Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 4/17-4/20/2009

4/17/1958:
Milwaukee third baseman Eddie Mathews becomes the first player to hit two home runs in each of his first two games of the season as the Braves beat Pittsburgh, 6-1, at County Stadium. Mathews hits a three-run homer off Vernon Law and a two-run shot off Bennie Daniels in today's game. In the season opener, he homered his first two times up against Bob Friend, but Pittsburgh rallied to win, 4-3, in 14 innings.

Birthdays:
Geoff Petrie b. 1948
Borje Salming b. 1951
Boomer Esiason b. 1961
Ken Daneyko b. 1964
Theo Ratliff b. 1973

Packers Fact:
Tackle Chad Clifton was the player whose 2002 season was cut short after 10 games because of a serious pelvic injury suffered when he was blindsided by Tampa Bay's Warren Sapp on an interception return. Clifton came back to start 63 of 64 regular season games from 2003 to 2006.

4/18/2005:
Catherine Nidereba of Kenya becomes the first four-time women's winner of the Boston Marathon, capturing the traditional springtime race in 2:25:13. Familiar with the course after winning here in 2000, '01 and '04, Ndereba paces herself until the onset of Heartbreak Hill at about the 20-mile mark and then pulls away to a comfrtable victory. In the men's division, Hailu Neggusie of Ethiopia becomes only the second non-Kenyan runner in the last 15 years to win here. It's his first marathon victory in North America; he had won previously in Japan and China.

Birthdays:
Don Ohl b. 1936
Pete Gogolak b. 1942
Wilber Marshall b. 1962
Rico Brogna b. 1970
Haile Gebrselassie b. 1973

Packers Fact:
Packers fullback Korey Hall earned first-team All-Western Athletic Conference honors for three consecutive seasons from 2004 to 2006 at linebacker.

4/19/1987:
The St. Louis Cardinals complete a three-game sweep of the defending world champion New York Mets with a 4-2 victory at Busch Stadium, but they lose ace left-hander John Tudor for over three months in a freakish mishap. In the third inning, Mets catcher Barry Lyons, in pursuit of a foul pop-up, tumbles into the St. Louis dugout and falls on Tudor, breaking his right leg. Out until August, Tudor will compile an outstanding 10-2 record in the regular season and win twice more in the postseason as the Redbirds fall just short of a world championship.

Birthdays:
Jack Pardee b. 1936
Alexis Arguello b. 1952
Frank Viola b. 1960
Joe Mauer Jr. b. 1983
Maria Sharapova b. 1987

4/20/1983:
George Brett cracks three homers and drives in seven runs to lead the Kansas City Royals to an 8-7 victory over Detroit. His third blast, a two-run shot in the ninth inning, accounts for the final margin. With 4 hits and 13 total bases in this game. Brett is on his way to leading the major leagues in slugging percentage (total bases divided by at bats) with a .563 mark. It's one of three times in his career that he'll lead the American League in that category to go with three batting titles, three years leading the league in base hits and three years leading in triples.

Birthdays:
Ernie Stautner b. 1925
Steve Spurrier b. 1945
Don Mattingly b. 1961
John Carney b. 1964
Tai Streets b. 1977

Packers Fact:
Linebacker A.J. Hawk first grew his hair long in 2005 as a tribute to former NFL star Pat Tilman, who was killed in action that year while serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.

THE BOOK’S COVER

Book lovers certainly know the old cliché about judging books by their covers. And book lovers also know the value of a good book jacket when it communicates quickly and forcefully the ideas awaiting inside the book: Think of that startling, modern, epic U on the front of Ulysses. The authors discuss the evolution of book cover design from the days when a dust jacket merely protected the book to the contemporary work of such innovators as Push Pin Studios and Chip Kidd. Edifying and beautifully illustrated.

BY ITS COVER: MODERN AMERICAN BOOK COVER DESIGN, by Ned Drew and Paul Sternberger (Princeton Architectural Press, 2005)

Kate Atkinson, whose smart Behind the Scenes at the Museum won the Whitbread Book Award, has been enthusiastically exploring the character and narrative possibilities of the mystery genre. In One Good Turn, Detective Jackson Brodie is by stages drawn into a convoluted plot involving an attacker called “Honda Man,” several Russians, a mystery writer, corpses (of course), and detective Louise Monroe. Atkinson is generous in all the ways a writer gives pleasure: her obvious delight in writing, her entertaining characterizations, and her shrewd way with a zinger.

