Monday, January 31, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/29-31/2011

The Astros' Jim Fuller to teammate Cliff Johnson, after listening to him brag that he would steal 20 bases during the upcoming 1977 season: "The only way you'll do that is to break into the equipment room."

Birthdays:
Barney Oldfield b. 1878
Greg Louganis b. 1960
Andre Reed b. 1964
Dominik Hasek b. 1965
Aeneas Williams b. 1968

Packers Fact:
Fourth-round draft choice from Florida State in 1992, Edgar Bennett, rushed for a career-best 1,067 yards in 1995.

1/30/1996:
Magic Johnson appears in his first NBA game since testing positive for HIV in November 1991. Playing for the Lakers against the Golden State Warriors at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles, Johnson enters the contest as a substitute 2 minutes and 21 seconds into the game. He plays 27 minutes and comes up with 19 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds.

Birthdays:
Walt Dropo b. 1923
Davey Johnson b. 1943
Tom Izzo b. 1955
Curtis Strange b. 1955
Payne Stewart b. 1957

1/31/1991:
At 5'10", Michael Adams becomes the shortest player in NBA history to record a triple-double. Playing for the Denver Nuggets before a home crowd, Adams accumulates 45 points (32 of them in the second half), 12 assists and 11 rebounds in leading his club to a 123-119 win over the New Jersey Nets. He'll finish the season with 26.5 points, 10.5 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game.

Birthdays:
Don Hutson b. 1913
Jersey Joe Walcott b. 1914
Jackie Robinson b. 1919
Ernie Banks b. 1931
Nolan Ryan b. 1947

Packers Fact:
On this date in 1913: Don Hutson was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Hutson, who became one of the NFL's legendary players in hi 11 seasons on Green Bay (1935-1945), died at 84 in 1997.



“Ever tried.
Ever failed.
No matter.
Try again.
Fail again.
Fail better.”
SAMUEL BECKETT, Irish playwright


“Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.”
JERRY SEINFELD, on Seinfeld


“What’s the use of worrying?”
GEORGE ASAF, British songwriter, “Pack Up Your Troubles”



ON PROUD BOASTS,
STUPID

Anyone can be elected governor. I’m proof of that.

Georgia governor Joe Frank Harris


ON DONUTS,
DELINQUENT

Donuts were reported loitering in a field on Opening Hill Road.

police blotter item


ON WELL, YEAH, BUT SEE, THERE’S
THAT POINT THINGIE IN THERE

I t would’ve been real nice to get 100 sacks and all that, but I’m okay with 96.5. It’s triple digits, right?

defensive tackle Warren Sapp




MATH MADE FUN
Author, girls’ activist, math whiz,and tireless math advocate, adorable Danica McKellar (most recognized from her role as Winnie in The Wonder Years) showed her chops in 2007 with Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle-School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail. With this sequel, she really finds her stride and makes the widely dreaded subject simply irresistible. A wonderful gift for a girl or for the math-challenged person in all of us.

KISS MY MATH: SHOWING PRE-ALGEBRA WHO’S BOSS, by Danica McKellar (Hudson Street Press, 2008)

MICHAEL HAS ISSUES
Is there no end to comedian Michael Ian Black’s mad, sly, wise, absurd, stupid, crude, intellectual, bizarre, rational brand of philosophy? None in sight. Black’s comedy sketches from TV shows like Stella, The State, and Michael & Michael Have Issues are fresh and addictive, and he transitions nicely to the written page. As Stephen Colbert said, “Michael Ian Black has proven that even the most simple-minded among us can occasionally create works of genius.”

MY CUSTOM VAN: AND 50 OTHER MIND-BLOWING ESSAYS THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND ALL OVER YOUR FACE, by Michael Ian Black (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2009)

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Friday, January 28, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/27-28/2011

1/27/1937:
The worst flood in Cincinnati history inundates Crosley Field, home of the Reds. On this date, home plate is under 21 feet of water. Dozens of workers set out in rowboats to keep floating oil drums, tree limbs and other debris from causing further damage. Pitcher Lee Grissom and a team secretary pose for photographers in one of the boats. Grissom also tacks a sign to the flagpole: NO GAME TODAY. WET GROUNDS.

Birthdays:
Art Rooney b. 1901
Frankie Albert b. 1920
billy "White Shoes" Johnson b. 1952
Cris Collinsworth b. 1959
Marat Safin b. 1980

Packers Fact:
Brett Goode entered his second season as the Packers' long snapper in 2009.


1/28/1995:
The Canadian Football League announces that Memphis, Tennessee, will be the location of an expansion franchise. Coached by Pepper Rodgers, the Memphis Mad Dogs will finish the upcoming season with a 9-9-0 record in the CFL's Southern Division. In 1993 and '94, the CFL tried to penetrate the U.S. market by installing teams in Sacramento, Las Vegas, Shreveport and Baltimore; in 1995, the Sacramento and Las Vegas franchises are dropped, but Birmingham and San Antonio are added to the list. The three-year experiment will come to an end in 1996 when all five U.S. teams fold because of poor attendance.

Birthdays:
Pete Runnels b. 1928
Bill White b. 1934
Jermaine Dye b. 1974
Magglio Ordonez b. 1974
Daunte Culpepper b. 1977

Packers Fact:
Three members of the Packers' secondary made the Pro Bowl in the 2008 season: cornerbacks Al Harris and Charles Woodson and safety Nick Collins.



“I love my past. I love my present. I’m not ashamed of what I’ve had, and I’m not sad because I have it no longer.”
COLETTE, French novelist

“When people keep telling you that you can’t do a thing, you kind of like to try it.”
MARGARET CHASE SMITH, U.S. senator




ON JUST UP THE AVENUE FROM
THE TAJ MAHAL, BROOKLYN

Game show host Wink Martindale (questioning people on the street): In what city would you find the Eiffel Tower?

Woman: Eiffel Tower would be New York. Eiffel Tower, New York, New York.



ON COUNTERFEIT BRANDS, INCREDIBLY CONVINCING

Always buy the branded
LEE
Compleye une of Western
Qarments for the Whore Family

label in a shirt, China


MONEY MATTERS
In her career as a very successful equity analyst and professional investor, Anne-Marie Fink has seen—and saved—thousands of businesses. Here she comes forth as a “myth breaker” to show that even (or especially) in these topsy-turvy times, business managers must face 11 major bedrock truths in order to succeed. In clear, concise language and with numerous real examples, she explains why managers must avoid common mistakes such as unhealthy diversification, listening to customers who do not share the interests of the company, and overvaluing efficiency and employee satisfaction.

