2000 Annual History Facts

2000 Annual History Facts

  • Sports Scandal: Spain’s Paralympic basketball team was ordered to return their gold medals won in Sydney in 2000 after nearly all of their players were found to have no disability.
  • The Top Song was Independent Woman by Destiny’s Child
  • The Big Movies included How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Cast Away, and Mission Impossible II.
  • In 2000, the peak year of CD sales in America, consumers bought 943 million CDs.
  • Price of a gallon of gas in 2000: $1.56
    Sony PlayStation: $299.00
    Scott toilet paper: 6.99/12 pack
  • The World Population was ~ 6,088,000,000
  • FYI: The 20th Century ended on December 31st, 2000, not December 31st, 1999.
  • The Chernobyl Power Plant continued operating and producing electricity until 2000, 14 years after the Chernobyl Disaster.
  • Princess Angela (born in Panama) of Liechtenstein is the first person of African heritage to marry into a ruling European Royal Family.
  • Photography: A man looking for a barber chair at a garage sale purchased two deteriorated boxes of items for $45. He later found the boxes contained 65 glass plate negatives from photographer Ansel Adams worth $200 million.
  • And… Wilson (the Volleyball) won the Critics’ Choice Award for “Best Inanimate Object” for his role in Cast Away.

World Series Champions

New York Yankees

Superbowl XXXIV Champions

St. Louis Rams

National Basketball Association Champions

Los Angeles Lakers

NHL Stanley Cup Champions

New Jersey Devils

US Open Golf

Tiger Woods

US Open Tennis (Men Ladies)

Marat Safin/Venus Williams

Wimbledon (Men/Women)

Pete Sampras/Venus Williams

NCAA Football Champions

Oklahoma

NCAA Basketball Champions

Michigan State

Bowl Games

Orange Bowl: January 1, 2000 – Michigan over Alabama
Rose Bowl: January 1, 2000 – Wisconsin over Stanford
Sugar Bowl: January 4, 2000 – Florida State over Virginia Tech

Kentucky Derby

Fusaichi Pegasus

Westminster Kennel Best in Show Dog

Saliln ‘N Erin’s Shameless

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year

George W. Bush

Time Magazine’s Person of the Century

Albert Einstein

Miss America

Heather French (Maysville, KY)

Miss USA

Lynnette Cole (Tennessee)

Fashion Icons and Movie Stars

Aaliyah, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Alba, Gillian Anderson, Maria Bello, Julie Benz, Jessica Biel, Thora Birch, Jordana Brewster, Gisele Bundchen, Charisma Carpenter, Laetitia Casta, Rachael Leigh Cook, Penelope Cruz, Brittany Daniel, Rosario Dawson, Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, Shannon Elizabeth, Melissa Joan Hart, Katherine Heigl, Kate Hudson, Jaime King, Mia Kirshner, Heidi Klum, Anna Kournikova, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Lopez, Jenny McCarthy, Brittany Murphy, Thandie Newton, Piper Parabo, Jessica Pare, Amanda Peet, Daniela Pestova, Bijou Phillips, Laura Prepon, Jaime Pressly, Tara Reid, Rebecca Romijn, Portia de Rossi, Chloe Sevigny, Victoria Silvstedt, Jessica Simpson, Amy Smart, Kim Smith, Britney Spears, Julia Stiles, Mena Suvari, Dominique Swain, Hilary Swank, Kristy Swanson, Robin Tunney, Gabrielle Union, Estella Warren, Reese Witherspoon, Alicia Witt

“The Quote”

“I have nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?”
– Robert De Nero in Meet The Parents

2000 Pop Culture History

DJ Carl Cox played the Millennium (1999 to 2000) on New Year’s Eve twice, performing in Sydney, Australia, and again in Hawaii after flying back over the International Date Line.

The creator of The Sims, (released January 31, 2000), Will Wright, was inspired to make the game after losing his home and most of his material possessions in a fire in 1991. Thinking about the value of material needs as he rebuilt his life gave him the idea of a game where players managed the life of a suburban household.

Blockbuster Video declined to buy Netflix for $50 million in 2000.

Due to the massive success and popularity of Eminem’s Stan, the Oxford Dictionary defined “Stan” as ‘an obsessive fan of a particular celebrity.’

Hundreds of thousands of Americans faced a low-tech Y2K when they pre-ordered headstones with “19-” inscribed for their death date, then lived past 2000.

Pope John Paul II gave his blessing to the Pokémon franchise, saying the games did not have “any harmful moral side effects” and was based on “ties of intense friendship.”

CAPTCHA (for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) was coined in 2000 by Luis von Ahn, Manuel Blum, Nicholas Hopper, and John Langford of Carnegie Mellon University.

McCall’s magazine released its first issue in 1873. It was one of America’s oldest and longest-running magazines until Rosie O’Donnell took control of it in 2000, renamed it “Rosie”, and by 2002, it was defunct.

Jose Maria Olazabal played the lowest PGA score of 63.

A fight broke out while Warren Zevon performed Werewolves of London at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. Zevon stopped, waited for the fight to end, said, “I bet this never happens at Sting concerts,” and continued the song.

Rick Norsigian, looking for a barber chair at a garage sale, purchased two deteriorated boxes of items for $45. He later found the boxes contained 65 glass plate negatives from photographer Ansel Adams worth $200 million.

People Magazine voted Neil DeGrasse Tyson “Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive.”

Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton got married on May 5, 2000.

The Norwegian Heathen Society won the right in 2000 to yell “God does not exist!” from rooftops in Oslo after Muslims were granted the right to make prayer calls.

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were married on July 29, 2000.

When the cast of “Friends” wouldn’t come down from their $1,050,000/episode salary demands, NBC produced promos saying, “You’ve loved them for seven years; see how it all ends with the series finale of Friends this Thursday.” The cast agreed to lower salaries.

According to a poll in the year 2000, the Japanese believe that their best invention of the 20th century was instant noodles.

There is a $ 1,000 Canadian Bill (discontinued after 2000), and by 2012, there were still nearly a million unaccounted for.

After nearly two weeks of planning, PopCultureMadness.com went online on January 8, 2000.

Andre Geim won the satirical Ig Nobel Prize in 2000 for his work on using magnetism to levitate a frog. Ten years later, his experiments regarding graphene won him the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. This makes him the only recipient of the Ig Nobel and Nobel Prizes.

A naked man, Richard Hatch, won $1,000,000 in the first season of CBS’s Survivor.

The Code of Hammurabi, written nearly 4,000 years ago, had laws such as minimum wage, the right to be born a free man, the need to work off your debt, and no incest.

According to a 2000 study from Carnegie Mellon University, 87% of the US Population can be uniquely identified using only date of birth, gender, and ZIP code.

Heracleion, an ancient Egyptian city swallowed by the Mediterranean Sea 1,200 years ago, was discovered in 2000 and has been an underwater excavation site since then.

Cost of a Superbowl ad in 2000: $2,200,00.

At the 2000 Sydney Games, the stock of 70,000 condoms was not enough for the athletes, prompting a second order of 20,000 additionally. Since then, a standing order of 100,000 condoms has to be made per Olympics to accommodate all the sex at the Olympic Village during the downtime.

Australia’s largest-ever petition of 792,985 signatures was submitted to parliament in 2000 to protest rising beer prices.

RIP, Scandals, Sad and Odd News

Jenifer Lopez’s Grammy Dress. Google Images was created, in part, in response to Jennifer Lopez wearing a Versace dress to the Grammy’s in 2000, which resulted in Google’s “most popular search query” they had seen to date: Jennifer Lopez’s green dress.

Sony invented a movie critic named David Manning and used his fictional quotes to promote movies. Sony ended up paying over $1.5m to moviegoers in a class action lawsuit and over $300,000 to the state of Connecticut, where Manning supposedly worked at a small weekly paper.

The Chernobyl power plant didn’t go entirely off line until this year.

The Joshua Tree, made famous by U2, has been dead since late 2000. A plaque commemorates where it stood

Thomas More, executed for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church of England, was made the patron saint of politicians by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

Halle Berry was involved in a hit-and-run accident with Hetal Raythatha. Berry’s lawyer said, “neither drugs nor alcohol played any part in this accident.”After Halle fled the scene, claiming she had no memory of the event.

Nickelodeon released a TV Movie in 2000, Cry Baby Lane; it was so scary that many parents complained about it being shown on a children’s television network.

Meg Ryan left hubby Dennis Quaid for what turned out to be a fling with Russell Crowe.

Hip Hop Obesity Death: Big Pun

Beloved Mad Magazine Cartoonist Death: Don Martin

The police found cocaine and valium in Robert Downey Jr.’s Merv Griffin Hotel room.

Zeb Quinn went missing in 2000. His car was found two weeks later, with its lights on, a pair of lipstick lips drawn on the rear windshield, and a live Labrador puppy inside. Zeb Quinn has never been found.

A Wild Turkey whiskey storage facility caught fire, spilling 17,000 barrels of flaming whiskey into the surrounding woods, catching them ablaze. Twenty percent of the whiskey flowed into the Kentucky River, disrupting its oxygen supply and killing 228,000 fish along 66 miles.

Firsts and the Biggest Christmas Gifts

Sony PlayStation 2, Who Wants to be a Millionaire Board Game, Barbie, Mary-Kate and Ashely merchandise, Addams Family gift set, The Sims computer game

2000 was the first year Martin Luther King Jr. Day was officially observed in all 50 states.

