Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/4-5/5/2011

5/4/1901:
Fire breaks out at Robison Field in St. Louis during the 10th inning of a game between the Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. There is little alarm at first among the 6,000 fans, who calmly begin to file out as smoke curls up through the seats. But the flames spread rapidly, fanned by a stiff breeze, and most of the park is destroyed by the time firefighters arrive. Fortunately, there are no reports of serious injuries. Tomorrow the Cards will play three blocks away at Sportsman's Park, the club's home from 1882 through 1892 and used this year for bicycle racing and other events. After a four-week road trip, they'll move into a rebuilt Robison Field on June 3.

Birthdays:
Elmer Layden b. 1903
Betsy Rawls b. 1928
Rene Lachemann b. 1945
Butch Beard b. 1947
Dawn Staley b. 1970

Packers Fact:
Nick Barnett had led the Packers in tackles four times in five years before a knee injury sidelined him for the second half of the 2008 season.

5/5/1969:
In an NBA draft that will drastically change the fortunes of two franchises, the Milwaukee Bucks (27-55) get first choice and select UCLA star Lew Alcindor. Alcindor will change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, score a record 38, 387 points and play on six championship teams in Milwaukee and Los Angeles. The Phoenix Suns (16-66), after losing the coin toss for first pick, choose the University of Florida's Newal Walk in the draft. Walk will score 7,15 points and never play on a championship club.

Birthdays:
Tony Canadeo b. 1919
Bob Cerv b. 1926
Ion Tiriac b. 1939
Herm Giliam b. 1946
Larry Hisle b. 1947

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted guard and tackle T.J. Lang out of Eastern Michigan int he fourth round in 2009.

ON THAT’S WHY LI’L TIMMY’S TEETH ARE BLACK

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Warning label on Orajel Toddler Training Toothpaste tube:
Warning: Keep out
of reach of children.

ON SHOULD WE BRING JOSÉ? OR GUILLERMO?

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Mom & daughter PJ Night.
Friday, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Bring Your Favorite Mexican.

ad in a newspaper

“Strong hope is a much greater stimulant of life than any single realized joy could be.”

—FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, German philosopher

“Get there first with the most men.”

—NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST, Confederate officer

REVISITING LAST DAYS

Mary Beard, a classics professor at Cambridge (and irreverent blogger for The Times of London) takes us on an eye-opening tour of Pompeii, showing us not the beautiful, and inaccurate, reconstructions of “Sword and Sandal” movies and tourist brochures, but the town in all its unregulated, sewerless, stinky, and quasipornographic “glory.” It is far from being the pristine archaeological find preserved in lava you may have been led to believe it to be. For one thing, it was heavily bombed in World War II. But new evidence does keep surfacing in and about the squalid and fascinating city, and Mary Beard is, without a doubt, its liveliest interpreter.

THE FIRES OF VESUVIUS: POMPEII LOST AND FOUND, by Mary Beard (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008)

SKINHEADS AND ASSASSINS

Norwegian detective Harry Hole begins watching a neo-Nazi who has escaped prosecution and ends up trying to foil an assassin who has been planning his crime since the end of World War II. Hole is a character with a rough edge and sharp mind. Jo Nesbo is a truly suspenseful writer who has crafted a beautifully executed plot. Norwegian book club members voted The Redbreast the best Norwegian crime novel ever.

THE REDBREAST, by Jo Nesbo, translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett (Harper, 2007)