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

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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

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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)