Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 7/11/2007

7/11/1982:
In the deciding match of a Davis Cup quarter-final tie at the St. Louis Arena, John McEnroe outlasts 17-year-old Mats Wilander of Sweden in a five-set struggle that lasts 6 hours and 35 minutes. The stoical Wilander, who stunned the tennis world by winning the French Open last month, frustrates the net-rushing McEnroe with a variety of passing shots to stave off defeat in the third set, finally winning it when Johnny Mac double-faults on set point in the 32nd game. He also takes the fourth set, and the players forge on with no rest periods or tiebreakers until McEnroe prevails at the finish. Helped by this stirring effort, Team USA will repeat in 1982 as Davis Cup champions.

Birthdays:
Lou Hudson b. 1944
Leon Spinks b. 1953
Brent Sutter b. 1962
Al MacInnis b. 1963
Rod Strickland b. 1966


If you build it, he will come.” That voice spurs an Iowa dreamer to turn cornfield to ball field in the hopes that Shoeless Joe Jackson will come and play ball. Forget the movie Field of Dreams, which is based on this book. It was good, but it doesn’t compare. Kinsella’s novel is simply beautifully written, and nostalgia and summer waft from every page. “Wild...romantic...unconventional...a triumph of hope,” raves The Boston Globe.

SHOELESS JOE, by W. P. Kinsella (1982; Mariner Books, 1999)