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Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/25-27/2012

2012-01-27T10:13:00.000-06:00

1/25/1972:
A brawl between players from Ohio State and Minnesota breaks out in one of the ugliest incidents in college basketball history near the end of a 50-44 Ohio State victory at the Williams Arena in Minneapolis. With 36 seconds remaining, seven-foot-tall center Luke Witte of the Buckeyes drives for a lay-up and is fouled hard, sending him to the floor. Immediately following the foul, Corky Taylor of the Golden Gophers extends a hand to Witte, then knees him in the groin. While on the floor, Witte is also stomped on the head by Minnesota player Ron Behagen and knocked unconscious. The incident escalates into a full-scale brawl involving fans, during which future baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield, a Minnesota player, lands five punches. Witte spends several days in the hospital, including 24 hours in intensive care, with injuries requiring 29 stitches to his face. The NCAA suspends Taylor and Behagen for the rest of the season.

Birthdays:
Lou Groza b. 1924
Don Maynard b. 1937
Steve Prefontaine b. 1951
Mark Duper b. 1959
Chris Chelios b. 1962

1/26/1952:
Wichita University's basketball team loses to Drake because of some overzealous fans. Wichita's (now Wichita State) home games take place in a cramped and rowdy gym with a balcony that hangs over the court. The score is tied 63-63 with eight seconds to go. As the ball is launched toward the goal, a Wichita fan throws his overcoat over the basket to keep the ball from going through the net. The officials rule the basket good and call Drake the winners, 65-63. They then make a dash for the locker room and bolt themselves in to escape the wrath of the fans.

Birthdays:
Bob Uecker b. 1935
Jack Youngblood b. 1950
Brian Doyle b. 1955
Wayne Gretzky b. 1961
Vince Carter b. 1977

1/27/1982:
In one of the greatest heists in baseball history, the Cubs trade Ivan DeJesus to the Phillies for Larry Bowa and Ryne Sandberg. The deal is essentially a swap of starting shortstops with Sandberg added as a throw-in to even the deal. The club includes him in the trade because Julio Franco and Juan Samuel are considered better prospects. Prior to his arrival in Chicago, Sandberg played in 13 major league games, mainly as a defensive replacement at short and as a pinch runner, and had just six at bats. At the start of the 1982 season, he's the Cubs' starting third baseman. He then moves to second near season's end. He'll capture the MVP award in 1984 and play in 10 consecutive All-Star Games through 1993, earning him election to the Hall of Fame in 2005.

Birthdays:
Franke Albert b. 1920
John Lowenstein b. 1947
Billy "White Shoes" Johnson b. 1952
Cris Collinsworth b. 195
Marat Safin b. 1980

WHODUNIT

Miss Heyer’s characters and dialogue are an abiding delight to me,” wrote Dorothy Sayers, and lovers of Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh will be inclined to agree. Best known for her regency romances, Georgette Heyer also wrote mysteries prized for their crackling dialogue, humor, and style. Set in the world of competitive bridge, Duplicate Death features a polite card game turned to a double murder. What could be better?

DUPLICATE DEATH, by Georgette Heyer (1951; Sourcebooks Landmark, 2010)

BON VOYAGE!

Songlines are pathways via which Australian Aborigines celebrate their important life passages. As nomads, they use the songlines to mark time, space, and their histories. The extraordinary travel writer Bruce Chatwin traveled his own pathways Down Under, musing on Aborigines and his need to wander; filled with quotes and material from his notebooks, The Songlines was one of his last books. As The New York Times Book Review says, “No one will put it down unmoved.”

THE SONGLINES, by Bruce Chatwin (Penguin, 1988)

LITERARY THRILLS

Dan Chaon’s fourth novel opens with a race to the hospital, setting the pace for a taut, gripping ride. The writing is literary but the page-turning cliff-hangers are pure thriller. The book interweaves the stories of three characters, all of whom have walked away from their lives and from the secrets that keep them running. If you need an adrenaline rush, try Chaon.

AWAIT YOUR REPLY, by Dan Chaon (Ballantine, 2010)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/23-24/2012

2012-01-24T17:59:00.000-06:00

1/23/1944:
The New York Rangers suffer a 15-0 drubbing at the hands of the Red Wings at the Olympia Stadium in the most one-sided game in NHL history. Detroit scores two goals int he first period, five int he second, and eight in the third. The shutout is recorded by rookie goaltender Connie Dion, playing in only his fifth NHL game following his discharge from the Canadian Army. Ken McAuley gives up all 15 Detroit goals to 10 different players. The hapless Rangers possessed a 6-39-5 record during the 1943-44 season. Beginning with tonight's debacle, the New York club will be winless over their last 21 games with 17 defeats and 4 ties. They'll start next season with four losses in a row, extending their winless streak to 25, before beating the Red Wings, 5-2, on November 9 at Madison Square Garden.

