off match. It was sponsored by smokeless coal manufacturer Coalite.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker)
England were the tournament's defending champions but were eliminated in the group stages after finishing third in their group. Scotland's Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Alan McManus won the competition, defeating the Republic of Ireland's (ROI) Ken Doherty, Fergal O'Brien and Michael Judge six frames to two (6–2) in the final. During the match, referee Alan Chamberlain courted controversy when he cautioned O'Brien over slow play since the television coverage was due to end soon after. The event's highest break was a 131 made by Thai player Phaitoon Phonbun in the second frame of his nation's group match with Malta.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Background
The Nations Cup was formed in 1999 as a five-squad snooker tournament involving the Home Nations. The 2001 tournament was expanded from five to eight teams to accommodate non-Home Nations sides. It was a World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association team event staged as part of the 2000–01 snooker season and was held at The Hexagon, Reading, Berkshire, from 13 to 21 January 2001. Although there were plans to rename the tournament the World Cup, this was the final year it was played because ITV stopped broadcasting snooker. Sponsored by smokeless coal manufacturer Coalite, the event had a total prize pool of £69,400, with £46,950 going to the winning squad divided equally amongst all three players, and the host broadcaster was ITV.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Background, Rules
The Nations Cup had eight national teams consisting of three players each. These teams were split into two round-robin groups of four. Each side played a best-of-seven frames match between other nations in their group. The first three frames were contested by one player from each team and the fourth by two from each side. The last frames were played by one participant per nation. The two squads who won the most games in their group qualified for the semi-finals.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Background, Rules
Should there have been a tie for second place, the nation with the higher frame difference progressed or each player would have two tries to pot the blue ball on its spot from the D in a shoot-out. If this did not determine a group winner, the match would go to sudden death.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Background, Rules
The two best-of-nine frames semi-finals were contested on 19 and 20 January with the best-of-eleven frames final on 21 January. The final's first three frames were played by one player from each nation with the fourth featuring two from both teams. The final six frames featured one participant from each squad. In the event the game was tied at 5–5, the team captains would be required to nominate the player for the final frame decider. Except for the last frame of the final, players were not allowed to play two frames in succession or more than one frame against their opposite from the other squad.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Background, Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for the 2001 tournament is listed below. Each player received an equal share of prize money for how well their team faired. The £20,000 maximum break prize would be awarded to the first participant to attain the feat in the competition.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Background, Participants
The tournament composed eight teams of three players representing individual nations. All of the eight nations were represented by their three highest ranked players. Each team was seeded with the defending champions England seeded first and Scotland second. Malta qualified for the Nations Cup by defeating Belgium 3–2 in a play-off round in the Bournemouth International Centre, on 18 November 2000. Below is a list of participating teams and players.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Group stages, Group A
Group A was played between China, England, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (ROI) from 13 to 17 January. In the first match, England versus China, Ronnie O'Sullivan won the first frame against Asian qualifier Da Hai Lin and John Parrott the second on a clearance after Marco Fu snookered himself on the last red ball. Stephen Lee beat Hasimu Tuerxun in frame three with breaks of 54 and 79 and Fu and Da won the doubles frame over Lee and O'Sullivan. England won the match 4–1 when O'Sullivan beat Tuerxun. Gerard Greene took a final frame decider for Northern Ireland over the ROI's Michael Judge to win 4–3. O'Sullivan was ruled out for three days with a lower back injury he picked up during a massage at the 2000 China Open and was replaced by Anthony Hamilton.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Group stages, Group A
England's Lee, Parrott and Hamilton and the ROI's Ken Doherty, Fergal O'Brien and Judge shared the first six frames of their match to force a final frame decider won by the latter side with Judge's win over Lee for a 4–3 victory. China defeated Northern Ireland 4–3 in Group A's fourth match. Trailing 2–0 after Fu and Tuerxun lost to Greene and Joe Swail, China took frames three to five before Northern Ireland's Murphy defeated Tuerxun to force a final frame decider. A break of 41 from Hai Lin helped China win 4–3.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Group stages, Group A
China came from 3–1 behind the ROI to win the next two frames courtesy of Fu and Hai Lin to end with a final frame decider won by Judge over Tuerxun for a 4–3 victory in 3 hours, 26 minutes and a spot in the semi-finals. Greene, Murphy and Swail helped Northern Ireland defeat England's Lee, Hamilton and Parrott 4–2 to qualify for the semi-finals and eliminate the top seeded team. The final frame was won by Murphy for Northern Ireland after Parrott incurred 67 penalty points in fouls. Parrott admitted post-match: "I was definitely the weakest link .... It's my last time in the event and I certainly haven't covered myself in glory."


