Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 3/27-29/2012

3/27/1902:
In Chicago, the nickname "Cubs" is coined by the Chicago Daily News when an unbylined column notes that manager "Frank Selee will devote his strongest efforts on the team work of the new Cubs this year." The "Cubs" referred to in the article are young players, such as future Hall of Famer Joe Tinker, who are rookies in 1902. The Chicago baseball franchise in the National League was established in 1876 and had no official nickname. Prior to 1902, the club had been known by a variety of nicknames, including White Stockings, Silk Stockings, Black Stockings, Colts, Orphans, Rainmakers, Rough Riders, and Remnants, by the various newspapers in town. From 1902 through 1906, the nine daily papers in the Windy City will call the team the Panamas, Microbes, Zephyrs, Nationals, and Spuds. It is Cubs which catches the fancy of the public, however, and by 1908 a bear cub appears on the team's uniform.

Birthdays:
Miller Huggins b. 1879
Wes Covington b. 1932
Cale Yarborough b. 1939
Chriis McCarron b. 1955
Michael Cuddyer b. 1979

3/28/1992:
At the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Christian Laettner of Duke sinks a last-second shot to nip Kentucky 104-103 in the regional finals to cap one of the greatest games in the history of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. With 2.1 seconds remaining in overtime, Grant Hill throws a pass to Laettner, a distance of about 75 feet. Catching the ball near the free throw line, Laettner dribbles once, turns, and hits the jumper as time expires. Laettner doesn't miss a shot the entire game. He's 10-for-10 from field goal range and 10-for-10 at the free throw line, for a total of 31 points. In the Final Four at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Duke will beat Indiana, 81-78, and Michigan, u71-51, to win the national championship.

Birthdays:
Vic Baschi b. 1918
Jerry Sloan b. 1942
Rick Barry b. 1944
Len Elmore b. 1952
Byron Scott b. 1961

3/29/2000:
The Cubs and the Mets open the 2000 baseball season with a regular-season game in Tokyo before 55,000 at the Tokyo Dome. The Cubs win, 5-3. It is the first regular-season game ever played outside of North America, and the first of a two-game series in Tokyo. Shane Andrews and Mark Grace homer for the Cubs and Mike Piazza for the Mets. Among those in attendance is Crown Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako. The game begins at 7:06 P.M. Tokyo time, which is 4:06 A.M. in Chicago and 5:06 A.M. in New York. Jon Lieber is the winning pitcher. The two teams meet agin the following day with the Mets winning, 5-1, in 11 innings. Benny Agbayani wins the game with a pinchi-hit grand slam in the 11th off Danny Young. It is Young's major league debut.

Birthdays:
Walt Frazier b. 1945
Teofilo Stevenson b. 1952
Earl Campbell b. 1955
Brian Jordan b. 1967
Jennifer Capriati b. 1976

FIRST-RATE FICTION

This novel about a young Japanese pearl diver in the 1940s is rendered with precision and depth. Diagnosed with leprosy and banished to an island leper colony, “Miss Fuji” (inmates must take on new identities) lives out a life filled with loneliness, shame, and neglect. Somehow, in her endurance, she maintains her dignity, becoming a caretaker for the other patients. Colum McCann raves, “One of the most honest, tender, and inventive books I’ve read in years.”

THE PEARL DIVER, by Jeff Talarigo (Anchor, 2005)

MEMORABLE MEMOIR

A quote from Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert says it all: “I can never get enough of true stories about people who stop in the middle of their life’s journey to ask, ‘What do I really want?’ and then have the guts to actually go get it. Kathleen Flinn’s tale of chasing her ultimate dream makes for a really lovely book—engaging, intelligent and surprisingly suspenseful.” Flinn’s midlife metamorphosis, like Julia Child’s, happened at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. If you liked Eat, Pray, Love; Under the Tuscan Sun; or My Life in France, this one’s for you.

THE SHARPER YOUR KNIFE, THE LESS YOU CRY: LOVE, LAUGHTER, AND TEARS IN PARIS AT THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS COOKING SCHOOL, by Kathleen Flinn (Penguin, 2008)

A LIFE

Juicy gossip abounds in this biography of Brazilian billionaire Lily Safra. She divorced her first husband; her second committed suicide (or so the authorities said); her third was dispatched in a quick, rancorous divorce at the bidding of her fourth, who died in a fire set by an employee. It all resulted in the vast fortune her parents had always dreamed for her. Glittering backdrops. Shiny toys. High society. Edifying it’s not; diverting, you bet.

GILDED LILY: LILY SAFRA: THE MAKING OF ONE OF THE WORLD’S WEALTHIEST WIDOWS, by Isabel Vincent (Harper, 2010)