Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/21-23/2010

2/21/1992:
Kristi Yamaguchi of Fremont, California, becomes the fifth American gold medal winner of women's figure skating at the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. Performing her four-minute free skate segment to Ernesto Lecuona's Malaguena, the 20-year-old Yamaguchi earns favor with the judges with her artistic skating, not leaning heavily on difficult jumps. Even though she falls to the ice while attempting a toe loop, all the other contending skaters stumble at least once in their routines as well.

Birthdays:
Tom Yawkey b. 1903
Jack Ramsay b. 1925
Alan Trammell b. 1958
Brian Rolston b. 1973
Steve Francis b. 1978

2/22/1997:
Later to be named Pack-10 Player of the Year, Cal. (Berkeley) guard Ed Gray pours in a school record 48 points before breaking his ankle in an 89-87 loss to Washington State at Friel Court in Pullman, Washington. A transfer from Tennessee, Gray assumed the scoring load for the Golden Bears this season after Shareef Abdur-Rahim moved on to the NBA. Before his season-ending mishap, he averaged 24.8 ppg, second in the nation. He'll be a first-round draft choice of the Atlanta Hawks (22nd overall), but injuries will curtail his NBA career.

Birthdays:
Julius Erving b. 1950
Amy Alcott b. 1956
Vijay Singh b. 1963
Pat LaFontaine b. 1965
Michael Chang b. 1972

Packers Fact:
Ahman Green holds the Packers' single-season rushing record of 1,883 yards (2003).

2/23/1983:
New York Rangers center Mark Pavelich ties Don Murdoch's club record of five goals in one game, leading the Broadway Blueshirts to an 11-3 rout of the Hartford Whalers at Madison Square Garden. Pavelich's third goal for a hat trick is met by an avalanche of hats cascading from the seating area. Just by coincidence, baseball-style hats had been given away by a sponsor to all fans entering the arena. A member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team "Miracle on Ice," Pavelich had the assist on Mike Eruzione's game-winning goal against the Soviet Union during their amazing charge to the gold medal in Lake Placid, New York.

Birthdays:
Dante Lavelli b. 1923
Fred Biletnikoff b. 1943
Ed "Too Tall" Jones b. 1951
Flip Saunders b. 1955
Bobby Bonilla b. 1963

Packers Fact:
In the 2007 season, Packers quarterbacks Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and Craig Nall combined to complete a club-record 66.3 percent of their passes. Their 383 completions equaled the most in one year in Green Bay history.


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http://www.fromoldbooks.org/

Ancient Browsing
Now enjoy hundreds of old, rare books without mold or storage problems. Webmaster Liam Quin has posted thousands of images of every description scanned from his collection of antique books including holiday illustrations, architectural photographs, woodcut portraits, dictionary excerpts, even the bookplates found in the volumes. With a list of sources and a gallery entitled "What people did with the images," demonstrating how people used these royalty free images to create new art of their own.

WHY WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY MATTERS

For General Washington the Revolutionary War wasn’t so much about the military engagements. Rather, it was the struggles off the field that mattered: keeping his unpaid volunteers from deserting; getting the Continental Congress to live up to its responsibilities; staying one step ahead of the British in order to avoid a direct confrontation. Washington’s genius turned out to be in somehow winning an obviously unwinnable war without winning many actual battles (he won only two). In lively and illuminating prose, Bruce Chadwick shows how he did it.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S WAR: THE FORGING OF A REVOLUTIONARY LEADER AND THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY, by Bruce Chadwick (Sourcebooks, 2005)

THE HEART BREAKS HARD

George Pelecanos gives us another gritty crime novel, set in Washington, D.C. Lorenzo Brown, fresh out of an eight-year prison stint, is doing pretty well, helping out at the Humane Society and falling a bit in love with Rachel, who is his probation officer and one hot—and complicated—mama. When Rachel is stabbed in an escalating gang war, Lorenzo gets a crash course in revenge. Pelecanos reveals some superb, stately pacing and a deceptively simple plot that show his absolute mastery over his chosen form.

DRAMA CITY, by George Pelecanos (Little, Brown, 2005

WILD BLUE BLUEBERRY LAGER

Blue Dawg Brewing, Baldwinsville, New York

Wow, this beer is purple! Looks like sparkling red, or rather, purple wine . . . As you’d imagine, it’s got a powerfully fruity aroma. Concord grape, a hint of fresh boysenberry and maybe Flintstones vitamins? A balancing tartness makes an appearance, and it’s quite welcome. Not quite wine-like strength, but at 8%/vol., it’s much stronger than your average fruit beer. Packed with fruit flavor, a tad too sweet, but an intriguing foray toward the perfect blueberry beer.

HOFBRAU DUNKEL

Staatliches Hofbräuhaus, Munich, Germany

This dunkel pours in a classic reddish-tinted mahogany, brilliantly clear, with surprisingly light off-white lacing on top. Truly, deeply, richly malty, with those toasted-marshmallow-and-chocolate melanoidin notes. Brewed to a softly alkaline mellowness, it still boasts a drying follow-through, malty but not sweet. This is as good an example of a Munich dunkel as you will find—little surprise, considering its native pedigree. Ein mas bitte of Dunkel, a steaming-hot soft pretzel and a bit of mustard, and you’ll be transported to the voluminous Hofbräu halls of Munich. Heaven.

STROPKEN

Brouwerij Van Steenberge, Ertvelde, Belgium

BARNEY’S PANTS BELGIAN STRONG ALE RECIPE FOR 5 GALLONS

9 lb. light malt extract syrup
1½ lb. Belgian clear candy sugar
½ lb. dextrin malt
1½ oz. Kent Goldings hops, 60 minutes from end of boil
½ oz. Kent Goldings hops, 20 minutes from end of boil Belgian strong or Belgian abbey ale yeast
¾ cup corn sugar for priming
Crack or crush malted grains. Bring 3 gallons water to 160°F. Place malt in mesh bag and steep grains in hot water for 30 minutes. Remove malt, add malt extract and candy sugar and bring to a boil. Boil 60 minutes, adding hops as directed. Remove from heat and let cool. Siphon into primary fermenter with enough cold, pre-boiled water to make 5 gallons. Add yeast when beer reaches 75– 80°F. Ferment for three to six days at 65–75°F. Transfer to secondary fermenter and condition four to six weeks. When finished, dissolve ¾ cup corn sugar into beer, bottle, and age at room temperature for two weeks.