Sports Fact of the Day 3/21-3/30/2008

Mar. 21:
3/21/1948:
Toronto center-iceman Syl Apps scores a natural hat trick in his final regular-season game to go over 200 goals for his career as the Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2, at the Olympia. He scores three straight goals bridging the second and third periods and finishes with 201 lifetime. An unusually versatile athlete, Apps placed sixth in the Olympic pole vault in the 1936 Berlin Games. Even more unusual for a hockey player of that era, Apps earned a degree from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and following his retirement he will become a member of the Ontario legislature. His son, Syl Jr., will play 10 years in the NHL (1970-80) and score 183 goals of his own.

Birthdays:
Tom Flores b. 1937
Jay Hilgenberg b. 1960
Ayrton Senna b. 1960
Shawon Dunston b. 1963
Al Infrate b. 1966

1964:
The UCLA Bruins defeated the Duke Blue Devils, 98-83, in the NCAA championship game. The triumph was the first of UCLA's record 11 (through the 2005-06 season) collegiate basketball titles.

"The Bruins go for long spells at a time looking mortal and vulnerable and capable of inspiring sympathy. Then they put you under with such thorough execution that a witness has to look twice to be sure that innocent-looking truck was really the one." -John Underwood, March 30, 1964

Packers Fact:
Safety Tyrone Culver plans to go to dental school when his playing days are over.

Mar. 22:
3/22/1990:
Tate George takes a length-of-the-court baseball pass from Scott Burrell and scores the winning basket with one second remaining as Connecticut survives Clemson, 71-70, in an NCAA tournament round-of-16 game at the Meadowlands. The 31-5 Huskies blew a 19-point second-half lead, committing 19 turnovers, to let Clemson back in the game. A 3-point shot by David Young gave the Tigers a 70-69 lead in the final moments before George's climactic buzzer-beater. UConn will be on the losing end of a last-second heartbreaker in the next round on this same court when Christian Laettner of Duke beats them in the Elite 8.

Birthdays:
Billy Vessels b. 1931
Flash Elorde b. 1935
Glenallen Hill b. 1965
Shawn Bradley b. 1972
Marcus Camby b. 1974

1991:
The London Monarchs beat the Frankfurt Galaxy, 24-11, in the opening game of the new World League of American Football.

"Nobody was sure whether the World League was football or something held over from the Wilson Administration. The WLAF was sort of like Jerry Lewis-very big in France but couldn't get arrested in the States. That made media access to the players ridiculously easy." -Rick Reilly, June 17, 1991

Mar. 23:
Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina squanders a 6-1, 5-1 lead in the semifinals of the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Florida, and loses to Kimiko Date of Japan, 1-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4). The match was not only painful for Date to finish with a strained right shoulder, it was painful for the gallery to watch with the two players combining for 148 unforced errors in the three-hour endurance contest. Date will be no match for Steffi Graf in the finals of this event, bowing 6-1, 6-4 to the German star.

Birthdays:
Roger Bannister b. 1929
Ted Green b. 1940
Moses Malone b. 1954
Jason Kidd b. 1973
Mark Buehrle b. 1979

Mar. 24:
3/24/1937:
Twenty members of a touring party of Roller Derby skaters and support personnel are killed when their bus blows a tire, crashes into a bridge abutment and explodes in flames outside Salem, Illinois. The barnstorming troupe was en route from St. Louis to Cincinnati for another performance of the increasingly popular Derby, founded in 1935 by Leo Seltzer in Chicago. The horrific inferno nearly puts the enterprise out of business, but replacement skaters will be signed and Roller Derby will prove to be a durable sporting attraction.

Birthdays:
Alex Olmedo b. 1936
Pat Bradley b. 1951
Steve Karsay b. 1972
Peyton Manning b. 1976
T. J. Ford b. 1983

1990:
Lynn Jennings became the first American woman in 15 years to win the World Cross Country Championship.

"When she was 17 [years old] and the top high school runner in the country, Jennings told a friend that she would be the best distance runner in the world by the time she was 30. The remark was curious, containing as it did the rival virtues of ambition and patience." - Merrell Noden, November 26, 1990

Packers Fact:
While a junior at Boston College in 2004, cornerback Will Blackmon became the first player in school history to return a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in the same season.

Mar. 25:
3/25/188:
Led by Charles Barkley, the Philadelphia 7634s stage a miraculous rally to beat the Celtics, 97-93, at Boston Garden. Trailing 75-45 midway in the third quarter, the Sixers close the game on a dizzying 52-18 run, holding the Celtics scoreless over the final four minutes and scoring the last 12 point of the game to completely erase Boston's ostensibly insurmountable lead.

Birthdays:
Howard Cossell b. 1920
Ken Wregget b. 1964
Avery Johnson b. 1965
Tom Glavine b. 1966
Bob Sura b. 1973

1961:
The Cincinnati Bearcats upset the No. 1-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in overtime, 70-65, to win the NCA basketball championship.

"It was a beautiful basketball game, played by both teams with the pure poise and aggressiveness that the sport demands at its finest. A champion had been beaten, but by no fluke. There would be no second-guessing or sour grapes because there was simply nothing to second-guess." -Ray Cave, April 3, 1961

Mar. 26:
3/26/2005:
Despite each ball club being down at one time by a double-digit margin, Louisville and Illinois both rally for rousing overtime victories in NCAA tournament regional play and advance to the Final Four. Once trailing by 20 points, Louisville overcomes West Virginia, 93-85, at the Pit in Albuquerque, using full-court pressure to unnerve the Mountaineers, who shot 18 for 27 from 3-point-range and still came up short. Hours later at Chicago, the Fighting Illini erase a 15-point deficit against Arizona with only four minutes left, using an 8-point burst in only 19 seconds in the final minute to even the score before prevailing, 90-89, at the Rosemont Horizon.

Birthdays:
Al Bianchi b. 1932
Eder Jofre b. 1936
Marcus Allen b. 1960
John Stockton b. 1962
Michael Peca b. 1974

1973:
The UCLA center Bill Walton led the Bruins to their seventh consecutive NCAA basketball championship with an 87-66 victory over Memphis State.

"Walton had huffed and puffed and blown apart the NCAA record book. He had made 21 of 22 shots, scored 44 points, handled 13 rebounds and sashayed away somewhere high above the lights in the arena." [Curry Kirkpatrick, April 2, 1973

Packers Fact:
In hish four years at Boston College, cornerback Will Blackmon amassed 3,211 yards on kickoff returns (2,700) and punt returns (511).

Mar. 27:
Always the aggressor, whether as a player, manager or coach, Larry Bowa proclaimed: "If you coach third base and you don't get anybody thrown out, you're definitely not doing a good job."

