Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/26-27/2011

After attributing the poor play of the Red Sox in 1914 to the "automobile craze that has taken hold of the players," Boston sportswriter Tim Murnane observed: "The player-speed merchants can be seen flying all over the Greater Boston speedways night and day, a sure handicap to a ballplayer's effectiveness."

Birthdays:
Preacher Roe b. 1915
Bingo Smith b. 1946
J.T. Snow b. 1968
Marshall Faulk b. 1973
Jenny Thompson b. 1973

Packers Fact:
In addition to the Packers, whom he guided in the NFL from 1921 to 1949, Curly Lambeau also coached the Chicago Cardinals (1950-51) and the Washington Redskins (1952-53).

2/27/1927:
Four men are arrested in Greenville, South Carolina, for golfing on a Sunday. A state law prohibits the playing of golf on the Christian Sabbath, and Governor John Gardiner Richards has ordered a crackdown on offenders. Released on their own recognizance, the four golfers will motor to Biltmore, North Carolina, and finish their game.

Birthdays:
Raymond Berry b. 1933
John Davidson b. 1953
James Worthy b. 1961
Duce Staley b. 1975
Tony Gonzalez b. 1976

ON WE DON’T EVEN
WANT TO THINK ABOUT
WHAT PROMPTED
THIS WARNING LABEL

---

Warning label on a curling iron:

FOR EXTERNAL
USE ONLY

ON OSCAR-WORTHY
SCREENWRITING

---

Dance the lion for others for some stinking money! it’s like razing my brows with the kung-fu I taught you.

English subtitle in a Hong Kong kung-fu movie

“I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life.”

—THEODORE ROOSEVELT, U.S. president

“We need hope.
We need change.
We need experience.
We need pens.”

—JACK DONAGHY (ALEC BALDWIN), on 30 Rock

A LIFE

Who was Madame Tussaud? Born in 1761, Marie Grosholtz became the apprentice of a medic and showed enormous talent in learning his secrets of wax modeling. After an unsatisfying marriage, she moved to England in 1806 and took her exhibits on the road for almost 30 years. She became a sharp-eyed businesswoman in the bizarre milieu of royalty, con men, and entertainers. A fascinating study of an unusual woman and her times.

MADAME TUSSAUD: A LIFE IN WAX, by Kate Berridge (Harper Perennial, 2007)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/25/2011

2/25/1964:
Cassius Clay upsets Sonny Liston for the world heavyweight boxing title in Miami Beach. The fearsome Liston is a heavy favorite, but he fails to come out of his corner at the start of Round 7, claiming a shoulder injury. Some will doubt the severity of the injury and insist the fight was fixed. Tomorrow, on February 26, Clay will announce that he's changing his name to Muhammad Ali. And in his next fight, on May 26, 1965, he'll meet Liston again and knock him out in the first round.

Birthdays:
Bert Bell b. 1895
Bobby Riggs b. 1918
Monte Irvin b. 1919
Tony Lema b. 1934
Ron Santo b. 1940

Packers Fact:
When the Packers beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl I in the 1966 season, the game officially was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game.

ON BUT OF COURSE!

---

Family Fortunes Host: Something a blind man might use?

Contestant: A sword.

(thanks to Colin Griggs)

Ah, but a man’s reach
should exceed his grasp,
Or what’s a heaven for?

—ROBERT BROWNING, English poet

As roastmaster general of the Friars Club, the venerable comics’ society, Jeff Ross must be constantly on his toes, ready with at least eight insults at any time. Our favorite moment? When he describes instantly scanning any room he enters for things to insult: “Spoon, you’re just a [blank] fork!” Sorry, this combination memoir and how-to for roastmasters is not politically correct, but it’s so much fun! Ross is engaging and, because he follows the advice of mentors, especially his beloved Buddy Hackett’s, he’s never never truly mean.

I ONLY ROAST THE ONES I LOVE, by Jeffrey Ross (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/24/2011

2/24/1982:
Wayne Gretzky sets a new NHL season goal-scoring record during a 6-3 Oilers victory over the Sabres in Buffalo. Gretzky came into the contest with 76 goals on the season, tied with Phil Esposito's 76 for the Boston Bruins in 1970-71. He gets his 77th with the score 3-3 at 13:24 of the third period on an unassisted goal past Buffalo netminder Don Edwards. Before the night is done, he adds two more goals, at 18:16 and 19:43, as Esposito stands by to hand him the game puck.

Birthdays:
Honus Wagner b. 1874
Alain Prost b. 1955
Eddie Murray b. 1956
Simeon Rice b. 1974
Lleyton Hewitt b. 1981

Packers Fact:
Donald Driver surpassed Sterling Sharpe in 2009 as the Packers' all-time leading receiver. Sharpe had 595 catches from 1988 to 1994.

ON JUST HOW OLD WAS SHE?

---

First Black Woman on Record Reaches North Pole

in the Ventura County (California) Star

“Hope remains the highest reality, the age-old power.”

—RONALD REAGAN, U.S. president

DYSTOPIA

James Boice’s stunning debut explores the dark, greedy, savage world of basketball player Gilbert Marcus, propelled to MVP status and riding the American Dream like Slim Pickens on the bomb. That is, until the team begins to slip (and so does Marcus) into a nightmare of testosterone-fueled violence. The exploration of our celebrity-mad society and the money and attention thrown at sports figures presents a portrait of the limits of morality in hypnotizing prose and unforgettably graphic imagery. Chuck Klosterman writes, “I’ve never read any other books that are remotely like this.”

