Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/21/2009

1/21/1952:
Scoring a colossal upset, the Seattle University Chieftains surprise the Harlem Globetrotters, 84-81, at the Hec Edmundson Pavilion in Seattle. The charity exhibition game, set up by jazz legend Louis Armstrong, provides a national showcase for "the God Dust Twins," Eddie and Johnny O'Brien, who maintain a relentless fast-break attack and hand the Trotters a rare defeat. Guard Johnny O'Brien, 5'9", leads all scorers with 43 points in a game played strictly on merit, not given to the Globetrotters' usual flights of comedic fancy.

Birthdays:
Jack Nicklaus b. 1940
Johnny Oates b. 1946
Hakeem Olajuwon b. 1963
Detlef Schrempf b. 1963
Rusty Greer b. 1969

Packers Fact:
Brandon Jackson didn't become a full-time starter until Nebraska's sixth game in 2006, but he did well enough to earn first-team All-Big 12 honors.

LOVE AND/OR SEX

The author of Caught Inside and Looking for Mo delivers a coming-of-age tale set in Berkeley, California, as grad student “Harp” becomes enmeshed in the sexy spell of neurotic Joan, while sweet Shauna waits around for him with nice vegetarian meals. Spicy and up-to-date, with humor and well-placed lampoons of academic political correctness.

A MOUTH LIKE YOURS, by Daniel Duane (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005)

TUBE TALK

THE BOOB TOOB

Tired of watching CNN and Fox News? If you live in Europe and subscribe to satellite TV, you can watch Naked News on the Get Lucky TV channel. On Naked News, strippers read the news as they strip. Caveat: If the news is really bad, you won’t get to see much nudity. “We are quite sensitive to certain issues, one, of course, being death,” says stripper/news anchor Samantha Page. “We try to be as respectful as we can, and what we tend to do is leave our clothes on.”

CONSPIRACY? SUGAR WAS FIRST ADDED TO CHEWING GUM IN 1869 . . . BY A DENTIST.

On I'd rather have mine hemmed with carrots:

TROUSERS

SHORTEN £5.00

TAPER £6.00

SHORTEN & TAPER £10.00

SHORTEN LINED £6.00

SHORTEN WITH TURNIPS £6.00

sign at a tailor shop in Glasgow, Scotland

ROARING FALLS AND CRASHING WATERS

Victoria Falls—one mile wide and 400 feet high, separating Zambia and Zimbabwe—are one of the world’s greatest cascades. Here are some others that should not be missed:

• Angel Falls, Venezuela
• Niagara Falls, Canada and the United States
• Gullfoss, Iceland
• Iguazú Falls, Argentina and Brazil