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Group stages, Group B
Group B was contested by Malta, Scotland, Thailand and Wales between 13 and 18 January. The first match in the group was between Malta and Scotland. Tony Drago made a 47 break to defeat John Higgins before Alan McManus and Stephen Hendry beat Alex Borg and Joe Grech to go 2–1 ahead. Scotland took three of the next four frames to defeat Malta 4–2.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Group stages, Group B
Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens of 1999 Nations Cup champions Wales helped to defeat Thailand's James Wattana, Phaitoon Phonbun and Noppadon Noppachorn 4–1 with breaks of 104, 58 and 43 while Dominic Dale lost his singles frame to Phonbun. In Thailand's game with Malta, Phonbun and Wattana beat Drago and Grech respectively including a 131 century break from Phonbun in the second frame before Borg potted the pink ball in frame three to make it 2–1. Thailand took the next three frames to win 4–1.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Group stages, Group B
In Wales' match against Scotland, Dale and Stevens won the first two frames over Higgins and Hendry. McManus beat Williams in frame three but Stevens and Williams restored Wales' two-frame lead by winning the doubles frame over Higgins and McManus. Both nations shared the next two frames but Wales won 4–2 to make the semi-finals.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Group stages, Group B
Scotland's Hendry, Higgins and McManus whitewashed the Thai trio of Noppadon, Phonbun and Wattana 4–0 to progress to the semi-finals and Wales' Dale, Stevens and Williams maintained their unbeaten tournament record by 4–0 over Malta's Borg, Drago and Grech for the last spot in the next round. Wales' win also allowed Stevens to maintain his unbeaten form in singles frames.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Knockout stages, Semi-finals
Both of the best-of-nine frame semi-finals were held between 19 and 20 January. The first-semi final was between the ROI and Wales. Judge won the first frame for Ireland with a 50 break over Williams, and O'Brien the second over Stevens following a one-hour battle in which O'Brien fluked the final red ball into the corner pocket and made a clearance to the pink ball.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Knockout stages, Semi-finals
Dale made a break of 59 to win frame three for Wales before the doubles frame saw Doherty and O'Brien pot the blue, pink and black balls while under pressure from to give the ROI a 3–1 lead. The fifth frame saw Doherty fluke the green ball and pot the brown and blue balls to defeat Stevens and put the ROI 4–1 ahead. The ROI won frame six with O'Brien beating Williams on a fluke on the final red ball and a clearance to the blue ball for a 5–1 victory and the first spot in the final. Losing player Dale said he could not believe the outcome, adding: "In nearly every frame, luck played a part and we didn't have any."


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Knockout stages, Semi-finals
The other semi-final was a 99-minute game between Northern Ireland and Scotland. Hendry made a 71 break against Greene to win the first frame for Scotland and McManus beat Swail by 94 points for the second. Higgins came from 46 points behind Murphy to compile a 60 clearance to the pink and win Scotland's third frame. Greene and Swail led 49–0 in the doubles frame until Hendry partnering McManus made a 68 clearance to claim Scotland's fourth frame.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Knockout stages, Semi-finals
Swail led Higgins 39–0 in frame five before the latter won to finish Scotland's 5–0 whitewash of Northern Ireland and enter the final. Hendry described Scotland's performance as their best since their 1996 World Cup victory in Bangkok, adding: "our opponents can consider themselves unlucky to catch us on such a hot day."


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Knockout stages, Final
The best-of-eleven frames final between the ROI and Scotland was held in the afternoon of 21 January. Hendry made a break of 92 to defeat Doherty in the first frame and McManus won a 59-minute second frame over O'Brien who missed the green ball during an attempted clearance. Judge made a break of 75 against Higgins to win frame three for the ROI and Doherty and O'Brien made it 2–2 by winning the doubles frame over Hendry and Higgins. McManus fluked the final red ball from a snooker into the left-centre pocket to defeat Doherty in frame five.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Knockout stages, Final
In frame six, O'Brien was ahead of Higgins when referee Alan Chamberlain cautioned him about playing slowly after taking more than a minute to select a shot. Chamberlain received support from most of the audience for the comment. O'Brien missed a red ball and a snooker to allow Higgins to make a clearance to the black ball and win the frame. Hendry defeated Judge with a break of 87 in the seventh frame and Scotland won the match 6–2 when Higgins beat Doherty with a break of 34 in frame eight. The game lasted 4 hours and 7 minutes.


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Knockout stages, Final
It was a repeat of Scotland's 1996 World Cup win over the ROI, who became the third nation to claim the Nations Cup. The team won £46,950 prize money shared between all three players. Hendry commented on the victory: "Since losing to Wales in the group we haven't put a foot wrong. As a team we were very solid and I think we deserved to win. People will say that we didn't play England in the semis or Wales in the final but you beat whoever's in the other seat."


2001 Nations Cup (snooker), Knockout stages, Final
Higgins added: "'It's been a great week and Stephen's contribution was vital. We've been disappointed in the last two years by our performances but today we responded to the challenge." McManus said: "It was extra special for me because I have not won a tournament for a while. And it's great to play alongside a couple of legends like Stephen and John. We are all very patriotic and we're delighted to win for Scotland."