Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 11/2-11/3/2009

11/2/2001:
In an early-season showdown of conference-leading clubs, the Detroit Red Wings defeat the New York Islanders, 2-1, at Joe Louis Arena. Scrappy winger Kris Draper scores both Detroit goals, one of them shorthanded, as the Red Wings beat their former teammate and now Isles goalie Chris Osgood for the second time this year. Detroit also beat New York, 5-4, in overtime at the Nassau Coliseum on October 13.

Birthdays:
Bill Mosienko b. 1921
Whitey Skoog b. 1926
Ken Roseweall b. 1934
Willie McGee b. 1958
Sidney Ponson b. 1976

Packers Fact:
Willie Wood was a quarterback in college at Southern California. When he went undrafted in 1960, the Packers signed him and moved him to safety, where he went on to a Pro Football Hall of Fame career.

CRIME MOST VICTORIAN

A horseman who falls from his mount and dies, a madwoman in Norfolk and the relative who is keeping her, and a great train robbery are a few of the intriguing elements of this richly imagined immersion into the Victorian era. D. J. Taylor does an excellent job that reminds us of his forebears, Victorian masters such as Dickens, Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, and Poe.

KEPT: A VICTORIAN MYSTERY, by D. J. Taylor (HarperCollins, 2007)

11/3/1990:
Scott Sisson kicks a 37-yard field goal with seven seconds left to give Georgia Tech a 41-38 victory over top-ranked and unbeaten Virginia at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville. Virginia fails to protect a 14-point halftime lead and is unable to score a touchdown in the closing moments, settling for a field goal, despite having a first and goal at the GT five-yard line. Virginia quarterback Shawn Moore scores three touchdowns and passes for 344 yards, but the favored Cavaliers are outscored in the second half, 27-10. Buttressed by this clutch road victory, Georgia Tech will win the Atlantic Coast Conference title, finish 11-0-1 and claim a share of the national championship with Colorado.

Birthdays:
Roy Emerson b. 1936
Larry Holmes b. 1949
Phil Simms b. 1955
Karch Kiraly b. 1960
Armando Benitez b. 1972

Packers Fact:
Packers' rookie Travis Williams brought back 4 of his 18 kickoff returns all the way to the end zone in 1967.

DECLINE AND FALL

Thomas Reppetto was a Chicago commander of detectives and then president of New York City’s Citizens Crime Commission for 20 years. This sequel to his acclaimed American Mafia: A History of Its Rise to Power follows the decline of the Mafia from its peak in the 1920s, and reports on the state of the Mafia today and the future prospects of organized crime. You might find this book, which features John Gotti, Sam Giancana, Robert Kennedy, and Rudolph Giuliani, hard to put down.

BRINGING DOWN THE MOB: THE WAR AGAINST THE AMERICAN MAFIA, by Thomas Reppetto (Henry Holt, 2006)