THE MONEYMAKERS: HOW EXTRAORDINARY MANAGERS WIN IN A WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN, by Anne-Marie Fink (Crown Business, 2009)

WINTER BEACH READ
From style and society maven Gloria Vanderbilt comes a marvelous soap opera of marriage and betrayal. Priscilla and Talbot Bingham (he combined their names as Talcilla) met as teens. When their marriage and partnership of ten years ends with Talbot’s abrupt death, his wife—who by her own admission had trouble being as “passionate” as Talbot was—discovers letters to an unknown woman. Or is the mysterious figure an expression of Priscilla’s erotic imagination, freed at last?

OBSESSION, by Gloria Vanderbilt (HarperCollins, 2009)

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/24-26/2011

1/24/1982:

Led by rising star quarterback Joe Montana, who completes 14 of 22 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 18 yards and a TD on the ground, the San Francisco 49ers win Super Bowl XVI, 26-21, over the Cincinnati Bengals at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. It's the only Super Bowl that will ever be played at the Silverdome, although Michigan will host Super Bowl XL at Ford Field in Detroit. Announced by Pat Summerall and John Madden, it's also the highest-rated Super Bowl telecast to date.

Birthdays:
Giorgio Chinaglia b. 1947
Atlee Hammaker b. 1o958
Rob Dibble b. 1964
Mary Lou Retton b. 1968
Scott Karmir b. 1984

Packers Fact:
The Packers have won 13 regular-season games four different times. The first time came during the 14-game schedule of 1962. (The others came in 16-game schedules.)

1/25/1955:
Eighteen-year-old Jill Kinmont, reigning national champion in the slalom and a top prospect for a medal at the 1956 Olympics, strikes a tree while competing in the downhill at the Snow Cup in Alta, Utah, and is left paralyzed from the neck down. Ironically, she's on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated, which began publication five months earlier, and her accident gives rise to the magazine's famed cover jinx. She'll also be the subject of two movies: The Other Side of the Mountain (1975) and The Other Side of the Mountain, Part II (1978).

Birthdays:
Lou Groza b. 1924
Don Maynard b. 1937
Steve Profontaine b. 1951
Mark Duper b. 1959
Chris Chelios b. 1962

Packers Fact:
Packers' kicker Chris Jacke scored 820 points (second at the time only to the legendary Don Hutson) from 1989 to 1996.

Australia Day
1/26/1962:
Last year, Roger Maris hit 61 homers to break Babe Ruth's single-season record of 60 and Mickey Mantle was close behind with 54. Today, the two superstars sign contracts to play themselves in the movie Safe at Home! The plot centers on a boy who's pressured into lying to his pals about his friendship with Maris and Mantle. Filmed during spring training in Fort Lauderdale, with Whitey Ford and Ralph Houk making cameo appearances, the movie will receive tepid reviews at best.

Birthdays:
Bob Uecker b. 1935
Henry Jordan b. 1935
Jack Youngblood b. 1950
Wayne Gretzky b. 1961
Vince Carter b. 1977

Packers Fact:
The Packers' victory over Chicago on Kickoff Weekend in 2009 pulled them even with the Bears for the most season-opening wins (5) in NFL history.



“It’s not the tragedies that kill us, it’s the messes.”
DOROTHY PARKER, American humorist and writer


CHIN UP!
CHEST OUT!
BACK STRAIGHT!
American military slogan, circa World War II


“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
OSCAR WILDE, Anglo-Irish writer


ON METAPHORS, BLIND

They can do no wrong now in the mind of the public eye.

Kansas City sports reporter, discussing the Chiefs on ESPN radio (thanks to Dave Boudreaux)


ON FUNNY, WE THOUGHT IT WOULD SPEAK JAPANESE

Honda Civic ’96. AM/FM/CD, low miles, good condition, speaks Spanish.

classified ad


ON WHAT NOT TO SAY WHEN
INTRODUCING SOMEONE IN A WHEELCHAIR

Stand up, Chuck, let’em see ya!

Vice President Joe Biden, to wheelchair-bound Missouri state Senator Chuck Graham



IS IT LOVE?
Hughie, an out-of-work actor, finds employment in the fine art of flirting. His employers? Husbands who want their wives to feel again the excitement of being wooed. Naturally, Hughie, who turns out to be quite talented in his new line of work, wants to try the technique on the object of his own desire, an older woman whose philosophy is “What’s love got to do with it?” But flirting can have serious—and hilarious—consequences, as this delightful comedy of errors proves.

THE FLIRT, by Kathleen Tessaro (Avon, 2008)
Want your brains shaken up? Try this one-two knockout punch: a history of the Cold War by Tom Reed (a presidential adviser and a nuclear-weapons engineer with the Lawrence Livermore laboratories) and a political history of nuclear weapons from Reed and Danny Stillman, a Los Alamos physicist. This combination will likely blow your mind, and there’s enough in these two volumes to keep you thinking for many decades to come.

AT THE ABYSS: AN INSIDER’S HISTORY OF THE COLD WAR, by Tom Reed (Ballantine, 2004)

NUCLEAR EXPRESS: A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE BOMB AND ITS PROLIFERATION, by Tom Reed and Danny Stillman (Zenith Press, 2009)

A RECIPE FOR NOSTALGIA
Take one gentle man twice expatriated (from his native Holland to London, then from London to New York); add the disorientation of 9/11 and marital estrangement; mix thoroughly with West Indian cricketers looking for a permanent spot to play; toss in a few misfits living in the Chelsea Hotel; then garnish with a shady, charismatic man named Chuck Ramkissoon. It’s a difficult recipe to pull off, but Joseph O’Neill’s third novel succeeds masterfully, quietly exerting the heartbreaking gravitas and beauty of a modern classic.

