- Jan 1 17th Fiesta Bowl: #3 Florida State beats #5 Nebraska, 31-28
- Jan 1 54th Orange Bowl: #2 Miami (FL) beats #1 Oklahoma, 20-14
- Jan 1 54th Sugar Bowl: #4 Syracuse ties #6 Auburn, 16-16
- Jan 1 74th Rose Bowl: #8 Michigan State beats #16 Southern California, 20-17
- Jan 1 Czech born tennis star Hana Mandikova becomes an Australian Citizen
- Jan 1 Miami beats Oklahoma for college football championship
- Jan 8 9th largest NBA crowd 38,873-Chicago at Detroit
Boitano US Champion
Jan 9 US male Figure Skating championship won by Brian Boitano
- Jan 11 USSR announces it will participate in Seoul Summer Olympics
Baseball Hall of Fame
Jan 12 Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder/first baseman Willie Stargell elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Garvey Retires
Jan 13 MLB Los Angeles Dodger/San Diego Padre Steve Garvey retires
- Jan 15 19-year-old Indian cricket leg-spinner Narenda Hirwani records best bowling figures on debut in Test history; captures 16-136 in 255 run 4th Test win v West Indies in Madras; Hirwani takes 8 wickets in each innings
- Jan 15 Indian cricket wicketkeeper Kiran More stumps 5 West Indian batsman in 4th Test at Madras; world Test record
- Jan 15 NFL analyst Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder makes several questionable comments about African Americans during a lunchtime interview on CBS' NFL Today; fired the next day
- Jan 16 NFL St Louis Cardinals announce move to Phoenix
"The Fumble" as Broncos Beat Browns
Jan 17 AFC Championship, Mile High Stadium, Denver: Denver Broncos beat Cleveland Browns, 38-33; features infamous "The Fumble", Browns' Earnest Byner at Denver 3-yard line with 1:12 remaining
- Jan 17 NFC Championship, RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.: Washington Redskins beat Minnesota Vikings, 17-10
Lara 1st Class Debut
Jan 22 1st-class cricket debut of Brian Lara, Trinidad & Tobago v Leeward Is
Cronje 1st Class Debut
Jan 22 1st-class cricket debut of Hansie Cronje, OFS v Transvaal
Tyson vs. Holmes
Jan 22 Defending champion Mike Tyson beats former titleholder Larry Holmes by TKO in round 4 at Convention Centre, Atlantic City to retain his undisputed heavyweight boxing title
Graf Defeats Lloyd
Jan 23 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Steffi Graf of Germany wins 1st of 3 consecutive Australian singles crowns; beats American Chris Evert 6-1, 7-6
- Jan 24 Australia beat New Zealand 2-0 to win cricket's World Series Cup
Wilander Defeats Cash
Jan 24 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Mats Wilander wins 3rd Australian title; beats home town favourite Pat Cash 6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 6-1, 8-6
Dionne Sets Record
Jan 28 New York Rangers' Marcel Dionne scores a 2nd period power play goal in 5-2 win in Philadelphia; becomes 1st first player in NHL history to get 20 goals in each of his first 17 seasons
- Jan 29 Detroit Pistons draw a then record NBA regular season crowd of 61,983 fans to the Pontiac Silverdome for a 125-108 win over the Boston Celtics
- Jan 30 Hansie Cronje gets a pair in 2nd 1st-class game (OFS v N Tvl)
- Jan 31 Super Bowl XXII, Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego, CA: Washington Redskins beat Denver Broncos, 42-10; MVP: Doug Williams, Washington, QB