O, The Oprah Magazine began publication.
Food & Family Magazine (Kraft Foods) began publication.
Real Simple began publication

The Habit

Reading The Brethren by John Grisham

United States 2000 Census

Total US Population: 281,421,906
1. New York, New York – 8,008,278
2. Los Angeles, California – 3,694,820
3. Chicago, Illinois – 2,896,016
4. Houston, Texas – 1,953,631
5. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 1,517,550
6. Phoenix, Arizona – 1,321,045
7. San Diego, California – 1,223,400
8. Dallas, Texas – 1,188,580
9. San Antonio, Texas – 1,144,646
10. Detroit, Michigan – 951,270

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson Video Games

Born June 13, 1986, the twins got their careers started on Television’s Full House (1987-1995)
Video Games:

The New Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley (1999, Game Boy Color, Mary-Kate and Ashley: Dance Party of the Century (1999, PC), Mary-Kate and Ashley: Get a Clue (2000, Game Boy Color), Mary-Kate and Ashley: Magical Mystery Mall (2000, PlayStation), Mary-Kate and Ashley: Pocket Planner (2000, Game Boy Color), Mary-Kate and Ashley: Winner’s Circle (2001, PlayStation, Game Boy Color), Mary-Kate and Ashley: Crush Course (2001, PlayStation, PC, Game Boy Color), Mary-Kate and Ashley: Girls’ Night Out (2002, Game Boy Advance), Mary-Kate and Ashley: Sweet 16 – Licensed to Drive (2002, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2)

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson Movies

Movies: To Grandmother’s House We Go (1992), Double, Double, Toil and Trouble (1993), How the West Was Fun (1994), It Takes Two (1995), Billboard Dad (1998), Passport to Paris (1999), Switching Goals (1999), Our Lips Are Sealed (2000), Winning London (2001), Holiday in the Sun (2001), When in Rome (2002), Getting There (2002), The Challenge (2003), New York Minute (2004)

In 2008, the Olsen twins co-authored Influence, a book featuring interviews with fashion designers who have inspired the twins’ fashion lines.

2000/1 Biggest Television Shows

(according to Nielsen TV Research)
1. Survivor (CBS)
2. ER (NBC)
3. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire(ABC)
4. Friends (NBC)
5. Monday Night Football
6. Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS)
7. Law & Order (NBC)
8. The Practice (ABC)
9. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
10. The West Wing (NBC)

Popular Music Artists

The Biggest Pop Artists of 2000 include
Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Carl Thomas, Christina Aguilera, Creed, Destiny’s Child, Dixie Chicks, DMX, Donell Jones, Eminem, Enrique Iglesias, Faith Hill, Jagged Edge, Ja Rule, Jay-Z, Keith Urban, Lil Bow Wow, Lonestar, Ludacris, Madonna, Matchbox Twenty, Mya, Mystikal, Nelly, *NSYNC, Outkast, Pink, Rascal Flatts, R. Kelly, Santana, Savage Garden, Sisqo, 3 Doors Down, Tim McGraw, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston,

(Data is compiled from charts including Billboard’s Pop, Rock, Airplay, R&B/Dance, and Singles Charts. The Hot 100 is the primary chart used for this list.)

Number One Hits of 2000

October 23, 1999 – January 14, 2000: Santana featuring Rob Thomas – Smooth

January 15, 2000 – January 28, 2000: Christina Aguilera – What a Girl Wants

January 29, 2000 – February 18, 2000: Savage Garden – I Knew I Loved You

February 19, 2000 – March 3, 2000: Mariah Carey featuring Joe and 98 Degrees – Thank God I Found You

March 4, 2000 – March 17, 2000: Lonestar – Amazed

March 18, 2000 – April 7, 2000: Destiny’s Child – Say My Name

April 8, 2000 – June 16, 2000: Santana featuring The Product G&B – Maria Maria

June 17, 2000 – June 23, 2000: Aaliyah – Try Again

June 24, 2000 – July 14, 2000: Enrique Iglesias – Be With You

July 15, 2000 – July 21, 2000: Vertical Horizon – Everything You Want

July 22, 2000 – July 28, 2000: Matchbox Twenty – Bent

July 29, 2000 – August 11, 2000: ‘N Sync – It’s Gonna Be Me

August 12, 2000 – August 25, 2000: Sisqó – Incomplete

August 26, 2000 – September 15, 2000: Janet Jackson – Doesn’t Really Matter

September 16, 2000 – October 13, 2000: Madonna – Music

October 14, 2000 – November 10, 2000: Christina Aguilera – Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)

November 11, 2000 – November 17, 2000: Creed – With Arms Wide Open

November 18, 2000 – February 2, 2001: Destiny’s Child – Independent Women

Popular Movies

(according to boxofficemojo)
1. How The Grinch Stole Christmas
2. Cast Away
3. Mission Impossible II
4. Gladiator
5. What Women Want
6. The Perfect Storm
7. Meet The Parents
8. X-Men
9. Scary Movie
10. What Lies Beneath

Big Momma’s House, Cast Away, Charlie’s Angels, Chicken Run, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Dinosaur, Erin Brockovich, Gladiator, Gone in 60 Seconds, Highlander: Endgame, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Mission Impossible II, Meet the Parents, Miss Congeniality, The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, The Patriot, The Perfect Storm, Pitch Black, Remember the Titans, The Road to El Dorado, Scary Movie, Traffic, Unbreakable, What Lies Beneath, What Women Want, X-Men

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