NETHERLAND, by Joseph O’Neill (Knopf, 2008)

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Sunday, January 23, 2011

APCKRFAN's NFL picks 2010: Week 20: Conference

Week 20: Conference Championship

Green Bay @ Chicago - GB (let's take one more step toward bringing the Lombardi trophy back home for Jerry Kramer's birthday!)
NY Jets @ Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh

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Sports Fact of the Day 1/23/2011

1/23/1962:
Jackie Robinson, who played his last game in 1956, becomes the first African American to be elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. It's just his first time on the ballot, and he's elected with 124 votes of the 160 cast. enshrined along with him are Bob Feller and Edd Roush.

Birthdays:
Jerry Kramer b. 1936
Petr Korda b. 1968
Eric Metcalf b. 1968
Kevin Mawae b. 1971
Julie Foudy b. 1971



ON WE PREFER
OUR TITLE MORE!

intuitively
counterproductive . . . . . . stupid

personal
manual database . . . . . . calendar

examples of actual doublespeak used by businesses, educators, and advertisers, as collected by William Lutz in his book Doublespeak Defined



FIRE TESTS
GOLD;
ADVERSITY
GOOD MEN.
—German proverb

Labels:

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/21-22/2011

1/21/1954
The Boston Celtics' Bob Cousy is a one-man show in overtime as the East wins the NBA All-Star Game, 98-93, at Madison Square Garden. The game is tied 84-84 after the Western All-Stars sink two free throws as time expires. Cousy, who has 10 points in the first 48 minutes, scores 10 more in overtime and dribbles out the clock. Basketball's All-Star Game does not yet enjoy the popularity it will gain in years to come. Tonight's matchup is the second of a doubleheader, it's preceded by a game between two military teams from For Belvoir and the Aberdeen Proving Grounds.

Birthdays:
Don Donober b. 1932
Jack Nicklaus b. 1940
Hakeem Olajuwon b. 1963
Detlef Schrempt b. 1963
Rusty Greer b. 1969

Packers Fact:
The Packers' bye in week 5 of 2009 was their earliest bye in 10 years.

1/22/2066:
Kobe Bryant scores 81 points while leading the Lakers to a 122-104 victory over the Toronto raptors at Staples Center. It's the second-highest single-game point total in NBA history, trailing only the 100 points achieved by Wilt Chamberlain in 1962. Bryant contributes 27 points in the third quarter and 28 in the fourth in helping the Lakers overcome an 18-point third-quarter deficit.

Birthdays:
Elmer Lach b. 1918
Joe Perry b. 1927
Serge Savard b. 1946
Mike Bessy b. 1967
Greg Oden b. 1968

Packers Fact:
Fullback John Kuhn posted the first 2-touchdown game of his career in a 36-17 victory over St. Louis in Week 3 of 200. He ran 1 yard for a touchdown and caught a 10-yard pass for another score.



“Such is life!”
NED KELLY, Australian outlaw, uttering his final words


IF IT DOES NOT
GET CLOUDY,
IT WILL NOT
GET CLEAR.
—Albanian proverb



ON WE’LL BET ON THE 10-YEAR-OLD

Are You Smarter Than a 10-Year-Old? host Noel Edmonds: How many days will there be in the year 2010?

Contestant: Er . . . is it 60 or 52?



ON POLICE BLOTTERS,
GRIPPING

Saturday, Jan. 22: A staff member in Thackery Hall reported to campus police that a male came into his office and began a conversation.

police blotter item, University of Pittsburgh



DEAD POETS SOCIETY
The late John Updike’s oeuvre encompassed practically every literary genre except graphic novels and cookbooks. If his novels are not to your taste, try his essays and autobiographies. The short stories are also gems. There was simply no one better at capturing the quality of light and air as one strolls through one’s childhood hometown, the inner storm of love and resentment as one’s parents age, or the exquisite pain of erotic memory.

MY FATHER’S TEARS AND OTHER STORIES, by John Updike (Knopf, 2009)

SPORTS WORLD
It’s long (almost 800 pages); it’s thorough (discusses every pitch two pitchers threw in the 2007 season); and it’s specific. And it might just be a book that you or your favorite sports fan will love. Righty Mike Mussina was struggling that year; southpaw Tom Glavine enjoyed his 300th win. Both pitchers worked with veteran author John Feinstein on this fascinating study.

LIVING ON THE BLACK: TWO PITCHERS, TWO TEAMS, A SEASON TO REMEMBER, by John Feinstein (Little, Brown, 2008)

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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/19-20/2011

1/19/1998:
Legendary Los Angeles Lakers play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn, credited with inventing the phrases slam dunk, charity stripe, triple-double and air ball, broadcasts his 3,000th consecutive game. The streak began in 1965 and will eventually reach 3,338 consecutive Lakers games before ending midway through the 200-102 season when Hearn undergoes cardiac bypass surgery. Hearn also appeared as an announcer in several movies and was the voice on the castaways' radio in the TV series Gilligan's Island.

Birthdays:
Joe Schmidt b. 1932
Dan Reeves b. 1944
Ottis Anderson b. 1957
Stefan Edberg b. 1966
Junior Seau b. 1969

Packers Fact:
The Packers were unbeatable at Lambeau Field for much of the 1990s. From 1995 to 1998, they won a club-record 25 games in a row at home.


Jimmy Connors, winner of eight Grand Slam singles titles between 1974 and 1983, on court technique in the new century: "In an era of specialists, you're either a clay court specialist, a grass court specialist, or a hard court specialist...or you're Roger Federer."

Birthdays:
Norm Stewart b. 1935
Carol Heiss b. 1940
John Naber b. 1956
Ron Harper b. 1964
Brian Giles b. 1971

Packers Fact:
Wide receiver Desmond Howard was the first special-teams performer to earn the Super Bowl MVP award. He was honored for his kick returns in Green Bay's victory over New England in Super Bowl XXXI.




ON HIGHER EDUCATION, A LITTLE TOO HIGH

Course descriptions from Indiana University, Duke University, and Oklahoma State University, respectively:

Art & Science of Beer: We will explore the place of beer in ancient as well as modern life, and the role beer has played in important achievements in microbiology, biotechnology, and physics.

Campus Culture and Drinking: The cultural understandings that motivate and shape undergraduate drinking.

International Beverage Education: The history of beverages such as wines, distilled spirits, and beers. Prerequisite: Must be 21 years of age.



ON WE’RE THERE!

MUD-FILLED PARADISE.

