A Decade in Review: 2002

January

NEWS

The Euro debuts as an international currency in France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Finland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, Ireland and the Netherlands. Controversially, the switch does not take place in the U.K.

During the State of the Union Speech, President Bush declares that North Korea, Iraq, and Iran form an “Axis of Evil”.

The Guantanamo Bay prison opens at the U.S. military base in Cuba. Terrorist suspects are kept here for years without trial, drawing widespread ire in the international community.

President Bush signs the No Child Left Behind Act, making standardized testing a federal requirement for better or worse.

Mt Nyirarongo erupts in the Congo, displacing several hundred thousand people.

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is captured in Pakistan and is accused by his captors of being a CIA agent.

ARTS

Fox News overtakes CNN in the Nielsen ratings for the first time.

SPORTS

A Miami Hurricanes team that is characterized as being better than many NFL squads wins the NCAA football championship over Nebraska.

The New England Patriots defeat the Oakland Raiders in a memorable overtime playoff game played in a snowstorm. The contest becomes known as the “Tuck Rule Game” after a controversial non-fumble by Patriots QB Tom Brady.

February

NEWS

Kidnapped reporter Daniel Pearl is beheaded in Karachi, Pakistan. The video shows up on the internet.

Slobodan Milosevic’s war crimes trial begins at The Hague.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld gives a famously incoherent briefing regarding the War in Afghanistan, in which he coins the term “known unknowns.”

The ex-currencies of nations using the Euro cease to be legal tender at the end of the month.

The U.S. government announces that all women over 40 should get mammograms, rather than all women over 50.

Queen Elizabeth celebrates her 50^th year on the throne.

ARTS

FOX cancels Family Guy.

Jennifer Lopez is the first artist to have a re-mix album (J to tha L-O!: The Remixes) debut at number one.

U2 performs a memorable Super Bowl Halftime show set while the names of the September 11 victims scroll across two huge cloth towers above them.

Alanis Morrisette releases her album Under Rug Swept, probably marking the last moment she was relevant.

Kylie Minogue’s Fever is seemingly a smash everywhere but America.

SPORTS

Amidst high security, the Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City. Sarah Hughes upsets Michelle Kwan to win Ladies Figure Skating Gold, and the Canadian Hockey team wins for the first time in 50 years. The loss of Canadian Pairs Skaters Sale and Pelletier in Pairs Skating sparks an international scandal and a reform of judging in the sport. They are eventually awarded a second gold medal. Norway wins the most golds but Germany wins the most medals.

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots upset the heavily favored St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI on a last second field goal by Adam Vinatieri. A seemingly unlikely dynasty is born.

LeBron James is on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school junior.

March

NEWS

U.S. ground forces invade Eastern Afghanistan in what becomes known as Operation Anaconda.

Ansett Airlines collapses, resulting in the largest single job loss in Australian history.

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan declares that “the recession is over”.

ARTS

Despite the presence of much more popular and seminal films like The Fellowship of the Ring and Moulin Rouge!, mathematician biopic A Beautiful Mind wins Best Picture, Best Director (for Ron Howard), and Best Supporting Actress (for Jennifer Connelly) at the Oscars. The ceremony becomes immediately known as “the Black Oscars” as Denzel Washington and Halle Berry take home the lead acting awards.

Comedian Milton Berle, Director Billy Wilder, and actor Dudley Moore die.

The first of the Resident Evil movies is released, starring Milla Jovovich. It becomes the most successful film franchise to be based on a video game.

The Shield premieres on FX.

SPORTS

The Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball team caps a spectacular undefeated season with an NCAA championship, though for many (like me), their complete dominance actually makes the sport less interesting.

April

NEWS

The U.S. Senate votes down the idea of drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve.

The Queen Mother dies. Her funeral is held at Westminster Abbey.

Hugo Chavez resigns as President of Venezuela, but returns to office only two days later. This turns out to be the result of a failed coup d’etat.

A former student opens fire at a school in Erfurt, Germany, killing 15.

Actor Robert Blake is accused of murdering his wife. He is later found guilty.

ARTS

Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of the girl group TLC is killed in an SUV accident in central America.

Avril Lavigne bursts onto the music scene with her single “Complicated”. She is already surly. The song would eventually spend two months at #1.

SPORTS

The Maryland Terrapins win the NCAA basketball championship. At this time I’m partly convinced I’ll end up going to Maryland, and root pretty hard for them.

Michael Jordan’s Washington Wizards experiment ends in failure as the team misses the playoffs, and he retires for good.

May

NEWS

The White House admits it had received warnings of the September 11 attacks in the preceding weeks.

FBI Chief Robert Mueller declares that another al-Qaeda attack is “inevitable”. We are all reminded to duct tape windows and doors in case of a chemical attack.

