President:
William J. Clinton

Vice President:
Albert Gore, Jr.

Super Bowl
Green Bay d. New England (35-21)

World Series
Florida Marlins d. Cleveland (4-3)

NBA Championship
Chicago d. Utah (4-2)

Stanley Cup
Detroit d. Philadelphia (4-0)

Wimbledon
Women: Martina Hingis d. J. Novotna
(2-6 6-3 6-3)
Men: Pete Sampras d. C. Pioline
(6-4 6-2 6-4)

Kentucky Derby Champion
Silver Charm

NCAA Basketball Championship
Arizona d. Kentucky (84-79 OT)

NCAA Football Champions
Michigan (AP) (12-0) & Nebraska (ESPN/USA) (13-0)

Events
The controversial television ratings system debuts on cable stations and broadcast networks. The ratings, TV-Y, TV-G, TV-Y7, TV-PG, TV-14 and TV-M, appear for 15 seconds in the upper left-hand corner of the screen at the beginning of each show, except news and sports programs, which are not rated.
 
Titanic crashes into theaters. It is the most expensive film of all time, costing between $250 and $300 million to produce and market.
 
Ellen DeGeneres outs herself. She becomes the first openly gay woman to have her own sitcom.
 
The Prince of Pop is born to Michael Jackson and wife Debbie Rowe. The child's name is Prince Michael Junior.
 
J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone is published in the U.K. It comes to U.S. in 1998 as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
 
Movies
As Good as It Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting, The Ice Storm, L.A. Confidential, Titanic
 
Books
Don DeLillo, Underworld
 
Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain
 
Rick Moody, Purple America
 
Philip Roth, American Pastoral
 
Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things
 
Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook