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This list shows notable sports-related deaths, events, and notable outcomes that occurred in December of 2005. Deaths
23: Lajos Baróti 21: Elrod Hendricks 16: Sverre Stenersen 15: Darrell Russell 7: Bud Carson 6: Charly Gaul
Ongoing events
Cricket tours: South Africa in Australia; Sri Lanka in New Zealand Winter sports: Ice hockey 2006 World Juniors Ski jumping 29 December–6 January: Four Hills Tournamentin Germany and Austria Cricket 2005–06: Australia; West Indies Football (soccer) 2005–06: England: Premier League; England (general) Scotland Denmark: Superliga France: Ligue 1; UEFA Champions League; UEFA Cup Argentina Australia: Hyundai A-League Rugby union 2005–06: Heineken Cup U.S. and Canadian sports 2005(−06): NFL; NHL; NBA; College Football Bowls
31 December 2005 (Saturday) NFL Week 17 Denver Broncos 23, San Diego Chargers 7: Tatum Bell scored three touchdowns for the Broncos, but could muster only 52 yards, leaving him short of a 1,000 yard season, missing out on joining teammate Mike Anderson. New York Giants 30, Oakland Raiders 21: Tiki Barber had a 95-yard touchdown run, the longest in Giant history; Plaxico Burress caught a 78-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning; and the Giants won the NFC East title, ending the four-year reign of the Philadelphia Eagles, and also clinched a playoff berth for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the process. NCAA College Football Meineke Car Care Bowl: NC State 14, South Florida 0: The ACC's Wolfpack shuts out the Big East's Bulls for the first time since the USF program began in 1997. AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Tulsa 31, Fresno State 24: Golden Hurricane QB Paul Smith scored the winning touchdown for the C-USA champions over the WAC Bulldogs. EV1.net Houston Bowl: TCU 27, Iowa State 24: Peter LoCoco's 44-yard field goal was the margin of victory for the MWC Champion Horned Frogs in their win over the Cyclones, who were the Big 12 representatives. On January 3, 2006, three days after their triumph in Houston, TCU's freshman kicker, Kasey Davis, is found shot to death in the parking lot of an apartment complex. NCAA College Basketball (21) Ohio State 78, LSU 76: In, what is called by same, the best comeback of the year thus far, the Buckeyes keeps their perfect record intact going to 10–0. The disappointing loss for the Tigers sends them to 7–4. The winning shot was taken by Matt Sylvester, who also made the shot in March of last year that ended Illinois' bid for a perfect season. Ohio State trailed by 15 points with just over 5½ minutes left and was down by 10 with 2½ minutes to go, but managed to come back and get the win. They are one of eight undefeated teams left. Arizona 96, (7) Washington 95 (2 OT): Unranked traditional powerhouse Arizona pulls off a gutsy win in a Pac-10 thriller that lasted 50 minutes, two overtimes. With 5.1 seconds to go Kirk Walters made a free throw to give Arizona the lead. It ended Washington's best start to a season since 1975 and also ended the longest current home-winning streak, at 32 games. The new leader is Gonzaga at 30. Washington is another undefeated team to fall, as they go to 11–1. Arizona improves to 9–3, and 2–0 in the Pac-10. (14) Oklahoma 68, Alabama 56: The Crimson Tide lose yet another chance to beat a ranked team as they fall to the Sooners and Kevin Bookout's 18 points and 8 rebounds. They were bouncing back from an upset loss to West Virginia the previous week, and now move to 8–2, likely holding on to their top 15 spot, if not moving up. Alabama's season has been disappointing, as they now move to 6–5. (1) Duke 102, UNC-Greensboro 69 (10) Louisville 58, Miami (FL) 43 California 68, (11) UCLA 61 (3) Villanova 75, Temple 53 (8) Gonzaga 102, St. Joseph's 94 Pittsburgh 73, (24) Wisconsin 64