Birthdays:
Wes Covington b. 1932
Cale Yarborough b. 1939
Annemarie Moser-Proll b. 1953
Chris McCarron b. 1955
Randall Cunningham b. 1963

1978:
The Kentucky Wildcats defeated the Duke Blue Devils, 94-88, and won the school's fifth NCAA championship - and first title in 20 years - under new coach Joe B. Hall.

"It was never easy for Kentucky. There was never any time to sit and smile. From the very first game this season, the Wildcats were haunted by their tradition, pressured by their opponents and driven mercilessly by their coach. All of the joys of winning had to wait until they had won it all." -Larry Keith, April 3, 1978

Mar. 28:
3/28/1950:
In the first game of the Stanley Cup playoffs, indestructible Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings is seriously injured after he mis-times his approach on an attempted check of Teeder Kennedy of Toronto and crashes headfirst into the boards. Howe is immediately rushed to the hospital with a broken nose, a broken cheekbone, and a concussion that requires cranial surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. He'll miss the balance of the playoffs, which Detroit goes on to win with victories over Toronto and New York.

Birthdays:
Vic Raschi b. 1918
Jerry Sloan b. 1942
Rick Barry b. 1944
Len Elmore b. 1952
Byron Scott b. 1961

1992:
In the NCAA basketball East Regional final at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Christian Laettner of Duke leaped and caught a 75-foot inbounds pass and sank a last-second basket to propel the Blue Devils into the Final Four with a 104-103 overtime victory over Kentucky.

"Grant Hill whipped a pass that would have made a quarterback proud. As soon as Laettner came down with both the ball and his balance, Laettner took one dribble and wheel-faked right, then spun left and leaped up, rising into a majestic fallaway." -Alexander Wolff, December 28, 1992

Packers Fact:
Safety Tyrone Culver was a four-time Academic All-Conference choice while at Fresno State. He earned his bachelor's degree in health science with a pre-dental emphasis.

Mar. 29:
3/29/1992:
Dottie Mochrie holes a birdie putt on the 72nd hole to tie Juli Inkster, then calmly pars the first playoff hole while Inkster suffers an untimely bogey, to win the Nabisco Dinah Shore championship at Rancho Mirage, California. It's the first major title for Mochrie, who will win here again in 1999. She fires a 3-under-par 69 to force the playoff with Inkster, who had won all four of her sudden-death appearances on tour before today. Mochrie will go on to enjoy her finest summer as a professional, leading the money list and earning LPGA Player of the Year honors.

Birthdays:
Walt Frazier b. 1945
Teofilo Stevenson b. 1952
Earl Campbell b. 1955
Brian Jordan b. 1967
Jennifer Capriati b. 1976

1992:
Leaving her competitors in the cold, Kristi Yamaguchi became the first American woman since Peggy Fleming to successfully defend her world title at the World Figure Skating Championships, in Oakland, California.

"Gold medal gal Kristi Yamaguchi-ain't she a picture-defended the world title she won last year in Munich. No surprise there, since Japan's Midori Ito was back home with some sort of virus. But, man, this was Secretariat at the Belmont. No contest." -E.M. Swift,

Mar. 30:
3/30/1968:
Forward Pass jumps to the head of the three-year-old pack by winning the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park by almost three lengths over favored Iron Ruler. Ridden by Don Brumfield, Forward Pass fully controls the race before Iron Ruler draws even at the head of the home stretch. Meeting this challenge, Forward Pass recaptures the lead in the final straightaway and wins easily. The Calumet Farms colt will live up to his vast potential by winning 7 of 13 races this year, including the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. He will just miss the Triple Crown by running second in the Belmont, but he'll lead all Thoroughbreds on the money-in-purses list with well over $500,000.

Birthdays:
Ripper Collins b. 1904
Willie Galimore b. 1935
Jerry Lucas b. 1940
Lomas Brown b. 1963
Dave Ellett b. 1964

Book Rec of the Day 3/20-3/30/2008

A CHINESE BOX

Hessler, author of the bestselling River Town (about his Peace Corps days in Sichuan Province) and Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, has lived in China for the last ten years. Here he renders a vivid portrait of an extraordinary nation coming to grips with its emerging place on the world stage. He brings life to his study by focusing largely on people such as the students of Fuling (a town on the Yangtze River), who find themselves in China’s new boom towns, or Chen Mengjia, who studies the oracle bones of the title, the earliest known writing of East Asia. The book is a fascinating tour of present-day China, a country with an unshakable past and one that is moving rapidly into the future.

ORACLE BONES: A JOURNEY BETWEEN CHINA’S PAST AND PRESENT, by Peter Hessler (HarperCollins, 2006)

THRILLER FICTION

What better to get you through the dreary doldrums of March than a superb thriller by master of the genre Dean Koontz? Landscaper Mitch Rafferty is minding his own business in the garden when he receives a call from his wife—and we’re off! Holly Rafferty has been kidnapped, and it’s good versus evil as only Koontz can do it, creating a riptide of excitement and dread through the contrast between the ordinariness of the loving gardener and the unspeakable evil of the bad guys.

THE HUSBAND, by Dean Koontz (Bantam, 2006)

IMPRESSIONS OF IMPRESSIONISTS

The author of Brunellischi’s Dome and Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling here turns his powers of observation to 19th-century Paris and the beginning of the Impressionist movement. He concentrates on two very different painters: Ernest Meissonier, a meticulous and hugely successful painter of historical scenes, and Edouard Manet, reviled for his scandalous Le déjeuner sur l’herbe and Olympia. Their lives and careers follow strongly contrasting trajectories, which makes King’s book a wonderful and fascinating read.

THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS: THE REVOLUTIONARY DECADE THAT GAVE THE WORLD IMPRESSIONISM, by Ross King (Walker, 2006)

Though the beloved, effervescent Julia Child didn’t invent the phrase bon appétit, she might as well have. What she did do, with the help, at first, of Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck and then others such as Jacques Pépin, was to bring French cooking into American kitchens. Fitch’s biography ably traces the course of a remarkable career that spanned more than 50 years yet never elicited a mean-spirited word from her or from the countless culinary competitors whom she helped form.

APPETITE FOR LIFE: THE BIOGRAPHY OF JULIA CHILD, by Noel Riley Fitch (Anchor, 1999)

BOOK LOVERS FICTION

A quiet half-light illuminates this story of three generations of Japanese women who settle in Seattle in 1918 and then move back to Japan. Minatoya draws us into deep waters, outlining subtle relationships among vivid personalities constrained within rigid social structures and struggling to find satisfying expression. The consolations of art, patience, love, and history bear beautiful fruit for the characters, as well as for the reader.

