Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 10/14/2007

10/14/2001:
Continuing his remarkable emergence as the starting quarterback for New England after an injury to Drew Bledsoe three weeks ago, Tom Brady rallies the Patriots from 10 points behind with four minutes left to tie the Chargers and an Adam Vinatieri field goal wins it in overtime, 29-26. Brady goes 33-55-0 for 364 yards and two TDs, including a pass to Jermaine Wiggins to get the Pats even with less than a minute left in regulation. Brady's Cinderella season will carry all the way to the Super Bowl, when he'll earn MVP honors by leading New England to the world title, 20-17 over St. Louis. Bledsoe never will get his job back.

Birthdays:
John Wooden b. 1910
Charlie Joyner b. 1947
Beth Daniel b. 1956
Midre Cummings b. 1971
Frank Wycheck b. 1971

The best travel book of the 20th century, according to genre luminary Bruce Chatwin, and one of the most charming travel books ever written, per the Atlantic Monthly. This memoir of her 1952 trip around Mexico—her first book—made Bedford’s career. She went on to write novels, a biography of her friend and mentor Aldous Huxley, and other memoirs, but A Visit to Don Otavio remains the best. You don’t have to care a whit about Mexico to appreciate this sublime book.

A VISIT TO DON OTAVIO: A TRAVELLER’S TALE FROM MEXICO, by Sybille Bedford (1953; Counterpoint Press, 2003)