Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 02/01/2008

2/1/2004:
Adam Vinatieri kicks a 41-yard field goal with four seconds left to give the New England Patriots their second Super Bowl title in three years, 32-29, over the Carolina Panthers at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The two teams combine for 37 points in the final 15 minutes, a new Super Bowl record for one quarter, but a pair of missed two-point conversions by the Panthers greatly compromises their chances. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady completes 32 of 42 passes for 354 yards and three TDs to earn MVP honors. His primary receiver, Deion Branch, grabs 10 receptions, including a 17-yard gain in the closing moments, to set up Vinatieri's game-winning placement.

Birthdays:
Paul Blair b. 1944
Dick Snyder b. 1944
T.R. Dunn b. 1955
Malik Sealy b. 1970
Tommy Salo b. 1971

1968:
Vince Lombardi resigned as coach of the Packers, after leading Green Bay to five NFL championships in nine seasons.

"Lombardi's intensity is a phenomenon to behold...He exerts his personality not so much to control things as to keep himself taut, conditioned, perfectly disciplined. It is a kind of isometric exercise of the will-or perhaps of the soul. -William oscar Johnson, March 3, 1969

Packers Fact:
While a senior at Ohio State in 2005, A.J. Hawk won the Lombardi Award as the nation's top lineman or linebacker.


After a six-year renovation, the Smithsonian American Art Museum reopened in 2006, and this lavishly illustrated volume celebrates art, Americana, and the splendors of the Smithsonian. Art lovers will find much in this book to engage the senses and provoke thought—225 works from the collection, many of which have rarely been displayed, and enlightening commentary from curators: from stirring western landscapes to the tenements of New York City; from portraits that give a glimpse into the emotions of subject and painter to the burnished surfaces of modern sculptures that can be enjoyed purely as art for art’s sake. It’s all here.

AMERICA’S ART: MASTERPIECES FROM THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM (Harry N. Abrams, 2006)