THE STRANGENESS OF BEAUTY, by Lydia Minatoya (W. W. Norton, 2001)

YUCK IT UP

This study of New York City’s unlovable vermin reveals them to be even more disgusting than you thought, and infinitely more resourceful and ubiquitous. From the first Rattus norvegicus scurrying over the ropes of ships and onward into the bowels of the city to their incredible zeal for mating, omnivorous feeding habits, and diabolical ability to survive all attempts at eradication, Sullivan’s unusual social and natural history is utterly engrossing even while it grosses you out. Full of little-known facts and arcane glimpses of the way the city works to maintain the uneasy peace between its human and nonhuman residents.

RATS: OBSERVATIONS ON THE HISTORY AND HABITAT OF THE CITY’S MOST UNWANTED INHABITANTS, by Robert Sullivan (Bloomsbury, 2004)

“A wholly absorbing, bizarrely madcap comedy and a telling commentary on the sometimes baffling sources of art. . . . The book is anything but fake. It’s truth, beauty and comedy wrapped in one sprightly package.”—Chicago Tribune

Peter Carey, acclaimed author of Oscar and Lucinda, has concocted a dazzling story that has been compared to the illusions of M. C. Escher and Nabokov’s Pale Fire. Using a true story of an Australian literary hoax as its starting point and deftly weaving in and out of timelines and plotlines, Carey’s ingenious, sparkling, and masterful touch never falters.

MY LIFE AS A FAKE, by Peter Carey (Vintage, 2005)

OUR HISTORY

This handsome project of the New Haven Preservation Trust offers a healthy dose of history and lively reading at the same time. An old port city, New Haven still bears the traces of many industries. Sixteen sites on or near the harbor, such as the Quinnipiac Brewery and the Strouse, Adler corset company (makers of the Smoothie foundation garment and heirs to the whalebone industry), are traced through maps, illustrations, photographs, and historical documents that reflect the changing face of New England.

CARRIAGES AND CLOCKS, CORSETS AND LOCKS: THE RISE AND FALL OF AN INDUSTRIAL CITY— NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, edited by Preston Maynard and Marjorie Noyes (University Press of New England, 2005)

Novelist Morante was uniquely qualified to write about how “history obscures individual lives” (Library Journal): She and her husband, Alberto Moravia, spent a year in hiding during World War II. Nearly 30 years later, the indelible impressions of man’s inhumanity took shape in the story of schoolteacher Ida Mancuso. As she raises her infant, the product of rape by a German soldier, along with her teenage son, the tender intimacies of motherhood are buffeted in the hard realities of war, poverty, and the struggle for existence. Afred Kazan described History in Esquire as “one of the few novels in any language that renders the full horror of Hitler’s war, the war that never gets into the books. . . .”

HISTORY: A NOVEL, by Elsa Morante, translated from the Italian by William Weaver (1974; Steerforth, 2000)

QUIPS AND QUOTES

From Nikita Khrushchev’s “We must abolish the cult of the individual, once and for all” to Robespierre’s “I am myself the people,” Abigail Adams’s “. . . Remember all men would be tyrants if they could,” and Roman poet and dramatist Lucius Accius’ “Let them hate, so long as they fear.” This huge, compulsively readable collection from the monsters we love to hate and the leaders we continue to emulate covers more than 2,000 years of recorded history.

THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF POLITICAL QUOTES, edited by Antony Jay (Oxford University Press, 2006)

LOVE STORIES

In Tyler’s 17th novel, two couples who have adopted Korean babies, the assimilated Iranian-American Yazdans and the unselfconsciously American Donaldsons, meet in the Baltimore airport and become friends. At the center of the multicultural story is a surprising (to those involved) love that blooms between Sami Yazdan’s mother and Bitsy Donaldson’s father. As always, Tyler (whose late husband was Iranian) has a light and affectionate touch and a graceful wisdom, and her characters are unique yet recognizable.

DIGGING TO AMERICA, by Anne Tyler (Knopf, 2006)

Sports Fact of the Day 3/15-3/20/08

Mar. 15:
After suffering through a miserable night of free-throw shooting by his ball club, DePaul head coach Jerry Wainwright remarked: "That's probably how dentistry was in the 1800s, before they had anesthetics."

Birthdays:

Punch Imlach b. 1918
Norm Van Brocklin b. 1926
Ted Marchibroda b. 1931
Harold Baines b. 1959
Terry Cummings b. 1961

1994:
Martin Buser won the 1000 mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 10 days, 13 hours, two minutes and 39 seconds.

"'They're peaking. They're really coming together mentally.' Was that Pat Riley analyzing his New York Knicks? Was that an overly optimistic major league manager sizing up his team in spring training? No, it was musher Martin Buser [who was] talking about his hteam of 14 dogs." -Jack McCallum, March 21, 1994

Mar. 16:
3/16/1971:
Johnny Bucyk scores twice to reach the 50-goal plateau for the only time in his career as the Boston Bruins rout the Detroit Red Wings, 11-4, at the Olympia. Ironically, his milestone goal comes against his original team; he was obtained from Detroit for Terry Sawchuk in 1957. Three decades after retiring, Bucyk will still rank near the top of most NHL statistical categories, skating for 23 years, playing 1,540 regular-season games and compiling a scoring line of 556-813-1,369. What's more, he earned the unconditional love of Bruins fans on a par with anyone who ever donned their spoke-created jersey.


Birthdays:
Clint Courtney b. 1927
Roger Crozier b. 1942
Rick Reichardt b. 1943
Ozzie Newsome b. 1956
Mel Gray b. 1961

Mar. 17:
3/17/1996:
Grindstone, Jerry Bailey up, comes from behind to win the Louisiana Derby by three and a half lengths over Zarb's Magic at the Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orleans. Not mentioned on most observers' lists of prominent Triple Crown hopefuls, Grindstone, trained by D. Wayne Lucas, will win the Kentucky Derby in May. Unfortunately, he'll suffer a bone chip in his right front leg during a subsequent workout and never race again.

Birthdays:
Sonny Werblin b. 1910
Sammy Baugh b. 1914
Hank Sauer b. 1917
Chuck Muncie b. 1953
Mia Hamm b. 1972

1995:
The U.S. Olympic speedskating gold medalist Bonnie Blair raced competitively for the final time in her career and went out a winner at an event in Calgary.