AN UNFORGETTABLE SENSATION,

AS IF YOU ARE ENTERING RIGHT

INTO HELL.

sign outside a hot spring in Japan



“The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
CALVIN COOLIDGE, U.S. president

“There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.”
HENRY KISSINGER, American diplomat and political scientist



THE VEGETARIAN BIBLE
It’s hard to believe that more than 35 years have passed since a little vegetarian enclave in Ithaca, New York, published its first cookbook. The recipes seem fresher and more exciting than ever: crispy chickpea crepes that can be stuffed with a zillion fillings; spicy Cuban black bean soup; carrot muffins bursting with fiber and flavor; fruit smoothies and zesty tofu taco fillings and so much more. With a helpful glossary of ingredients and techniques.

THE MOOSEWOOD RESTAURANT COOKING FOR HEALTH, by the Moosewood Collective (Simon & Schuster, 2009)

MAD SCIENTISTS IN LOVE
In Luminous Fish, renowned scientist Lynn Margulis explores the infinite mysteries of love both between men and women and of scientists for their subjects. Ambition, lust, and ideas fuel these modern love stories, in which poetic lyricism and predatory aggression are intertwined and interdependent in the quest for knowledge and pleasure.

LUMINOUS FISH: TALES OF SCIENCE AND LOVE, by Lynn Margulis (Chelsea Green, 2007)

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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/18/2011

1/18/1958:
Willie O'Ree debuts for the Boston Bruins during a 3-0 win against the Canadiens in Montreal. A native of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, 23-year-old O'Ree becomes the first black player in the National Hockey League. He'll play in only two games this season but will return to appear in 43 contests in 1960-61. Playing minor league hockey until 1979, when he's 43, he'll have a long career despite being 95% blind in his right eye, the result of being hit with a puck in 1956. In 2008, he'll receive the Order of Canada, the highest civilian award for a Canadian citizen.

Birthdays:
Syl Apps b. 1915
Curt Flood b. 1938
Mark Messier b. 1961
Brady Anderson b. 1964
Mike Lieberthal b. 1972

Packers Fact:
The Packers' defense picked off 22 passes in 2008. The only NFL team with more interceptions that seasons was the Baltimore Ravens with 26 thefts (Chicago and Tampa Bay also had 22).


ON ANIMAL BOOKS, WEIRD

Second-hand Parrots: A Complete Owner’s Pet Manual

Neurosis Induced Cannibalism in Antarctic Pigs

actual book titles



“The heart prefers to move against the grain of circumstance; perversity is the soul’s very life.”
JOHN UPDIKE, American writer



THE NEW CLASSICS
Friedrich Glauser was addicted to morphine and opium for most of his life. He started writing detective novels during his stay in a Swiss insane asylum. Even so, his renown as a crime-fiction writer became such that the German equivalent of the Edgar award is called the Glauser. In The Chinaman the very superior Sergeant Studer of the Bern Police Department must solve two murders, one of which involves a shot through the heart of a man whose clothes are not disturbed by any bullet hole. This is the fourth in the Sergeant Studer series.

THE CHINAMAN: A SERGEANT STUDER MYSTERY, by Friedrich Glauser, translated from the German by Mike Mitchell (first German edition 1938; Bitter Lemon Press, 2008)

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Monday, January 17, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/17/2011

Martin Luther King Day
1/17/1995:
Los Angeles Rams owner Georgia Frontiere officially announces the move of the franchise to St. Louis. In 1946, the Rams became the West Coast's first NFL team after moving to L.A. from Cleveland; in 1980, they moved 30 miles south to Orange County and played for 15 seasons at Anaheim Stadium. During the 1994 off-season, Los Angeles lost not one but two NFL teams. In July, the league approved the transfer of the Raiders back to Oakland, where the franchise played from 1960 through 1981 before returning to L.A. in 1982 and finally settling in Oakland in 1995.

Birthdays:
Jacques Plante b. 1929
Kip Keino b. 1940
Muhammad Ali b. 1942
Chili Davis b. 1960
Dwayne Wade b. 1982

Packers Fact:
Cornerback Charles Woodson posted double figures in tackles in back-to-back games for teh first time in his 12-year career in weeks 2 and 3 of 2009.


ON DRIVERS,
A LITTLE TOO DECISIVE

The pedestrian had no idea which direction to go, so I ran over him.

written on an actual accident report


“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., clergyman and civil rights activist


LIVING HISTORY
Fifty years ago today, Dwight D. Eisenhower gave what is probably the best-known farewell address since George Washington’s. It is the one that warned against undue influence by the military-industrial complex. So we think it a fitting day to mark the service of our great wartime general and president, and to do that we recommend the outstanding book on the subject by Stephen E. Ambrose. It reacquaints us with a man of tact and forcefulness who led the country through bad times and good. A thoroughly readable and engaging book.

EISENHOWER: SOLDIER AND PRESIDENT, by Stephen E. Ambrose (Simon & Schuster, 1991)

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Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/16/2011

1/16/2002:
Dallas mavericks owner Mark Cuban works for a day at a Dairy Queen. Cuban had unleashed one of his frequent tirades about NBA officiating and the league's manager of officials, Ed. T. Rush, who he insisted "wouldn't be able to manage a Dairy Queen." Offended by the remark, Dairy Queen invited Cuban to fill in for a day at a franchise in Coppell, Texas.

Birthdays:
Dizzy Dean b. 1911
A.J. Foyt b. 1935
Jack McDowell b. 1966
Roy Jones, Jr. b. 1969
Albert Pujols b. 1980



ON MADONNA, ALWAYS INSPIRING

I want to be like Gandhi and Martin Luther King and John Lennon, but I want to stay alive.

singer Madonna, on how she wants her art and philanthropy to inspire people



“By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man’s, I mean.”
MARK TWAIN, American writer and humorist

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Saturday, January 15, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/15/2011

Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday
1/15/1997:
Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman stumbles into TV cameraman Eugene Amos on the sideline and proceeds to kick him in the groin during a 112-102 win over the Timberwolves in Minneapolis. Rodman receives an 11-game suspension, the second-longest in NBA history as of this date.

Birthdays:
Bobby Grich b. 1949
Randy White b. 1953
Delino DeShields b. 1969
Mary Pierce b. 1975
Drew Brees b. 1979

Packers Fact:
The Packers retired uniform No. 15 in honor of quarterback Bart Starr (1956-1971).


