Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/18/2009

8/18/2001:
David Toms scores a hole-in-one with a five-wood from 243 yards away at the par-three 15th hole on the way to a two-stroke lead after three rounds of the PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club. The longest hole-in-one ever made in the history of the four major championships, it will prove vitally important for Toms. Tomorrow, he'll hold off Phil Mickelson by one shot to win his first Grand Slam tourney.

Birthdays:
Robert Clemente b. 1934
Rafer Johnson b. 1935
Matt Snell b. 1941
Bobby Higginson b. 1970
Jeremy Shockey b. 1980

Packers Fact:
Vince Lombardi is one of two coaches to lead the Packers to victory in the Super Bowl (games I and II). Mike Holmgren was the other (game XXXI).


Linguistic pyrotechnics and scathing satire mark this roller coaster of a novel that traces the fortunes and misfortunes of two men: Wayne and the mysterious Corsican he hires to help him in his moneymaking schemes, which depend on short-selling against the downfall of global markets. They are the lovers, in very different ways, of Alix, a fiercely smart architecture student in Marseille. All three collide in Marseille, and the world may never be the same again.

DAS KAPITAL: A NOVEL OF LOVE AND MONEY MARKETS, by Viken Berberian (Simon & Schuster, 2007)