Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/12/2012

1/12/1992:
The Bills edge the Broncos, 10-7, in the AFC championship game at Rich Stadium in orchard Park, New York. After a scoreless first half, Buffalo takes a 7-0 lead with 5:28 left in the third quarter when linebacker Carlton Bailey returns a John Elway pass 11 yards for a touchdown. The Bills move ahead to 10-0 on a Scott Norwood field goal early in the fourth period. After Elway leaves with a thigh bruise, backup quarterback Gary Kubiak scores on a three-yard run with 1:43 remaining. Denver recovers the ensuing on-side kick but turns the ball over on a fumble on the next play. The Broncos outgain the Bills 304 yards to 213 for the defeat. In two weeks, at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, the Bills will lose, 37-24, to the Washington Redskins in the Super Bowl-the second of four consecutive title defeats for the Bills.

Birthdays:
Mac Speedie b. 1920
Joe Frazier b. 1944
Tom Dempsey b. 1947
Dominique Wilkins b. 1960
Dontrelle Willis b. 1982

LIVING HISTORY

Paris, 1911. Someone has stolen the Mona Lisa right from the wall of the Louvre, launching a treasure hunt that lasts two years and includes Pablo Picasso on its list of suspects. A rollicking true story of art history, criminology, and Francophilia, Vanished Smile has real plot twists that seem to have been lifted from a Dan Brown novel and atmosphere more French than a Peter Mayle book. It’s “luminous” (Washington Post Book World), “beguiling” (The New York Times Book Review), and downright “enthralling” (Financial Times, UK).

VANISHED SMILE: THE MYSTERIOUS THEFT OF THE MONA LISA, by R. A. Scotti (Vintage, 2010) (Edgar nominee)