ON STRAIGHT ANSWERS

Tech support: What’s on your monitor now, ma’am?

Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me in the supermarket.

actual call to a computer tech-support line (thanks to Shaye Marie Sauers)



“We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.”
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., clergyman and civil rights activist



HE HAD A DREAM
Martin Luther King had a prepared text for the speech he delivered on August 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C. But about two thirds of the way through, he laid aside his script and began the extemporaneous remarks that began “I have a dream.” These words stirred a nation and went on to become one of the best-known speeches in American history. Eric J. Sundquist, a professor of literature at UCLA, has written a book about the speech, its background, its inspiration, its consequences.

“He gives us drama and emotion, a powerful sense of history combined with illuminating scholarship.”—The New York Times

KING’S DREAM: THE LEGACY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING’S “I HAVE A DREAM” SPEECH, by Eric J. Sundquist (Yale University Press, 2009)

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APCKRFAN's NFL picks 2010: Week 19: Divisional

Week 19:

Sat., January 15:
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh -PIT
Green Bay @ Atlanta - GB

Sun., January 16:
Seattle @ Chicago - CHI
NY Jets @ New England - NE

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Friday, January 14, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/14/2011

1/14/1942:
With America now at war, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis gives President Franklin Roosevelt a letter asking his advice on whether or not to cancel baseball for the coming season. FDR answers immediately, "I honestly feel that it would be best for our country to keep baseball going. There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before. And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work." The president also recommends increasing the number of night games. Each major league club will be permitted to play 14 at home, an increase of 7 over previous years.

Birthdays:
Smead Jolley b. 1902
Sonny Siebert b. 1937
Fred Arbanas b. 1939
Gene Washington b. 1947
Terry Forster b. 1952

Packers Fact:
The Packers and Bears are long-time rivals, but at one point during the Great Depression in the 1930s, Chicago owner George Halas borrowed $1,500 from Green Bay to meet his team's payroll.


“The important thing in life is not the victory but the contest; the essential thing is not to have won but to have fought well.”
BARON PIERRE DE COUBERTIN, founder of the modern Olympic Games



ON DETECTIVE WORK, DEEP

POLICE: CRACK FOUND
IN MAN’S BUTTOCKS

headline on myfoxdc.com

WOMEN’S VOICES
Kate Walbert, fully flexing the literary muscle she developed in The Gardens of Kyoto, Our Kind, and Where She Went, unfolds a sensitive multigenerational story of the Townsend women. The common threads that hold this novel together, from World War I England to present-day New York, are Florence Nightingale, women’s suffrage, and other feminine rights and desires. Surely Virginia Woolf and Edith Wharton are dancing in their graves to see a worthy successor in Walbert, with her nuanced perspectives and perceptions, strong heroines, marvelous dialogue, and captivating story.

A SHORT HISTORY OF WOMEN, by Kate Walbert (Scribner, 2009)

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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/12-13/2011

1/12/1992:
Troy State has good reason to celebrate. Last year, the Trojans beat DeVry Institute of Atlanta, 187-116, setting an NCAA record for most points by one team and most points in a half (103). Tonight, they shatter their own records when they crush DeVry, 258-141. The game also sets a record for most points in a game by two teams with 399. Troy leads 123-53 at halftime, then does even better in the second half with 135 points. Junior forward Terry McCord has 41 points, and Chris Gresham's three-pointer with 7:57 remaining eclipses last year's 187 total.

Birthdays:
Mac Speedie b. 1920
Joe Frazier b. 1944
Tom Dempsey b. 1947
Dominique Wilkins b. 1960
Dontrelle Willis b. 1982

Packers Fact:
In his first season as a starter in 2008, quarterback Aaron Rodgers posted a passer rating of more than 100 in eight of the Packers' 16 games.

1/13/1905:
The Ottawa Silver Seven win Game 1, 9-2, in their best-of-three Stanley Cup series with the brave but travel-weary Dawson City Klondikers. To reach Ottawa, some 4,400 miles from their home in the Yukon, the Klondikers had trekked 400 miles south to Skagway, Alaska, on foot and by dogsled in temperatures as low as 20 below, then made their way by boat to Vancouver before making the cross-country trip to Ottawa by train. Game 2 will go to the Silver Seven, 23-2, thanks mainly to 14 goals scored by Frank McGee.

Birthdays:
Tom Gola b. 1933
Bob Baffert b. 1953
Mark O'Meara b. 1957
Kelly Hrudey b. 1961
Kevin Mitchell b. 1962

Packers Fact:
Wide Receiver Donald Driver was the longest-tenured player on the Packers' Kickoff Weekend roster in 2009. He was in his 11th season with the club.



ON MICHELIN–WORTHY MENUS

• Lawyer Shrimps salad

• Courgette Fart with tomato puree

• Nordic Salad: tomatoes, rice, salmon pish, grawn, superhuman

menu items, France



ON PRAISE, NOT SO ARTICULATE

I am so glad that you showed a beautiful vulnerability and it—you are a great—in front of the guitar, and leaving it down. That—I—you know, there’s something—first of all, let’s give– all the guys—you’re great so far, great job!

American Idol judge Paula Abdul




“The illusion that times that were are better than those that are, has probably pervaded all ages.”
HORACE GREELEY, American newspaper editor

“I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.”
ANTONIO GRAMSCI, Italian political theorist



KNIT ONE, PURL TWO, EAT ONE, TALK TOO
Georgia Walker runs a yarn shop while raising her biracial 12-year-old daughter, Dakota. She and Anita, a widow in her 70s, decide to start a knitting club. Club members include Darwin Chiu, whose marriage is unraveling, and Lucie, a single 42-year-old who has just become pregnant. Georgia’s ex, Dakota’s father, shows up wanting to try again—and there are other crises in the making. At first it’s all a bit slow, but it’s worth persevering, because some dandy plot twists develop and the reader ends up quite involved in these characters’ dilemmas and vexations.

