Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 12/26/2010

12/26/1955:
Cleveland Browns quarterback Otto Graham closes out an extraordinary career by leading his team to a 38-14 rout of the Los Angeles Rams for the NFL championship. Graham throws two touchdown passes, one to Dante Lavelli and one to Ray Renfro, and rushes for two TDs of his own. The Browns defense intercepts six passes by Rams QB Norm Van Brocklin, disappointing over 85,000 fans on hand at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.

Birthdays:
Glenn Davis b. 1924
Bill Yeoman b. 1927
Norm Ullman b. 1935
Carlton Fisk b. 1947
Ozzie Smith b. 1954

Packers Fact:
On Christmas Eve in 1983, former Packers star Forrest Gregg was named the ninth head coach in franchise history. Gregg was at the helm from the 1984 through 1987 seasons.


Cell Phone Symphony
http://improveverywhere.com/2006/02/18/cell-phone-symphony/
Dividing his cell phone orchestra into sections based on manufacturer, the fearless leader of this prank had each section choose a common ring tone, put their phones in their bags, and check them at the Strand bookstore in New York City. Then the fun began.

RICHARD THE GREAT

Jonathan Carr takes as his subject one of history’s most influential and controversial figures, Richard Wagner. By necessity, his study must include the pantheon of colorful characters with whom the composer/impresario/arbiter of taste/marriage-breaker-and-broker/musicians’-kingmaker/antivivisectionist/polemicist/self-made-omniscient-being came into contact in his unbelievably busy life, and the reverberations three generations later. Amazing how much mischief and mayhem some people managed to create in the days before television and the Internet.

THE WAGNER CLAN: THE SAGA OF GERMANY’S MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND INFAMOUS FAMILY, by Jonathan Carr (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2007)