Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/17-18/2010

2/17/1954:
For the second time in six weeks, two of the NHL's premier goaltenders hook up in a scoreless tie as Terry Sawchuk and the Detroit Red Wings deadlock Harry Lumley and Toronto, 0-0, at Maple Leaf Gardens. At season's end, Lumley will barely edge Sawchuk for the prestigious Vezina Trophy by only one goal allowed, 131 to 132. It will be Lumley's only Vezina, interrupting a four-year vice grip on the hardware by Sawchuk, who won it in 1952, '53 and '55. Lumley will also post career bests in shutouts (13) and goals against average (1.86).

Birthdays:
Red Barber b. 1908
Rod Dedeaux b. 1914
Jim Brown b. 1936
Michael Jordan b. 1963
Luc Robitaille b. 1966

Packers Fact:
Ahman Green holds the Packers' record with 33 career 100-yard rushing games (2000-06).

2/18/2001:
Michael Waltrip's first career victory in 462 NASCAR starts, the 43rd running of the Daytona 500, is overshadowed by the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. on the race's final lap. On an attempted pass at 170 mph, Earnhardt's car careens out of control and smashes into a concrete barrier. As Waltrip takes the checkered flag, all eyes are on Earnhardt's wreck, but no one can believe the indomitable 49-year-old idol of the stock car world is seriously hurt. Tragically, it's much worse than that. Earnhardt suffered massive head trauma and is pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital. In his familiar No. 3 car, Earnhardt had won 76 NASCAR events and seven year-end Winston Cup championships.

Birthdays:
George Gipp b. 1895
Dick Duff b. 1936
Manny Mota b. 1938
Judy Rankin b. 1945
Andy Moog b. 1960

Packers Fact:
The Packers opened the 2008 regular season with three quarterbacks - fourth-year pro Aaron Rodgers, and rookies Matt Flynn and Brian Brohm - who never had started an NFL game before.

http://www.dxpo-playingcards.com/jokers/jokers.htm#xpo

The Joker's Wild
Although many popular card games today rarely use jokers, their inclusion in standard decks dates back to the 19th century, when euchre was the most popular game in the United States and Europe. At this site you can see a while bevy of jokers represented by traditional court jesters as well as rock stars, Mickey Mouse, bathing beauties, wacky animals, devils, Santa Claus, even Alfred E. Neuman.

http://www.panopticist.com/2006/08/a_screaming_comes_across_the_screen.php

The Wilhelm Scream
Originally recorded in 1951 during the shooting of Distant Drums, the sound effect that became known as the "Wilhelm Scream" became part of the Warner Bros. sound library and was subsequently used in dozens of their films. As a tribute to the classic scream, sound designer Ben Burtt overdubbed it into films like Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, which started a trend among other soundmen that continues to this day. Learn more about the scream and see a compilation of dozens of screams at this site.

WATCH WHAT YOU SAY

Hidden in the nooks and crannies of all language are little monsters that jump out unbidden—those verbal blunders that cause embarrassment, provoke thought, and engender more language, in the form of puns, jokes, and double entendres. Here is a history of malapropisms (named after Richard Sheridan’s Mrs. Malaprop) and a fascinating investigation of the psychological and cultural truths they express.

UM . . . SLIPS, STUMBLES, AND VERBAL BLUNDERS AND WHAT THEY MEAN, by Michael Erard (Pantheon, 2007)

SO FAR FROM HOME

The Lost City is La Joya, and though Jackson Small feels compelled to look for it, he has no idea if he is pursuing a dream—and was it a dream or did he murder his friend Connolly in Belize when they were serving there in the British army? Henry Shukman, a travel writer and poet, weaves a stirring novel of a young man testing fate under the equatorial sun. Don’t miss this one. The New York Times Book Review says of The Lost City, “A golden streak of imaginative art makes this work so much more than an adventure yarn.”

THE LOST CITY, by Henry Shukman (Knopf, 2008)

SILVERBACK PORTER

Wynkoop Brewery, Denver, Colorado

This cask-conditioned porter packs an aromatic wallop of bourbon vanilla and chocolate malt. Fittingly, it pours an opaque black, with a coarse but resiliently foamy beige head. Salty, mellow malt abounds in the flavor, with a smooth, creamy texture due to the air that’s injected at the hand pump. Very limited grain bitterness counters the sweetness of malt, but the whole is still light enough to be pleasantly quaffable. Slightly dry finish, with a good licorice/black malt aftertaste. Perfect when served at 52°F. A great example of a classic working man’s quitting-time porter. (As tradition dictates for the style, the stuff is dangerously easy to drink.)

SUDS SOURCE

The Wynkoop Brewery, 1634 18th Street, offers a great lineup of ales on tap and on cask, with a full menu of pub food.

STEINGADENER DUNKLES WEIZEN

Aktien Brewery, Kaufbeuren, Germany

The dark wheat beers of Bavaria are easy to drink, refreshing, and satisfying. They are also remarkably versatile for pairing and cooking with food. But the excellence of this particular brew would be wasted in the kitchen. The famous Aktien brewery is known the world over for its top-quality German beers, and so the excellence of its Dunkles Weizen comes as no surprise. A light molasses-cookie brown, unsurprisingly well-carbonated, with a soft haze from the yeast. Caramel wheat and a very slight fruitiness emerge. Absent is the strong fruity, spicy yeast character of many other Bavarian wheat beers. Instead, subtlety reigns—for such a dark beer, it is incredibly smooth, dry, and easy to drink. And at 5.1%/vol., it’s not particularly strong.