Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/9-9/11/2009

9/9/1956:
Few countrymen in sport enjoy a greater camaraderie than Australian tennis players, but that fellowship is shelved for a few hours today at Forest Hills when Ken Rosewall beats his Davis Cup doubles partner, Lew Hoad, in four sets to win the U.S. Nationals and deny Hoad's bid for a Grand Slam. Rosewall's ground strkes and court coverage neutralize Had's powerful serve-and-volley game. After dropping the opening set, Rosewall assumes control and wins rather easily. Rosewall will enjoy a remarkably durable career and will win here again in 1970.

Birthdays:

Bobby Baun b. 1936
Joe Theismann b. 1949
"Thunder Dan" Majerie b. 1965
Mike Hampton b. 1972
Shane Battier b. 1978

Packers Fact:
The Packers' victory over the Boston Redskins in the 1936 NFL Championship Game was played in New York because Redskins owner George Preston Marshall was unhappy over the support his team received in Boston. The next year, Marshall moved the Redskins to Washington, D.C.

THE LIFE OF ELIA KAZAN

Time magazine movie critic Richard Schickel has made an engrossing, readable, and thoroughly researched study of one of America’s great dramatic artists. Kazan, who directed Death of a Salesman and On the Waterfront, lived a full and controversial life. Schickel is at his best discussing Kazan’s testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee and the much-debated honorary Oscar he received in 1999. A biography worthy of its extraordinary subject.

ELIA KAZAN: A BIOGRAPHY, by Richard Schickel (Harper Perennial, 2006)

9/10/1993:
Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker (32-1-1) and Mexican idol Julio Cesar Chavez (87-0-1) battle 12 rounds to a majority draw in a WBC welterweight title fight before more than 65,000 fans at the Alamodome in San Antonio, allowing Whitaker to retain his title. It was clearly a pro-Chavez crowd, which may have affected the scoring since most ringside observers thought Whitaker won the fight. Whitaker landed more punches and largely quieted the predominantly Mexican-American crowd that filled the stadium. In Round 12, with the outcome still very much in doubt, one judge gave it to Whitaker, one gave it to Chavez, and one called it even. It's the first time in 88 fights as a professional that Chavez does not prevail.

Birthdays:
Arnold Palmer b. 1929
Roger Maris b. 1934
Bob Lanier b. 1948
Randy Johnson b. 1963
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten b. 1976

Packers Fact:
John Brockington had three consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons for the Packers in the 1970s (1971-73).

ON TERRORISM

This is possibly the one book to read about extreme Islamic terrorism. Lawrence Wright’s research is exhaustive, and he has written a gripping, character-driven narrative that completely absorbs the reader. The book has won critical raves from every quarter. Dexter Filkins wrote in The New York Times Book Review that “the portrait of John O’Neill, the driven, demon-ridden F.B.I. agent who worked so frantically to stop Osama bin Laden, only to perish in the attack on the World Trade Center, is worth the price of the book alone. ‘The Looming Tower’ is a thriller. And it’s a tragedy, too.”

THE LOOMING TOWER: AL-QAEDA AND THE ROAD TO 9/11, by Lawrence Wright (Knopf, 2006)

9/11/1983:
After forcing the Baltimore Colts to trade him to Denver this summer, No. 1 overall draft choice John Elway faces the music today, returning to Baltimore as the Broncos visit the Colts. Elway is met by an unrelenting chorus of noise and verbal abuse the entire day from the warm-ups until game's end. It gets so bad that Elway can hardly call plays at the line of scrimmage and is removed from the game with Denver trailing, 10-3. Substitute quarterback Steve DeBerg leads the Broncos to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns and Denver wins, 17-10.

Birthdays:
Paul "Bear" Bryant b. 1913
Tom Landry b. 1924
Franz Beckenbauer b. 1945
Marty Liquori b. 1949
Ellis Burks b. 1964

Packers Fact:
The Packers' first three NFL championships (1929 to 1931) came in the days before the league title game was born. From 1920 to 1932, the championship was awarded to the team with the best record during the season.

CHILD OF WHITMAN

In his latest book of poems, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Galway Kinnell writes about love and death and children and fathers in long, musical, soulful lines reminiscent of Walt Whitman. It is Whitman’s lines “Strong is your hold O mortal flesh, / Strong is your hold O love” that give this collection its title. The selections include Kinnell’s extraordinary “When the Towers Fell,” a powerful meditation on the events of September 11, 2001. A CD of Kinnell reading the poems, some with prefatory comments, comes with the book.

STRONG IS YOUR HOLD, by Galway Kinnell (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)