Birthdays:
Jerry Kramer b. 1936
Petr Korda b. 1968
Eric Metcalf b. 1968
Alan Embree b. 1970
Julie Foudy b. 1971

1/24/1952:
The NFL awards a franchise to a group from Dallas headed by Texas millionaire Giles Miller. Five days earlier, the league was reduced from 12 teams to 11 when Ted Collins sold the New York Yanks franchise back to the league. After an 0-7 start to the 1952 seasons and dwindling attendance figures at the Cotton Bowl, Miller will give the Texans back to the NFL. For the last five games, the commissioner's office operates the club as a road team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Two "home" games are played in Akron, Ohio, one of which results in the lone win of the 12-game season, a 27-23 decision over the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day before a crowd of only 3,000. At the end of the season, the Texans move to Baltimore and are renamed the Colts. In 1960, the NFL awards an expansion team to Dallas. This one is named the Cowboys and becomes one of the most successful franchises in pro football history.

Birthdays:
Giorgio Chiuaglia b. 1947
Atlee Hammaker b. 1958
Rob Dibble b. 1964
Mary Lou Retton b. 1968
Scott Kazmire b. 1984

ENDURING CLASSIC

Why read Edith Wharton? According to the critic Margaret Drabble, “Wharton depicted women caught between constraint and the possibilities of a new sexual freedom—a freedom that she herself enjoyed, though at high cost. Female rivalry and jealousy … are well caught in the celebrated ‘Roman Fever.’” That’s a mouthful, but “Roman Fever” is a riveting, seductive, and fierce tale of women and their secrets with a wicked twist at the end. As painfully beautiful as House of Mirth, in many fewer pages!
Also worthy of note: A Wharton gem is back in print in Twilight Sleep, her little-known novel of the Jazz Age.

ROMAN FEVER AND OTHER STORIES, by Edith Wharton (1911; Scribner, 1997)

EX LIBRIS

What Anthony Bourdain does for restaurants, what Atul Gawande does for hospitals, Marilyn Johnson does for libraries. In a “heroic” (O, the Oprah Magazine) and “marvelous” (Christopher Buckley) state-of-the-union report, Johnson takes us on a behind-the-scenes tour and reminds us, with vivid details, of libraries’ importance to education, culture, history, and community.

THIS BOOK IS OVERDUE! HOW LIBRARIANS AND CYBRARIANS CAN SAVE US ALL, by Marilyn Johnson (Harper Perennial, 2011)

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 20: Conference Championship

2012-01-22T07:23:00.000-06:00

Sun., Jan. 22:
3pm Baltimore @ New England - Baltimore (I flipped a coin!)
6:30pm - NY Giants @ San Francisco - San Francisco

orts Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/21-22/2012

2012-01-22T07:20:00.000-06:00

Football coach Gary Fallon of Washington and Lee University before a drawing to determine which student would get to throw a pie at him for the benefit of charity, in 1982: "I hope one of my senior quarterbacks gets drawn, so the pie will be intercepted before it gets to my face."

Birthdays:
Don Donoher b. 1932
Jack Nicklaus b. 1940
Hakeem Olajuwon b. 1963
Deitlef Schrempf b. 1963
Rusty Greet b. 1969

1/22/1987:
A paltry crowd of 334 fans shows up for a game between the New Jersey Devils and the Calgary Flames at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford as a 20-inch snowstorm descends on the New York metropolitan area. Only 13 Devils players arrive by the time the contest is schedule to start, causing a delay of 106 minutes. The Devils win, 7-5.

Birthdays:
Elmer Lach b. 1918
Serge Savard b. 1946
George Foreman b. 1948
Mike Bossy b. 1957
Greg Oden b. 1988

Take a bit of Annie Proulx, add some Cormac McCarthy, and sprinkle on a dash of Shane. You might end up with Minnesota-native Leif Enger’s second bestselling novel, which, according to The Miami Herald, “deserves to become a classic.” When the lives of a train robber and a blocked writer clash, a rip-roaring Western of grit and adventure results.