"Blair owns a time-share in the international spotlight: She gets it for two weeks every Olympiad, and then they ask her to leave. Her life has been a furious blur of flashing blades, like a Benihana chef's, but when she retires...it will not be as a wealthy woman. No one gets into speedskating to make a pile." -Steve Rushin, December 19, 1994

Packers Fact:
Despite playing only two seasons at Furman, quarterback Ingle Martin finished his career as the school's all-time leader for passing yards (5,751), touchdown passes (42), and total offense (6,277 yards).

Mar. 18:
3/18/1971:
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers run roughshod over their more celebrated in-state rivals, the Kentucky Wildcats, rolling to a 107-83 victory in the NCAA tournament Mideast regionals. In a one-sided battle of seven-foot centers, WKU's Jim McDaniels outclasses Tom Payne of Kentucky, scoring 35 points while Payne manages only 15. Jim Rose has 25 points for the Hilltoppers and Dion Glover chips in with 18 as they gleefully administer the worst NCAA tourney defeat in Kentucky's storied history.

Birthdays:
Mike Webster b. 1952
Guy Carbonneau b. 1960
Curt Warner b. 1961
Bonnie Blair b. 1964
Brian Griese b. 1975

1991:
Mike Tyson retained his heavyweight boxing crown with a controversial technical knockout over Razor Ruddock. Many experts were aghast that the referee had halted the bout.

"If Richard Steele, a referee of global renown, had been at Bunker Hill, he would have pulled the trigger early. Failing to look into the whites of Razor Ruddock's eyes, Steele signaled an unnecessary cease-fire with 38 seconds to go in the seventh round." -Pat Putnam, March 25, 1991

Mar. 19:
3/19/1955:
Led by center Dick Ricketts and forward Sihugo Green, who combine for 56 points. Duquesne wins the NIT with a 70-58 victory over Dayton at Madison Square Garden. After winning the ECAC Holiday Festival on this same court in December, the sixth-ranked Iron Dukes (22-4) capture the only postseason tournament in their history. Meanwhile, much of the spotlight is garnered by muscular center Maurice Stokes of St. Francis of Loretto, Pennsylvania. he earns tremendous acclaim and unanimous MVP honors despite his team's fourth-place finish, losing both their semifinal and consolation games in overtime. Stokes totally galvanized the Garden with a 43-point, 19-rebound masterpiece in the semis against eighth-ranked Dayton.

Birthdays:
Jay Berwanger b. 1914
Guy V. Lewis b. 1922
Richie Ashburn b. 1927
Joe Kapp b. 1939
Scott May b. 1954

1955:
The San Francisco center Bill Russell scored 23 points and led the Donsn to a 77-63 victory over LaSalle in the NCAA championship game.

"Particularly deadly were Russell's tap-ins. Timing his leaps perfectly, Russell would soar into the air just as a shot by a colleague floated in toward the basket and tip the ball into the basket while LaSalle defenders impotently stretched and strained beneath." -Anonymous, March 28, 1955

Packers Fact:
While at Furman in 2005, quarterback Ingle Martin tossed the game-tying or game-winning touchdown pass in the final minute of the fourth quarter in three different games.

Mar. 20:
3/20/1932:
The magnificent New Zeland colt Phar Lap wins his only race in North America, the Agua Caliente Handicap in Mexico, against 10 rivals despite carrying top weight of 129 pounds. After winning 14 straight races and 31 of 34 at one stretch on Australian tracks, he arrived in Mexico with much fanfare after a three-week boat ride. He'll suffer a leg injury when he balks at receiving roses in the winner's circle and die mysteriously two weeks later in San Francisco, where he was sent to recover. Some pointed to arsenic-laced pesticide blowing onto his grazing area.

Birthdays:
John Barnhill b. 1938
Pat Riley b. 1945
Bobby Orr b. 1948
Chris Hoiles b. 1965
Mookie Blaylock b. 1967

1965:
Bill Bradley, the Princeton basketball star playing in his last college game, set a Final Four points-scored record in the NCAA championship consolation game.

"Bradley finished his career with a marvelous performance against Wichita. The score, 118-82 for Princeton, and all kinds of records, and so did Bradley. He made 58 points (22 for 29 from the floor, 14 for 15 from the free throw line) in as satisfying a climax as could be hoped for." -Frank Deford, March 29, 1965

Book Rec of the Day 3/15-3/20/08

First published in 1948, Wilder’s classic novel captures Julius Caesar and his world as no one since Suetonius. Telling his story through letters and documents, Wilder brings to life every stratum of Caesar’s world, from slum-dwelling plebeians to the rarefied precincts of Marc Antony, Cicero, and, of course, Cleopatra. By the end, one of the great iconic figures in all of history has become a human being—a man aware of his weaknesses as well as his power. This latest edition has an afterword by Tappan Wilder that draws on notes, letters, and journal entries made by the author about the work.

THE IDES OF MARCH, by Thornton Wilder (1948; Harper Perennial, 2003)

DECLINE AND FALL AGAIN

In the Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs and Steel, Diamond described why some civilizations succeed instead of others. In this book, he looks at the collapse of the world of the Norsemen of Greenland, the Maya of Central America, and others. He discovers a “fundamental pattern of catastrophe,” whose elements include environmental damage, climate change, and competing cultures. Does any of this sound familiar from our own place and time? Diamond takes complex matters and makes them into an understandable and absorbing read.

COLLAPSE: HOW SOCIETIES CHOOSE TO FAIL OR SUCCEED, by Jared Diamond (Viking, 2005)

Harris’s Christine Bennett mysteries center around Catholic holidays because our heroine spent her youth in a convent and almost took vows before moving to New York state. The fourth in the series continues to deliver what fans have come to expect: fun nuns; increasing warmth between Christine and Detective Jack Brooks; fast-paced, unexpected turns of plot; and an unexpected solution.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY MURDER, by Lee Harris (Fawcett, 1994)

In this extraordinary work, Pollan traces four meals from farm to plate. Ranging from McDonald’s takeout to a dinner of wild pork and mushrooms that he hunts and gathers himself, each meal teaches us compelling lessons about what we are actually eating and what the costs of our choices are, in terms of our dependence on oil, the toll on the environment, and the health of our bodies. By the end of the book you understand the aptness of the title.

THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA: A NATURAL HISTORY OF FOUR MEALS, by Michael Pollan (Penguin, 2006)

In her 14th novel, South African activist, novelist, and winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature Nadine Gordimer turns away from the large humanitarian issues that often lie at the heart of her work to focus on the personal concerns of two upper-middle-class white couples in postapartheid South Africa. In this novel of ideas, the cruelties and pleasures of mortality are a major theme, as are the idiosyncratic patterns of communication that families adopt as they struggle through life-changing events such as illness and adultery.