Jacques Chirac is re-elected as President of France.

A 38-day stand-off at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem ends when the Palestinian militants holed up inside surrender.

Former President Jimmy Carter visits Cuba, a first since the Revolution. Conservatives are very unhappy.

East Timor is officially granted its independence from Indonesia.

The U.S. State Department issues a report naming seven state sponsors of terrorism, adding Cuba, Libya, Sudan, and Syria to the “Axis of Evil” nations. (Cuban terrorism?)

A jury in Alabama convicts former Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 16^th Street Baptist Church bombing, which killed four young African-American girls in 1963.

The Mars Odyssey discovers large deposits of water ice on Mars.

Chandra Levy’s bones are found, confirming that she was murdered.

ARTS

The X-Files, the most popular sci-fi show to date, airs its final episode.

The first Spider-Man film, with Tobey Maguire in the title role, Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin, and Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson, breaks all box office records for an opening weekend. It is the first film to break $100 million in its first weekend.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is released, and is generally thought to not be as bad as The Phantom Menace but still pretty awful. Though it is a big hit it is the only Star Wars film not to be the top grosser of the year in which it was released.

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren is published. It becomes one of the most influential Christian books of the decade.

SPORTS

Real Madrid defeats defending champions Bayern Munich to win their 9^th European title.

June

NEWS

The Justice Department arrests Jose Padilla and accuses him of participation in a “dirty bomb” plot.

A car bomb is exploded outside the U.S. embassy in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 12.

In the worst rail accident in African history, a Tanzanian passenger train rolls backwards down a hill into a goods train and there is an explosion. 281 people die.

A planetoid is found in the Kuiper Belt, drawing comparisons to all sorts of Sci-Fi cliché Tenth Planets. These mostly end when it is inexplicably named Quaoar.

Tyco CEO Dennis Kozolowski is indicted on tax evasion charges, and video soon comes out revealing the truly astonishing extent of his extravagance.

Meanwhile, telecom giant WorldCom admits it has falsified profit statements and is on the verge of collapse.

ARTS

American Idol, an American version of Pop Idol, debuts on FOX. It goes on to be the greatest ratings success of the modern era.

The Wire premieres on HBO. Many critics will eventually call it the greatest TV show of all time.

The Bourne Identity, starring Matt Damon as an amnesiac superspy, is a hit in theaters.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is published and becomes a huge bestseller.

Maroon 5’s debut album Songs About Jane is a huge hit with lovers of very, very mainstream music everywhere.

Kim Possible debuts on the Disney Channel, destined to later be discovered years later by Buffy fans everywhere, forcing them to question their own lives after they find they like it.

The Dead Zone has the highest-rated debut every for a cable series up to this point for USA Network.

SPORTS

South Korea and Japan host the first World Cup held in Asia. The Koreans make a miracle run to the Semifinals and the U.S. has its best tournament of the modern era, but in the end Brazil defeats Germany in the final.

The Los Angeles Lakers easily sweep the New Jersey Nets in the NBA finals and secure their status as the glamour team of the era with their third straight championship.

Serena Williams defeats her older sister Venus in the finals of the French Open.

The Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile dies.

July

NEWS

Worldcom files for bankruptcy, breaking the record for the largest such case in U.S. history.

The Bush administration publicly voices suspicions regarding Iraqi “weapons of mass destruction”, and hearings are held in the Senate in regards to a possible attack.

The International Criminal Court is established. The U.S.A. declines to participate.

French President Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt during Bastille Day celebrations.

A fighter crashes into the crowd at an air show in the Ukraine and explodes. 85 people die in the worst air show disaster in history.

Nine miners are trapped in a Pennsylvania mine shaft for 77 hours, but are eventually rescued.

Zacarias Moussaoui pleads guilty to conspiracy in the September 11 attacks, but then withdraws his plea a week later.

The U.S. House of Representatives votes to allow airline pilots to carry guns.

London opens a new ultra-modern City Hall.

ARTS

The Flaming Lips release the best-titled album of the decade (and the songs aren’t bad either), Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.

Cartoon Network pulls Sailor Moon off the air.

Monk debuts on USA Network. Strangely, it is eventually seen as highly influential.

SPORTS

The Major League All-Star Game, held in Commissioner Bud Selig’s home city of Milwaukee, ends in the 12^th inning when both teams run out of players and Selig is forced to declare the game a tie. The embarrassment is such that the rules are substantially revised in the off-season.

Baseball great Ted Williams dies.

Lance Armstrong wins his fourth consecutive Tour de France.

August

NEWS

Massive floods paralyze Central Europe.

U.S. Airways declares bankruptcy.

Princeton scientist Steven Hatfill is accused of the anthrax mailings from September 2001. He denies responsibility.