MVP, by James Boice (Scribner, 2007)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/22-23/2011

2/22/1981:
On George Washington's birthday, two NHL players from Czechoslovakia lead a Canadian team to an 11-7 win over a team based in Washington, D.C. The two players are the Stastny brothers, Peter and Anton, who accumulate eight points each for the Quebec Nordiques against the Washington Capitals. Peter has four goals and four assists; Anton, three goals and five assists.

Birthdays:
Charlie Finley b. 1918
Sparky Anderson b. 1934
Julius Erving b. 1950
Amy Alcott b. 1956
Pat LaFontaine b. 1965

Packers Fact:
Rushing-receiving threat Dorsey Levens totaled 1,805 yards from scrimmage in his lone Pro Bowl season in 1997.


2/23/1980:
With a victory in the Miller High Life 400 in Richmond, Virginia, Kyle Petty becomes the first third-generation winner of a NASCAR race. Kyle follows grandfather Lee and father Richard. His win today is a direct result of Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip crashing while racing for the lead with two laps to go. Going into Turn 3, Earnhardt hooked the corner of Waltrip's car and turned him into the wall. Geoff Bodine and Joe Ruttman, running third and fourth, proceeded to pile into Earnhardt and Waltrip. Petty, who was in fifth at the time of the caution, was the first lead car to move safely through the mishap.

Birthdays:
Dante Lavelli b. 1923
Tom Osborne b. 1937
Fred Bileinikoff b. 1943
Ed "Too Tall" Jones b. 1951
Bobby Bonilla b. 1963

Packers Fact:
Seventh-round draft pick Matt Flynn completed 2 of 5 passes for 6 yards while backing up Aaron Rodgers in 2008. Flynn was one of only six rookie quarterbacks to throw a pass that season.

ON WE’RE MORE CHEEFUL OF BANANA OURSELVES

---

CHERRY DREAM
We little cheery dream. Do you like?
I am cheeful of cherry.

printed on writing paper, Japan

ON HOLY COW, 15 WHOLE MILES PER HOUR?

---

As you well know, Mr. President, railroad carriages are pulled at the enormous speed of 15 miles per hour. The almighty certainly never intended that people should travel at such breakneck speed.

then governor and future president Martin Van Buren, 1829

“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go.”

—MARTHA WASHINGTON, first U.S. first lady

“I accept the universe!”

—MARGARET FULLER, 19th-century American writer and activist

MONEY MATTERSEconomist, journalist, and author of Terror Incorporated: Tracing the Money Behind Global Terrorism, Loretta Napoleoni is well qualified to reveal to us how much of the money that passes through our hands comes from a rogue economy, comprised of the activities of mobsters, counterfeiters, terrorists, pirates, illegal sex traders, slavers, and the rest. This dark economy interacts with the legitimate one and affects all of us. An illuminating and disturbing read.

ROGUE ECONOMICS: CAPITALISM’S NEW REALITY, by Loretta Napoleoni (Seven Stories Press, 2008)

LIVING HISTORY

The Black Book, originally published in 1972, is a stunning compendium of archival documents, photographs, and testaments of the black experience in America, beginning in colonial times. With a new foreword by Toni Morrison (who worked on the original), this gorgeous and important book has been called “the ultimate treasure chest of the Black Experience” (Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.) and “an important document of American history” (Gay Talese).

THE BLACK BOOK: 35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, by Middleton A. Harris, et al. (Random House, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/20-21/2011

Gold medal gymnast Shannon Miller, after the bombing in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics: "I'm glad they were able to continue the Games. What they're about is peace and sportsmanship."

Birthdays:
Sam Rice b. 1890
Roger Penske b. 1937
Phil Esposito b. 1942
Charles Barkley b. 1963
Stephon Marbury b. 1977

2/21/1957:
President's Day
Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley purchases the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League from P.K. Wrigley for $3,250,000. Also included in the transaction is Wrigley Field, the Angels' home field since 1925. In addition to the cash, Wrigley receives the Dodgers' Fort Worth franchise in the Texas League. Wrigley, who also owns the Chicago Cubs, wants to leave Los Angeles. He's seen in the area as a roadblock to the city's ability to attract a major league club because of his ownership of the rights to the territory, and Wrigley Field would be worthless if the city were to build a new stadium. Also, attendance has dropped dramatically at Angels games in recent years. O'Malley will moves the Dodgers to L.A. in October of this year. An American League expansion franchise named the Los Angeles Angels will begin play in 1961.

Birthdays:
Tom Yawkey b. 1903
Jack Ramsay b. 1925
Alan Trammell b. 1958
Brian Rolston b. 1973
Steve Francis b. 1978

Packers Fact:
Reliable back Edgar Bennett fumbled only 7 times in 1,178 touches (rushes and receptions) for the Packers from 1992 to 1996.

“All your dreams are on their way . . .”

—PAUL SIMON, American musician and songwriter, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

“I heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, there is something charming in the sound.”