SO BRAVE, YOUNG, AND HANDSOME, by Leif Enger (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2008)

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

2012-01-20T14:38:00.001-06:00

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)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/18/2012

2012-01-18T12:48:00.000-06:00

1/18/1972:
With 11 seconds remaining, center Dave Cowens of the Celtics ties the score at 110-110 in the NBA All-Star Game at the Forum with a 14-foot jumper. But Los Angeles Lakers guard Jerry West thrills the home fans by sinking a 21-foot, last-second shot to lift the Western All-Stars to a 112-110 victory. West finishes the game with 13 points in 27 minutes. Cowens pulls down a game-high 20 rebounds (no one else has more than 11) and contributes 14 points in 32 minutes. Celtics forward John Havlicek and Knicks guard Walt Frazier tie for the scoring honors with 15 points each. West is named MVP of the contest.

Birthdays:
Syl Apps b. 1915
Curt Flood b. 1938
Mark Messier b. 1961
Brady Anderson b. 1964
Mike Lieberthal b. 1972

CRITICS’ PICK

A Reliable Wife is more than a reliable choice for your next read. It’s a home run. Critics, booksellers, and readers went gaga for this literary pick, an unsettling domestic thriller that opens at a frigid Wisconsin train station in 1907. Ralph Truitt awaits the arrival of his mail-order bride. Catherine Land, it turns out, is not what he expected. A smoldering, gothic spine tingler for fans of The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. The Washington Post raves, “Intoxicating.”

A RELIABLE WIFE, by Robert Goolrick (Algonquin, 2010)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/16-17/2012

2012-01-17T17:47:00.001-06:00

1/16/1970:
The National Football League conducts a lottery to determine the divisional lineup for the upcoming 1970 season. The move is prompted by the merger of the NFL and the NFL. The NFL had 16 teams in 1969; the AFL fielded 10. To balance the newly named National and American Football Conferences with 13 teams each for the 1970 season, the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers move to the AFC. However, the NFC can't agree on which teams to place in the three divisions. Commissioner Pete Rozelle resorts to extreme measures, placing five different plans on slips of paper in a vase. One of them is then drawn out by his secretary. According to the selection, the Eastern Division will include Dallas, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Washington; the Central, teams from Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, and Minnesota; and the West, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and San Francisco.

Birthdays:
Dizzy Dean b. 1911
A.J. Foyt b. 1935
Jack McDowell b. 1966
Roy Jones Jr. b. 1969
Albert Pujos b. 1980

1/17/1971:
In the fifth Super Bowl - the first following the NFL-AFL merger - the Baltimore Colts defeat the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13, at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The two teams combine for 10 turnovers on six interceptions and four fumbles. The winning Colts commit six of teh turnovers, three of them on interceptions. Colts quarterbacks Johnny Unitas and Earl Morrall, and the Cowboys' Craig Morton combine to complete just 22 passes in 50 attempts. Baltimore ties the score 13-13 on a two-yard run by running back Tom Nowatzke with 7:35 left on the clock. With 1:09 remaining, Morton throws an interception to Baltimore linebacker Mike Curtis, who returns it 13 yards to the Dallas 28. As time expires, rookie kicker Jim O'Brienh boots a 32-yard field goal to win.

Birthdays:
Jacques Plante b. 1929
Kip Keino b. 1940
Muhammad Ali b. 1942
Chilli Davis b. 1960
Jeremy Roenick b. 1970

TRUE CRIME

A riveting account of James Earl Ray’s stalking and killing of Martin Luther King Jr. Determined to make his mark on history by whatever kooky means necessary, Ray was an obsessive nut. Ultimately, the mark he left was to elevate King even more. Though we know the ending, Hellhound is a nail-biter: a fascinating portrait of a psychopath and his prey, a nationwide manhunt, and a nation on the brink of change. The New York Times calls it a “bold, dynamic, unusually vivid book.”

HELLHOUND ON HIS TRAIL, by Hampton Sides (Doubleday, 2010)

GONZO JOURNALISM

Journalist Chris Ayres decided the ideal antidote to his reporting tour in Iraq would be a visit to Los Angeles, and poor La-La Land doesn’t stand a chance against his rapier pen. He takes pokes at the celebrities, the rich, the facials, the cars, the bikinis. And himself. If you like the snarkiness of Toby Young’s How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, then Death by Leisure is your bag, baby. “Fast and funny,” says The New York Times.

DEATH BY LEISURE: A CAUTIONARY TALE, by Chris Ayres (Grove Press, 2010)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/15/2012

2012-01-15T06:50:00.001-06:00

1/15/1981:
Former heavyweight boxing champion Leon Spinks is robbed in Detroit. Spinks tells authorities that he was struck on the head as he was leaving a bar, woke up in a motel five miles away, and discovered that his assailants had taken $45,000 worth of clothes, jewelry, and other items, including the gold denture plate he was wearing. He had been the heavyweight champ for seven months in 1978.