THE FRIDAY NIGHT KNITTING CLUB, by Kate Jacobs (Putnam, 2007)

BULL’S-EYE!
Award-winning author of Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring sets his sights on the history of the rifle in America and the history of America in the rifle. They are inextricably linked, from the innovations of Eli Whitney and Samuel Colt to Daniel Boone’s “Kentucky” rifle. And then there’s the bottle of ginger beer that exploded in “Old Reliable” Bodine’s hand yet failed to make him miss his shot during a match. The incident resulted in a craze for target shooting and spawned the rifle clubs that went on to form the basis of the NRA.

AMERICAN RIFLE: A BIOGRAPHY, by Alexander Rose (Delta, 2009)

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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/11/2011

1/11/1970:
Led by quarterback Len Dawson and a staunch defense, the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs defeat the NFL champion Minnesota Vikings, 23-7, in Super Bowl IV in New Orleans. in the first two Super Bowls, the NFL's Green Bay Packers easily beat the Chiefs 35-10 and the Oakland Raiders 33-14. Super Bowl III on January 12, 1969, featured one of the greatest upsets in sports history when the AFL's New York Jets downed the Baltimore Colts, 16-7. The two leagues are set to merge later this year, so today's Super Bowl is the last NFL-AFL matchup. The Chiefs' one-sided victory over the Vikings puts to rest any claims of NFL superiority.

Birthdays:
Max Carey b. 1890
Ben Crenshaw b. 1952
Freddie Solomon b. 1953
Darryl Dawkins b. 1957
Tracy Caulkins b. 1963

Packers Fact:
Paul Hornung scored a title-game-record 19 points in the Packers' 37-0 rout of the Giants in the 1961 NFL Championship game. He scored a touchdown and kicked 3 field goals and 4 extra points.


ON WHAT’S THIS WORLD COMING TO?

DAIRY QUEEN DRIVE-THRU
TREAT YOURSELF TO A GIRL SCOUT

sign outside a Dairy Queen


“I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and I will be heard!”
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, American reformer


SPORTS WORLD
New York Times reporter Bruce Weber spent three years among men who are tasked with keeping their eyes open and their integrity above reproach. He went to umpire school. He talked not only to umps but to players, managers, and everyone else who has a stake in America’s most beloved game. The book is full of enjoyable anecdotes, and Weber’s tone is sympathetic and understanding. A very winning account of a tough job.

AS THEY SEE ’EM: A FAN’S TRAVELS IN THE LAND OF UMPIRES, by Bruce Weber (Scribner, 2009)

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Monday, January 10, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/10/2011

1/10/1933:
Godfrey Matheson makes his coaching debut in the NHL with the Chicago Black Hawks and loses, 3-1, to the New York Americans at Madison Square Garden. he was hired by eccentric Major Fred McLaughlin (who had already made eight coaching changes since founding the team in 1926) after meeting him during a train ride between Minneapolis and Chicago and impressing him with his knowledge of hockey. He'll coach only one more game, another loss, before being replaced by Tommy Gorman. Chicago will finish the season with a record of 16-20-12.

Birthdays:
Frank Mahovlich b. 1938
Willie McCovey b. 1939
Bill Toomey b. 1939
George Foreman b. 1949
Bobby Rahal b. 1953

Packers Fact:
The Packers' 12 NFL championships (entering 2009) are the most in league history.


ON COUNTRY SONG TITLES, OUT TO PASTURE

• “Why Do You Believe Me When I Tell You That I Love You, When You Know I’ve Been a Liar All My Life?”

• “He’s Been Drunk Since His Wife’s Gone Punk”

country song titles picked by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for their annual All Time Best of the Worst Country Song Titles contest



LIFE, HOWEVER HARD,
IS PREFERABLE TO
THE ALTERNATIVE.
AESOP, Greek fabulist

LIVES BENEATH THE EIFFEL TOWER
A hugely successful bestseller in Europe, The Elegance of the Hedgehog tells the story of two Parisians, a concierge and an adolescent. The concierge, Renée, is an astute, self-educated woman who pretends to be a country simpleton when she’s around the well-to-do tenants of her building. The youngster, Paloma, is a clever, sophisticated 12-year-old who keeps a journal and vows to commit suicide when she reaches 13. Along comes Kakuro Ozu, who buys an apartment in the building and quickly sees that the concierge and the girl are not what they seem to everyone else. Muriel Barbery has written a tale as smart and witty as her characters.

THE ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG, by Muriel Barbery, translated from the French by Alison Anderson (Europa Editions, 2008)

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Sunday, January 09, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/9/2011

1/9/2004:
Phoenix Coyotes goalie Brian Boucher breaks a 55-year-old NHL record when he stifles the Minnesota Wild, 2-0, for his fifth-straight shutout. he also sets a modern league record for consecutive scoreless minutes by a goaltender with 332 minutes and 1 second. His shutout streak will end when the Atlanta Thrashers tie the Coyotes, 1-1, on January 11.

Birthdays:
Bart Starr b. 1934
Robert Newhouse b. 1960
M.L. Carr b. 1961
Chat Ochocinco b. 1978
Sergio Garcia b. 1980

“We don’t get offered crises, they arrive.”
ELIZABETH JANEWAY, American writer



ON THREATS,
NOT THAT THREATENING

If you nag on, I’ll strangle you with chewing gum.

English subtitle in Hong Kong kung-fu movie

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Saturday, January 08, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/8/2011

1/8/1969:
During the fifth race at Tropical Park in south Florida, an alligator crawls onto the track, forcing several horses to jump over him as they round the clubhouse turn. Favorite Hans II wins the race despite being one of those who had to break stride to avoid the intruder.

Birthdays:
Walker Cooper b. 1915
Bruce Sutter b. 1953
Dwight Clark b. 1957
Jason Giambi b. 1971
Mike Cameron b. 1973

Packers Fact:
Two Packers shared the NFC lead with 7 interceptions in 2008: Safety Nick Collins and cornerback Charles Woodson.



ON HIGHS, ECUMENICAL

Temple Sinai and First Plymouth Congregational Church are having a joint at 8 a.m.

from a story in the Denver (Colorado) Post— in which the crucial word “service” was omitted



“We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours.”
DAG HAMMARSKJÖlD, Swedish statesman



OF CALIPHS AND KINGS
New York University professor David Lewis shows how the Muslims, who forged a world for themselves out of the decay of the Roman and Persian empires, repeatedly challenged the Christians of Europe, pushing at their homelands’ borders and receiving aggressive resistance in return. The Muslims created Al Andalus, Islamic Spain; Charlemagne created a cohesive Christian Europe; and even today the world lives with the consequences. Lewis is a prodigious scholar, and his book is compelling not only for its story but because of the need of the present to understand the past.

