Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 4/8/2011

4/8/1982:
The New York Rangers receive a stellar performance from an unexpected source in Game 2 of a first-round match against the Philadelphia Flyers when rookie Mikko Leinonen records six assists in a 7-3 win at Madison Square Garden. The six assists set a Stanley Cup playoff record that will be tied but not broken. Leinonen collected only 20 assists in 53 regular-season games in 1981-82 and will contribute only 5 in 19 more NHL playoff games with the Rangers and Washington Capitals.

Birthdays:
Sonja Henie b. 1912
John Havlicek b. 1940
Jim "Catfish" Hunter b. 1946
Gary Carter b. 1954
Ricky Bell b. 1955

Packers Fact:
In 29 NFL seasons as the Packers' coach beginning in 1921, Curly Lambeau compiled a record of 212-106-21.

ON MALL SIGNS, NOT NORMAL

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ALL NORMAL!

NO SEX SCANDAL OF THE STAR,

NOT SUPERSTARS.

NO SEX SCANDAL OF THE BRAND,

NOT TOP BRAND.

sign outside a fashion boutique, China

“We should laugh before being happy, for fear of dying without having laughed.”

—JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE, 17th-century French essayist

ROCK OF AGES

Caught in a long line with other tourists in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to view what turns out to be Plymouth Pebble, journalist Tony Horwitz suddenly realizes that he has a very tenuous grasp on America’s early history, and that his fellow T-shirt-wearing compatriots are equally in the dark. So he embarks on a voyage long and strange, to Florida, to Virginia, and into the writings of the conquistadors and explorers, to discover the real discovery of America.

“Full of vivid characters and wild detail.”—The New York Times

A VOYAGE LONG AND STRANGE: ON THE TRAIL OF VIKINGS, CONQUISTADORS, LOST COLONISTS, AND OTHER ADVENTURERS IN EARLY AMERICA, by Tony Horwitz (Henry Holt, 2008; Picador, 2009)