Birthdays:
Bobby Grich b. 1949
Ernie DiGregorio b. 1951
Delino DeShields b. 1969
Mary Pierce b. 1975
Drew Brees b. 1979

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/14/2012

2012-01-14T14:47:00.000-06:00

1/14/1962:
The Western Conference All-Stars nip the Eastern All-Stars, 31-30, in the NFL Pro Bowl before a crowd of 57,409 at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas brings the game to an exciting conclusion with a 12-yard touchdown pass to halfback Jon Arnett of the Los Angeles Rams with two seconds remaining. Members of the winning team each earn $800; the losers garner $600 apiece.

Birthdays:
Smead Jolley b. 1902
Sonny Siebert b. 1937
Fred Arbanas b. 1939
Gene Washington b. 1947
Terry Forster b. 1952

SHOWBIZ

Nancy Balbirer was poised to make it big as an actress. She had attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied with David Mamet (whose observations on the only skills actresses need give the book its title). She starred on MTV’s Remote Control and appeared on Seinfeld, yet fame seemed always just out of reach. When her friend “Jane” becomes world famous and then sabotages Balbirer’s career, it’s the last straw. Funny, gossipy, and insightful. A great pick for aspiring performers and entertainment buffs.

TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF AND CRY: A MEMOIR OF NEAR-FAME, by Nancy Balbirer (Bloomsbury USA, 2009)

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 19: Divisional Playoffs

2012-01-14T14:33:00.001-06:00

Week 19: Divisional Playoffs

Sat., Jan. 14:
New Orleans @ San Francisco (4:30pm) - New Orleans
Denver @ New Orleans (8:00pm) - New England

Sun., Jan. 15:
Houston @ Baltimore (1:00pm) - Baltimore
NY Giants @ Green Bay (4:30pm) - Green Bay

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/13/2012

2012-01-13T10:51:00.000-06:00

1/13/1962:
Center Wilt Chamberlain scores 73 points to lead the Philadelphia Warriors to a 135-117 win over the Chicago Packers before a crowd of 3,516 at Convention Hall in Philadelphia. At the time, the record for most points in a regulation game is 71 by Elgin Baylor. Wilt also had 78 in a triple overtime game a month earlier on December 8, 1961. He accumulates the record number of points on 29 field goals (in 48 attempts) and 15 free throws-which breaks down to 14 points in the first period, 19 in the second, 17 in the third, and 23 in the fourth. Almost two months later, on March 2, Wilt will shatter his single-game scoring records in a 100-point contest against the New York Knicks. He will finish the 1961-62 season with records for points scored (4,029) and points per game (50.4). The Warriors will play 3,890 minutes during the season, and Chamberlain will be on the floor for 3,882 of them.

Birthdays:
Tom Gola b. 1933
Bob Baffert b. 1953
Mark O'Meara b. 1957
Kelly Hrudey b. 1961
Kevin Mitchell b. 1962

FIRST-RATE FICTION

With such a title, you expect treacle.
Instead you get classic Colwin: warm characters, witty observations, and writing that is crisp, clear, and straightforward. Pure pleasure. Laurie Colwin, who died in her forties in 1992, inspired raves—“endless surprises and … boundless joy” (The New Yorker)—and generations of ardent fans.
Once you’ve dipped a toe in, you’ll want to come back for more. Colwin was as loved for her food writing as her fiction, so try Home Cooking (1988; Vintage, 2010) and More Home Cooking (1993; HarperPerennial, 2000).

HAPPY ALL THE TIME, by Laurie Colwin (1978; Vintage, 2010)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/12/2012

2012-01-12T10:33:00.000-06:00

1/12/1992:
The Bills edge the Broncos, 10-7, in the AFC championship game at Rich Stadium in orchard Park, New York. After a scoreless first half, Buffalo takes a 7-0 lead with 5:28 left in the third quarter when linebacker Carlton Bailey returns a John Elway pass 11 yards for a touchdown. The Bills move ahead to 10-0 on a Scott Norwood field goal early in the fourth period. After Elway leaves with a thigh bruise, backup quarterback Gary Kubiak scores on a three-yard run with 1:43 remaining. Denver recovers the ensuing on-side kick but turns the ball over on a fumble on the next play. The Broncos outgain the Bills 304 yards to 213 for the defeat. In two weeks, at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, the Bills will lose, 37-24, to the Washington Redskins in the Super Bowl-the second of four consecutive title defeats for the Bills.

