Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 12/27/2010

12/27/1979:
After 52 years at the Olympia, the Detroit Red Wings move into their new home, Joe Louis Arena, on the Detroit River. Named after Motown's favorite son, the immortal Brown Bomber of heavyweight fistic fame, the new rink can seat nearly 20,000 for hockey. The St. Louis Blues spoil the party with a 3-2 victory, scoring twice in just over two minutes of the third period on goals by Bernie Federko and Blair Chapman. The honor of scoring the building's first goal goes to Brian Sutter of the Blues, one of six Sutter brothers from Viking, Alberta, who all enjoyed long careers in the NHL.

Birthdays:
Nolan Richardson b. 1941
Andre Tippett b. 1959
Jim Leyritz b. 1963
Deuce McAllister b. 1978
Cole Hamels b. 1983

Packers Fact:
One December 27, 1960; one day after losing the NFL title game to Philadelphia, the Packers were big winners in the NFL draft, choosing a future Hall of Fame defensive back with the final pick of the first round: Cornerback Herb Adderley.


Cream-filled Plots
http://www.tomheroes.com/Comic%20Ads/hostess%20ads/hostess_ads.htm

What better way to advertise your wares in a comic book than incorporating the product into a mini-comic of its own. At this site you can see how the sugar-pushing folks at Hostess enlisted busy superheroes like Aquaman, Captain America, Batman, Thor, and Iron Man to distract dastardly villains, wayward icebergs, and power-hungry monsters with their cupcakes, fruit pies, and Twinkies long enough for the authorities to show up and drag them away.

THE SHADES ARE WITH US

Australian bestseller Janette Turner Hospital (The Last Magician; Charades) invokes the myth of Orpheus in the doomed love of MIT mathematician Leela Moore and the mysterious violinist (and terrorist?) Mishka Bartok. Woven with allusions to music and literature (Mishka is playing “Che farò senza Euridice” in the subway entrance—aka the portal to Hades—when Leela first sees him, and she is instantly in love, with the melody as much as the man), the lush prose is sustained over long diversions into their childhoods and back to their ecstatic but troubled relationship and on to a terrifying quest by Leela. This would make a gripping and gorgeous book to read before the fire.

ORPHEUS LOST, by Janette Turner Hospital (W. W. Norton, 2007)