Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/26-2/28/2009

2/26/1991:
Garrulous impresario Bill Veeck and slugging second baseman Tony "Poosh 'Em Up" Lazzeri are voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown by the Veterans Committee. Veeck was arguably the foremost promoter and innovator in the history of professional sports, ruffling a few feathers along the way. But having fun at the ballpark was his credo, and he did everything he could (often on a limited budget) to entertain the fans. Lazzeri, long overshadowed by the Ruth-Gehrig dominance of the Murderers Row Yankees, played 14 years in the majors, drove in over 100 runs in a season seven times and set an American League record in 1936 with 11 RBIs in one game.

Birthdays:
Preacher Roe b. 1915
Bobby "Bingo" Smith b. 1946
Rolando Blackman b. 1959
Marshall Faulk b. 1973
Jenny Thompson b. 1973

Packers Fact:
Punter Jon Ryan played college football at Regina University in Canada.

2/27/1982:
Freshman forward Adrian Branch nails a 15-foot jump shot at the buzzer in overtime to give Maryland a 47-46 victory over top-ranked Virginia at Cole Fieldhouse in College Park. Branch, who started for DC-area powerhouse DeMatha High School, finishes with a career-high 29 points and sets a new season scoring record for freshmen, breaking a mark set by Albert King. Coached by Lefty Driesell in an era before the shot clock. The Terps set a deliberate pace against the favored Cavaliers. All-American Virginia center Ralph Sampson is held to only eight points and five rebounds by unsung Maryland bruiser Mark Fothergill, enabling the Terrapins to hang close and spring the upset.

Birthdays:
Raymond Berry b. 1933
John Davidson b. 1953
James Worthy b. 1961
Kent Desormeaux b. 1970
Duce Staley b. 1975

Packers Fact:
Mason Crosby's 53-yard field goal against the Eagles in 2007 was the longest by a Packers' player on Kickoff Weekend since Chris Jacke also kicked a 53-yarder against the Rams to open the 1990 season.

2/28/1992:
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 1988 Olympic heptathlon gold medalist, wins the 60-meter hurdles and the long jump to headline a star-studded complement of track-and-field stars at the USA/Mobil Indoor Championships at Madison Square Garden. Carl Lewis wins the long jump, extending his 11-year winning streak in the event. Noureddine Morceli of Algeria is the winner of the mile run, and Doug Padilla captures the 3000 meters. Joyner-Kersee will win her second gold medal in the heptathlon this summer at Barcelona.

Birthdays:
Frank Malzone b. 1930
Mario Andretti b. 1940
Bubba Smith b. 1945
Ickey Woods b. 1966
Noureddine Morceli b. 1970

Packers Fact:
Before cornerback Charles Woodson joined the Packers in 2006, the last former Heisman Trophy winner to play for the club was quarterback Danny Wuerffel (in 2000).

LOVE YOU TO DEATH

Christopher Moore brings Jody and Tommy back from his widely acclaimed 1995 Bloodsucking Fiends to prove that there is love (and lots of good sex) after death. It’s not all fun and games being a vampire, though: A gang of vampire busters known as the Animals is after them, and then, too, it’s sometimes very difficult to get good blood. Hip, smart, and side-splitting. Tommy’s goth girl sidekick Abby Normal steals the already excellent show with her diary excerpts. Publishers Weekly starred review.

YOU SUCK: A LOVE STORY, by Christopher Moore (William Morrow, 2007)

WHO’S LAUGHING NOW?

The year is 2022, and Jimi Hendrix would be 80. Guy Fontaine and his fellow seniors, who have been consigned to the Mission Pescadero nursing home, refuse to let the realities of aging, dementia, a bitchy director, difficult children, and patronizing doctors get in the way of their staging a full-blown boomer backlash, complete with all the drugs, sex, and rock ’n’ roll (their band is called Acid Reflux) they can still muster. Hilarious and humane at the same time, this novel about aging will delight readers of many ages and stages.

