Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/19-20/2012

1/19/2002:
Down 13-3 at the start of the fourth quarter, the New England Patriots rally to defeat the Oakland Raiders, 16-13, in what will become known as the "tuck rule" game - a controversial divisional playoff during a driving snowstorm in Foxboro. The Patriots trail 13-10 with possession at the Oakland 42 and 1:50 left in regulation, when cornerback Charles Woodson blitzes and hits New England quarterback Tom Brady, who lets loose of the ball. The Raiders recover and the play is ruled a fumble on the field. A replay review, however, deems the pass incomplete because, according to an obscure NFL rule, Brady's arm is moving forward while he attempts to tuck it back toward his body. Adam Vinatieri ties the score with a 45-yard field goal and 27 seconds remaining in regulation. After 8 minutes and 29 seconds of overtime, Vinatieri kicks again - a 23-yard field goal to give New England the victory.

Birthdays:
Bill Mlkvy b. 1931
O.J. Anderson b. 1957
Stefan Edberg b. 1966
Junior Seau b. 1969
Tyrone Wheatley b. 1972

1/20/1952:
Minneapolis Lakers star center George Mikan scores 67 percent of his team's points during a 91-81 double overtime victory over the Rochester Royals at the Minneapolis Auditorium. Mikan has 22 field goals and 17 free throws for 61 points - the most by an individual in an NBA game between 1949 (63 by Joe Fulks of the Philadelphia Warriors) and 1959 (64 by Elgin Baylor of the Minneapolis Lakers). Mikan led the NBA in scoring in 1948-49, 1949-50, and 1950-51. Prior to the 1951-52 season, the league widened the foul lane from 6 feet to 12 - an attempt to keep the big men like the six-foot-ten-inch Mikan farther away from the basket. The change was dubbed "the Mikan Rule." Mikan's scoring production dropped from 28.4 points per game in 1950-51 to 23.8 in 1951-51 and he lost his scoring title to six-foot-four forward Paul Arizin of the Philadelphia Warriors.

Birthdays?
Norm Stewart b. 1935
Carol Heiss b. 1940
John Naber b. 1956
Ron Harper b. 1964
Brian Giles b. 1971

EX LIBRIS

“This book … demonstrates how and why to read seriously,” says the San Francisco Chronicle. It starts with an injury, an illness, and a death in the family a few years after Christopher Beha’s Princeton graduation. He decides to return home and use his downtime to read all 51 volumes in the Harvard Classics Library. From Plato to Poe, the wisdom of the ages is in his lap and on his mind. An empowering, soaring examination of life, death, and everything in between.

THE WHOLE FIVE FEET: WHAT THE GREAT BOOKS TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE, DEATH, AND PRETTY MUCH EVERYTHING ELSE, by Christopher Beha (Grove Press, 2010)

GIFTABLY GREAT

“The problem is … how to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life; how to remain balanced, no matter what centrifugal forces tend to pull one off center; how to remain strong, no matter what shocks come.”
    Doesn’t that just about sum it up? Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s meditations on motherhood, simplicity, and her place in the world ring as true today as they did more than fifty years ago. A contemplative tour de force.

A GIFT FROM THE SEA, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1955; Pantheon, 1991)