GET A LIFE, by Nadine Gordimer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005)

A CHINESE BOX

Hessler, author of the bestselling River Town (about his Peace Corps days in Sichuan Province) and Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, has lived in China for the last ten years. Here he renders a vivid portrait of an extraordinary nation coming to grips with its emerging place on the world stage. He brings life to his study by focusing largely on people such as the students of Fuling (a town on the Yangtze River), who find themselves in China’s new boom towns, or Chen Mengjia, who studies the oracle bones of the title, the earliest known writing of East Asia. The book is a fascinating tour of present-day China, a country with an unshakable past and one that is moving rapidly into the future.

ORACLE BONES: A JOURNEY BETWEEN CHINA’S PAST AND PRESENT, by Peter Hessler (HarperCollins, 2006)

Sports Fact of the Day 3/12-3/14/2008

3/12/2002:
Martin Buser wins the Anchorage-to-Nome Iditarod sled dog race in the record time of 8 days, 22 hours and 46 minutes, becoming the first musher to complete the 1,160-mile course in less than 9 days. It's the fourth title for the 44-year-old, Swiss-born Buser, who has lived in Alaska for over 20 years. Following his impressive triumph, he becomes an American citizen in a ceremony under the archway of the Iditarod finish line.

Birthdays:
Bronco Horvath b. 1930
Johnny Rutherford b. 1938
Darryl Strawberry b. 1962
Steve Finley b. 1965
Raul Mondesi b. 1971

1983:
New York Islanders right winger Mike Bossy netted a pair of goals in a win over Washington, and became the first player to reach the 50-goal plateau in each of his first six NHL seasons.

"Like a pickpocket, Bossy isn't overpowering and you seldom realize he is even there. But then Bossy darts in from the deep slot, or cuts in from the wing, takes a pass and snaps a shot goalward with the handball player's reflexes and a putter's touch." -E.M. Swift, January 22, 1979

Packers Fact:
Quarterback Ingle Martin's father-in-law, Mike Wright, was a quarterback and punter who once went to camp with the Bengals.

3/13/1955:
A late-game fight between Montreal Canadiens superstar Rocket Richard and Bruins defensemen Hal Laycoe escalates until Richard punches linesman Cliff Thompson twice, trying to break free from his clutches to continue the fray. Richard is subsequently suspended for the balance of the season (including playoffs) by NHL president Clarence Campbell, resulting in widespread rioting at the Forum and throughout downtown Montreal four nights from now at the next Canadiens home game.

Birthdays:
Ordell Braase b. 1932
Joe Bellino b. 1938
Will Clark b. 1964
Thomas Enqvist b. 1974
Johan Santana b. 1979

1961:
Floyd Patterson retained his world heavyweight boxing crown by knocking out Ingemar Johansson. It was the third time these two heavyweights had battled for the title.

"The decisive match, which had promised so much, proved rich in fury and in melodramatic incident. It was not, however, theater of a high order. Like a bottle of beer which has been open too long, it had an undeniable kick, but to the purists the flavor was faintly stale and flat." [Gilbert Rogin, March 20, 1961

3/14/1998:
The nation's leading scorer, Allison Feaster (28.5 ppg), leads 16th-seeded Harvard to a remarkable upset of top-seeded Stanford, 71-67, in the first round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament. Furthermore, the game is played at Maples Pavilion at Stanford, and the loss snaps a 59-game home-court winning streak for the Cardinal, who were forced to play without starters Kristin Folkl and Vanessa Nygaard, both sidelined with knee injuries. Feaster scores 35 points and Harvard shoots 46% from the floor, compared with only 33% for Stanford, as the Crimson become the first No. 16 seed ever to beat a No. 1 seed in women's or men's play.

Birthdays:
Bob Charles b. 1936
Wes Unseld b. 1946
Kirby Puckett b. 1961
Kevin Brown b. 1965
Larry Johnson b. 1969

1990:
Susan Butcher won the 1,157-mile Iditarod Dog Sled Race for the fourth time in five years. Butcher had also won in 1986, 1987 and 1988.

"Trust and loyalty. This symbiotic relationship between Butcher and her dogs is the biggest reason why she is considered the finest long-distance sled-dog racer ever and one of the greatest mushers of all time." -Sonja Steptoe, February 11, 1991

Packers Fact:
Quarterback Ingle Martin earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Furman in December of 2005.

Book Rec of the Day 3/12-3/14/2008

HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

Designer and decorator Nate Berkus, head of Chicago design firm Nate Berkus Associates and regular Oprah Winfrey guest, wants you to live well, and in a place you love. This is his book to bring that about. Room by room, step by step, he helps you find the home that best reflects you. From easy “instant makeovers” to organization and design tips to the Berkus philosophy on living well—it’s all here, stylish, practical, and accessible.

HOME RULES: TRANSFORM THE PLACE YOU LIVE INTO A PLACE YOU’LL LOVE, by Nate Berkus (Hyperion, 2005)

A NEW TAKE ON GOBLINS

“The Stolen Child is a wonderful, fantasy-laden debut, and looks poised to become a word-of-mouth bestseller.”—Newsweek

Keith Donohue’s extraordinary first novel is about a changeling and the stolen boy he replaced. The story is told in alternating chapters: one telling about the boy and how he lives in a hobgoblin world and the other recounting the quite different fate of the changeling who takes over the boy’s life. Neither feels quite natural in his world, and as they try to recover their forgotten pasts, they venture down roads that must eventually meet.

THE STOLEN CHILD, by Keith Donohue (Nan A. Talese, 2006)

STAR TURN

Infamous talent agent Henry Willson found a gorgeous 19-year-old named Art Gelien and turned him into a major teen heartthrob named Tab Hunter. Tab Hunter Confidential is Hunter’s story: life in Hollywood with the likes of Natalie Wood, Debbie Reynolds, and Tallulah Bankhead; life in the closet and his two-year relationship with Anthony Perkins; and, after he came out, new success in several John Waters movies. It all makes a fascinating, juicy Hollywood memoir.

TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL: THE MAKING OF A MOVIE STAR, by Tab Hunter and Eddie Muller (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005)

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 3/11/2008

3/11/2006:
Syracuse becomes the first team in Big East tournament history to win four games in four days to win the championship when they defeat Pittsburgh, 65-61, at Madison Square Garden. Squarely on the NCAA tournament "bubble" at 19-11 entering this event, Syracuse beats Cincinnati, top-ranked UConn and Georgetown in successive nail-biting affairs led by senior guard Jerry McNamara, who made several clutch baskets to keep the Orange alive and earn MVP honors by acclimation. In tonight's title game, freshman Eric Devendorf has a basket and two free throws in the last two minutes to help preserve Syracuse's narrow margin.