—GEORGE WASHINGTON, first U.S. president

ON REPORTING,
EXCESSIVELY NEGATIVE

---

Neither Dykstra nor his attorney could not be reached for comment.

from the Ventura County (California) Star (thanks to Vince Nowell, Sr.)

ON POLITICAL STRATEGISTS, NOT TOO SMART

---

Here’s a guy who thought FDR was president during the Great Depression.

a political strategist, talking about Vice President Joe Biden on MSNBC

LIVING LARGE

Truly Plaice is a girl with a pituitary gland problem that results in her body’s being of “circus-like proportions.” On top of losing her parents, she suffers no end of ridicule in her small town. Of course, her little sister, Serena Jane, is delicate, small, and pretty. But Truly’s story is a rich, well-plotted, gothic construction that includes murder and quilting, an evil doctor, and a bit of witchcraft. Oprah liked it so much she picked it for her book club.

THE LITTLE GIANT OF ABERDEEN COUNTY, by Tiffany Baker (Grand Central, 2009)

Steve Martin - King Tut (Live 1979)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/19/2011

2/19/2002:
Pushing teammate Jill Bakken to victory in the inaugural women's bobsled competition in Salt Lake City, Vonettea Flowers becomes the first African American to win gold in a Winter Oly7mpics event. Among the most decorated track stars at the University of Alabama, Vonetta had aimed for the 2000 Summer Games but instead became the number one brake woman in American bobsledding.

Birthday:
Eddie Arcaro b. 1915
Paul Krause b. 1942
Dave Stewart b. 1957
Roger Goodell b. 1959
Hana Mandlikova b. 1962

Packers Fact:
Offensive lineman Daryn Colledge and Jason Spitz were on the field for every Packers' offensive snap in 2008.

“Man is one of the toughest of animated creatures. Only the anthrax bacillus can stand so unfavorable an environment for so long a time.”

—H. L. MENCKEN, American humorist and writer

ON CLASS, INDEED!

---

Now Juantorena opens his legs—and really shows his class.

sportscaster David Coleman, covering a track-and-field event at the Olympics

EVOLUTION OF THE CULTURE WAR

Karl Giberson has been there and has earned the credentials that qualify him to address one of America’s most divisive issues. He was raised a fundamentalist committed to the tenets of creationism. But while earning his Ph.D. in physics, he came to understand the science behind Darwin’s theory of evolution and gradually abandoned the claims of the creationists. He did not stop being a Christian, however, and in Saving Darwin he explains why not, meanwhile giving us a history of the controversy and the “culture war” in which we as a nation are engaged.

SAVING DARWIN: HOW TO BE A CHRISTIAN AND BELIEVE IN EVOLUTION, by Karl Giberson (HarperOne, 2008)

Sports Fact of the Day 2/18/2011

2/18/2008:
Twenty-year-old Shahar Peer becomes the first Israeli to play tennis in a Persian Gulf state when she defeats Slovenia's Andreja Klepac, 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of the Qatar Total Open in Doha. In February 2009, Peer will be prevented from playing in the Dubai Tennis Championships after being denied a visa by the Arab United Emirates, a country that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel. Tournament director Slah Tahlak will claim that Peer was refused on the grounds that her appearance might incite anger in the UAE.

Birthdays:
George Gipp b. 1895
Joe Gordon b. 1915
Manny Mota b. 1938
Maurice Lucas b. 1952
Andy Moog b. 1960

Packers Fact:
The Packers finished eighth in the NFL in total offense (351.1 yards per game), eighth in passing offense (238.3 yards per game), and fifth in scoring offense (26.2 points per game) in 2008.

ON SELF-SERVICE GAS PUMP INSTRUCTIONS,
NON-INSTRUCTIVE

---

• To insert the notes aligned to the right in any verse

• To wait in the accreditation in the display

• To select the wanted bomb

• out to the spy of the select bomb, to take the supplier

English instructions on a self-serve gas pump, Italy

“Toughness doesn’t have to come in a pinstripe suit.”

—DIANNE FEINSTEIN, U.S. senator

EXOTIC TRAVELS

In this witty moral comedy, Scott Spencer, author of Endless Love, probes the relationship between sex and the heart: A struggling writer, Avery Jankowsky, finds that his girlfriend has been unfaithful. Hoping to give Avery’s spirits a lift, his uncle Ezra offers to send him on a sex tour, which includes stops in Iceland, Norway, and Latvia. He accepts the offer and plans to write a bestselling exposé of the trip. Spencer has given us another funny and perceptive novel very much of our times.

WILLING, by Scott Spencer (Ecco, 2008)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/15-17/2011

Red Sox owner John I. Taylor, on the length of major league baseball games during the summer of 1907: "This year the games have been dragging a trifle too long in both the American and National Leagues, and it is my intention to get after the players and make them get a move on. There is absolutely no reason why the regular nine-inning game should not be finished inside of one hour and 45 minutes."

Birthdays:
Earl "Red" Blaik b. 1897
John Hadl b. 1940
Ron Cey b. 1948
Darrell Green b. 1960
Jaromir Jagr b. 1972

Packers Fact:
Second-year corner back Tramon Williams intercepted a career-best 5 passes for the Packers in 2008.