Birthdays:
Mac Speedie b. 1920
Joe Frazier b. 1944
Tom Dempsey b. 1947
Dominique Wilkins b. 1960
Dontrelle Willis b. 1982

LIVING HISTORY

Paris, 1911. Someone has stolen the Mona Lisa right from the wall of the Louvre, launching a treasure hunt that lasts two years and includes Pablo Picasso on its list of suspects. A rollicking true story of art history, criminology, and Francophilia, Vanished Smile has real plot twists that seem to have been lifted from a Dan Brown novel and atmosphere more French than a Peter Mayle book. It’s “luminous” (Washington Post Book World), “beguiling” (The New York Times Book Review), and downright “enthralling” (Financial Times, UK).

VANISHED SMILE: THE MYSTERIOUS THEFT OF THE MONA LISA, by R. A. Scotti (Vintage, 2010) (Edgar nominee)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/11/2012

2012-01-11T12:10:00.000-06:00

1/11/1973:
The American League adopts the designated hitter rule, largely for economic reasons. It is hoped that the rule will generate more offense and bring additional fans through the turnstiles. In 1972, the 12 teams in the AL drew 11,438,538 fans and only three (the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox) attracted over one million, whereas the dozen clubs in the National League combined for an attendance figure of 15,529,730 with nine franchises exceeding a million. The designated hitter will be used in the World Series for the first time in 1976 and will be utilized in every game in even-numbered years through 1985. From 1986 on, the designated hitter will be used in American League parks.

Birthdays:
Schoolboy Rowe b. 1910
Ben Crenshaw b. 1952
Freddie Solomon b. 1953
Darryl Dawkins b. 1957
Tracy Caulkins b. 1963

LIVING HISTORY

Lincoln knew nothing of battle when he was plunged into the Civil War, yet he emerged as the nation’s most brilliant commander in chief. In a narrative praised as “masterful” (The Boston Globe) and “definitive” (The Washington Post), James M. McPherson, a top Civil War historian and a Pulitzer Prize winner for Battle Cry of Freedom, examines the warrior inside the statesman who saved the Union. As The New York Times Book Review puts it, “Few historians write as well as McPherson and none evoke the sound of battle with greater clarity.”

TRIED BY WAR: ABRAHAM LINCOLN AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, by James M. McPherson (Penguin, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/10/2012

2012-01-10T17:26:00.000-06:00

1/10/1982:
In the NFC championship at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, the 49ers defeat the Cowboys, 28-27, on a last-minute touchdown by wide receiver Dwight Clark in what will become known in NFL history as simply "the Catch." The 49ers take over on their own 11-yard line with 4 minutes and 54 seconds to play, trailing 27-21,. Joe Montana leads his team down the field; they are third and three on the Dallas six with 58 seconds left. He rolls to his right, sprinting to the sideline, and spots Clark at the back of the end zone. Montana's throw is high, but Clark leaps for the game-winning grab. The club will win its first Super Bowl two weeks later on January 24, defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21, at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.

Birthdays:
Frank Mahovlich b. 1938
Willie McCovey b. 1938
Bill Toomey b. 1939
Glenn Robinson b. 1973
Felix Trinidad b. 1973

POP SCIENCE

Part handbook, part call to arms, this is the quirky gift book all geeks and friends to geeks must own. Featuring salutes to Tolkien, Sagan, Einstein, and Xena: Warrior Princess, and packed with practical information on important skills such as cloning, building lasers, and winning bar bets, this book will ensure that your geek is the happiest and coolest (if that’s possible) one on the block.

THE GEEK’S GUIDE TO WORLD DOMINATION: BE AFRAID, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, by Garth Sundem (Three Rivers Press, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/9/2012

2012-01-09T07:59:00.000-06:00

1/9/1942:
Joe Louis knocks out Buddy Baer after 2 minutes and 45 seconds in the first round for the heavyweight title at Madison Square Garden. The fight takes place 33 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the start of U.S. military involvement in World War II. Most of the proceeds from the bout go to the New York Auxiliary of the Navy Relief Society, which receives $47,000 for its fund. Louis receives no purse, and fights for training expenses only. He enlists in the army as a private the next day. The win over Baer is Louis's 20th defense of the title he won from James J. Braddock in 1937. His 21st defense will come with a victory over Abe Simon on March 27, 1942, but the 22nd defense won't take place until June 19, 1946, with an eighth-round knockout of Billy Conn, after Louis serves 45 months in the military. Louis will hold the title until he retires on March 1, 1949.

