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This list shows notable sports-related deaths, events, and outcomes that occurred in October of 2004.
Deaths
28 Jimmy McLarnin 27 Paulo Sérgio de Oliveira Silva (a.k.a. Serginho) 26 Beto Ávila 24 Ricky Hendrick 23 Bill Nicholson 17 Ray Boone 11 Keith Miller 10 Ken Caminiti 2 Bolat Kesikhbaev
October 31, 2004 (Sunday)
National Football League, Week 8: The Pittsburgh Steelers behind rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, defeat the New England Patriots, 34–20, ending the Patriots' win streak at 21 games. It is the first time in over a year that the Patriots have lost a game. (ESPN) The Philadelphia Eagles remain the only undefeated team in the NFL after defeating the Baltimore Ravens, 15–10. Terrell Owens had the Eagles' only touchdown. (ESPN) The New York Giants defeat the Minnesota Vikings, 34–13. Vikings' wide receiver Randy Moss left the game early with continued tightness in his right hamstring. The Vikings were nearly shutout at home for the first time in over 40 years before scoring two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter. (ESPN) NASCAR: Just a week after a plane crash killed ten people including members of Hendrick Motorsports and team owner Rick Hendrick's family, team driver Jimmie Johnson wins his seventh race of the season (and third straight) at the Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500. (ESPN)
October 30, 2004 (Saturday)
Rugby league Tri-Nations: Australia defeat Great Britain 12–8 at the City of Manchester Stadium and qualify for the Tri-Nations Final, where they will play either New Zealand or Great Britain, depending on results over the next three weeks.
October 29, 2004 (Friday) Football: English Premiership club Chelsea cancels the contract of Romanian international striker Adrian Mutu after he tests positive for cocaine. (BBC)
October 27, 2004 (Wednesday) Baseball: The Boston Red Sox break the alleged Curse of the Bambino, by winning their first World Series title since 1918, beating the St. Louis Cardinals, 3–0, in Game Four of the 2004 World Series.
October 26, 2004 (Tuesday) Baseball – 2004 World Series, Game 3: Manny Ramírez homers and Pedro Martínez pitches seven shutout innings as the Boston Red Sox defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 4–1 to take a 3–0 series lead. The only team to come back from a 3–0 deficit to win a best-of-7 series in Major League Baseball history was these very same Red Sox, last week in the ALCS. (CNNSI) Football (soccer): FA Premier League club West Bromwich Albion announce they have severed ties with manager Gary Megson after Megson informs the club he will not extend his contract with them beyond the 2004–05 season. (Reuters)
October 25, 2004 (Monday) Ice skating – Russian ice skater Tatiana Totmianina is released from a Pittsburgh area hospital, after being admitted days earlier, with a head concussion suffered after a fall during a competition. (Boston.com) National Football League Week 7, Monday Night Football: In their first MNF appearance in over a decade, the Cincinnati Bengals upset the AFC West division-leading Denver Broncos 23–10. It had also been fourteen years since their last MNF win and fifteen since their first Monday night home game.
