Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 3/30-3/31/2009

3/30/2001:
Notre Dame's women's basketball team storms from 16 points behind defending national champion Connecticut and rolls to a 90-75 victory in an NCAA tournament semifinal game at the Savvis Center in St. Louis. Early in the second half, Notre Dame turns the tide with a 35-13 run led by Niele Ivey (21 points), Alicia Ratay (20 points, including four of five from three-point range), Ruth Riley (18 points and 10 rebounds) and Erica Haney (15 points). Coached by Muffet McGraw, the Irish will emerge as national champions when they defeat Purdue in the tourney final two nights from now, condlucing a gala Final Four affectionately dubbed "Arch Madness" by the local citizenry.

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

Packers Fact:
The Packers were scheduled to fly just 10,738 miles on their road trips in 2007. That was more than 6,000 less miles than in 2006, and marked the fourth-fewest miles traveled in the league.

3/31/2003:
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays make new manager Lou Piniella's first game a memorable one, scoring five runs in the n inth inning to stun the Boston Red Sox, 6-4, on Opening Day at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Terry Shumpert's two-run homer and Carl Crawford's walk-off three-run shot provide a bright spot for the forlorn D-Rays, who will stumble to a 63-99 record-a sixth straight season of fewer than 70 wins since their expansion team began play in 1998.

Birthdays:
Gordie Howe b. 1928
Miller Barber b. 1931
Bob Pulford b. 1936
Tom Barrasso b. 1965
Pavel Bure b. 1971

Packers Fact:
The Packers selected kicker Mason Crosby in the sixth round of the 2007 draft. He was the third of Green Bay's three choices in that round.

YES, DEAR

Though this is not an advice book per se, you will probably glean some truths and insights about marriage here. Flexibility, humor, communication, and just plain not wanting to be in the doghouse got Mr. Doocy (the likable anchor of Fox and Friends) through a lot of tough times and boneheaded moves with the admirable Mrs. Doocy over the years. He is very funny here, and his misadventures, though they may be too off-the-wall to be familiar, will make you feel a whole lot better about your own life.

THE MR. & MRS. HAPPY HANDBOOK: EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE AND MARRIAGE (WITH CORRECTIONS BY MRS. DOOCY), by Steve Doocy (William Morrow, 2006)

MANY HAPPY RETURNS

Let’s celebrate the 200th birthday of Russia’s revered and influential humorist, Nikolai Gogol. In this collection, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky show through their brilliant translations the unerring wit and truth of Gogol’s droll insights. Try “The Nose,” wherein a barber finds a nose in his breakfast roll, or “The Overcoat,” about a lowly government copyist, his important new coat, and what happens when it is stolen. The story’s importance is reflected in Dostoyevsky’s quip: “We all came out of Gogol’s ‘Overcoat.’”

THE COLLECTED TALES OF NIKOLAI GOGOL, by N. V. Gogol; translated and annotated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (Vintage Classics, 1999)

UNCLE JOHN’S STALL OF FAME

Honoree: Paul Moghadan, who runs a Chevron gas station in West Covina, California
Notable Achievement: Created the best gas station restroom in America
Background: When Moghadan started at Chevron in 1966, he was told that keeping the gas station bathroom clean and well stocked should be his highest priority. He took the message to heart, and when the time came for him to remodel his restroom in 1992, he had his brother, an architectural designer, come up with something special: silver columns, marble counters, stone tile, and even a chandelier. “It’s the best restroom I’ve ever seen,” said Jose Montes, who lives in town. “You feel like you’re rich when you’re in there.”

LEMONS AND STRAWBERRIES DO NOT RIPEN AFTER BEING PICKED. AVOCADOS AND BANANAS DO.

WHEN YOU GOTTA GO . . .

Del Close, a theater producer and comedian, died in 1999 at the age of 64. He’d once played Polonius in Hamlet, but the role he really wanted was Yorick (the dead man whose skull Hamlet holds up in memory). So he stipulated in his will that his body be cremated and his skull preserved and given to the Goodman Theatre in Chicago for a future production of Hamlet—and that program credits list Yorick as being “played” by Del Close.

NANCY GREEN WAS THE FIRST LIVING PERSON WHOSE IMAGE WAS TRADEMARKED AS AUNT JEMIMA.

On Classified Ads, A Little Too Specific:

AUDITIONS: Seeking a young man who is at least 28 but not over 28 years old.

classified ad in the Hartford (Connecticut) Courant (thanks to Andrea Grody)


On By Jove, It WOULD:

SILENT PLANE WOULD CUT AIRPORT NOISE

cnn.com headlines (thanks to Dan Kirkwood)

TOWER OF DAVID

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

First constructed in the second century B.C. as part of the defense of Jerusalem, the Tower of David today stands guard over a museum tracing the history of the city through thousands of years of repeated conquests and renewals.

MOTHER EARTH

CORCOVADO NATIONAL PARK, COSTA RICA

Environments that support a rich variety of life, like the lush rain forest of Costa Rica, also produce multitudes of predators, and some of their potential dinners have adapted by becoming poisonous. This poisonous dart frog, like many toxic animals and insects, flashes a “Don’t eat me” sign with bright color, in this case, an intense red.