Birthdays:
Bart Starr b. 1934
Robert Newhouse b. 1950
M.L. Carr b. 1951
Muggsy Bogues b. 1965
Sergio Garcia b. 1980

WHODUNIT

Poor Joe Sandilands. The dashing inspector from Scotland Yard takes a holiday in India and promptly gets pulled into a murder investigation. Raj-era India comes vividly to life as Sandilands uncovers decades-old mischief, vice, and blackmail in the Himalayan resort town of Simla. The book is expertly plotted and filled with colorful characters, among them the heiress, the opera singer, the war hero inspector. If you want a literary mystery that’ll sweep you away, Barbara Cleverly has your ticket.

RAGTIME IN SIMLA, by Barbara Cleverly (Delta, 2006)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/8/2012

2012-01-08T08:36:00.001-06:00

Former player and manager Wes Westrum on major league baseball: "It's like church. Many attend, but few understand."

Birthdays:
Walker Cooper b. 1915
Bruce Sutter b. 1953
Dwight Clark b. 1957
Jason Giambi b. 1971
Mike Cameron b. 1973

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 18: Wild Card Weekend

2012-01-07T12:53:00.001-06:00

Week 18: Wild Card Weekend

Sat., Jan. 7:
Cincinnati @ Houston (4:30pm) - Houston
Detroit @ New Orleans (8pm) - New Orleans (as much as I'd love to see Detroit win)

Sun., Jan. 8:P
Atlanta @ NY Giants (1pm) - NY Giants
Pittsburgh @ Denver (4:30pm) - Pittsburgh

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/7/2012

2012-01-07T12:44:00.000-06:00

1/7/1962:
The American Football League stages its first All-Star Game. It's played before 20,973 fans at Balboa Stadium in San Diego at the end of the organization's second season. The Western Division defeats the East, 47-27, behind three touchdown passes from Dallas Texans quarterback Cotton Davidson. Each member of the winning squad receives $700; the losers draw $500 apiece.

Birthdays:
Alvin Dark b. 1922
Eddie LeBaron b. 1930
Tony Conigliaro b. 1945
Eric Gagne b. 1976
Alfonso Soriano b. 1976

Caramelized onions have a rich, sweet flavor. TO PREPARE ONE ONION, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a small skillet. Slice the onion evenly and add the slices to the pan. Saute on low heat, stirring often, for up to 30 minutes, or until the onion turns deep brown and the natural sugars caramelize.

DOCTOR, DOCTOR

Most of Atul Gawande’s acclaimed writing is about medicine. The Checklist Manifesto starts there but then ends up becoming a riveting book for all readers who want to organize themselves better, from moguls to mothers. The world is more complicated than ever before, and it’s stunning to see that a simple checklist can have revolutionary effects on efficiency, safety, and personal satisfaction. A lively read with life-changing ripples. Malcolm Gladwell’s take: “It has been years since I read a book so powerful and thought-provoking.”

THE CHECKLIST MANIFESTO: HOW TO GET THINGS RIGHT, by Atul Gawande (Picador USA, 2011)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/6/2012

2012-01-06T11:28:00.000-06:00

I inadvertently posted January 5, 2011's book yesterday instead of 2012, so there's two today:

1/6/2002:
During the last regular-season game of the 2001 campaign, New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan breaks the single-season sack record in controversial fashion. As time winds down in the game against the Packers at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Strahan has 21-1/2 sacks on the season, just shy of the record 22 set by Mark Gastineau of the New York Jets in 1984. With 2:42 remaining and Green Bay ahead by 34-25, Brett Favre runs a naked bootleg toward Strahan's side of the field. As Strahan gains on him, Favre falls purposely to the ground. But Strahan touches Favre for the sack, which gives him 22-1/2 on the year, and the record.

Birthdays:
Early Wynn b. 1920
Lou Holtz b. 1937
Nancy Lopez b. 1957
Keenan McCardell b. 1970
Gilbert Arenas b. 1982

"Epiphany" comes from the Greek word epiphaneia, which means manifestation or appearance.

LIVING HISTORY

If you are finding your winter long and hard, curl up by the fire to experience Louisa Adams’s extraordinary 40-day race from St. Petersburg to Paris in the winter of 1815. Michael O’Brien’s impeccable scholarship and crackling prose make the read as fast as the ride and infinitely more enjoyable. The logistics of the trip alone are mind-boggling—multiple passports, currencies, letters of credit, supplies, and servants needed. A must-read for fans of colonial American and Napoleonic history.

