Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 4/1-4/6/2010

4/1/2002:
The Maryland Terrapins capture their first NCAA men's basketball championship, 64-52, over Indiana at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. Tournament MVP Juan Dixon leads all scorers with 18 points, while Lonny Baxter adds 15 points and 14 rebounds to lead Coach Gary Williams' senior-laden squad to the title. It's the first loss in six NCAA final-round appearances by Indiana. Second-year Coach Mike Davis nearly leads the Hoosiers to the title despite being second-guessed to the hilt all season long by strident supporters of recently deposed head coach Bobby Knight.

Birthdays:
Bo Schembechler b. 1929
Ron Perranoski b. 1936
Rusty Staub b. 1944
Norm Van Lier b. 1947
Scott Stevens b. 1964

Packers Fact:
Aaron Rodgers compiled a passer rating of 103.6 in the 2008 preseason while preparing for his first kickoff weekend as the Packers' starting quarterback.

4/2/2006:
For the first time in his career, the world's No. 1 tennis player, Roger Federer of Switzerland, needs three tiebreaker sets to win a match, defeating Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the finals of the Nasdaq-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. Despite trailing at some point in all three breakers, Federer defends his title in this event by scores of 7-6, 7-6, 7-6. The hard-fought affair is Federer's 48th consecutive match victory in the United States, including prominent back-to-back hardcourt tournament wins at the U.S. Open, Indian Wells in Palm Springs, California, and here.

Birthdays:
Luke Appling b. 1907
Carmen Basilio b. 1927
Dick Radatz b. 1937
Don Sutton b. 1945
Linford Christie b. 1960

Packers Fact:
The Packers played on Monday Night Football for the 16th consecutive season in 2008. The only NFL team with a longer streak was the Denver Broncos, which had a Monday-night game for the 17th year in a row that season.

4/3/1965:
Lakers forward Elgin Baylor, one of the NBA's 50 greatest players, suffers torn ligaments and a shattered left kneecap in a collision with Baltimore Bullets guard Don Ohl in the opening minutes of a Western Division playoff game at the L.A. Sports Arena. Baylor will miss the balance of the postseason and, despite posting four subsequent seasons of 24.0 ppg or better, will never fully regain his extraordinary leaping ability or quick first step.

Birthdays:
Bernie Parent b. 1945
Pervis Ellison b. 1967
Rodney Hampton b. 1969
Picabo Street b. 1971
Michael Olowokandt b. 1975

Packers Fact:
Quarterback Arnie Herber was born on April 2, 1910. (He died in 1969 at age 59.) Herber, who is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, was the NFL's first great long passer.

4/4/1937:
Byron Nelson overcomes a four-shot deficit in the final round of the Masters with a birdie-eagle on the 12th and 13th holes, while third-round leader Ralph Guldahl stumbles to a double bogey-bogey on the same holes, gift-wrapping the championship for Nelson, the genial Texan from Fort Worth. Guldahl puts his drive on 12 and his approach on 13 into Rae's Creek, sealing his fate. Nelson drains a 25-foot birdie putt on 12 and chips in for an eagle-3 at the 13th, playing the two holes in five shots while Guldahl requires 11.

Birthdays:
Tris Speaker b. 1888
JoAnne Carner b. 1939
Dale Hawerchuk b. 1963
Scott Rolen b. 1975
Ben Gordon b. 1983

4/5/2005:
The Baylor Bears women's basketball team wins the national championship with an 84-62 rout of Michigan State in the NCAA title game at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. Led by 26 points from Sophia Young, the eighth-seeded Lady Bears complete their unexpected march through the tournament draw in which they knocked off three No. 1 seeds: North Carolina, LSU and finally Michigan State. Coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson was the starting point guard for the 1982 Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters, who won the title the first year the NCAA conducted a women's tourney.

Birthdays:
Doggie Julian b. 1901
Doug Favell b. 1945
Bonnie Stennett b. 1951
Brad Van Pelt b. 1951
Ike Hilliard b. 1976

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted wide receiver Boyd Dowler in the third round in 1959 from Colorado.

