Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 7/29/2007

7/29/1984:
After missing out on the 1980 Moscow Olympics because of the U.S. boycott, Tracy Caulkins of Nashville wastes no time earning a gold medal at Los Angeles. On the first day of competition, she wins the 400-meter individual medley by an astounding 15 meters in a time of 4:39.24, a new American record. She'll also win the 200-meter individual medley and take part in a victorious 400-meter medley relay to gather three gold medals in all.

Birthdays:
Arnie Ferrin b. 1925
Ted Lindsay b. 1925
Don Carter b. 1926
Flo Hyman b. 1954
Dirk Graham b. 1959


“On the pleasant shores of the French Riviera, about halfway between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rosecolored hotel.”

Irresistible. Poignant. Romantic. Tragic. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book about the doomed marriage of glittering couple Dick and Nicole Diver closely mirrored his own life. Has there ever been a story of ruin more beautifully written and glamorous than this one? We don’t think so.

TENDER IS THE NIGHT, by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1934; Scribner, 1995)