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

3/4/1941:
Black Hawks goalie Sam LoPresti sets an NHL regular-season record with 80 saves against the Bruins in Boston, but he lets three shots slip past him and Chicago loses, 3-2. A rookie from Minnesota, LoPresti stops 42 shots before Roy Conacher scores at 4:24 of the second period; Eddie Wiseman breaks the 2-2 tie with a goal at 17:29 of the third stanza. LoPresti will be inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973. His son Pete will play in the NHL as a netminder from 1974 through 1981.

Birthdays:
Knute Rockne b. 1888
Dazzy Vance b. 1891
Margaret Osborne duPont b. 1918
Kevin Johnson b. 1966
Landon Donovan b. 1982

Packers Fact:
Wide receiver Donald Driver entered 2009 with a streak of 111 consecutive regular-season games with at least 1 catch.

“Never stop because you are afraid—you are never more likely to be wrong.”

—FRIDTJOF NANSEN, Norwegian explorer

ON OF COURSE IT’S A LITTLE TOUGH TO AIM

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FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE,
THIS IS A HANDS-FREE FACILITY.

sign above the urinal in a men’s bathroom (thanks to Ernie Rogers)

THE APPLE TREE’S DILEMMA

“Without flowers, the reptiles, which had gotten along fine in a leafy, fruitless world, would probably still rule. Without flowers, we would not be,” writes Michael Pollan in his absolutely engaging book on the way plants and humans have lived and evolved together. His method is similar to that in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, in that he takes four plants—apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes—and gives us their perspective on the complex relationship between plants and humans. Delicious and nutritious reading.

THE BOTANY OF DESIRE: A PLANT’S-EYE VIEW OF THE WORLD, by Michael Pollan (Random House, 2002)