Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/22/2009

1/22/2006:
Only in the NBA Western Conference. Ray Allen (game-high 42 points) hits a three-point field goal at the buzzer in double overtime to give the visiting Seattle SuperSonics a 152-149 victory over the Phoenix Suns. Allen's game-winning trey sets an NBA record for combined three-point goals in one game by both clubs, 32. The losing Suns covert 18 of 38 from beyond the arc, seven by Raja Bell. The up-tempo, fast-paced, high-scoring style of play in this game stands in stark contrast to the walk-it-up tempo, set-play, half-court offensive style expoused by many Eastern Conference teams, ultimately dictated by their coaches.

Birthdays:
Elmer Lach b. 1918
J.C. Tremblay b. 1939
Serge Savard b. 1946
George Foreman b. 1948
Mike Bossy b. 1957

Packers Fact:
In a 17-9 victory against Detroit in week 15 of 2006, Brett Favre became the NFL's all-time leader with his 4,968th career pass completion. He broke Dan Marino's mark.

YE GODS

Weighing in at around 700 pages, Ramesh Menon’s vibrant retelling of the Ramayana, the Indian classic from around 300 BCE, has been hailed as a classic in its own right. The magnitude and magnificence of Prince Rama’s epic struggles, part ripping good story, part history, part scripture, will fascinate as no mere dry history of this subcontinent and its literature could.

THE RAMAYANA: A MODERN RETELLING OF THE GREAT INDIAN EPIC, by Ramesh Menon (North Point, 2004)

UNCLE JOHN’S POLICE LOG

“A toothless man has been arrested for stealing toothbrushes. According to O Dia newspaper, 32-year-old Ednor Rodrigues was filmed taking seven toothbrushes from a supermarket in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil. When he was approached by the police, he tried to deny the robbery—even showing the officers his toothless mouth. He finally admitted to the crime: ‘I don’t know why I did it. I know it was stupid. I have no teeth, what was I thinking?’”

—Sunday Mail (Scotland)

NEW YORK CITY HAS 722 MILES OF SUBWAY TRACK.

MOTHER EARTH

MONUMENT VALLEY, UTAH, USA

The skyscraper-sized sandstone buttes and towers of Monument Valley in Arizona and Utah are a monument to the wind, which eroded and sculpted, uncovering the sandstone by sweeping away the soft red shale around it.

On or Ecuadoran maybe?:

I might just fade into bolivian.

boxer Mike Tyson