Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 3/10-3/12/2010

3/10/1977:
Tonight's New York Knicks 108-104 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers at Madison Square Garden upsets many bettors and results in an investigation by the league office. With his team favored to win by six points in some betting lines, Knicks guard Earl Monroe takes an improptu shot at his own basket at the final buzzer and makes it, giving Portland an additional two points for a final margin of four points. Bettors who had wagered on the Knicks and had given six points on the line lost their bets instead of breaking even. A sheepish Monroe is exonerated of any wrongdoing, but scores of losing gamblers are not amused by Earl the Pearl's curious marksmanship.

Birthdays:
Ara Parseghian b. 1923
Leroy Ellis b. 1940
Austin Carr b. 1948
Rod Woodson b. 1965
Shannon Miller b. 1977

Packers Fact:
Defensive end Aaron Kampman posted 27.5 sacks over the 2006 (15.5) and 2007 (12) seasons. The only NFL player with more in that span was San Diego's Shawne Merriman (29.5).

3/11/1961:
The Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs skate to a 2-2 tie at Maple Leaf Gardens in a game punctuated by a wild brawl with five and half minutes left. It starts when pugnacious Leafs winger Eddie Shack spears Blackhawks defenseman Pierre Pilote, who responds by swinging his stick at Shack. Toronto's Bert Olmstead rushes at Pilote to defend Shack and the donnybrook is on. Chicago's Reggie Fleming squares off with Toronto's Larry Hillman; Shack, feeling left out, tangles with Chicago center iceman Stan Mikita; the benches empty and referee Frank Udvari is overwhelmed. Toronto police, in their street shoes, must enter the ice surface to help quell the nasty fray, which results in eight ejections and numerous fines to the protagonists.

Birthdays:
Louise Brough b. 1923
Dock Ellis b. 1945
Bobby Abreu b. 1974
Shawn Springs b. 1975
Elton Brand b. 1979

Packers Fact:
Sterling Sharpe holds the Packers' single-season record with 12 catches in 1993. At the time, it was a league record, too.

3/12/2008:
Lance Mackey, a 37-year-old throat cancer survivor from Fairbanks, wins his second straight Iditarod sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, by a one-hour margin over four-time champion Jeff King. Mackey's dogs prove to be the difference with their tenacity on the hills and inclines during the race. King's team made up time on the straightaways but not enough to overtake the Mackey team, which made abbreviated rest stops at the multiple checkpoints along the 1,150-mile route.

Birthdays:
Bronco Horvath b. 1930
Johnny Rutherford b. 1938
Darryl Strawberry b. 1962
Steve Finley b. 1965
Raul Mondesi b. 1971

Packers Fact:
Packers' assistant coach Harry Sydney for Super Bowl XXXI played for the 49ers' winning Super Bowl teams in XXIII and XXIV.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhL4nHFwgrE

Viva Chihuahuas!
Tired of being dressed in silly sweaters and carried in pocketbooks, Chihuahuas want to be treated like rreal dogs who chase squirresl, stick their heads out of car windows, and don't have to answer to ridiculous names like Fifi. Come hear their call to revolution at this site.

http://gruppler.dojotoolkit.org/

Exploding Pages
Ever wish you could make that piece of writing you're working on disappear? Here's a whole bunch of effects to make whole pages fade out, disintegrate into blocks, explode into thin air, or cause the letters to just drop off the page.

http://flightsimx.archive.amnesia.com.au/

Paper Flight Simulator
Last week we let you play virtual office basketball. Now let's see how you do with paper airplanes.

BE SELFISH

Treat yourself to the 30th-anniversary reissue of The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins’s first book, and see why H. Allen Orr in the New York Review of Books says, “It is, in my view, the best work of popular science ever written.” Dawkins looked at genetic evolution in a new way, from the perspective of the little guys, the cells and strands of DNA, and ushered in a new generation of science and science writing with this incredibly engaging and exciting book.

THE SELFISH GENE, by Richard Dawkins (1976; Oxford University Press, 2006)

LIKE NO ETHEL WE KNOW

Because Ethel Merman’s career was so long, many people alive today know her only as a buxom belter, not someone to take very seriously. So it’s nice to have this biography, which reminds us that Merman started in vaudeville, opened five Cole Porter musicals, and introduced listeners to an enormous amount of Gershwin and Berlin. There’s good gossip here, and many rumors are debunked through meticulous scholarship. Best of all, Merman’s good spirits are in evidence everywhere.

BRASS DIVA: THE LIFE AND LEGENDS OF ETHEL MERMAN, by Caryl Flinn (University of California Press, 2007)

AIRPORT BLUES

Benjamin R. Ford, stranded between New York and L.A. at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, writes a letter to the carrier that has brought him here and left him. He made a sacred promise to his daughter to walk her down the aisle, he tells the company. He then goes on about his failed marriage, his drinking, his mother’s stroke, the art of his profession (translating), and everything else in the messy grab bag of his life. A truly funny and heartbreaking work that, once finished, leaves you feeling almost grateful that airlines screw up.

DEAR AMERICAN AIRLINES, by Jonathan Miles (Houghton Mifflin, 2008)

ISLAND WHEAT ALE

Capital Brewery, Middleton, Wisconsin

Extraordinarily pale, with light foam and a neutral aroma. Locally grown wheat is applied toward an amicable balance, with a hint of complexity that’s unusual in an American-style wheat ale. Light body, clean aftertaste. Well done and worthy of a thirsty situation.

BEER FACT

Island’s wheat is grown on Wisconsin’s own Washington Island (off the tip of famous Door County). Lake Michigan creates a maritime climate, lending the crop some unique characteristics that happily carry through to the drink.

BEER TOWN BROWN

BridgePort Brewing Co., Portland, Oregon

If Detroit is Hockey Town, Portland could make a convincing bid as Beer Town. This American brown ale, winner of a Gold medal at the 2008 World Beer Cup in the English-style Brown Ale category, is one notch in Portland’s belt. Pouring with ample carbonation, it’s rife with a distinct almond aroma meeting malt at the start, following through to a lightly phenolic and still malty finish. Brown is meant to be a session beer, light enough to drink in quantity, but with enough flavor to keep you interested. This one certainly fits the bill, in any beer town.

BEER QUOTE

“Do not cease to drink beer, to eat, to intoxicate thyself, to make love, and to celebrate the good days.”
—EGYPTIAN PROVERB

BREWMASTERS’ RELEASE 2008 CRIMSON WHEAT

Widmer Brothers Brewing, Portland, Oregon

It’s always a treat to try a brewery’s special releases—the brewer is free to have some fun and experiment with new ingredients and formulations. This one can only expand on Widmer’s reputation for American-style wheat beer. Newly available caramelized red and dark wheat malts are put to use in a refreshing, bready summer wheat style with a full, round malt flavor and the color of a good red Scottish or Irish ale. Big on body, and with a brilliantly clear, vivid red color, this is no cloudy brew. Crimson Wheat is gentle on the palate, with a smooth, slightly sweet wheat and grain flavor and a neutral, easy finish. Polished, original, and dangerously quick-drinking, this is one new style that deserves to stick around. A great reminder of craft brewing’s pioneering spirit and endless creativity.