Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 01/13/2008

1/13/1971:
The Detroit Red Wings deal future Hall of Famer Frank Mahovlich to the Montreal Canadiens for three young prospects, Mickey Redmond, Guy Charron and Bill Collins. Mahovlich had clashed with new Wings head coach Ned Harkness and was delighted to get out of a bad situation in Detroit. The Big M will help lead Montreal to the 1971 Stanley Cup title with 14 postseason goals, a new NHL record (since broken). He'll post three more solid years for Les Habitants, scoring 43, 38 and 31 goals before signing a lucrative contract with the Toronto Toros of the WHA and finishing his career in that upstart league.

Birthdays:
Tom Gola b. 1933
Bob Baffert b. 1953
Mark O'Meara b. 1957
Kelly Hrudey b. 1961
Kevin Mitchell b. 1962

EPIC FICTION

The bestselling author of the wildly successful Richard Sharpe adventure series will not fail to please his avid readers in this historical novel of Northumbria, England, in the ninth century. Uhtred becomes an orphan at ten and is captured and brought up by England’s conqueror, the Danish Ragnar the Fearless, to become a great warrior for the Danes. But Alfred (“the Great”) has his eye on Uhtred, too, and ultimately wins his loyalty for England. Bloody battles, manly exploits, a playful way with history, and prose that crackles with life are Cornwell’s stock-in-trade.

THE LAST KINGDOM, by Bernard Cornwell (HarperCollins, 2005)