Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 12/8/2008

Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana delta country, a proud LSU football fan boldly held up a placard at their first home game, proclaiming: "I lost my house, but I still have my Tigers."

Birthdays:
Red Berenson b. 1939
Bob "Butterbean" Love b. 1942
George Rogers b. 1958
Jeff George b. 1967
Mike Mussina b. 1968

1987
The Detroit Pistons forward Adrian Dantley scored his 20,000th career point in the NBA during a 127-117 win over Portland.

"Yo, Adrian. Yo, Adrian Dentley. Plant yourself on the blocks, spread those arms, call for the ball and use that all-world derriere like a battering ram. Pump, double-pump, lean, spin, head fake, pirouette, shoot, score, go to the foul line." -Jack McCallum, March 2, 1987

Packers Fact:
Defensive end Willie Davis was just a 17th-round draft choice in 1959 (by Cleveland) who joined the Packers (1960-69) and went on to become one of the greaest pass rushers in NFL history. In 1981, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

SHORT FICTION

Each story in this collection is unique. All are nuanced, all have wonderful characterizations. They move you or make you think or haunt you for days or weeks afterward. Eisenberg—recipient of many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship—specializes in the short story, and her seventh collection “insinuates you right into the characters’ gnarled hearts, by methods so subtle and slippery that you’re not sure where you are or how you got there” (Lisa Zeidner, The Washington Post).

TWILIGHT OF THE SUPERHEROES: STORIES, by Deborah Eisenberg (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006)