GOD’S CRUCIBLE: ISLAM AND THE MAKING OF EUROPE, 570–1215, by David Lewis (W. W. Norton, 2008)

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APCKRFAN's NFL picks 2010: Week 18: Wild Card

Week 18: Wild Card Weekend

Saturday, January 8:
New Orleans @ Seattle - NO
NY Jets @ Indianapolis - IND

Sunday, January 9:
Baltimore @ Kansas City - BAL
Green Bay @ Philadelphia - GB

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Friday, January 07, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/7/2011

1/7/1951:
After playing in the longest NBA game to date, a six-overtime 75-73 win over the Royals in Rochester on January 6, the Indianapolis Olympians board a train and travel all the way to Moline, Illinois, to take on the Tri-Cities Blackhawks on the 7th. All five Indianapolis starters play all 48 minutes of this game, losing to the Blackhawks by the close score of 83-79. The five Indanapolis starters are Ralph Beard, Alex Groza, Paul Walther, Leo Barnhorst and Bob Lavoy. At the end of the 1950-51 season, Beard and Groza will be barred from the NBA for life after admitting to point-shaving in collusion with gamblers while playing for the University of Kentucky.

Birthdays:
Johnny Mize b. 1913
Alvin Dark b. 1922
Tony Conigliaro b. 1945
Eric Gagne b. 1976
Alfonso Soriano b. 1976

Packers Fact:
The winning points in Green Bay 21-15 victory over Chicago at Lambeau Field on Kickoff Weekend in 2009 came on Aaron Rodgers' 50-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings with 1:11 remaining.




ON BROADCASTING, BLOWING IT

Don’t worry about the game you just won or the team that we just blew out . . . or, um . . . blown . . . blowed out . . . Let’s think about what we need to do going forward, and they had, uh . . . blown out.

football commentator Emmitt Smith


ARE WE
DOWNHEARTED?
NO!
British World War I military expression

RAVE REVIEWS
Will Heller is a 16-year-old paranoid schizophrenic who has gone off his medication and descended into the underground world of the New York subway system. He comes to believe that he must save the planet from self-destruction brought on by global warming. His mother, Violet, is searching for him with the help of Detective Ali Lateef. Yes, this is a detective story, but so much else besides.

“Lowboy is exceptionally tender and acute. . . . John Wray is a daring young writer.” —The New Yorker

LOWBOY, by John Wray (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009)

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Thursday, January 06, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/5-1/6/2011

1/5/2003:
Trailing 38-14 late in the third quarter, the 49ers score 25 unanswered points to beat the New York Giants, 39-38, in a playoff game in San Francisco. They take the lead with exactly one minute left in the fourth quarter on a 13-yard touchdown from Jeff Garcia to Tai Streets. The Giants then drive to the 23-yard line and line up for a 40-yard field goal attempt on third down with six seconds remaining. Trey Junkin, picked up earlier in the week to replace injured Dan O'Leary, botches the snap and the 49ers' one-point lead cinches the game.

Birthdays:
Chuck Noll b. 1932
Jim Otto b. 1938
Charlie Hough b. 1948
Alex English b. 1954
Warrick Dunn b. 1975

Packers Fact:
End Don Hutson needed only 11 games to catch 17 touchdown passes for the Packers in 1942. His total was a club single-season record that stood 52 years.

1/6/1994:
The day before she's scheduled to perform her short program, Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right knee by Shane Stant at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit. The assault was planned by rival skater Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, and bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt. Harding will win the women's championship in Kerrigan's absence, but next March she'll plead guilty to hindering the investigation of the attack and receive three years' probation, 500 hours of community service and a $160,000 fine. She'll be stripped of her 1994 title and banned from participating in events sponsored by the U.S. Figure Skating Association.

Birthdays:
Early Wynn b. 1920
Cary Middlecoff b. 1921
Lou Houltz b. 1937
Nancy Lopez b. 1957
Howie Long b. 1960

Packers Fact:
Former Packers' star Verne Lewellen was the club's business manager for much of its heyday in the 1960s. He was a halfback and punter from 1924 to 1932.



ON DEFENDANTS, DUMB

Lawyer: You can’t lift your arm any longer due to the injury, correct?

Defendant (suing his company for a job-related injury):Yes.

Lawyer: How high can you raise your arm right now?

(Defendant, wincing, raises his arm to shoulder level.)

Lawyer: And how high could you raise your arm before the accident?

Defendant (raising his arm above his head): This high!

Judge: Case dismissed.

from actual courtroom testimony


ON DIPS, GEOGRAPHICAL

Game show host Melanie Sykes: What is a mixture of avocado, chili, and lime juice commonly known as?

Contestant: Guatemala.


The Vault, ITV (UK)


“At the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.”
FRIDA KAHLO (SALMA HAYEK) in Frida;
screenplay by Clancy Sigal

IN BAD LUCK,
HOLD OUT;
IN GOOD LUCK,
HOLD IN.
—German proverb





PERENNIAL CLASSIC
Everyone knew that John Cheever was a master of the short story, but in 1957 he showed what he could do as a novelist and even garnered the National Book Award. The Wapshot Chronicle is the nostalgic tale of a New England family and its tribulations, told with an unerringly light, and sometimes poignant, touch. Cheever followed up with The Wapshot Scandal, which pursues the family’s younger generation as they move into suburban ennui and frustration. It is a somewhat darker vision, but it’s leavened by the eccentric and tenacious older Cousin Honora and her battle with the IRS. These are unique and memorable achievements in America’s midcentury literature.

THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLE, by John Cheever (1957; Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2003)

THE WAPSHOT SCANDAL, (1964; 2003)

THAT SWEET SMELL
Malcolm Gladwell makes sense of yet another aspect of our world in this pleasantly readable account of success and the qualities that lead to it. The question he poses is, Why do the Bill Gateses and Mozarts of the world succeed so brilliantly, while others of the same intelligence and talent end up leading lives of quiet desperation? Using his method of combining the latest academic studies with the most relevant and irresistible stories, Gladwell makes his case that the “outliers” beneft from advantages and opportunities that pass others up. A stimulating read, to say the least.

