Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 3/9/2008

3/9/1977:
Billed as "the Battle of the Birds," tonight's NIT game at Hofheinz Pavilion is a publicist's dream that actually lives up to the hype. The Houston Cougars hold off Indiana State, 83-82, despite 44 points and 14 rebounds by Larry Bird of the Sycamores. Otis Birdsong counters with 30 points for the Coogs, who nearly blow a 10-point lead in the final moments. Each All-American plays the full 40 minutes and Bird misses a makeable shot at the buzzer that would have won it for ISU (25-3). Houston will reach the finals of the NIT in New York before bowing to St. Bonaventure.

Birthdays:
Jackie Jensen b. 1927
Bert Campaneris b. 1942
Phil Housley b. 1964
Benito Santiago b. 1965
Aaron Boone b. 1973

BLOODY ROMANTIC

“Compulsively readable . . . the finest historical novel of the year.”—Daily Mail (U.K.)

Hannah Green, though the queen’s “fool,” is no fool in fact. As a Jew in Tudor England, she has to be pretty wily to survive the political and religious intrigues of the court of a queen known to history as Bloody Mary. Survive she does, and she falls in love as well. If you liked Gregory’s bestselling The Other Boleyn Girl, you’ll want to curl up with The Queen’s Fool. Gregory again displays her great talent for bringing a long past world vividly to life.

THE QUEEN’S FOOL, by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone, 2004)