Sports Fact & book Rec of the Day 2/10/2012

2/10/1992:
the Atlanta Falcons trade Brett Favre to the Green Bay Packers for a first-round draft choice (17th overall). The Falcons took Favre in the second round of the 1991 draft out of the University of Southern Mississippi. During his rookie season, Favre played in two games and dropped back to pass four times. He was 0-for-4 in his passing attempts, threw two interceptions,and was sacked once for 11 yards. The Falcons were ecstatic that a team was willing to surrender a first-round pick for a quarterback who looked like a second-round bust. But Favre will take over as the starting QB for the Packers in the fourth game of 1992, and finish the year leading the NFL in completions with 302. The Falcons will use the first-round choice that they receive in exchange for Favre to select running back Tony Smith, who was also from Southern Miss. Smith lasts only three years in the NFL and gains just 329 yards in 87 carries.

Birthdays:
Mark Spitz b. 1950
Greg Norman b. 1955
John Calipari b. 1959
Lenny Dykstra b. 1963
Lance Berkman b. 1976

ENDURING CLASSIC

If you’ve only seen the classic movie starring Maggie Smith, you’re missing out on Muriel Spark’s wickedly insightful novel. Jean Brodie is delusional, even dangerous, but there’s no question that she’s passionately dedicated to her pet students, and they are equally devoted to her … well, most of them are.
    Another Spark to kindle: Memento Mori, in which a circle of elderly people are terrified and thrilled by a caller who intones, “Remember you must die.”

THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, by Muriel Spark (1961; Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2009)