Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 2/4-5/2012

2/4/1987:
The Sacramento Kings fall behind 29-0 at the start of a game against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Forum in Inglewood, California. The Kings trail 40-4 at the close of the first quarter. All four points are accounted for with free throws, after missing their first 22 field goal attempts. The game is evenly played over the final three periods, and the Lakers prevail, 128-92.

Birthdays:
Bonnie Oosterbaan b. 1906
Byron Nelson b. 1912
Lawrence Taylor b. 1959
Denis Savard b. 1961
Oscar De La Hoya b. 1973

Don Drysdale, who pitched for the Dodgers from 1958 through 1969: "My own little rule was two for one. If one of my teammates got knocked down, then I knocked down two on their team."

Birthdays:
Hank Aaron b. 1934
Roger Staubach b. 1942
Craig Merion b. 1943
Darrell Waltrip b. 1949
Roberto Alomar b. 1968

JANE’S WORLD

Did you realize that women are present in every single sentence in Jane Austen’s novels? And that Austen never wrote a sentence from the point of view of a man—or a servant? Thanks to novelist Diane Johnson for letting us know. Hers is among the provocative and playful essays from a varied range of writers (from Harold Bloom to Clueless director Amy Heckerling) who explore that burning question of modern life: “Will we ever grow weary of Jane Austen?” The answer is still no.

A TRUTH UNIVERSALLY ACKNOWLEDGED: THIRTY-THREE GREAT WRITERS ON WHY WE READ JANE AUSTEN; edited by Susannah Carson (Random House, 2009)