Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 7/16/2010

Using his own litmus test to evaluate when a young player is ready for a steady job in the majors, manager Joe Torre insists: "Players become big leaguers when you find out how they handle failure."

Birthdays:
Joey Giardello b. 1930
Margaret Smith Court b. 1942
Miguel Indurain b. 1964
Claude Lemieux b. 1965
Barry Sanders b. 1968

Packers Fact:
Before Jim Taylor's string of five consecutive 1,000-yard rushing years beginning in 1960, Tony Canadeo was the only Placers' player to reach the 1,000-yard mark in a season. He gained 1,052 yards in 1949.

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You sometimes feel like you live in a topsy-turvy world. This will just get you there faster.

CYBERPUNK NO MORE

Following up on his successful bestseller Pattern Recognition, William Gibson gives us a spiky meditation on America as it lurches into the 21st century. Three characters (a writer, a Chinese-Cuban immigrant, and an amphetamine junkie) get involved with spies and criminals while they search for a missing freight container. As the plot slowly unfolds we take in the dystopia that seemingly awaits us. Washington Post Book World calls Spook Country “a devastatingly precise reflection of the American zeitgeist.”

SPOOK COUNTRY, by William Gibson (Putnam, 2007)

BLUE HERON PALE ALE

Mendocino Brewing Co., Ukiah, California

Blue Heron Pale Ale has been a solid favorite for decades, though the brewery changed hands some years ago—fortunately the quality has largely remained consistent. It’s still bottle-conditioned, for one, though the globby white yeast of yore seems to have been replaced with a more powdery strain. Pale yellow with a good white crop of foam, this brew boasts lots of those California hops—salty, grapefruity, pungent and unabashed. After the aromatic assault, the flavor is moderately hoppy and devoid of harshness.

BEER FACT

Mendocino Brewing Company was started in Hopland, California, in 1983, but soon expanded with another, larger brewing facility in Ukiah. Additional restructuring resulted in the company’s purchase of the Olde Saratoga Springs Brewing Company in New York, which brews for East Coast markets.