2/16/1980:
Having already won yesterday's 500-meter race, Eric Heiden earns the second of five gold medals in speedskating with a first int he 5000 meters in the Olympics at Lake Placid. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, Heiden will go on to win the 1000 meters on the 19th, the 1500 meters on the 21st and the 10,000-meter endurance test on the 23rd. Earning an M.D. from Stanford in 1991, he'll serve as physician for the Sacramento Kings and Monarchs and the U.S. Olympic speedskating team. In 1999, he'll be named one of ESPN's 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century.

Birthdays:
Bernie Geoffrion b. 1931
Herb Williams b. 1958
John McEnroe b. 1959
Kelly Tripucka b. 1959
Jerome Bettis b. 1972

Packers Fact:
The Packers' feat of three consecutive NFL championships from 1929 to 1931 has been matched only once-by the Packers of 1965 to 1967.

2/17/1980:
Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, 52, and former Dodgers coach Jim Lefebvre, 37, mix it up at the KNBC television studios in Burbank, California. Lefebvre coached for the team in 1978 and '79 before getting himself fired by Lasorda. He then signed on as a coach with the Giants for the 1980 season, but now he wants to discuss his termination face-to-face with Lasorda. The meeting soon develops into a screaming match and ends when Lefebvre decks Lasorda with one punch, leaving the Dodgers manager with a fat lip.

Birthdays:
Red Barber b. 1908
Rod Dedeaux b. 1914
Jim Brown b. 1936
Michael Jordan b. 1963
Luc Robitaille b. 1966

Packers Fact:
Former Packers' star Clarke Hinkle surpassed Cliff Battles in 1941 as the NFL's leading career rusher. He ran for 3,860 yards in a 10-year career that began in 1932.

ON SIMILES, FISHY

---

Lewis Moody leaps in the air like the salmon that he is.

rugby commentator Matt Dawson

ON CORRECTIONS, SHOCKING

---

We said that, in the American TV drama 24, Jack Bauer, the counter-terrorism agent, resorted to electrocution to extract information. you cannot extract information from someone who has been electrocuted because they are dead.

correction in The Guardian

ON FUNNY, WE’D HAVE GUESSED 100%

---

Some 80% of the river was under water and two levee breaks were making matters worse.

in an MSN.com news report on Hurricane Katrina (thanks to Marshall Wareham)

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”

—HENRY DAVID THOREAU, American philosopher and writer

THE DIFFICULT WE
DO IMMEDIATELY,
THE IMPOSSIBLE TAKES
A LITTLE LONGER.

—American military slogan

What reinforcement we may gain from hope; If not, what resolution from despair.

—JOHN MILTON, 17th-century English poet

SAVOR THE FLAVOR

Let chef Ana Sortun of Oleana (Cambridge, Massachusetts) introduce you to her world of flavors—and an exotic world it is. The Norwegian American, who trained in Paris, is 2005’s winner of the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast. She arranges her recipes according to African-Mediterranean flavor clusters, such as cumin, coriander, and cardamom or curry powder, turmeric, and fenugreek. Guaranteed to awaken your palate and bring new ideas to the table.

SPICE: FLAVORS OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN, by Ana Sortun (William Morrow Cookbooks, 2006)

NEW PUNK THRILLER

Antiheroine Cass (Scary) Neary was a photographer of the punk generation and very much a part of that late-70s scene—drugs, noise, and all. Years later she is sent to Maine to interview an aging and once renowned photographer from that era, Aphrodite Kamestos. Besides her difficult subject, Cass finds hostile locals, the remnants of a commune, and a mystery of missing teens. This book is definitely on the edge, with a main character who is unlikable yet compelling.

“A dark and beautiful novel that should not be read by anyone under the age of 30.”—The Washington Post

GENERATION LOSS, by Elizabeth Hand (Small Beer Press, 2007)

THE ROAD TO FREEDOM

John Washington was a slave in Virginia, Wallace Turnage in Alabama. Washington escaped and emancipated himself by making his way through Union lines to freedom. Turnage ran from his master, enduring hunger, dogs, and snakes to get to the coast and finally out to the ships of the Union blockade. Once they were free, both men wrote down their incredible stories, which were passed down through the generations of their families. Yale historian David Blight has brought their writings together with other research about their lives before and after their emancipation, and the resulting book is an amazing read.

A SLAVE NO MORE: TWO MEN WHO ESCAPED TO FREEDOM, INCLUDING THEIR OWN NARRATIVES OF EMANCIPATION, by David W. Blight (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/12-14/2011

2/12/2006:
Nineteen-year-old Shaun White of Carlsbad, California, takes the gold in the men's halfpipe snowboarding competition at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Born with a heart defect that required open-heart surgery as a one-year-old and again at the age of six, the red-haired "Flying Tomato" is also a champion snowboarder in the Winter X Games.

Birthdays:
Chick Hafey b. 1903
Dom DiMaggio b. 1917
Joe Garagiola b. 1926
Bill Russell b. 1934
Chet Lemon b. 1965

2/13/2003:
Tennessee State athletic director Teresa Phillips becomes the first woman to coach a men's Division I college basketball team when she fills in for head coach Hosea Lewis, who is serving a one-game suspension for a bench-clearing brawl against Eastern Kentucky earlier in the week. Tennessee State loses to Austin Peay, 71-56.

