Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 3/25/2011

3/25/1971:
The Boston Patriots announce that from now on they'll be known as the New England Patriots and will play at Schaefer Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Some 30 miles southwest of Boston, the Pats' new home field is the fifth in their short existence and the fourth in a span of four years. From 1960 through '62, the team played at Nickerson Field on the Boston University campus; subsequent venues were Fenway Park (1963-68), Boston College's Alumni Stadium (1969) and Harvard Stadium (1970). Schaefer Stadium, renamed Sullivan Stadium in 1983 and Foxboro Stadium in 1990, will serve the club through the end of the 2001 season. Gillette Stadium will open in 2002.

Birthdays:
Howard Cosell b. 1920
Avery Johnson b. 1965
Tom Glavine b. 1966
Sheryl Swoopes b. 1971
Danica Patrick b. 1982

Packers Fact:
Future Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back Willie Wood (1960-1971) was not drafted out of Southern California because he was a running quarterback in college.

ON IF YOU SAY SO

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The flights, landings, and take-offs of airships called “flying saucers” and “flying cigars” of any nationality are forbidden on the territory of the community of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

law enacted by mayor of the French town after numerous UFO sightings

A CRISIS IS AN
OPPORTUNITY
RIDING THE
DANGEROUS WIND.

—Chinese proverb

THE MYSTERY’S MYSTERY

The Wall Street Journal calls The Manual of Detection “a surreal transmogrification of a genre,” the genre being, of course, detective fiction. What they seem to mean by that is that what starts out as a fairly straightforward mystery becomes a somewhat bizarre story of stolen alarm clocks (every single one) and a master detective who isn’t all that masterful. A lot of fun as long as you don’t insist on Sam Spade staying Sam Spade.

THE MANUAL OF DETECTION, by Jedediah Berry (Penguin Press, 2008)