MRS. ADAMS IN WINTER: A JOURNEY IN THE LAST DAYS OF NAPOLEON, by Michael O’Brien (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010)

SCHOOL DAY

Prep-school girls are a dangerous lot.
Nina de Gramont adds to the genre of coming of age among the elites with her dark and beguiling tale. Think Prep (by Curtis Sittenfeld) or The Secret History (by Donna Tart). Outsider Catherine Morrow gets taken under the wing of rebel queen bee Skye Butterfield, and the resulting drama is fierce, fragile, and unforgettable. “I inhaled this novel in one breath,” said Jacqueline Mitchard.

GOSSIP OF THE STARLINGS, by Nina de Gramont (Algonquin, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/5/2012

2012-01-05T09:28:00.000-06:00

1/5/1920:
The Yankees purchase 24-yaear-old Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox for the record price of $125,000. The sale is prompted by Ruth's salary demands, his frequent immature behavior, and the financial difficulties of Sox owner Harry Frazee. Ruth caused a national sensation in 1919 when he struck 29 homers, breaking the previous mark of 27 set by Ed Williamson of the Chicago White Stockings in 1884. The folly of selling Ruth will become apparent during the 1920 season when he will nearly double his previous home run record by clouting 54. The Yanks will win the World Series for the first time in 1923, but the Red Sox won't win a world championship again until 2004, in a historic lapse known as "the Curse of the Bambino."

Birthdays:
Lou Carnesecca b. 1925
Chuck Noll b. 1932
Chuck McKinley b. 1941
Alex English b. 1954
Warrick Dunn b. 1975

"He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age." - Plato, Greek philosopher, (c. 428-348 B.C.)

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

Get a smart start on the new year by getting a grip with Frances Moore Lappé, the upbeat original guru of living green, clean, and not mean. In Getting a Grip, the prolific author, philosopher, and activist goes way beyond her diet for a small planet and takes in the big picture of how to live meaningfully and optimistically with the enormous opportunities and responsibilities of the 21st century.

GETTING A GRIP: CLARITY, CREATIVITY, AND COURAGE IN A WORLD GONE MAD, by Frances Moore Lappé (Small Planet Press, 2007)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/4/2012

2012-01-04T08:09:00.000-06:00

1/4/1984:
Center Wayne Gretzky collects four goals and four assists, and center Mark Messier contributes six assists, to lead the Oilers to a 12-8 triumph over the Minnesota North Stars at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. The Oilers take a 5-2 lead at the end of the first period and lead 10-6 after two. It is the highest-scoring game in teh NHL since the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto St. Patricks, 14-7, on January 10, 1920. Messier ties an NHL record for most assists in a period with four in the second, but his record will last less than two months. On March 6, 1984, center Dale Hawerchuk will record five assists in a period for the Winnipeg Jets during a 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings at the Forum in Inglewood, California.

Birthdays:
Johnny Lujack b. 1925
Don Shula b. 1930
Floyd Patterson b. 1935
Kermit Alexander b. 1941
Garrison Hearst b. 1971

BEAUTY TIP:
To relieve dry, itchy skin, add a cup of apple cider vinegar to your bathwater.
Soak for at least 15 minutes.

RAVE REVIEWS

“The best novel written in the English language since
The Great Gatsby.”—Newsday

“Strong, beautiful, American, one of a kind.”—Kurt Vonnegut

“All fans of art and life should read it.”—Newsweek
Does the text stand up to the acclaim? Without a doubt. Frederick Exley took his alcoholism and his failure of a life and, in turning it into this highly autobiographical novel, made himself into a success. This book will break your heart—all the while putting it back together through its sheer, take-no-prisoners excellence.

A FAN’S NOTES, by Frederick Exley (Vintage, 1968)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/3/2012

2012-01-03T06:37:00.001-06:00

1/3/2003:
In the BCS championship game at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, Ohio State edges Miami of Florida, 31-24, in double overtime. The Buckeye victory ends Miami's 34-game winning streak and their hopes of a second straight national title. The Hurricanes tie the score at 17-17 on a 40-yard field goal from Todd Sievers on the last play of regulation. Tight end Kellen Winslow II catches a seven-yard TD pass from Ken Dorsey on fourth down in the first overtime for a 24-17 Miami lead. On the ensuing Ohio State possession, quarterback Craig Krenzel converts a fourth-and-14 play, but faces another fourth down at the five. The Hurricanes are called for a controversial pass interference penalty on the play, and three plays later Krenzel scores on a one-yard run to tie the game at 24-24. In the second OT, running back Maurice Clarett crosses the goal line for Ohio State and Miami is stopped at the one-yard line.

