Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 06/10/2008

6/10/1977:
Al Geiberger sets a new record for American professional golf by shooting a 13-under-par 59 in the second round of the Danny Thomas-Memphis Classic. Several players had shot 60 on less demanding layouts than the 7,200-yard Colonial Country Club in Memphis and Gary Player once shot a 59 on a short course in Brazil, but no one had ever shot a 59 in the United States before Geiberger pieced together 11 birdies, an eagle and no bogeys for his record round. He'll go on to win this tournament on Sunday and pocket the $40,000 first-prize check.

Birthdays:
Jon McGlocklin b. 1943
Ken Singleton b. 1947
Dan Fouts b. 1951
Brent Sutter b. 1962
Pokey Reese b. 1973

1977:
While Martin Luther King's assassin grabbed the headlines, golfer Al Geiberger shot an incredible 59 during the second round of the Memphis Golf Classic, the first-sub-60 round ever in a PGA Tour event.

"Surely even the most jaded and weary of the world's watchers would have found something extraordinary last Friday in Tennessee, with James Earl Ray suddenly on the lam in the east and Al Geiberger on a more civilized rampage in the west. The authorities will be a long time in totaling up Ray's score, but the other was there for all to see." -Charles Gillespie, June 20, 1977

Packers Fact:
Brett Favre entered 2006 with the longest active NFL streaks for games play (223) and games started (221). Kansas City guard Will Shields with 208 games played and 207 games started was second.

HOT DOGGEREL

The Nation’s “deadline poet” has done a heckuva job with his acid-dipped pen and rhyming dictionary in these two books of political verse, skewering not only the Decider himself, but nanny Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, and just about any Bush leaguer who’s made a headline in the last few years. Not recommended for fans of Rush Limbaugh.

A HECKUVA JOB: MORE OF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IN RHYME with OBLIVIOUSLY ON HE SAILS: THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IN RHYME, by Calvin Trillin (Random House, 2006)