Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 8/9/2007

8/9/1997:
After leading their expansion teams to surprise berths in the conference championship games last season, quarterbacks Kerry Collins of Carolina and Mark Brunell of Jacksonville are both seriously injured in preseason games tonight. Collins ends up with a broken jaw after a cheap shot by Denver linebacker Bill Romanowski, while Brunell suffers torn knee ligaments after being sacked by Jessie Armstead of the Giants. Collins will be out for over a month and will struggle mightily after his return with 21 INTs and only 11 TD passes. Brunell will miss several weeks before returning, but he'll lead the Jaguars to an 11-5 record and another playoff berth.

Birthdays:
Bob Cousy b. 1928
Rod Laver b. 1938
Brett Hull b. 1964
Deion Sanders b. 1967
Troy Percival b. 1969

SPIRITUALITY

Julia Scheeres’s recollection of growing up white with two adopted black brothers in the heart of Indiana (where a sign announces, THIS HERE IS: JESUS LAND) is spare and searing. Her distracted mother and violent father, the beauty and the racism of rural Indiana, and the harsh Christian reform school in the Dominican Republic to which she and one brother are dispatched are all rendered with a clear, unprejudiced, and wise pen. It’s a singular memoir full of grace, hope, and happy endings.

JESUS LAND, by Julia Scheeres (Counterpoint Press, 2005)