USA WEEKEND's Year That Was

A look back at newsmakers we featured in 2000.

Some things they told us, we still can't believe.

HARDBALL'S Chris Matthews predicted in August that the presidential race would be "wickedly close." We should have asked, "For how long?"

Given his choice of interviewers, The X-Files' David Duchovny named co-star Gillian Anderson. Interesting, because their relationship -- or lack of one -- has intrigued viewers since the show began. "How do you perceive our relationship?" Anderson asked. Responded Duchovny: "It's like the roots of a tree. It's very twisted."
Duchovny

When a son given up for adoption 31 years ago e-mailed his biological mother, "Hi, Mom" never sounded more poignant. "How do I tell you in two hours what has happened in one lifetime?" the son wrote in their first digital conversation.
Family Connections

Be careful playing golf with Legend of Bagger Vance star Matt Damon: "I can take anyone out on a link and know everything about them by the end of the night. Like, if they try and cheat, they will cheat in real life."
Matt Damon

Survivor stars Sue Hawk and Richard Hatch glammed it up for our holiday gift guide. Hatch's sole request: Please let me wear clothes.
Holiday Survival

'N Sync's Justin Timberlake, a Make A Difference Day judge, urged people to volunteer by teaching music: "Give these kids training, next thing you know they start a garage band and become Pearl Jam."
Timberlake makes a difference

Movie director-writer M. Night Shyamalan told us the secret of his Sixth Sense didn't come to him until he'd written numerous drafts of the screenplay. Now that's eerie.
A Sixth Sense for directing

Katie Couric reflected on the first anniversary of Columbine: "I have often wondered how people can appear on television talking about such tragedies. But I've come to realize that whatever the reason, it can be cathartic to know so many people are grieving with them."
Katie Couric

No Sports Illustrated cover jinx when it comes to USA WEEKEND: NASCAR's Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte showed up on an August cover with their team owner, Joe Gibbs. Labonte later pedaled the metal to a Winston Cup championship.
Joe Gibbs

Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos said one of his favorite Web sites lets you run your mouse over the screen and "pop" bubble wrap. That's one way to relieve frustration over NASDAQ's nose dive
Bezos' Best of the Web

"If I wasn't an actor, there's no way I wouldn't be in a mental institution," Oscar winner Angelina Jolie told us.
Angelina Jolie

Hmm. Seems both George Bush and Al Gore were prepared for a post-election marathon: When our Dr. Tedd Mitchell hooked up with them in separate jogging outings, we learned each was fit to run. Ultimately, though, Bush had the edge: He did a 26.2-mile marathon in 3 hours, 44 minutes, vs. Gore's 4:58.
Fit to be president

Bruce Willis gave us "the cold, hard truth" -- on guns, religion, receding hairlines -- but also an irrefutable reason to let him abruptly end his December interview: "You're cutting into my gift-wrapping time."
Bruce Willis

Inspired by his cover co-star, the WWF's The Rock, New York Mets All-Star Mike Piazza told us in early summer he'd like to tell Yankee Roger Clemens: "Can you smell what I'm cookin'?" Weeks later, Clemens hurled a pitch at Piazza's head, sending him out with an injury. Then, during the World Series, Piazza broke his bat on a Clemens pitch, prompting Clemens to hurl a chunk of the bat right back at Piazza.
Baseball vs. Wrestling: the national pastime?

Is there anything a Tiger can't do? We paired Tiger Woods with X-treme athlete Tina Basich in a Sony PlayStation 2 challenge. We even let Basich take on Tiger in her own game, downhill snowboarding. Tiger still triumphed. "Blew right by you!" he gloated.
Battle of champs at Playstation 2

If you crossed Friends with Survivor, Courteney Cox Arquette's Monica would prevail, co-star Lisa Kudrow told us. "She knows how to be sneaky." Added Matthew Perry: "She'd do this brother-sister alliance thing with Ross [David Schwimmer] till she was the winner."
Lisa Kudrow

Reporting at-home pieces with presidential candidates, we discovered what makes Sen. John McCain's "great room" so important to him: three bricks from the infamous "Hanoi Hilton," where he was tortured as a Vietnam POW.
John McCain's "great room"

OOPS, WE'RE GOING TO DO IT AGAIN, AND AGAIA. IN FEBRUARY, WE FEATURED POP SENSATION BRITNEY SPEARS IN OUR FIRST-EVER PULL-OUT POSTER.
Britney Spears

New Contributing Editor Lisa Ling on her generation, politics and the presidency: "The media castration, and degree to which the office has been tarnished, makes me wonder what kind of person would want to be president today. Perhaps only someone who's expected to take part because it's his or her birthright."
My Generation

A post-pregnancy Cindy Crawford told us she worked out three days a week to get back in shape, with 20 minutes of cardiovascular activity and an hour of sit-ups, weights and stretching. "Remember," the supermodel said. "This is my work."
Cindy Crawford in 20 minutes a day

In June, some 45 million TV viewers saw Shaquille O'Neal weep after winning the NBA championship. But the L.A. Laker confided to us: "People say I don't concentrate, I don't work hard. Those weren't happy tears. Criticism makes me stronger. Now you can never say Shaq was a bum."
Shaq treatment

In the bah humbug dept., TV's Drew Carey: "Parents tell their kids, 'Be good and Santa will bring you presents.' It's all a lie. If I had kids, I'd say, 'He's a guy in a fake beard who has a winter job.' "
Drew Carey

CNN's Christiane Amanpour wrote about how being a new mother has altered her world. "On the way to cover the latest clashes between Palestinian[s] and Israeli soldiers," she wrote, "I found myself calling home to organize sitters, play groups and menus! Life had certainly changed."
Christiane Amanpour on the front lines