Birthdays:
Louise Brough b. 1923
Dock Ellis b. 1945
Bobby Abreu b. 1974
Shawn Springs b. 1975
Elton Brand b. 1979

1982:
Dan Gable coached the Iowa wrestling team to its record fifth consecutive NCAA championship.

"Only a few coaches come along who spark utter devotion the way Gable does. Bear Bryant was one. Joe Paterno is one. The list is very short because far too many other coaches mistake fear for respect... There's a big difference between fear and respect, and athletes detect it immediately." -Douglas S. Looney, July 18, 1984


As a beta male, Charlie is a guy who picks up after alpha males, avoids change, and worries about his children. But a peaceful life is not Charlie’s fate: He has been chosen to become a “Death Merchant,” a “secret agent of karma” who collects “soul vessels” containing the essence of the newly departed. Aiding or deterring Charlie in his new career are very large ravens; Lily the Goth girl; Ray, an ex-cop; Minty Fresh, another Death Merchant; and a pair of hellhounds. It’s all Moore’s way of satirizing death and our modern take on it, and it’s wildly fast paced and wickedly funny.

A DIRTY JOB, by Christopher Moore (William Morrow, 2006)

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 03/10/2008

3/10/1996:
The University of New Hampshire Lady Wildcats outlast the Providence College Lady Friars, 3-2, in five overtimes to win the ECAC women's hockey championship. UNH's Brandy Fisher ends the marathon at 5:35 of the fifth sudden-death period, establishing this game as the longest collegiate hockey game, men's or women's, in history. It's Fisher's 25th goal of the season, and she'll complete her four-year career in 1998 as the all-time leading scorer in UNH women's history with 129 goals.

Birthdays:
Ara Parseghian b. 1923
Leroy Ellis b. 1940
Austin Carr b. 1948
Rod Woodson b. 1965
Shannon Miller b. 1977

1967:
Clocked in a time of 1:48.9, the middle-distance runner Dave Patrick set an indoor half-mile world record and handed Jim Ryun his first track defeat in two years.

"Far out in the lead was blond, sturdy Dave Patrick of Villanova, sprinting tirelessly around the 160-yard board track as if the finish line were always just a step ahead, his lips moving silently as he counted off the laps that clattered by at a world-record pace." -Gwilym S. Brown, March 20, 1967

Packers Fact:
While a backup quarterback as a freshman at Florida in 2002, Ingle Martin also punted and played wide receiver.


“Forges a near-perfect synthesis of fine writing and fascinating material. May be the best sports biography ever published.” —Ron Fimrite, Sports Illustrated

David Maraniss, author of biographies of Bill Clinton and Vince Lombardi, has written a fact-driven, evenhanded, and enthralling account of baseball’s first great Latino superstar, right fielder Roberto Clemente. It’s an extraordinary story with a tragic ending: Clemente was killed in a 1972 plane crash while delivering relief supplies to the victims of a Nicaraguan earthquake.

CLEMENTE: THE PASSION AND GRACE OF BASEBALL’S LAST HERO, by David Maraniss (Simon & Schuster, 2006)

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)

Sports Fact of the Day 3/2-3/8/2008

Mar. 2:
3/2/1980:
Spectacular Bid, Willie Shoemaker up, passes the $2 million mark in career earnings with an easy victory in the Santa Anita Handicap. Carrying top weight of 130 pounds, the Bid beats Flying Paster by 5 lengths and Beau's Eagle by 13. It's the 21st victory in 25 lifetime starts for last year's winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. For Shoemaker, it's his ninth victory in this event, an annual tradition affectionately referred to as "the Big Cap."

Birthdays:
Mel Ott b. 1909
Hopalong Cassady b. 1934
Ian Woosnam b. 1958
Terry Steinbach b. 1962
Ben Roethlisberger b. 1982


Mar. 3:
3/3/1990:
Five-time Golden Gloves champion and n1984 Olympic gold medalist Mark Breland retains hish WBA welterweight title by knocking out former WBC champion Lloyd Honeghan of Great Britain in the third round at Wembley Arena in London. Breland scores six knockdowns in the one-sided bout before the referee refuses to let Honeyghan continue. He'll surrender the belt in his next outing, when Aaron Davis scores a ninth-round knockout against him in Reno, Nevada. After that defeat, he'll move up to the middleweight ranks but never again take part in a title bout.

Birthdays:
Julius Boros b. 1920
Randy Gradishar b. 1952
Jackie Joyner-Kersee b. 1962
Herschel Walker b. 1962
Brian Leetch b. 1968

1985:
Bill Shoemaker won at Santa Anita aboard Lord at War and became the first jockey to surpass $100 million in career earnings.

"Few jockeys, if any, have ridden neater on a horse-hands back with a long hold, sitting ever so still. And few have had his ability to keep a horse out of trouble, to find the surest way home, to control him with the subtlest flick of the wrist and hands." -William Nack, June 2, 1980

Packers Fact:
While at Louisville, guard Jason Spitz earned a bachelors' degree in marketing.

Mar. 4:
3/4/1990:
Loyola Marymount All-American forward Hank Gathers collapses on the court during a West Coast Conference tournament game and dies two hours later of a heart disease called cardiomyopathy. Just last season, Gathers led the NCAA in scoring (32.7 ppg) and rebounding (13.7 rpg), becoming only the second player to do that after Xavier McDaniel of Wichita State. The tournament is called off and Loyola is declared the league champion by virtue of its regular-season record of 23-5 (13-1 in conference). The Lions will win three games in the NCAA tournament, including a remarkable 149-115 rout of defending national champion Michigan before bowing to UNLV, this year's eventual national champion.

Birthdays:
Knute Rockne b. 1888
Dazzy Vance b. 1891
Margaret Osborne duPont b. 1918
"Badger Bob" Johnson b. 1931
Kevin Johnson b. 1966

2000:
Karrie Webb won her fourth title in her fourth golf tournament of the year, defeating Annika Sorenstam in a playoff to claim an LPGA event in Hawaii.

"Webb is the hottest golfer in LPGA history. Hotter than Nancy Lopez was when she won five straight tournaments in her rookie season, 1978. Hotter than Kathy Whitworth was when she was the leading money winner eight times in the nine years from 1965 through '73... So strong is Webb's performance this year that the Justice Department is targeting her as a monopolistic enterprise." -John Garrity, April 3, 2000

Mar. 5:
3/5/1966:
Tom Workman scores 23 points, pulls down nine rebounds and hits the winning bucket in the final minute as Seattle upsets unbeaten Texas Western, 74-72. The Chieftains offset a 38-27 shortfall on the boards by shooting 59% from the field on their home court, the Seattle Center Coliseum. There are 19 lead changes in the game, but the Miners are unable to even the score after Workman's final basket. Texas Western will not lose again. They will go on to stun the basketball world by winning the NCAA championship, upsetting Kentucky in the tournament finals.

