Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/16/2011

8/16/1998:
Driving int eh Pepsi 400 at the Michigan Speedway in Brooklyn, Jeff Gordon wins his fourth NASCAR race in a row in just over three weeks. Gordon won the Pennsylvania 500 in Long Pond on July 26, the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis on August 1 and the Bud at the Glen in Watkins Glen, New York, on August 8. His streak will be broken a week from now, when he finishes fifth in the Goody's 500 in Bristol, Tennessee, but he'll follow up with victories in his next two races: the Farm Aid on CMT 300 in Loudon, New Hampshire, on August 30 and the Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina, on September 6.

Birthdays:
Amos Alonzo Stagg b. 1862
Frank Gifford b. 1930
Tony Trabert b. 1930
Ron Tary b. 1946
Ben Coates b. 1969

Packers Fact:
Cornerback Tramon Williams returned an interception 67 yards to set up a touchdown in a 21-15 victory over Chicago to open the 2009 season.

What did you think, that joy was some slight thing?

—MARK DOTY, American poet

ON DEFENSES, ALL WET

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Judge: You are charged with habitual drunkenness. Have you anything to say in your defense?

Defendant: Habitual thirstiness?

from actual courtroom testimony

BESTSELLER

Jonathan Tropper once again firmly establishes himself as a writer whom it’s almost impossible not to like. This Is Where I Leave You is an intelligent, funny, serious, beautifully crafted novel, with characters so exactingly described, you could invite them to your own family barbecue (and know exactly how much they’ll drink and how they’ll react to the news of your divorce). Judd, who is traumatized and on the verge of divorce, must endure an excruciating seven days of shiva for his father, in the company of his family. Intense and bound to be a classic. Read the book before it (inevitably) becomes a movie.

THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU, by Jonathan Tropper (Dutton Adult, 2009)