Birthdays:
Patty Berg b. 1918
Eddie Robinson b. 1919
Sal Bando b. 1944
Mike Krayzewski b. 1947
Randy Moss b. 1977

Packers Fact:
Packers' star guard Jerry Kramer (1958-1968) wrote the popular account of the sixties' championship years, Instant Replay?

2/14/1999:
In a duel of two great NASCAR rivals, both driving Chevrolet Monte Carlos, Jeff Gordon holds off Dale Earnhardt to win the Daytona 500. On Lap 188, Gordon makes a daring three-wide pass on Rusty Wallace after ducking to the apron and nearly plowing into the damaged car of Ricky Rudd. On the final lap, Earnhardt repeatedly tries and fails to pass Gordon. In the dramatic finish, the two are separated by a mere 0.128 seconds.

Birthdays:
Woody Hayes b. 1913
Mickey Wright b. 1935
Jim Kelly b. 1960
Drew Bledsoe b. 1972
Steve McNair b. 1973

Packers Fact:
Aaron Rodgers finished fourth in the NFL with 28 touchdown passes in 2008. He passed for 3 scores in four different games.

“If at the end I have lost every other friend on earth I shall at least have one friend remaining and that one shall be down inside me.”

—ABRAHAM LINCOLN, U.S. president

DON’T
THINK YOU
CAN’T THINK
YOU CAN.

—CHARLES INGE, “On Monsieur Coué,” 1928

“Work is love made visible.”

—KAHLIL GIBRAN, Lebanese-American writer

ON POINTS, REAL GOOD

---

The best defence against the atom bomb is not to be there when it goes off.

in a British Army Journal, 1949

ON SIGNS, EXISTENTIAL

---

ANYONE
ENTERING OR
EXISTING
PLEASE SHUT
DOOR

sign on gift shop in Point Pleasant, New Jersey

ON ROMANCE IS DEAD DEPARTMENT

---

If you had no idea what to get her for Valentine’s Day . . .

Give her the perfect gift, make pre-arrangements as a couple with the affordable funeral home.

funeral home ad

RAVE REVIEWS

THE LINCOLN

“If you aspire to Ultimate Lincoln Knowledge this is a must-read.”—Chicago Tribune

“This profound and masterful portrait will be read and studied for years to come.”—Doris Kearns Goodwin

“Burlingame is a towering figure in Lincoln scholarship, and students of the 16th president have been waiting for this book for years.”—Time

“This book supplants Sandburg and supersedes all other biographies. Future Lincoln books cannot be written without it, and from no other book can a general reader learn so much about Abraham Lincoln.”—Publishers Weekly

There you have it. In two volumes, slipcased.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A LIFE, by Michael Burlingame (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008)

A SOPHISTICATED ANTIVALENTINE

The most treasured erotic fantasy of strangely likable yet prurient Felix Quinn, London antiquarian bookseller (from a longish line of same), which he insists is shared by all heterosexual men, is to know that his wife is in the arms of another, worthy lover so that he can imagine all the details, every conversation . . . Felix orchestrates just such a scenario, with charming erudition and manly gusto. But as the games go on, happy Felix may have the story all wrong: Everyone else is, in fact, suffering because of his mania, while Felix plays Othello to his own Iago—and vice versa.

THE ACT OF LOVE, by Howard Jacobson (Simon & Schuster, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/10-11/2011

New York Nets forward Julius Erving, explaining his amazing but often mystifying moves on the court: "It's all psychological. If we're down a few points and I'm fast-breaking toward the hoop, I'll sometimes decide that the time has come to get freaky. It gets the crowd up and our team up, and it gets me up. Because of the excitement, we'll often start to defend better, to make good plays and to pull ahead."

Birthdays:
Bill Tilden b. 1893
Mark Spitz b. 1950
Greg Norman b. 1955
John Calipari b. 1959
Lance Berkman b. 1976

Packers Fact:
Tackle Chad Clifton blocked for his seventh Packers' 1,000-yard rusher in 2008. He helped pave the way for Ryan Grant to reach that plateau.

2/11/1990:
Buster Douglas pulls off one of the most shocking upsets in boxing history by defeating defending champion Mike Tyson in a heavyweight title bout in Tokyo. A 42-1 Las Vegas underdog, Douglas dominates right from the start, and by Round 5 Tyson's left eye is swollen almost shut. In Round 10, Tyson is knocked to the canvas for the first time in his career and unable to stand by the end of the count. Eight months from now, on October 25, Douglas will surrender his title to Evander Holyfield and retire from boxing.

Birthdays:
Eddie Shack b. 1937
Sammy Ellis b. 1941
Ben Ogilvie b. 1943
James Silas b. 1949
Brian Daubach b. 1972

Packers Fact:
The Packers Hall of Fame, which opened in a temporary facility in 1970, was the first sports museum ever dedicated to a single football team.

ON DOMESTIC IS OKAY, THOUGH

---

IT IS FORBIDDEN TO CARRY
FOREIGN FOODSNIFFS
TO BE EATEN ON THE SPOT.

sign in Biarritz, France

ON ANATOMY, VERY STRANGE

---

Neil Baker is standing on the touchline with his hands in his tracksuit bottoms scratching his head.

sportscaster Chris Kamara

IF I CANNOT
PREVAIL UPON
HEAVEN, I SHALL
MOVE HELL.