Four Muslims in Detroit are charged with running a sleeper terror cell.

ARTS

Neil Gaiman is awarded the Hugo for his novel American Gods. It goes on to win more awards than pretty much any other book of the decade.

A Rush of Blood to the Head, probably the best album yet produced by Coldplay, hits stores, elevating the band to international megastar status.

SPORTS

The Houston Texans join the NFL, becoming the league’s 32^nd active franchise.

The Charlotte Hornets NBA team moves to New Orleans. It is soon replaced in Charlotte with an expansion franchise.

September

NEWS

President Bush appears before the United Nations to argue his case for invading Iraq. Very few nations join what is eventually popularly termed the “Coalition of the Willing”.

Cote d’Ivoire descends into Civil War.

A car bomb, possibly an assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai, kills 30 people in Kabul.

Switzerland finally joins the United Nations.

Gerhard Schroeder’s Social Democrats win elections in Germany.

1,863 people are killed when a storm sinks the Senegalese ferry Joola off the coast of Gambia.

ARTS

Kelly Clarkson wins the first season of American Idol and becomes an overnight superstar. The final episode breaks summer ratings records.

FOX premieres Joss Whedon’s latest series, a bizarre space western called Firefly.

CBS, meanwhile, premieres CSI: Miami and Without a Trace. Which one do you think made more money? Kill me.

Dr. Phil’s talk show premieres.

You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers is published.

SPORTS

Pete Sampras wins his final Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open.

NFL great Johnny Unitas dies.

The United States national men’s basketball team suddenly hits bottom after a decade-long winning streak, losing three times at the World Basketball Championships and finishing sixth. Yugoslavia wins the championship.

October

NEWS

The U.S. Congress passes a joint resolution allowing President Bush to invade Iraq. All Republicans and most Democrats vote for the measure. The President makes a live primetime address to the nation explaining his decision to invade.

Terrorists detonate bombs in two popular night clubs in Bali, killing 202. A high number of the dead are Australians on vacation, and some consider the event “the Australian 9/11”.

The “Beltway Snipers” shoot several people in their cars in the greater Washington D.C. area. John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo are arrested after three weeks.

The Dow slips below 7,200. This is the lowest moment of the early 2000s recession.

Chechen rebels occupy a theater in Moscow and hold the audience hostage for three days.

Sen. Paul Wellstone of Minnesota is killed along with his family and staff in a plane crash. He becomes a symbol for the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

ARTS

Jam Master Jay is shot and killed in Queens.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd is published and becomes a bestseller.

Christina Aguilera enters her over-the-top ridiculous phase with the video for “Dirrty”.

SPORTS

The Anaheim Angels win the first championship of their 40 year history in seven games over Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants. The highlight is a five-run comeback by the Angels in Game 6.

November

NEWS

In Congressional elections, the Republican Party retains control of the House of Representatives and gains control of the Senate.

The U.N. Security Council passes a resolution urging Saddam Hussein to disarm or face “serious consequences”. Iraq says that they agree to the U.N.’s terms. The U.N. sends a team of inspectors led by Hans Blix.

Hu Jintao becomes General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia are invited to join NATO.

President Bush signs the bill creating the Department of Homeland Security. It is the first new Cabinet level agency created since 1947.

The Environmental Protection Agency makes the decision to relax the standards set by the Clean Air Act in order to be friendlier to businesses.

ARTS

The film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets opens big in theaters.

Die Another Day, the final James Bond film to star Pierce Brosnan in the title role, is so terrible it nearly kills the franchise.

SPORTS

Emmitt Smith, in the twilight of his career with the Arizona Cardinals, passes Walter Payton as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher.

December

NEWS

Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi makes highly publicized comments that if Sen. Strom Thurmond had been elected President when he ran in 1948, “we wouldn’t have had all of these problems over all of these years.” Thurmond was running on a segregationist ticket. Lott steps down as Senate Majority Leader two weeks later.

United Airlines files for bankruptcy.

A truck bomb destroys the headquarters of Chechnya’s Russian-backed government. 72 die.

Al Gore announces that he will not run for President again in 2004.

ARTS

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is released and eventually becomes the biggest box office hit of the year. Famous for the full-fledged introduction of the character of the all-CGI Gollum.

Star Trek: Nemesis is a total flop at the box office and pretty much succeeds in killing the franchise.

Martin Scorsese’s period epic Gangs of New York inspired intense debate among critics.

Catch Me If You Can, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, is released. It is perhaps the most expansive, likable movie about an impulsive check counterfeiter ever made.

SPORTS

BET founder Robert Johnson buys the NBA’s expansion Charlotte Bobcats for $300 million. He’s the first African-American owner of a major sports franchise.