Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/10/2009

1/10/2004:
Herve Laminaza hits two three-point shots in the final 10 seconds to give Rutgers a 65-64 victory over Providence at the RAC in Piscataway, New Jersey. Laminaza throws in the first trey off the backboard and the game winner with less than a second remaining while falling out of bounds. It's the second straight buzzer-beater heartbreak for the Friars, in their last game, Texas beat them on a disputed shot in overtime. The dramatic win propels the Scarlet Knights to a 20-13 record, and they'll reach the finals of the NIT before losing to Michigan.

Birthdays:
Frank Mahovlich b. 1938
Willie McCovey b. 1938
Bill Toomey b. 1939
Glenn Robinson b. 1973
Felix Trinidad b. 1973

Packers Fact:
In 2007, Brett Favre notched his NFL record 149th career victory as an NFL starting quarterback against the New York Giants. The Packers won the game in week 2, 35-13.

NO BUSINESS LIKE COP BUSINESS

The sergeant known as “The Oracle” oversees a collection of cops who work out of the LAPD’s Hollywood Station: Flotsam and Jetsam, a couple of surfers; Budgie Polk, an unwed mother; Fausto Gamboa, a somewhat cranky and aging officer; and others. Joseph Wambaugh is a master of the southern-California crime novel. With edgy black humor and his own experience in the LAPD, he possesses an exceptional talent for combining cops and lowlifes to create high-energy, compulsively readable stories. Starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist.

HOLLYWOOD STATION, by Joseph Wambaugh (Vision, 2006)

Sawbuck

Meaning: A $10 bill
Origin: “Sawbuck” originally referred to a movable frame used to support wood while it was being sawed, which comes from the Dutch word zaagbook, or “saw trestle.” In the United States, $10 bills used to have the Roman numeral X (for 10) on them. A ten spot acquired the nickname because of the resemblance of the X to the crossed legs of a sawbuck.

WHAT ABOUT PEPPER? SALT IS MENTIONED MORE THAN 30 TIMES IN THE BIBLE.

GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE

Answer tomorrow.

Q: Eleven thousand different kinds of plants thrive on the 1,500-plus acres of Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, one of the world’s finest horticultural displays. The gardens lie on what was once an estate of which prominent industrialist?

a) Pierre du Pont b) James Buchanan Duke c) John D. Rockefeller d) Cornelius Vanderbilt

On Books, Chartbusting

* Circumcisions by Appointment
* Urogenital Manipulation

* Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers

* Bombproof Your Horse

actual book titles nominated for The Bookseller magazine's oddest titles award