October 24, 2004 (Sunday) Baseball – 2004 World Series, Game 2: The Boston Red Sox achieve another home-field victory over the St. Louis Cardinals 6 to 2. Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling earns another win playing through his ankle injury, despite Boston committing four errors. Games 3 through 5 are slated to be held in St. Louis starting Tuesday. (CNNSI) Cross-country skiing: World Cup 2005 season opening in Düsseldorf, Germany: The Ladies' 6×0.8 km Team Sprint relay race is won by the Norwegian No. 1 team (Marit Bjørgen, Hilde G. Pedersen), with Germany's No. 2 team (Manuela Henkel, Evi Sachenbacher) and Italy's No. 1 team (Arianna Follis, Gabriella Paruzzi) taking the 2nd and 3rd place. (FIS-Ski Results) In the Men's 6×1.5 km race, Norway's No. 1 team wins (Håvard Bjerkeli, Tor Arne Hetland), while Germany's No. 1 team (Tobias Angerer, Axel Teichmann) and No. 3 team (Toni Lang, Andreas Stitzl) finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively. (FIS-Ski Results) Football (soccer): Manchester United defeat Arsenal 2–0 at United's Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, ending the London club's unbeaten streak in the FA Premier League. Arsenal's unbeaten run had stretched a record 49 matches and included the entire 2003–04 season. (BBC) Formula One: In the Brazilian Grand Prix, the last race of the 2004 season, Juan Pablo Montoya wins his final race for the Williams team, holding off future McLaren teammate Kimi Räikkönen. Rubens Barrichello finishes third. Michael Schumacher, who had long since clinched his seventh series championship, finishes seventh. (BBC) National Football League Week 7: The Kansas City Chiefs, in a 56–10 romp over the Atlanta Falcons, set an NFL record for most rushing touchdowns in a game, with 8. Four were scored by Priest Holmes and four by Derrick Blaylock. (Yahoo!) The New England Patriots set another NFL record with their 18th consecutive regular-season victory, 13–7 over the New York Jets. The loss is the first of the year for the Jets, while the Patriots remain undefeated. Jets running back Curtis Martin moves into seventh place on the all-time career rushing yards list. (Yahoo!) The Philadelphia Eagles also remain undefeated with a 34–31 overtime win over the Cleveland Browns. (Yahoo!) The Miami Dolphins stun the St. Louis Rams 31–14 for their first win of the season. (Yahoo!) The Jacksonville Jaguars stun the Indianapolis Colts 27–24 on a last minute 50-yard field goal from Josh Scobee. (Yahoo!) Deion Sanders has his first interception return for a touchdown since 1998 as his Baltimore Ravens beat the Buffalo Bills 20–6. (Yahoo!) Emmitt Smith rushed for 100 yards for the 78th time in his career, surpassing Walter Payton en route to a 25–17 Arizona Cardinals victory over the Seattle Seahawks. (ESPN) NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson's sixth win of the 2004 NASCAR season, at the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway near Martinsville, Virginia, is overshadowed by the crash of a private plane today belonging to his racing team, Hendrick Motorsports. (ESPN) All 10 people on board the plane were killed, including four relatives of team owner Rick Hendrick. (ESPN) Ice skating: During an ABC televised competition, skater Tatiana Totmianina suffers a fall after her partner slipped off his right foot. She remains unconscious for some minutes, and is hospitalized with damage to her head, neck and eyes.
October 23, 2004 (Saturday) Baseball: 2004 World Series, Game 1: Hosting the St. Louis Cardinals on a cold night at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox won the highest scoring Game One of Series history, 11–9. The Red Sox took a 7–2 lead in the third inning, but the Cardinals tied it by the 7th. Mark Bellhorn's two-run home run in the bottom of the 8th provided the winning margin. Cross-country skiing: World Cup 2005 season opening in Düsseldorf, Germany: The 0.8 km Ladies' Sprint race is won by Marit Bjørgen (NOR), with Anna Dahlberg (SWE) and Gabriella Paruzzi coming in second and third. (FIS-Ski results) The 1.5 km Men's Sprint race is won by Peter Larsson (SWE), with Tor Arne Hetland (NOR) and Cristian Zorzi (ITA) coming in second and third. (FIS-Ski results) Rugby league Tri-Nations: Australia defeat New Zealand 32–12 at Loftus Road, London.