—VIRGIL, Roman poet

“The only place where success comes before work is a dictionary.”

—VIDAL SASSOON, English hairdresser

COMPULSIVE READING

Get to know the man behind one of the most famous reference books of all time. Both psychological study and literary biography, this is the remarkable story of Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869), originator of the thesaurus. Though he began exhibiting manias and compulsive behaviors at the age of eight, Roget nevertheless had a successful medical career, published two significant treatises—in addition to the famous thesaurus in 1852—on widely diverse scientific and theological subjects. He married happily (and was also rather handsome, if melancholy).

THE MAN WHO MADE LISTS: LOVE, DEATH, MADNESS, AND THE CREATION OF ROGET’S THESAURUS, by Joshua Kendall (Berkeley Trade, 2009)

A GREAT ESCAPE

Philippa Gregory has proven herself mistress of the Tudor historical novel, and The Other Queen is a prime example of her gift for bringing the intrigue, pageantry, and characters of 16th-century England to life. This time Mary, Queen of Scots, has been placed by Elizabeth I in the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury, who falls for the Scottish queen’s legendary beauty and vivacity. His wife, Bess of Hardwick, an intelligent and ambitious woman, keeps an eye on the situation for both herself and Elizabeth’s spymaster, William Cecil. Gregory has delivered yet another irresistible page-turner.

THE OTHER QUEEN, by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone, 2008)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/9/2011

2/9/1980:
Three days after making seven three-point baskets in a 115-114 victory over the New Jersey Nets, Rick Barry becomes the first NBA player to hit eight three-pointers in one game as the Rockets outscore the Utah Jazz in Houston, 117-95. It's the league's first season using the three-point shot and Barry's last season in professional basketball. His sons Scooter, Jon, Drew and Brent will become professional basketball players; all but Scooter will play in the NBA.

Birthdays:
Dit Clapper b. 1907
Bill Veeck b. 1914
Phil Ford b. 1956
Mookie Wilson b. 1956
Vladimir Guerrero b. 1976

Packers Fact:
The Packers celebrated the franchise's 90th birthday in 2009; the 2010 season was to mark the club's 90th season in the NFL.

ON LET THEM EAT FISH

---

It’s so bad being homeless in winter. They should go somewhere warm like the caribbean where they can eat fresh fish all day.

model-socialite Lady Victoria Hervey

“Few men are brave by nature, but good order and experience may make many so.”

—NICCOLÓ; MACHIAVELLI, 15th-century Italian political philosopher

COURTROOM CAPERS

William Bernhardt’s bestselling D.C. series, featuring intrepid lawyer Ben Kincaid, brings us another addictively readable legal thriller. Ben is up against a sharp district attorney in his case to defend a professor accused of killing a cop whom he believed responsible for his wife’s death. As Kincaid drills deep to help his client, he taps into the workings of a vast and frightening political conspiracy that takes all of his considerable ingenuity to fight.

CAPITOL OFFENSE, by William Bernhardt (Ballantine, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/6-8/2011

Advice from basketball's Tim Duncan on how to achieve success: "Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better And your better is best."

Birthdays:
Babe Ruth b. 1896
Smoky Burgess b. 1927
Don Cockroft b. 1945
Richie Zisk b. 1949
Kim Zmeskal b. 1976

2/7/1976:
With six goals and four assists, Daryl Sittler sets an amazing record of 10 points in an NHL game as he leads the Maple Leafs to an 11-4 win over teh Boston Bruins in Toronto. The previous record for points in a game was eight, set by Maurice Richard in 1944 and Bert Olmstead in '54, Sittler's six goals also tie a modern NHL mark set by the Red Wings' Syd Howe (1944) and the Blues' Red Berenson (1968).

Birthdays:
Dan Quisenberry b. 1953
Carney Lansford b. 1957
Rick Neuheisel b. 1961
Juwan Howard b.1973
Steve Nash b. 1974

Packers Fact:
The Packers' first NFL title came in 1929 after the acquisition of three future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Halfback Johnny (Blood) McNally, Tackle Cal Hubbard, and Guard Mike Michalske.

2/8/1936:
The National Football League holds its first draft of college players. At the time, the NFL has nine franchises: two in Chicago and one each in Boston, Brooklyn, Detroit, Green Bay, New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The Philadelphia Eagles choose first and select Jay Berwanger, a halfback from the University of Chicago and the first college player to be awarded the Heisman Trophy. Unfortunately, Berwanger believes he can make more money outside of athletics and will never play in an NFL game.

Birthdays:
Joe Black b. 1924
Clete Boyer b. 1937
Marques Johnson b. 1956
Dino Ciccarelli b. 1960
Alonzo Mourning b. 1970

Packers Fact:
Former Packers' star cornerback Herb Adderley was the first player to return an interception for a touchdwon in the Super Bowl. His 60-yard return came in the fourth quarter of Green Bay's 33-14 victory over Oakland in Super Bowl II.

“Depend upon it that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him.”

—SAMUEL JOHNSON, 18th-century English writer

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

—CONFUCIUS, Chinese philosopher

“To be challenged is good. The challenged life may be the best therapist.”

