Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 10/12-13/2011

10/12/1997:
In a game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Jacksonville, the Jaguars' James Stewart becomes only the fourth NFL player to rush for five touchdowns in a game. A disappointment since being drafted in the first round in 1995, Stewart is in the game only because starter Natrone Means sprained an ankle on the first drive. He has three TDs in the first quarter on runs of seven, eight and two yards, and the Jags build a 21-0 lead. In the third quarter, he scores again on a one-yard plunge through the line for a 28-7 Jacksonville advantage. Another one-yard run with 12:26 left in the game makes the score 35-7. Jacksonville goes on to win, 38-21.

Birthdays:
Joe Cronin b. 1906
Jaroslav Drobny b. 1921
Tony Kubek b. 1936
Jack Marin b. 1944
Charlie Ward b. 1971

Packers Fact:
End Max McGee led the NFL when he averaged a whopping 23.2 yards per reception in 1959. His 30 catches included 5 touchdowns that averaged 39.6 yards.

10/13/1972:
On Friday the 13th, the first home game of the WHL's Philadelphia Blazers is postponed because the ice is deemed unsafe. At game time, the surface is choppy and cracking, and the machine meant to repair the problem falls through the ice. Blazers president Jim Coops draws boos and a hail of souvenir pucks from the fans when he announces the postponement. After one season in Philadelphia, the Blazers will move to Vancouver.

Birthdays:
Eddie Mathews b. 1931
Doc Rivers b. 1961
Jerry Ric b. 1962
Trevor Hoffman b. 1967
Paul Pierce b. 1977

Packers Fact:
Defensive end Willie Davis (1960-69) played college football at Grambling.

“Make voyages!—
Attempt them!—
there’s nothing else.”

—TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, American playwright

“I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.”

—AGATHA CHRISTIE, English writer

ON FACTS, INCREDIBLE

---

People who survive grow older with each year they live.

from the article “Average remaining lifetimes can increase as human populations age” in Nature magazine

ON PIANOS, TINY

---

Weakest Link Host Anne Robinson: How many keys are there on a standard grand piano?

Contestant: Five.

BESTSELLER

Car salesman Tim Blake gets up in the morning, fixes scrambled eggs for his 17-year-old daughter, Sydney, and then things take a turn for the worse. For one thing, Sydney storms out after Tim wrongly accuses her of stealing a pair of sunglasses. When she doesn’t come back from work, Tim, wanting to apologize and make things right, goes to her workplace and finds that no one has heard of her. The cops suspect Tim of foul play, the ex-wife blames him, his ditzy girlfriend is no help, and somebody wants to kill him. Linwood Barclay is a master of characterization and of realistic detail that makes the situation all the more terrifying—it happened to Tim; it could happen to you.

FEAR THE WORST, by Linwood Barclay (Bantam, 2009)

I’LL EAT YOUR LIVER!

The foie gras wars started in Chicago, when Charlie Trotter let fly an uncharitable remark about a rival chef, suggesting his liver be cooked and served foie gras–style. Within a remarkably short time, Trotter was announcing that he would no longer serve the ancient delicacy—shouted down by a firestorm of bad publicity and shrill invective. Foodies, chefs, animal rights activists, politicians, and the very few who produce foie gras in this country started an international food fight and shouting match, and the Chicago Tribune’s Caro is right there at ringside in this analysis of a controversy that may change our food ways forever.

THE FOIE GRAS WARS: HOW A 5,000-YEAR-OLD DELICACY INSPIRED THE WORLD’S FIERCEST FOOD FIGHT by Mark Caro (Simon & Schuster, 2009)