Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/2-9/3/2009

Candidly assessing the stream of criticism from print media outlets in Philadelphia, Hall of Fame Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt commented: "Philadelphia is the only city where you can experience the thrill of victory and the agony of reading about it the next day."

Packers Fact:
The Packers' franchise was forfeited back to the league in 1921 for rules violations involving college players; in 1922, Curly Lambeau bought it back.


With autumn in sight, a good spy novel is what you need, and one of the best has been given a new life. Charles McCarry’s intelligent, mesmerizing novel about the JFK assassination was something of a cult classic, and it has lost none of its originality or appeal. Paul Christopher reappears in The Secret Lovers (2006) and Christopher’s Ghosts (2007), but this was the very first one. P. J. O’Rourke has called McCarry the “absolute best thriller writer alive.”

TEARS OF AUTUMN: A PAUL CHRISTOPHER NOVEL, by Charles McCarry (1975; Overlook Press, 2007)

9/3/1976:
Tennis iconoclast Ilie Nastase of Romania unleashes his latest exhibition of unsportsmanlike conduct during a 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 win over Hans-Jurgen Pohmann of Germany in the second round of the U.S. Open at Forest Hills. After rudely confronting the umpire, linesmen, fans, and even a courtside photographer during the match, Nastase goes ballistic late in the third set, accusing Pohmann of stalling after he suffers leg cramps. When the match ends, neither Pohmann nor George Armstrong, the umpire, will shake Nastase's hand.

Birthdays:
Eddie Stanky b. 1916
Bennie Blades b. 1966
Luis Gonzalez b. 1967
Damon Stoudamire b. 1973
Jevon Kearse b. 1976

Packers Fact:
Fullback Jim Taylor is the only Packers' player to lead the league in rushing. He gained an NFL-best 1,474 yards in 1962.

NOT JUST A PRETTY FACE

An unusual portrait of Ziegfeld Girl Doris Travis, whose zest for life and multifaceted talents have been celebrated through numerous TV appearances and other books, including Travis’s autobiography. This unique approach—each page a collage of feathers and pictures and newspaper headlines, stockings and sequins and playbills, hats and cars and corsets—is a visual treat as colorful and over-the-top as any Ziegfeld show. Publishers Weekly starred review.

CENTURY GIRL: 100 YEARS IN THE LIFE OF DORIS EATON TRAVIS, LAST LIVING STAR OF THE ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, by Lauren Redniss (Harper Design, 2006)