Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/3-2/4/2010

2/3/1997:
Coaches Don Haskins of UTEP and Pete Carril of Princeton head a list of seven new inductees to the Basketball Hall of Fame at Springfield, Massachusetts. Also named: NBA stars Alex English and Bailey Howell, women's standouts Denise Curry and Joan Crawford, and Antonio Diaz-Miguel, longtime coach of the Spanish national team. Nicknamed "the Bear," Haskins won 687 games in 36 years at El Paso and led the Miners to a landmark victory in the 1966 NCAA tournament. Carril, in 30 years on the bench (29 at Princeton), won 525 games with a deliberate and disciplined style of play. English scored over 25,000 points in a 15-year career; Howell had over 17,000 points in 12 years. Curry was an All-American at UCLA, while Crawford was a prominent AAU player based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Birthdays:
Emile Griffith b. 1938
Fran Tarkenton b. 1940
Bob Griese b. 1945
Vlade Divac b. 1968
Retief Goosen b. 1969

Packers Fact:

Wide receiver John Jefferson is the only Packers' player to earn MVP honors in the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl. He shared the honor with San Diego's Dan Fouts after the NFC's 20-19 victory in the game following the 1982 season.

2/4/1969:
The NBA stages a doubleheader at the Astrodome, and over 41,000 fans show up to set a new league record. They watch Cincinnati top Detroit, 125-114, in the opener, but the star attraction is former Houston Cougar All-American Elvin Hayes, now with the San Diego Rockets. Scoring 32 points, "the Big E" leads San Diego to a 135-126 victory over the world champion Boston Celtics in the feature game. Two years from now, the NBA will approve the transfer of the San Diego franchise to Houston.

Birthdays:
Bennie Oosterbaan b. 1906
Byron Nelson b. 1912
Lawrence Taylor b. 1959
Denis Savard b. 1961
Oscar De La Hoya b. 1973

Packers Fact:
The Packers won all three of their indoor games in 2007, beating Minnesota, Detroit, and St. Louis in domed stadiums.


http://rulesofthumb.org/

Rules of Thumb
Rules of thumb are not scientific principles, but common wisdom learned from experience that can be applied to everyday problems, such as "if you are going to drive home from a party, don't have more than one drink per hour." At this site you can read hundreds of rules garnered from classic sources as well as contributions from visitors on topics like relationships, gardening, crime, animals, negotiating, dining, and most appropriately, thumbsucking - "It's easier to take away the pacifier than it is the thumb."

http://www.todaysbigthing.com

Today's Big Thing
Instead of dozens of wonderful offerings that you may not have the time to peruse, the wizards at this site find the "awesomest" video available each day including drunk weathermen, slow-motion lightning, television bloopers, sports stunts, animal antics, and more. With months of archives in case your boss gives you the afternoon off.

TOUGH LOVE

In the 1940s Laura MacAllan’s husband took her to a farm in the Mississippi Delta, where she had to contend with having no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and a racist, misogynist father-in-law. She turned to one of her black tenants for friendship, and troubles soon followed. Told from several different points of view, Hillary Jordan’s first novel is beautifully constructed and a compelling, moving story. It won the Bellwether Prize for Literature of Social Change for 2006.

MUDBOUND, by Hillary Jordan (Algonquin Books, 2008)

CHERCHEZ LA FEMME IN PHILLY

The husband of Philadelphia District Attorney Victor Carl’s former fiancée has been murdered, and the police suspect Carl himself. Is his ex setting him up for a fall? Could be. If James M. Cain or Raymond Chandler is your cup of crime, then this hard-boiled noir whodunit is definitely for you.

A KILLER’S KISS, by William Lashner (William Morrow, 2007)

ANCHOR SMALL BEER

Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco, California

Frugality tends to course through brewers’ veins. Homebrewers inclined to strong ale have been known to try remashing an all-malt mash to extract every little bit of sweet wort. And that’s the idea behind Anchor Small Beer: The late runoff from malt used for Old Foghorn is fermented into a weaker “small” beer. But as our friends across the pond have proven, “low-gravity” beers at 3%–4%/vol. can be quite enjoyable—they call theirs session ales. Anchor Small Beer has a lot of flavor for its modest gravity, and its full gold color and hoppy aroma would lead you to believe it’s bigger than it really is. Nice hop flavor and a good, drying bitterness in the finish. Plus, it comes in big bottles. Now that’s value.

ERDINGER DARK HEFE-WEIZEN

Erdinger Weissbräu, Erding, Germany

Opulent head atop a beautifully murky, yeast-infused mass. Smell the wistful berry/banana prelude as it mingles ever so slightly with roasted malt cocoa notes. This is a clean, straightforward dark German wheat beer. Erdinger Dark Hefe-Weizen will be preferred by beer drinkers seeking drinkability, simplicity, and clean taste. Absent is the usual cast of characters present in more traditional versions in the genre. What you will find are medium body and a mouthful of malt and goodness.