October 21, 2004 (Thursday) Baseball: National League Championship Series, Game 7: The St. Louis Cardinals advance to the World Series with a 5–2 win over the Houston Astros. In the sixth inning, Albert Pujols ties the game with an RBI double, and Scott Rolen gives the Cardinals the lead for good with a two-run homer on the next pitch. Pujols is named Series MVP. Basketball: Denver Nuggets guard Carmelo Anthony is cited for possession of marijuana. (ESPN)(TheDenverChannel.com) Football: UEFA Cup 2004–05 Group Stage, matchday 1 (UEFA.com): Group A: Feyenoord 3 – 0 Hearts Schalke 1 – 1 FC Basel Group B: Athletic Bilbao 2 – 0 Parma Steaua Bucharest 2 – 0 Standard Liège Group C: Real Zaragoza 2 – 0 FC Utrecht Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3 – 2 Club Brugge Group D: Panionios 0 – 1 Newcastle United Dinamo Tbilisi 0 – 2 Sochaux Group E: Egaleo 0 – 1 Middlesbrough Lazio 1 – 1 Villarreal Group F: Auxerre 0 – 0 GAK Amica Wronki 0 – 5 Rangers Group G: Beveren 1 – 5 VfB Stuttgart Benfica 4 – 2 Heerenveen Group H: Alemannia 1 – 0 Lille Zenit St. Petersburg 5 – 1 AEK Athens Olympics: A three-judge panel of the Court of Arbitration for Sport upholds the awarding of the gold medal in the gymnastics men's all-around to American Paul Hamm, rejecting the appeal of South Korean Yang Tae-young. (ESPN)
October 20, 2004 (Wednesday) Baseball: National League Championship Series, Game 6: The St. Louis Cardinals come back to beat the Houston Astros 6–4. Jim Edmonds drives in the winning runs with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the twelfth. This series is all tied up at 3–3 and the stage is set for a dramatic Game 7 in St. Louis on October 21. American League Championship Series, Game 7: The Boston Red Sox defeat the New York Yankees, 10–3, going on to the World Series for the first time since 1986. The Red Sox won four games in a row, winning the series 4–3. They become the first team in Major League Baseball, and the third team in North American professional sports, to win a postseason series after trailing three games to none. (ESPN) (TheBostonChannel.com) (Reuters) Football: UEFA Champions League, Group Stage, Matchday 3 Group E: Panathinaikos 2 – 2 Arsenal Group E: Rosenborg 1 – 2 PSV Group F: A.C. Milan 1 – 0 FC Barcelona Group F: Shakhtar Donetsk 3 – 0 Celtic Group G: Anderlecht 1 – 2 Werder Bremen Group G: Valencia 1 – 5 Inter Milan Group H: Chelsea 2 – 0 CSKA Moscow Group H: Paris Saint-Germain 2 – 0 F.C. Porto (UEFA.com) Women's boxing: Laila Ali denies rumors she will be fighting in Kinshasa, DR Congo on October 30, the 30th anniversary of her father's legendary fight against George Foreman in the same city. (ESPN)
October 19, 2004 (Tuesday) Baseball: American League Championship Series, Game 6: The Boston Red Sox defeat the New York Yankees, 4–2, becoming the first team in Major League Baseball history to force a Game 7 in any postseason series after being down 3 games to 0. Curt Schilling pitches seven innings on a hurt ankle, giving up only one run on four hits. (ESPN) Football: UEFA Champions League, Group Stage, Matchday 3 Group A: Liverpool 0 – 0 Deportivo La Coruña Group A: AS Monaco 2 – 1 Olympiacos Group B: Bayer Leverkusen 3 – 1 AS Roma Group B: Real Madrid 1 – 0 Dynamo Kyiv Group C: Ajax 3 – 0 Maccabi Tel Aviv Group C: Juventus 1 – 0 Bayern Munich Group D: Fenerbahçe 1 – 3 Olympique Lyonnais Group D: Sparta Prague 0 – 0 Manchester United (UEFA.com)
October 18, 2004 (Monday) Baseball: American League Championship Series, Game 5: The Boston Red Sox outlast the New York Yankees to win 5–4 in a 14 inning marathon. David Ortiz is a hero once again with the game-winning RBI, driving in Johnny Damon. New York now leads the best-of-seven series 3–2. The game lasted 5 hours and 49 minutes, the longest by time in postseason history. (ESPN) National League Championship Series, Game 5: The Houston Astros defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 3–0. Jeff Kent drives in the winning runs with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth. Houston leads the best-of-seven series 3–2. (ESPN) National Football League Week 6, Monday Night Football: Spurred by a 93-yard fumble return by Adam Archuleta, the St. Louis Rams defeat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 28–21.
October 17, 2004 (Sunday) Baseball: American League Championship Series, Game 4: The Boston Red Sox stay alive in the series with the New York Yankees with a 6–4 win in 12 innings. The Sox, who now trail 3–1 in the series, tie the game in the bottom of the ninth against Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, and win on a walk-off home run by David Ortiz in the 12th.