Birthdays:
Elmer Valo b. 1921
Scott Skiles b. 1964
Michael Irvin b. 1966
Paul Konerko b. 1976
Wally Szczerbiak b. 1977

1993:
Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, who had won three Super Bowl championships in 12 years, announced his retirement.

"Call it burnout, stress meltdown, stop-and-smell-the-roses syndrome or whatever you want, it snatched Gibbs and made him realize that there is more to life than 100-hour workweeks spent analyzing the proper deployment of the H-back." -Rick Telander, March 15, 1993

Packers Fact:
The Packers had seven picks in the first rounds of the 2006 draft. That equaled their most ever to that stage in a draft (1964).

Mar. 6:
3/6/1949:
Montreal goalie Bill Durnan posts his fourth consecutive shutout as the Canadiens blank the Bruins, 1-0, at Boston Garden. Durnan's skein of perfection will end in his next outing, at Chicago, but he'll compile a modern record of 309 minutes and 21 seconds without allowing a goal. His record will survive until the 200-304 season, when Brian Boucher of the Phoenix Coyotes posts five straight shutouts and 332 minutes and 1 second of scoreless goaltending.

Birthdays:
Cookie Rojas b. 1939
Willie Stargell b. 1940
Dick Fosbury b. 1947
Sleepy Floyd b. 1960
Shaquille O'Neal b. 1972

1998:
Julie Krone rode Squawter to victory and headed to the winner's circle for the 1,205th time in her horse racing career. Since winning her first race in 1981, Krone has won more races than any other woman jockey.

"She rode in this tight little ball that a horse hardly seemed to notice on its back, and she had hands that cabled a [soothing] message through the reins down to a horse's mouth, through its neck, to its heart." -Gary Smith, May 22, 1989

Mar. 7:
3/7/2004:
Craig Parry of Australia holes out for an eagle on the first hole of sudden death to defeat Scott Verplank and capture the Ford Championship on the lengthy Blue Monster course at Doral in Miami. Hitting a six-iron from 175 feet, Parry gets his eagle on the 18th hole, one of the toughest holes on the entire PGA Tour. It had yielded only 31 birdies to the field in four rounds of play before Parry launched his tournament-winning shot, earning the $900,000 first-prize check.

Birthdays:
Franco Harris b. 1950
Lynn Swann b. 1952
Joe Carter b. 1960
Ivan Lendl b. 1960
Jeff Kent b. 1968

1966:
Bob Seagren became the first athlete to pole vault 17 feet indoors when he cleared 17' 1/4" at the Amateur Athletic Union national track and field championships held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"A wonderful bird is the pole vaulter. He is supreme among track and field athletes because in his one event he is the synthesis of them all, combinin-in relatively moderate supply-the speed of a sprinter with the strength of a javelin thrower and the spring and elasticity of a high jumper." -John Underwood, February 20, 1967

Packers Fact:

While a prep star at The Bolles High School in Jacksonville, Florida, guard Jason Spitz was a state champion weightlifter.

Mar. 8:
Evoking memories of his 1985 NCAA champion Villanova Wildcats in a pep talk to a modern-day team at the school, former head basketball coach Rollie Massimino emphasized: "Tradition never graduatees."

Birthdays:
Mendy Rudolph b. 1926
Dick Allen b. 1942
Jim mRice b. 1953
Buck Williams b. 1960
Jason Elam b. 1970

1958:
The late-charging thoroughbred race horse Silky Sullivan came from 40 lengths back to win the Santa Anita Derby.

"Instead of looping his field, he cut to the inside, zigzagged through the pack like a sure-footed halfback and won-going away- by 3-1/2 lengths. At the finish he was actually easing himself up, obviously satisfied that he had showed the field who was boss." -Whitney Tower, March 17, 1958

Book Rec of the Day 3/2-3/8/2008

“This novel perfectly captures . . . the potency, skewed perceptions, and just plain weirdness of being alive at the age of ten. . . . Doyle has created a small, resonant masterpiece.”—Entertainment Weekly

In Barrytown, a Dublin working-class neighborhood, ten-year-old Patrick plays boyish havoc with his friends and tries to make sense of the world. Realizing that his parents’ marriage is coming apart, he stays up all night trying to find a way to keep them together. Doyle brilliantly reveals to us the boy’s mind, and in it we find a world of laughter and heartache. This bestselling novel won the 1993 Man Booker Prize.

PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA, by Roddy Doyle (Penguin, 1995)

A HARMLESS DRUDGE

Though Samuel Johnson’s was not the first English dictionary, it so far surpassed what had come before that it became the standard for more than 100 years. Even the first Oxford English Dictionary (1928) used nearly 2,000 definitions from Johnson’s great work. Hitchings’s engaging book is a biography, a discourse on lexicography, a social history, and an appreciation of the great influence this dictionary had on succeeding generations.

DEFINING THE WORLD: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF DR. JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY, by Henry Hitchings (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005)

The book contains violence without end and perhaps the most heinous, evil, morally grotesque character in all of American literature: Judge Holden. It is a work of high art, literature with a capital L, as ambitious as Moby Dick or anything by Faulkner. Yet, at the same time, it is a compelling page-turner about the American Southwest in the mid-19th century. Its truly unforgettable characters, scenes, and ideas stay with you long after you put the book down. Not for the squeamish, but if you can handle a Quentin Tarantino movie, you can handle Blood Meridian.

BLOOD MERIDIAN: OR THE EVENING REDNESS IN THE WEST, by Cormac McCarthy (1985; Vintage, 1992)

WHAT IS WOMAN?

Go with writer and feminist Griffiths on her nonlinear, unscientific, quirky journey through nontime and unspace, or dip in randomly for sparkles of insight and musings. Poet Gary Snyder, quoted on the book jacket, calls it “an exercise indeed in Dharma, Poetry, and Philosophy.” More a way of unraveling what we think we know than an attempt to explain what we don’t know, A Sideways Look at Time is not really about time but about received notions and how we can give them the slip.

A SIDEWAYS LOOK AT TIME, by Jay Griffiths (Tarcher, 2004)

THRILLER FICTION

In her 13th novel, Picoult paints a fresh hell. Dante’s Hell finally stopped at the fourth ring of the ninth circle. Here in the tenth circle, graphic novelist Daniel Stone (whose wife, Laura, is a Dante scholar) must go through all the circles to save his marriage and find his teenage daughter, Trixie, in the aftermath of a horrible event that threatens their present way of life and makes the past and future a torment to contemplate. An interesting feature: illustrations by Dustin Weaver, supposedly from Stone’s graphic novel.