OUTLIERS: THE STORY OF SUCCESS, by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown, 2008)

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Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/4/2011

1/4/2006:
Quarterback Vince Young scrambles eight yards for his third touchdown run to boost No. 2 Texas over top-ranked USC, 41-38, in the BCS championship game at the Rose Bowl. The win gives the Longhorns their first national championship since 1970, when they defeated Notre Dame by the score of 21-17 in the Cotton Bowl, and snaps USC's 34-game winning streak. In all, Young connects on 30 of 40 passes and rushes 19 times for 200 yards.

Birthdays:
Johnny Lujack b. 1925
Don Shula b. 1930
Floyd Patterson b. 1935
Kermit Alexander b. 1941
Garrison Hearst b. 1971

Packers Fact:
The Packers beat the Bears 21-15 on kickoff weekend in 2009.


ON LITTLE KIDS, ENIGMATIC

Kids Say the Darndest Things host Art Linkletter: What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you?

Little boy: I came back from the bathroom one day at school. Suddenly I noticed that my zipper was undone and I said to myself, “I’m insulting my own inheritance.”




“You’re gonna make it after all.”
SONNY CURTIS, American songwriter, “Love Is All Around” (theme song to The Mary Tyler Moore Show)


LIFE IN A BOX
Gabriel is a difficult character. He makes Joseph Cornell sorts of art boxes. When he was young, his father deserted the family. His mother read him Ovid at bedtime. He stole from his neighbors’ houses and found other unseemly ways to make money. Now in his 40s, Gabriel is employed writing obituaries for a second-rate newspaper. He is not particularly outgoing or warm, but for some reason you care when he discovers he is ill and decides to run off to join a strange commune in Mexico. Perhaps it’s because of Stacey D’Erasmo’s extraordinary way with prose—vivid, lyrical, and haunting.

THE SKY BELOW, by Stacey D’Erasmo (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009)

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Monday, January 03, 2011

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/3/2011

1/3/1973:
George Steinbrenner's syndicate buys the New York Yankees from CBS for $10 million. At the time of the purchase, the Yankees haven't been to a World Series since 1964 or won one since 1962. Steinbrenner, president of the American Ship Building Corporation, meets the press to announce his plans for the Yankees and declares that he will not take an active part in running the club. "We plan absentee ownership," he tells reporters. "We're not going to pretend to be something we aren't. I'll stick to building ships."

Birthdays:
Hank Stram b. 1923
Bobby Hull b. 1939
Darren Daulton b. 1962
Cheryl Miller b. 1964
Eli Manning b. 1981

Packers Fact
The Packers entered the 2009 season with an all-time record of 668-528-36, including postseason.



ON JANUARY, IMPORTANT HOLIDAYS IN

Oatmeal Month

California Dried Plum Digestive Month

January 6: Fruitcake Toss Day

January 29: Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day




“No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There’s too much work to do.”
DOROTHY DAY, American activist



This book has more than 4,600 pictures and 2,100 line drawings. It covers 1,037 buildings, from houses to airports, built since the year 2000 by 653 architects in 89 countries. It has maps and is color coded. If you have an interest in architecture and where it’s going, you must have this atlas. Try to persuade your significant other or your rich aunt Alice of how badly you need it. It’s worth any amount of begging or cajoling you may need to summon up.

PHAIDON ATLAS OF 21ST CENTURY WORLD ARCHITECTURE; by the editors of Phaidon Press (Phaidon Press, 2008)

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Sunday, January 02, 2011

Sports Fact of the Day 1/2/2011

Tennessee football coach Bowden Wyatt, on the two requirements for success as a defensive player: "Taking the shortest distance to the ball and arriving in a bad humor."

Birthdays:
Gino Marchetti b. 1927
Calvin Hill b. 1947
David Cone b. 1963
Edgar Martinez b. 1963
Pernell Whitaker b. 1964



ON DEMOCRATS, DAMP

I can’t tell you how grateful I am—I am filled with humidity.

Texas House of Representatives speaker Gib Lewis


“It’s always hard to see hope with a hangover.”
P. J. O’ROURKE, American humorist and writer

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Saturday, January 01, 2011

APCKRFAN's NFL picks 2010: Week 17

Week 17:
Sunday, January 2:
Miami @ New England - NE
Buffalo @ NY Jets - NYJ
Oakland @ Kansas City - KC
Cincinnati @ Baltimore - BAL
Minnesota @ Detroit - MIN
Tampa Bay @ New Orleans - NO
Carolina @ Atlanta - ATL
Pittsburgh @ Cleveland - PIT
Jacksonville @ Houston - JAC
NY Giants @ Washington - WAS
Arizona @ San Francisco - ARI
San Diego @ Denver - SD
Chicago @ Green Bay - GB
Dallas @ Philadelphia - PHI
Tennessee @ Indianapolis - IND
St. Louis @ Seattle - STL

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Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/1/2011

1/1/1942:
New Year's Day

Because of security concerns after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Rose Bowl is moved all the way across the country from Pasadena, California, to Duke Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. Oregon State defeats Duke, 20-16, in today's game. The annual New Year's Day event will return to Pasadena next January, when Georgia trounces UCLA, 9-0.

Birthdays:
Hank Greenberg b. 1911
Doak Walker b. 1927
Marlin McKeever b. 1940
Derrick Thomas b. 1967
Glen Davis b. 1986

Packers Fact:
Paul Hornung (1957-1962, 1964-66) won college football's Heisman Trophy in 1956 for Notre Dame at the quarterback position.


ON GOT A POINT THERE

It’s very hard to write the future history of America before the current history hasn’t been fully written.

President George W. Bush, in an interview with Fox News


“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
ALAN KAY, computer scientist


NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION
Get a smart start on the new year by getting a grip with Frances Moore Lappé, the upbeat original guru of living green, clean, and not mean. In Getting a Grip, the prolific author, philosopher, and activist goes way beyond her diet for a small planet and takes in the big picture of how to live meaningfully and optimistically with the enormous opportunities and responsibilities of the 21st century.

GETTING A GRIP: CLARITY, CREATIVITY, AND COURAGE IN A WORLD GONE MAD, by Frances Moore Lappé (Small Planet Press, 2007)

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