Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 05/22/2008

5/22/2004:
Playing their first-ever seventh game in Stanley Cup competition, the Tampa Bay Lightning edge Philadelphia, 2-1, at the St. Pete Times Forum to win the Eastern Conference title. Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin is brilliant for Tampa Bay, as his team fires 18 shots on goal in the second period alone. Khabibulin's save on Keith Primeau's breakaway midway in the game proves vital, while the Flyers' abysmal 1 for 26 efficiency on the power play during the series ultimately leads to their demise. Tampa Bay will go on to win its first Stanley Cup championship, needing another seventh game, against the Calgary Flames.

Birthdays:
Al Simmons b. 1902
Larry Siegfried b. 1939
Mick Tingelhoff b. 1940
Tommy John b. 1943
George Best b. 1946

1977:
Steering her race car at an average speed of 188.403 miles per hour, Janet Gurthrie became the first female driver ever to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.

"Before the race Guthrie had met with Speedway owner Tony Hulman to discuss how he should modify the heretofore traditional "Gentlemen, start your engines." Guthrie preferred "Gentlefolks." "It's a perfectly good 400-year-old word," she said. "Shakespeare used it." Hulman ultimately settled on, "In company with the first lady ever to qualify at Indianapolis, Gentleman, start your engines." -Sam Moses, June 6, 1977

Packers Fact:
Pittsburgh originally drafted running back Noah Herron in 2005 in the seventh round. Green Bay signed him off the Steelers' practice squad late that season.

DR. DOLITTLE

Grandin brings her unique talents and insights as an autistic and an animal behaviorist to a subject that engages her deepest concerns and interest: How and what do animals perceive, feel, and communicate? Filled with engaging anecdotes from her wide experience with animals, this is science on a wonderfully personal level, sparking in the reader a new way of looking at the world.

ANIMALS IN TRANSLATION: USING THE MYSTERIES OF AUTISM TO DECODE ANIMAL BEHAVIOR, by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson (Harvest, 2006)