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/04/top-office-pranks-and-april-fools-day.html
Office Pranks
Wrap someone's work space with aluminum, fill an entire cubicle with packing peanuts, replace all the office equipment with cardboard fixtures, and plant a garden in a computer keyboard-these are just a few of the many pranks you can pull this April Fool's Day to lighten up the atmosphere at work.

http://www.bewarethecheese.com/chocobunny.htm
Chocolate Bunny Test
Get deep insight without all the calories-find out what the location of your first bite into a chocolate bunny says about your personality.

http://www.omnomnomnom.com/
Omnomnomnom
Unlike you and the chocolate rabbit, the voracious mouths on this site couldn't care less about where they're biting first.

http://asteroid.divnull.com/2006/04/easter-turducken/
Turducken, Dessert-style
Stuff a Cadbury creme egg into a marshmallow Peeps, then cram the whole caloric mess into a hollow chocolate bunny and voila! You have an Easter turducken. Nutritional facts included.

http://www.taggalaxy.de/
Space-y Search
Start your picture search by entering one tag name, which will become the sun in the center of the "tag galaxy." Click on other tags to add them to the center and when you're ready, click on the sun to see all pertinent photos arranged on a globe, which you can rotate and click on to view the pictures.

http://www.dinosaurgardens.com/archives/600
Blast Insurance
Ad agencies have been using fear tactics to sell their products sine their inception, but these guys take the cake. At this site you can listen to radio ads from the nuclear-paranoid 1950s urging you to purchase do-it-yourself fallout shelter kits, complete with first-aid and survival supplies.

LET ME OUT!

“After thirteen months in Biosphere 2, we were starving, suffocating and going quite mad.” From its conception by a group called the Institute of Ecotechnics, to the building of and hype surrounding Biosphere 2 in the Arizona desert, through the slightly over two years that the author and seven fellow “biospherians” spent in it, this anthropological experiment has wide-reaching ramifications for modern civilization. Harrowing and unforgettable.

THE HUMAN EXPERIMENT: TWO YEARS AND TWENTY MINUTES INSIDE BIOSPHERE 2, by Jane Poynter (Thunder’s Mouth, 2006)

AMERICAN SHUTTERBUGS

This splendid volume presents more than 600 images courtesy of the monumental photography collection at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, which Keith Davis curates. Davis chronicles the complete history of the medium and its uses in America, and with it the growth of the country, from photographs’ beginnings as portraiture through their role as a marketable commodity.

THE ORIGINS OF AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY: FROM DAGUERREOTYPE TO DRY-PLATE, 1839–1885, by Keith F. Davis (Yale University Press/Nelson-Atkins, 2007)

THE SUMO WRESTLER AND THE NOH MASK MAKER

This saga of two brothers begins when they are orphaned boys living with their grandparents before the beginning of World War II and follows them through the turmoil of the war and into the years that follow. It is an intricately plotted novel told with feeling and understanding. Gail Tsukiyama has a superb talent for finding just the right sensual details to make her world spring to life.

THE STREET OF A THOUSAND BLOSSOMS, by Gail Tsukiyama (St. Martin’s Press, 2007)

“MY MOTHER IS A FISH.”

So says Vardaman Bundren in William Faulkner’s self-proclaimed tour de force. As I Lay Dying is the story of the nine-day journey of the Bundren family as they try to get the corpse of their mother, Addie, to the place where she wanted to be buried in Jefferson, Mississippi. They travel through flood and fire, their mock-epic odyssey told in parts by all the people involved, including Addie herself. At times you want to cry for the unrelenting hardness of their lives, and at other times you want to laugh at their utter lack of common sense. It’s one of Faulkner’s greatest and a work of American genius.

AS I LAY DYING, by William Faulkner (1930; Modern Library, 2000)

25 YEARS OF WORK

Gary Radke has brought us a sumptuously produced volume on one of the pinnacles of Renaissance art, Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, ten gilded bronze panels crafted (over more than 25 years) for the Florence Baptistery and having exquisite reliefs on both the inner and outer sides. The tempestuous history of Ghiberti’s commission, studies for the panels, and recent restoration efforts, as well as discussions of techniques used in creating the massive masterpieces, round out this beautiful study.