—GAIL SHEEHY, American writer

ON BIGNESS,
BIG COMMENTARY FROM BIG
JOHN MADDEN ABOUT

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Hey, the offensive linemen are the biggest guys on the field, they’re bigger than everybody else, and that’s what makes them the biggest guys on the field.

NFL commentator John Madden

ON FUNNY, WE WERE THINKING DIPPOLDISWALDE

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Weakest Link host Anne Robinson: What German city is also the name of a type of perfume?

Contestant (thinking hard): Berlin.

(The correct answer, of course, is Cologne.)

ON MICROSOFT PROGRAMMING, TYPICALLY TOP-NOTCH

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Vista Error 10107: A system call that should never fail has failed.

computer error message

THE SCHOOL OF KNOCK-KNOCKS

The Second City comedy school and club has spawned almost all the comic names you can think of, many of whom were interviewed for this volume. The intense camaraderie of geniuses at work and play is lovingly brought to life by Chicago Sun-Times staff writer and avid fan of comedy Mike Thomas, the author of Laugh: Portraits of the Greatest Comedians and the Stories They Tell Each Other.

THE SECOND CITY UNSCRIPTED: REVOLUTION AND REVELATION AT THE WORLD-FAMOUS COMEDY THEATER, by Mike Thomas (Villard, 2009)

PERENNIAL CLASSIC

It’s a happy day that saw Elizabeth Bishop born 100 years ago! And we are also lucky to have Library of America, which has gathered all her poems together, published and unpublished. And her essays and blurbs, her translations of Greek drama and Brazilian sambas. And her glorious letters, of course. James Merrill described her poems as “more wryly radiant, more touching, more unaffectedly intelligent than any written in our lifetime,” and he knew a thing or two about writing.

ELIZABETH BISHOP: POEMS, PROSE, AND LETTERS, by Elizabeth Bishop (Library of America, 2008)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/5/2011

2/5/2009:
Coach Pat Summitt wins the 1,000th game of her legendary career at Tennessee when the women's basketball team defeats Georgia, 73-43, in front of 16,058 fans in Knoxville. She's the first college basketball coach to reach that figure.

Birthdays:
Hank Aaron b. 1934
Roger Staubach b. 1942
Craig Norton b. 1943
Darrell Waltrip b. 1949
Roberto Alomar b. 1968

Packers Fact:
Linebacker Desmond Bishop led the Packers with 3 forced fumbles in his second NFL season in 2008.

ON TESTIMONY,
TYPICAL

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I never said I had no idea about most of the things you said i said i had no idea about.

political advisor Elliot Abrams, during Congressional testimony about Iran

“Never complain and never explain.”

—STANLEY BALDWIN, English statesman

LIVING HISTORY

Sunday is the Gipper’s 100th birthday! Which makes it a good time to start reexamining his place in American history and especially his contributions to ending the Cold War. James Mann has done a lot of work on the topic and has produced a fascinating account of how Ronald Reagan defied the nation’s foreign-policy establishment, including his own advisers, in his dealing with Gorbachev. Mann is especially comprehensive on the subject of Reagan’s historic “Tear down this wall” speech.

THE REBELLION OF RONALD REAGAN: A HISTORY OF THE END OF THE COLD WAR, by James Mann (Viking Adult, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/3-4/2011

2/3/1982:
The Black Hawks' Grant Mulvey scores four goals in the first period and five in all during a 9-3 win over the St. Louis Blues at Chicago Stadium. Mulvey's scoring outburst comes just a few days after his brother Paul's four-year career came to an abrupt end. On January 24, against the Vancouver Canucks, Los Angeles Kings coach Don Perry ordered Paul onto the ice to fight. Paul refused, angering his coach and resulting in his release. Perry was later suspended and fine for the incident.

Birthdays:
Emile Griffith b. 1938
Fran Tarkenton b. 1940
Bob Griese b. 1945
Fred Lynn b. 1952
Vlade Divac b. 1968

Packers Fact:
Five-time Pro Bowl receiver Sterling Sharpe was forced to retire after only seven seasons (1988-1994) because of a serious neck injury.

2/4/2001:
NBA referee Joe Forte ejects Heat fan Jimmy Buffet from hish courtside seat for using profanity during a 10-100 Miami overtime loss to the New York Knicks at the Great Western Forum. When Forte claims he's never heard of Buffet, Coach Pat Riley tries to fill him in on the singer's identity, including the fact that his followers are known as "parrot heads." Forte then tries to give Riley a technical because he thinks the Heat coach is calling him a parrot head. The bizarre confrontation delays the game for several minutes.

Birthdays:
Bennie Oosterbaan b. 1906
Byron Nelson b. 1912
Lawrence Taylor b. 1959
Denis Savard b. 1961
Oscar De La Hoya b. 1973

Packers Fact:
On this date in 2006: in his first year of eligibility, former Packers defensive end Reggie White (1993-98) posthumously was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“All rising to great place is by a winding stair.”

—FRANCIS BACON, 16th-century English philosopher and essayist

“Keep on truckin’.”