THE TENTH CIRCLE, by Jodi Picoult (Atria, 2006)

LOVE STORY

Nathan, a sophomore in high school, is the son of an alcoholic, abusive, Bible-thumping father and a mother who is hardly there. He falls in love with the boy next door, Roy, a senior and a baseball star. Roy reciprocates. Everyone and everything are against them, and the heartache and longing of each boy’s situation is beautifully depicted by Grimsley in this tender coming-of-age/first-love novel. Publishers Weekly called it a “singular display of literary craftsmanship.”

DREAM BOY, by Jim Grimsley (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1995)

Toobin is a superb analyst of legal issues, managing to be both exciting and fair, fanning the flames of indignation yet remaining outside the fray. Almost no one gets off scot-free in the story of perhaps the most infamous political scandal of our time. Gore seems weak, Bush unscrupulous, and Rehnquist’s Supreme Court grotesquely tainted. It’s still a jaw-droppingly compelling story, told by the best man for the job, hands down.

TOO CLOSE TO CALL: THE THIRTY-SIX-DAY BATTLE TO DECIDE THE 2000 ELECTION, by Jeffrey Toobin (Random House, 2001)

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gK0YZi8N2BoWRKweHysxShS0Cb_A

After three years behind Favre, Rodgers ready to play for Packers

5 hours ago

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Aaron Rodgers has a message for Green Bay Packers fans.

"I'm not Brett Favre," he said Saturday. "And if they're wanting me to be the next Brett Favre, I'm not going to be him. I'm Aaron Rodgers. That's who I am."

After spending three years running the scout team and watching game film during the week - only to spend Sundays wearing a headset and toting a clipboard - Rodgers' turn finally arrived when Favre retired.

"I'm going to be the best quarterback I can be," said Rodgers, who was in Green Bay for the Packers' annual fan fest. "He did it his way, I'm going to do it my way. And hopefully, I can be successful."

The Packers' first-round pick in 2005 has thrown a grand total of 59 passes in seven career games. But he played well when called on in a game at Dallas in November, and will be surrounded by young talent next season.

"I'm in a good situation," said Rodgers, who turned 24 in December. "I've got a great team around me. A lot of people are focusing on what I'm going to do - it's what the team's going to do, really. I'm an important part of that. I know my role and I need to play it well. And I'm not going to really have a grace period, either."

No, but he does have Favre's blessing.

"I think he'll do a great job," Favre said during his retirement news conference Thursday. "I think he has the talent. I've heard it for the last three years that, 'Hopefully he's learned from Brett.' What that means, I don't know. He's his own player, he has his own style and that's what he needs to stick to."

Rodgers had an occasionally rocky relationship with Favre. Especially as a rookie, when Favre didn't seem thrilled by the thought of working with a player who would eventually replace him and didn't offer much tutoring. The two gradually grew closer.

Rodgers admires Favre's fortitude and ability to work hard in practice, even when tired.

"The way he's dealt with the stuff that's happened to him and his family off the field, and also the adversity on the field - an interception or a bad throw or a bad drive, just being able to stay levelheaded and even-keeled, I think, is one of his best assets," Rodgers said.

Like nearly everyone in Green Bay, Rodgers assumed Favre was coming back. So he admits it probably won't really hit him until training camp that he is really the starter.

Rodgers knows the comparisons to Favre are inevitable. But he grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and is hoping to follow the path of Steve Young. Young wasn't the next Joe Montana, but he helped the 49ers continue their run of success by bringing a different approach to his position.

"I know a lot of friends and family who were Joe Montana fans, where it didn't matter how good Steve Young did," he said. "They weren't going to cheer for him because he wasn't Joe Montana."

Rodgers has been injured twice in three seasons. In a place where the last guy started 275 straight games that translates to "injury prone."

"I think both those injuries were things that could have happened to anybody," Rodgers said. "So I'm just going to get myself in great shape and hopefully, with a little luck, I can stay out there."

Rodgers already has earned the trust of teammates. He started building those bonds well before the biggest moment of his career, when Favre was hurt at Dallas in November and Rodgers nearly led the Packers to a comeback victory.

"It was just one game," Rodgers said. "I want to do it over a season."

Packers receiver Donald Driver said the Dallas game provided an important boost for Rodgers, who came into the huddle somewhat unsure of himself but left as a confident leader.

"For him to get in the huddle and say, 'Hey guys, just believe in me,' he was kind of shaky, because he didn't think guys believed in him," Driver said. "But we did believe in him. We were like, 'We want you to believe in us, but you have to believe in yourself first.' And I think now he knows that he believes in himself because he went out there and performed well."

He did it once. Now he has to do it every week.

"There'll be a little bit of nerves," Rodgers said, "But I've been waiting my whole life to do this."

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 03/01/2008

3/1/1941:
Goaltenders Turk Broda of Toronto and Frank "Mr. Zero" Brimsek of Boston are flawless tonight at Maple Leaf Gardens, and the result is a scoreless tie between the Maple Leafs and the Bruins. It's not an unusual result with these two future Hall of Fame netminders between the pipes. Each will win two Vezina Trophies, awarded to the NHL's top goalie. Broda will record 62 shutouts in his career while Brimsek will have 40 of his own, and they'll combine for two more scoreless ties during their careers, one in 1942 and another in 1947.

Birthdays:
Harry Caray b. 1914
Pete Rozelle b. 1926
Elvin Bethea b. 1946
Mike Rozier b. 1961
Chris Webber b. 1973

1966:
Chicago Blackhawks left winger Bobby Hull scored a goal against Detroit for his 50th goal of the season. Hull became the National Hockey League's first two-time 50-goal scorer.

"It is Bobby who can lift any crowd as he takes the puck from one end of the rink to the other to set up a goal, guiding the disk in the curve of his stick with one hand and pushing off defenders with the other. And it is Bobby who can shoot from anywhere in the offensive zone and have a good chance to score." -Pete Axthelm, February 12, 1968



Cars, the lovable animated feature from Pixar about a race car who learns that speed and competition aren’t everything, was a feel-good favorite in 2006. This gorgeous book shows the inside view of the conception and development of the movie, and it’s chockful of storyboards, pastel drawings, photographs, and sketches. It’s a colorful and inspiring movie tie-in that celebrates the lure of the open road and is a testament to Pixar’s meticulous artistic standards.

THE ART OF CARS, by Suzanne Fitzgerald Wallis and Michael Wallis; foreword by John Lasseter (Chronicle Books, 2006)