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

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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

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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)