Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 3/21-22/2012

3/21/1953:
In the second and deciding game of a three-game playoff series, guard Bob Cousy scores 50 points to lead the Celtics to a 111-105 win over the Syracuse Nationals in four overtimes before 11,058 at the Boston Garden. No one else on either team has more than 19 points. Cousy ties the score at 99 with a one-handed push shot at the close of the third OT period. The Nationals race to a 104-99 lead at the start of the fourth extra period, but the Celtics outscore them 12-1 the rest of the way, with Cousy contributing eight of Boston's dozen points. Cousy sets an NBA record for any game, regulation or playoff, with 30 free throws. The four overtimes set an NBA record for a playoff contest. The two teams also combine for a playoff record 107 fouls. Syracuse sets a single team playoff record with 55 personals.

Birthdays:
Tom Flores b. 1937
Jay Hilgenberg b. 1960
Ayrton Senna b. 1960
Shawon Dunston b. 1963
Al Iafrate b. 1966

3/22/1984:
Indiana stuns number-one ranked North Carolina 72-68 in the East Regional semifinals, held at The Omni in Atlanta. The Tar Heels' junior guard Michael Jordan is held to just 4 points during the first 33 minutes of the contest and finishes with just 13 points. Freshman guard Steve Alford leads the Hoosiers with 27 points, including a perfect six-for-six from the foul line in the crucial final minutes. Indiana takes a 12-point lead with five minutes remaining, but poor shooting allows North Carolina to pull within two with 2:07 left. After that, however, the Tar Heels can pull no closer. The national championship dreams for coach Bobby Knight and the Hoosiers will come to an end with a 50-48 defeat at the hands of Virginia in the Elite Eight on March 24 in Atlanta. Jordan will soon declare himself eligible for the NBA draft and will be chosen as the third overall pick, by the Chicago Bulls, in June.

Birthdays:
Billy Vessels b. 1931
Flash Elorde b. 1935
Glenallen Hill b. 1965
Shawn Bradley b. 1972
Marcus Camby b. 1974

LIVE TO TELL

What are the most important traits for survival in a crisis? In this “must-read” (The New York Times), Gonzo journalist Ben Sherwood (The Man Who Ate the 747) explains what they are and why they work. You’ll learn what makes the difference between life and death in a plane crash, an animal attack, a concentration camp, the ER, and more. “The true life stories are satisfying … but it’s the science that fascinates,” says Entertainment Weekly.
      Go to www.thesurvivorsclub.org to find out what kind of survivor you are.

THE SURVIVORS CLUB: THE SECRETS AND SCIENCE THAT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE, by Ben Sherwood (Grand Central, 2010)

ENDURING CLASSIC

Evelyn Waugh said of W. Somerset Maugham, “He’s a master of creating the appetite for information, of withholding it until the right moment, and then providing it surprisingly.” His Cakes and Ale, believed to have been a veiled portrait of Thomas Hardy, is a hilarious satire of interest to all readers and writers. A hack writer is hired by the widow of a celebrated novelist, Edward Driffield, to pen her late husband’s biography. The catch? The first Mrs. Driffield, glittering muse to Edward, must be written out of the story.

CAKES AND ALE, by W. Somerset Maugham (1930; Vintage, 2000)