JIMI HENDRIX TURNS EIGHTY, by Tim Sandlin (Riverhead, 2007)

WHAT THE ATHEIST SAID

“We believe with certainty that an ethical life can be lived without religion. And we know for a fact that the corollary holds true—that religion has caused innumerable people not just to conduct themselves no better than others, but to award themselves permission to behave in ways that would make a brothel-keeper or an ethnic cleanser raise an eyebrow.” So Christopher Hitchens writes in his trenchant indictment of religion. Even those on the other side of the debate may want to read this to have a full and clear idea of the points they need to rebut. A sharply and entertainingly written polemic.

GOD IS NOT GREAT: HOW RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING, by Christopher Hitchens (Twelve, 2007)

On Insights, Olympian:

The difference between the long program and the short program is time.

Olympics commentator, covering the pairs figure skating final at the 2006 Olympics (thanks to Stacie Jacobson)

On Literalism, Excessive:

Host of Family Fortunes (UK):

We surveyed a hundred people and asked them to name a way of toasting someone. Michelle?

Contestant: Over a fire.

On We'll Try...

BE AWARE OF

INVISIBILITY

sign on road to the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania (thanks to Richard Oberholzer)

UNCLE JOHN’S STALL OF FAME

Honoree: A pet dog living in the village of Mundhaghar, India
Notable Achievement: Surviving a night locked in a bathroom with a leopard . . . without suffering a scratch
Background: One morning in 2005 a family heard a leopard growling in their bathroom. Somehow it had gotten in during the night. They called the police, who opened the door and were stunned to see the family’s dog in there, too. “By some miracle, the leopard hadn’t harmed the dog, even as they spent the night together in the small room,” a police inspector told reporters. The leopard now lives in a zoo; at last report the dog was healthy but “still terrified.”

ONE OF EVERY THREE INSECTS IN THE WORLD IS A BEETLE.

THE SCALES OF JUSTICE

Plaintiff: Marina Bai, a Russian astrologer
Defendant: NASA
Lawsuit: In 2005 NASA sent a car-size probe on a successful collision course with Tempel 1, a comet. Scientists were hoping to determine the makeup of the ancient comet and possibly learn the makeup of the solar system billions of years ago. Bai sued the American space agency for $300 million, claiming that the collision had changed her horoscope. “It is obvious,” Bai told Russia’s Izvestia newspaper, “that elements of the comet’s orbit will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope.”

Guess the verdict.

MOSQUITOES CAN GET ATHLETE’S FOOT.

AN ABSORBING QUESTION

WHY DO PEOPLE SOMETIMES STICK OUT THEIR TONGUES WHEN THEY’RE CONCENTRATING ON A HARD JOB?

Experts say: When concentrating on something, like a math problem, you’re using the part of the brain that’s also used for motor skills. Biting your lip or sticking out your tongue is an indicator that you’re suspending motor activity and limiting interference, i.e., concentrating.

MUSSOLINI INVENTED THE FASCIST “RAISED HAND” SALUTE BECAUSE HE HAD A HANDSHAKING PHOBIA.

RAINBOWS OF FISH AND CORAL

The Great Barrier Reef off Australia is home to brilliantly colored hard and soft coral and 1,500 varieties of fish—a Technicolor paradise for divers. It’s the world’s biggest, but coral wonderlands beckon reef divers in these spots, too:

• Beqa Lagoon, Beqa Island, Fiji
• Palau, Micronesia
• Bonaire, Lesser Antilles (Netherlands Antilles)
• Barrier Reef, Belize
• Saba, Lesser Antilles (Netherlands Antilles)

VÉZELAY

BURGUNDY, FRANCE

Built in the 11th century, the Basilica of Ste. Madeleine in Vézelay was a pilgrimage site until its relics of St. Mary Magdalene were declared false. Now painstakingly restored, it shines once again as a showcase of Romanesque architecture, a masterpiece of light and space.

GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE

See the answer tomorrow.

Q: True or False? Santiago Calatrava introduced distinguished modern architecture to the Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin when his glass-walled reception hall was added in 2001.