Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 10/1-10/2/2009

Exhorting his hBuffalo Bills players each week as they made their way onto the field, Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy would ask: "Where else would you rather be?"

Birthdays:
Rod Carew b. 1945
Grete Waitz b. 1953
Jeff Reardon b. 1955
Mark McGwire b. 1963
Cliff Ronning b. 1965

Packers Fact:
Don Hutson (1941 and 1942), Paul Hornung (1961), Jim Taylor (1962), Bart Starr (1966), and Brett Favre (1995-97) are the five Packers who officially have been recognized as NFL MVPs.

OF FISH AND MEN

A truly gigantic (800 pages) compendium of fishing stories and essays from numerous times, places, and authors. Surprises and old friends: Guy de Maupassant rubs shoulders with John McPhee, Zane Grey with Dave Barry, Grover Cleveland with James Henshall. Parts include saltwater fishing, anglers’ philosophies, fishing stories, trout, and many others. A delightful and significant collection.

THE GIGANTIC BOOK OF FISHING STORIES, edited by Nick Lyons, foreword by David Halberstam (Skyhorse Publishing, 2007)

10/2/1974:
The Pittsburgh Pirates clinch the National League East title with a contentious 10-inning, 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Three Rivers Stadium. The Cubs take a 4-0 lead in the first inning, forcing the Bucs to play catch-up all night. In the fourth inning, Richie Zisk of the Pirates is thrown out at the plate and the crowd turns ugly, tossing fruit, batteries and whiskey bottles at Cubs outfielders. The Cubs leave the field in the eighth inning until things calm down, and Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh (fearing a forfeit) personally appeals to the unruly crowd in the ninth inning. The Pirates scratch out two runs to tie the game in the ninth and win it in the 10th on a hit by Manny Sanguillen.

Birthdays:
Maury Wills b. 1932
Dick Barnett b. 1936
Mark Rypien b. 1962
Thomas Muster b. 1967
Eddie Guardado b. 1970

Packers Fact:
The stands at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum were only about two-thirds full when the Packers beat the Chiefs 35-10 in Super Bowl I in January of 1967. It is the only Super Bowl that was not a sellout.

DARK DOINGS

With the end of the Harry Potter series, it might be a good idea to look around for some backups. We recommend this Russian version set in contemporary Moscow. Among us and alongside us and born to human parents are the Others. They have powers and use them for the Light or the Dark Side, and the Night Watch maintains the perpetual, uneasy cold war between the two forces. “Potent as a shot of vodka.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

THE NIGHT WATCH, by Sergei Lukyanenko (Anchor, 2006)