THE GATES OF PARADISE: LORENZO GHIBERTI’S RENAISSANCE MASTERPIECE; edited by Gary M. Radke (Yale University Press, 2007)

BARNEY FLATS OATMEAL STOUT

Anderson Valley Brewing Co., Boonville, California

This oatmeal stout has won several awards, and for good reason, as it’s a classic example of the style. Buckwheat, barley, coffee, oats, maple syrup—a complete, nutritious breakfast in one convenient bottle! The oats add a very subtle grain aroma that’s a bit oily, almost like coconut, and it grows more noticeable in the mouthfeel, where there’s lots of smooth, silky viscosity, finally culminating in a long, bittersweet-chocolate finish with just a hint of alcohol warmth. The odd thing about Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout is that for all its malt sweetness, rich flavor, and ruminative finish, it’s not a heavy beer. Hops play a minimal but important role, and absent is the grain bitterness or harshness normally associated with robust porter or dry stout. A dessert beer that’s black as night, but light enough to snack on. Impressive.

SHARK ATTACK DOUBLE RED ALE

Port Brewing Co., San Marcos, California

Yes, it’s another double beer, this time one of those ubiquitous red ales—generally just American ambers made with red-colored malts. Crystal malts at around 80 degrees Lovibond will cast that reddish hue, and there are even “caramel red” malts out there, kilned specifically for that hue. Sure enough, this beer pours a blood red—a bit unsettling, considering its name. It even has a bloodlike opacity; bottle-conditioning and hop-haze, no doubt. On top, a nice thick beige foam. Inside, huge, chewy Pacific hops (Cascade and Centennial) and equally chewy caramel aromatics. Caramel sweetness begins the attack, followed by a bit of alcohol bite, with the hops muscling in to dry up all that sweetness and leave you with an astringent pucker. Extreme beer fans won’t want to miss this one.

YETI IMPERIAL STOUT

Great Divide Brewing Company, Denver, Colorado

There are two versions of this Imperial Stout, one with oak aging, and a plain version—this is the latter, but it is anything but plain. Bitter chocolate, alcohol and espresso notes assault the senses as this tar-black monster is poured. The alcohol, at 9.5%, makes its presence known even before the first sip. A heavy beige band of foam lends a thick curtain of lace. Aggressive in both flavor and finish, this beer has teeth, but its big, roasty, bitter edges will smooth out over time.

ZATEC LAGER

Zatecky Pivovar Brewery, Zatec, Czech Republic

While most Czech pilseners boast a certain refinement, the depth of Zatec’s malt flavors place it among the finest of Bohemian lagers. It pours a brilliant bronze, with many layers of fine malt and just a touch of floral hops in the aroma. Malt continues to take the fore, with a huge, mouth-filling flavor of quality barley and a touch of citrus blossom. Hops faintly shore up malt sweetness and leave a trace of dryness, but the finish is long on malt. Not a beer for frat parties—this is the apex of the brewer’s art, a jewel among lagers.

VONDEL

Brouwerij Riva, Flanders, Belgium

A slightly solventy nose, but pleasantly so, like the alcoholic aromatics of over-ripe apricots. Some raisin and prune character, too. Just slightly metallic in the flavor, but the finish is caramel sweet—the resiny alcohol just barely makes it through to the end. Almost like a highly carbonated malt liquor, but with some pleasant dried fruit nuances.

BEER QUOTE

“The government will fall that raises the price of beer.”
—CZECH SAYING

GLACIAL PALE ALE

Ghost River Brewing Co., Memphis, Tennessee

Glacial Pale Ale is a full, orangey-amber color, pouring with a slight haze even if you don’t choose to pour the yeast dregs into your glass. Named for a relatively new American ale hop, “Glacier,” this beer has a pleasant bouquet of caramel malt and a rather subtle, herbal hop complexity. The hops barely continue to the flavor, allowing malt to stand as the main player. A biscuity finish with a trace of clean hop bitterness makes this a boldly flavored but pleasantly smooth beer.

BEER FACT

This brewery’s water source, the Memphis Sands Aquifer, is supplied by the wetlands of the Ghost River.