ONE GOOD TURN, by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown, 2006)

OF DAFFODILS AND PLEASURE DOMES

From that first day in 1797 when Coleridge bounded into the Wordsworths’ yard and started talking literature, the two poets were immediate and fast friends. They traveled together. They lived near each other in the Lake District. They collaborated on one of the most important books of poetry ever published: Lyrical Ballads. Yet innate differences—Wordsworth’s egocentric ambition and Coleridge’s addiction to opium, to name just two—would inevitably estrange them. This is a riveting story of two giants of poetry and their deep, intense, though far from eternal, friendship.

THE FRIENDSHIP: WORDSWORTH AND COLERIDGE, by Adam Sisman (Viking Adult, 2007)

BLACKFORD OAKES’S FAREWELL

More than 25 years and ten novels ago, Blackford Oakes began his career in print by saving the life of the queen of England. In this latest, and apparently last, outing the experienced agent is called upon to save the life of Mikhail Gorbachev. The mission leads him to fall in love with a Soviet doctor and into conflict with the infamous Kim Philby. Entertaining and, in the Buckley fashion, informative.

LAST CALL FOR BLACKFORD OAKES, by William F. Buckley Jr. (Harcourt Trade, 2005)

On Spouses, Knowledgeable:

Q: How long have you been married to her?
A: Nineteen years.
Q: Is that your only marriage?
A: Yes, it is, that I know of.

actual courtroom trestimony


On Please, No Wisecracks...:

JEANS: Low-rise styles continue to be poopular among young adults

headline in The Las Vegas Review-Journal


On Cherokees Need Not Apply:

SIOUX CHEF REQUIRED

sign at Clarke's restaurant, Bath, England


On Um, Beam Me Up, Scotty:

This president has listened to some people, the so-called Vulcans in the White House, the ideologues. But you know, unlike the Vulcans of Star Trek who made the decisions based on logic and fact, these guys make it on ideology. These aren't Vulcans. There are Klingons in the White House. But unlike the real Klingons of Star Trek, these Klingons have never fought a battle of their own. Don't let faux Klingons send real Americans to war.

Rep. David Wu (D-Oregon), in a speech on the floor of Congress

. . . NEWS FLUSH . . .

Police officer Craig Clancy walked into a public bathroom stall at a San Antonio auto auction, pulled his pants down . . . and accidentally dropped his gun, shooting the man in the next stall. The falling pistol, which the officer tried to grab, somehow went off . . . twice. The victim was hospitalized but not seriously injured, according to police.

PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN ONCE MADE A LIVING AS A PRIZE FIGHTER.

BATHROOM BRAINTEASERS

1. It starts and ends two painful words. One comes from too little love; the other comes from too much noise. What are the words?

2. What do “subcontinental” and “uncomplimentary” have in common?

Q: WHAT ARE EPHELIDES?
A: FRECKLES.

TUBE TALK

IN THE EARLY DAYS OF TELEVISION, PRODUCERS WOULD TRY ALMOST ANY CONCEPT FOR A SHOW.

• On NBC’s Author Meets the Critics (1947), one critic would praise a new book and another would trash it. The author would then defend himself.
• On the Dumont Network’s Monodrama Theater (1952), one actor would perform an entire play—by himself—in front of a curtain. No sets, no props.

SEA SLUGS HAVE 25,000 TEETH.

SINGING IN THE SHOWER

“Getting old is fascinating. The older you get, the older you want to get.”

—Keith Richards, 62

“I don’t so much mind being old. I mind being fat and old.”

—Peter Gabriel, 55

“Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them.”

—Louis Armstrong, 69

SEE FOR YOURSELF: VIRGINIA EXTENDS 95 MILES FARTHER WEST THAN WEST VIRGINIA.

TRAVELER IN THE KNOW

The rose-red city of Petra, Jordan, was hewn from rock starting in 56 B.C. and is one of the wonders of the ancient world. It can be reached on foot by the Jig Gorger, a narrow winding passageway at times no wider than six feet.

GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE

See the answer tomorrow.

Q: True or False? The famous wildflowers of Texas are limited by the climate to a relatively small variety, primarily the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush shown here.

Answer: False. Bluebonnets are the king, but Texas boasts more than 5,000 species of wildflowers.

MOTHER EARTH

CUMBERLAND ISLAND, GEORGIA, USA

The largest of Georgia’s barrier islands, Cumberland Island was formed, like the others, by wind, waves, currents, and tides. The islands take the brunt of the wind, protecting Georgia’s marshy mainland shore while constantly being reshaped themselves.