30 December 2005 (Friday) NFL The league and the New Orleans Saints announced that the franchise will return to the state of Louisiana for the 2006 NFL Season. Tony Dungy will return to coach the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday (January 1, 2006) against the Arizona Cardinals a week after his son's death. NCAA College Football Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl presented by Bridgestone: Virginia 34, Minnesota 31: The ACC Cavaliers, the replacement for the SEC who didn't field enough teams who had six wins, needed a 39-yard field goal by Connor Hughes with 1:08 left to beat the Big Ten's Golden Gophers at The Coliseum in Nashville. Vitalis Sun Bowl: UCLA 50, Northwestern 38: In the sole Big Ten-Pac 10 matchup this bowl season, the Bruins defeated the Wildcats thanks to two on-side kick returns for touchdowns by Brandon Breazell and three touchdown passes by Drew Olson after he had a bad first quarter, throwing three interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns in an anomaly, considering that Olson threw a total of three pickoffs in the regular season. Independence Bowl: Missouri 38, South Carolina 31: The Big 12 Tigers roared back from a 28–7 deficit thanks to four Brad Smith touchdowns to beat the SEC Gamecocks in Shreveport, Louisiana. Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: LSU 40, Miami (FL) 3: The ACC's Hurricanes scored the first three points, but the SEC's Bayou Bengals scored the final forty points thanks to 282 yards rushing in the last game using the "Peach Bowl" name, as beginning next year, the game becomes the "Chick-fil-A Bowl." The post-game was marred by a fight between players from both sides. Cricket South Africa in Australia: At Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia (355 & 321–7d) completed their 184-run victory in the second Test against South Africa (311 & 181) just after lunch. (Cricinfo)
29 December 2005 (Thursday) NHL: Wayne Gretzky returned behind the bench for the Phoenix Coyotes, and the team responded as they defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 6–5 in overtime. NCAA College Football Emerald Bowl: Utah 38, Georgia Tech 10: The MWC Utes, who shocked the world last year as an entry into the Bowl Championship Series, defeated an outmanned ACC Yellow Jackets squad thanks to Brett Ratliff's 30-for-41 performance for 381 yards and four touchdowns, all caught by wideout Travis LaTendresse. Quinton Genther added 120 rushing yards. Pacific Life Holiday Bowl: Oklahoma 17, Oregon 14: The Sooners stunned the sixth-ranked Ducks in a typical Holiday Bowl finish, with Cliff Ingram intercepting Brady Leaf's pass deep in Sooner territory. It's the second straight year a high-ranked Pac-10 team was shocked by a Big 12 school. Ski jumping: Four Hills Tournament: In the first meet of the one-week tournament, defending champion Janne Ahonen wins after jumps of 130.5 and 130 metres, gaining a total of 270.9 points. Norway's Roar Ljøkelsøy finishes second, 2.5 points behind, while World Cup leader Jakub Janda of the Czech Republic is 8.3 points off in third place. TSN.ca
28 December 2005 (Wednesday) NCAA College Football MPC Computers Bowl: Boston College 27, Boise State 21: After nearly blowing a 27–0 lead, the ACC's Eagles intercept a Jared Zabransky pass in the end zone with less than two minutes remaining to secure their sixth straight bowl win on the WAC host's hostile "Smurf Turf". MasterCard Alamo Bowl: Nebraska 32, Michigan 28: Nebraska defeated Michigan following after a controversial play as time expired
27 December 2005 (Tuesday) NCAA College Football Champs Sports Bowl: Clemson 19, Colorado 10: James Davis rushes for 148 yards and a touchdown as the ACC Tigers survived a game Big 12 Buffaloes comeback. Insight Bowl: Arizona State 45, Rutgers 40: In the long-awaited rematch of the inaugural Garden State Bowl, the de facto host Sun Devils from the Pac-10 — behind Rudy Carpenter's four touchdown passes — rallied to defeat the Scarlet Knights from the Big East in what could very well be the last football game played at Chase Field. Next year's game will move to Sun Devil Stadium on the ASU campus. The teams combined for 1,211 yards total offense, a record for any bowl game. NCAA Men's College Basketball (4) Memphis 83, (8) Gonzaga 72: The Tigers win at home to go to 10–1, their best start since 1985–86. The nation's leading scorer, Gonzaga's Adam Morrison, scores 34 points, but goes cold at the wrong time, failing to score in the final 9:31 of the game. Rugby Union Jonah Lomu scores his first try since his 2004 kidney transplant. The All Blacks legend crosses the line for the Cardiff Blues early in the second half of a 41–23 Celtic League win over the Newport Gwent Dragons.