—“BLIND BOY” FULLER, American blues artist

ON TO BE OR NOT TO BE . . . NOT

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Your being of being who you be of this forbidden picture of what you think you’re supposed to be.

pop star Britney Spears, in a concert program

ON PRIVATES, PIQUANT

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• Butter Many Privates

• Thousand Enrich the Special Features Three Texts Cure

• France Many Privates

• The Thin Cow Picks Three Texts Cure

items on a hotel menu in China

THE NEW CLASSICS

SLAVE TIMES

Many critics regard A Mercy as Toni Morrison’s best book since her beautiful and heart-wrenching Beloved. Like Beloved, it looks at slavery and the terrible variety of its consequences. Set in America’s beginning years at the end of the 17th century, A Mercy recounts the story of Jacob Vaark, who is struggling to build a farm in the wilderness of upstate New York. He first buys a 14-year-old American Indian girl, then a 16-year-old wife from England; then he acquires the slave girl Florens as payment of a debt. Their stories sing in prose of extraordinary lyrical power.

A MERCY, by Toni Morrison (Vintage, 2009)

EVERLASTING LOVE

Masterful prose, a hypnotic story set against the backdrop of centuries of European history, and a stunning tale of love and redemption shimmering with supernatural elements . . . it’s all here in this debut novel. The tale begins when our unnamed and originally not very likable protagonist—lost soul, coke addict, porn star—is horribly burned after he veers off the road to avoid a spooky vision. It ends with his being completely seduced (as you will be) by his fellow patient, a schizophrenic sculptress-storyteller named Marianne Engel, and her tale of their first love together, 700 long years ago.

THE GARGOYLE, by Andrew Davidson (Anchor, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/1-2/2011

2/1/1976:
Pitcher Mike Marshall of the Los Angeles Dodgers is arrested in East Lansing, Michigan, for trespassing and criminal damage. He tried to hacksaw his way into a batting cage that had been placed off-limits by order of the campus police at Michigan State University, where he's working on his doctorate in kinesiology. The school was afraid he'd hit the ball too far and injure students on an adjacent tennis court.

Birthdays:
Paul Blair b. 1944
Dick Snyder b. 1o944
T.R. Dunn b. 1955
Malik Sealy b. 1970
Tommy Salo b. 1971

Packers Fact:
The two players on the Packers' kickoff weekend roster in 2009 with the most NFL experience (years played) were cornerback Al Harris and Charles Woodson, each of whom was in his 12th season in the league.

2/2/1876:
Baseball's National League is formed at a meeting at the Grand Central Hotel in New York City. The league consists of teams from Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis. The only two of the eight original clubs to operate continually since 1876 are the Braves and Cubs. The Cubs are the only club to remain in one city. The Braves will move from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953 and on to Atlanta in 1966.

Birthdays:
George Halas b. 1895
Wes Ferrell b. 1908
Red Schoendienst b. 1923
Sean Elliott b. 1968
Donald Driver b. 1975

Packers Fact:
The Packers' 26-0 victory over Detroit in week 6 of 2009 was Green Bay's first shutout since whitewashing the Vikings 34-0 in 2007.

ON SO NOT TO WORRY IF YOU’RE FROM OREGON

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Warning label on a Roll-A-Hose garden hose:

MAY CAUSE CANCER
IN CALIFORNIA

ON EXCUSES, REALLY STRETCHING IT

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It is completely normal in big factories to have mice wandering around, and yes, every now and then they get caught amongst the machines and do get bottled, seasoned, preserved, and even make it in one piece to consumers. Although not very pleasant to see, however, they pose no health threat at all. During the preservation process even traces of any salmonella bacteria are eliminated in food. A mice-foot therefore could be classified as a special additive to the pickles.

Health Ministry spokeswoman Vivijan Potocnik, after a woman found a mouse’s foot in a jar of Slovenian pickles

ADVERSITY IS EASIER
BORNE THAN
PROSPERITY FORGOT.

—English proverb

“After all, tomorrow is another day.”

— SCARLETT O’HARA (VIVIEN LEIGH) in Gone with the Wind; screenplay by Sidney Howard

BEWARE OF VICIOUS PLANT

When you think of lily of the valley, do you envision a “white bud! that in meek beauty dost lean”? (George Croly, 1780–1860). Don’t be naïve! Look up the sweet little lily of the valley in this A-to-Z compendium of poisonous, dangerous, and downright murderous plants, and you’ll learn that this lovely, common flower (and roots and leaves) can have fatal neurological and cardiac effects. And you wouldn’t want to die of milk sickness from cows that eat snakeroot, like poor Nancy Hanks Lincoln, would you? You’ll want to eat up this beautifully illustrated and bound volume, a marvelous gift or fun reference.

WICKED PLANTS: THE WEED THAT KILLED LINCOLN’S MOTHER AND OTHER BOTANICAL ATROCITIES, by Amy Stewart, illustrated by Briony Morrow-Cribbs (Algonquin, 2009)

GIFT IDEA

This volume is the first of four that will contain the entirety of Jules Feiffer’s Village Voice cartoon strip. Feiffer’s drawings are spare and simple illustrations of characters who are, psychologically and emotionally, anything but spare and simple. They wrestle with the phobias and passions and angst of their time—from the bomb to psychoanalysis to race and war. The battle, or rather the misunderstanding, of the sexes are incisively laid out and inescapably funny. The strips are certainly of their time, but their humor is timeless.

EXPLAINERS: THE COMPLETE VILLAGE VOICE STRIPS (1956-1966), by Jules Feiffer (Fantagraphics Books, 2008)