26 December 2005 (Monday) NCAA College Football Motor City Bowl: Memphis 38, Akron 31: DeAngelo Williams scored three touchdowns, but the MAC Champion Zips gave C-USA's Tigers a scare late. NFL Monday Night Football New England Patriots 31, New York Jets 21: In the final ABC broadcast of the series after thirty-six seasons and 555 games, the Pats prevailed thanks to two Mike Vrabel touchdown catches. In a major twist of fate, the Jets lost to Cleveland by the exact same score in the first Monday Night Football game played back in 1970. Next September, the MNF package will be moving to Disney-owned sibling ESPN.
25 December 2005 (Sunday) NBA Christmas Doubleheader Detroit Pistons 85, San Antonio Spurs 70: Chauncey Billups registered 20 points as the Pistons got a measure of revenge in a rematch of last year's NBA Finals. Miami Heat 97, Los Angeles Lakers 92: Kobe Bryant had 37 points for the Lakers, but fell short on South Beach as Shaquille O'Neal now goes to 3–0 against Kobe and the Lakers. NFL Week 16 Chicago Bears 24, Green Bay Packers 17: "Da Bears" win the NFC North Division championship and a first-round bye with their win over the Packers, intercepting Brett Favre four times. Baltimore Ravens 30, Minnesota Vikings 23: The Vikings went from contenders at 4:59 p.m. US EST to elimination at 11:39 p.m. US EST with the Bears beating the Packers and their loss to the Ravens. Kyle Boller threw for 289 yards in the victory.
24 December 2005 (Saturday) NFL Week 16 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27, Atlanta Falcons 24 (OT): Matt Bryant's 41-yard field goal with 14 seconds left in overtime eliminates the Falcons from post-season contention. Buffalo Bills 37, Cincinnati Bengals 27: Terrence McGee has two touchdowns — a 99-yard kickoff return and a late 46-yard interception of Carson Palmer — to ruin the Bengals' hopes of a first-round bye. McGee becomes the first player in NFL history to return a kickoff and interception for TDs in the same game. Dallas Cowboys 24, Carolina Panthers 20: A Drew Bledsoe two-yard TD pass to Terry Glenn with 24 seconds left keeps the Cowboys' post-season hopes alive. At the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas: Detroit Lions 13, New Orleans Saints 12: Jason Hanson's 39-yard field goal as time expires gives the Lions the win in the Saints' last "home game" of the year. Jacksonville Jaguars 38, Houston Texans 20: The Jags trailed in the fourth quarter but come back to clinch a wild-card spot with the victory over the game Texans. Washington Redskins 35, New York Giants 20: Santana Moss catches three TD passes, and the Redskins stay alive in the post-season hunt. Pittsburgh Steelers 41, Cleveland Browns 0: The Steel Curtain defense sacks Charlie Frye eight times in the shutout. Kansas City Chiefs 20, San Diego Chargers 7: The Chiefs, who hold LaDainian Tomlinson to 49 rushing yards, remain alive in the playoff race. San Francisco 49ers 24, St. Louis Rams 20: The Niners put up 217 rushing yards in their first road win of the year, but in the process, could wind up losing the Reggie Bush/Vince Young/Matt Leinart Number One Draft Pick sweepstakes. Miami Dolphins 24, Tennessee Titans 10: In his biggest day rushing since returning to football, Ricky Williams runs for 172 yards in the Dolphins' win. Arizona Cardinals 27, Philadelphia Eagles 21: The Cards' eighteen-year stay at Sun Devil Stadium came to a victorious end. Next season, the team will move to their new stadium in Glendale.