Birthdays:
Hank Stram b. 1923.
Bobby Hull b. 1939
Darren Daulton b. 1962
Jim Everett b. 1962
Cheryl Miller b. 1964

A LIFE

In this surprisingly entertaining biography of Samuel Pepys, Restoration England’s foremost diarist, author Claire Tomalin plops you in a time machine and whirls you off to mid-1600s London. You’ll walk the cobblestones, breathe the smoke of the Great Fire, lift tankards in the taverns … Tomalin’s scholarship, writing, and observations are unparalleled. How can a book this rollicking make you feel so smart?
If you want more, get it from the horse’s mouth with The Diary of Samuel Pepys (Modern Library, 2001).

SAMUEL PEPYS: THE UNEQUALLED SELF, by Claire Tomalin (Vintage, 2003)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/2/2012

2012-01-02T08:33:00.000-06:00

1/2/1982:
The Chargers outlast the Dolphins, 4138, in overtime at the Orange Bowl in one of the most exciting NFL postseason games ever played. At the end of the first period, San Diego has a 24-0 lead, when Miami coach Don Shula replaces starting quarterback David Woodley with Don Strock. The Dolphins roar back and take a 38-31 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter. Running back Tony Nathan scores two TDs during the comeback, one on a 40-yard hook-and-lateral play. The Chargers tie the score 38-38 with 58 seconds left in regulation on a nine-yard pass from Dan Fouts to James Brooks. The game ends after two missed Miami field goals in 13 minutes and 52 seconds of OT on a 29-yard field goal by the Chargers.

Birthdays:
Gino Marchetti b. 1927
Robbie Ftorek b. 1952
David Cone b. 1963
Edgar Martinez b. 1963
Pernell Whitaker b. 1964

Glistening Glaze
Add a decorative touch to rolls, cookies, and pies. Before baking, brush the tops with 1 egg white slightly beaten with 1 tablespoon milk.

ENDURING CLASSIC

A prison break. A shipwreck. An island with a chilling secret. A fight to survive. It’s like the book version of Lost, by one of the world’s greatest masters of adventure fiction (Arthur C. Clarke called Jules Verne “one of the best storytellers who ever lived”). What are you waiting for?

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, by Jules Verne (1874; Modern Library, 2004)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 1/1/2012

2012-01-01T09:47:00.000-06:00

1/1/1938:
Before a sellout crowd of 7,800 at the Cleveland Arena, Stanford's Hank Luisetti becomes the first college basketball player to score 50 points in a game during a 92-27 rout of Duquesne. Luisetti was among the first to shoot one-handed, and with his success, players around the country will soon copy his style of play, abandoning the two-handed set shots and hook shots which had been the norm.

Birthdays:
Hank Greenberg b. 1911
Rocky Graziano b. 1922
Doak Walker b. 1927
Marlin McKeever b. 1940
Derrick Thomas b. 1967

"We do not remember days, we remember moments. The richness of life lies in memories we have forgotten." - Cesare Pavese, Italian Writer (1905-50)

NEW YEAR, NEW YOU

If you loved Eat, Pray, Love, if you loved Bird by Bird, run, don’t walk. The Happiness Project will change your life. It will shift the way you think about your family, your priorities, your job, your children, even your closets. You’ll embrace the four splendid truths (see page 285) and end up wanting to “Be Gretchen,” too (page 77). A deliciously quirky reading list is the cherry on top. Dip a toe in by checking out Gretchen Rubin’s very active website, www.happiness-project.com.

THE HAPPINESS PROJECT, by Gretchen Rubin (Harper Paperbacks, 2010)

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 17

2012-01-01T06:56:00.001-06:00

Week 17:
Sun., Jan. 1:
Washington @ Philadelphia - Philadelphia
Pittsburgh @ Cleveland - Pittsburgh
Baltimore @ Cincinnati - Baltimore
NY Jets @ Miami - Miami
Carolina @ New Orleans - New Orleans
Tampa Bay @ Atlanta - Atlanta
Detroit @ Green Bay - Green Bay
San Francisco @ St. Louis - San Francisco
Indianapolis @ Jacksonville - Indianapolis
Buffalo @ New England - New England
Tennessee @ Houston - Houston
Chicago @ Minnesota - Minnesota
Dallas @ NY Giants - NY Giants
Kansas City @ Denver - Kansas City
San Diego @ Oakland - Oakland
Seattle @ Arizona - Seattle

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 16

2011-12-22T08:58:00.001-06:00

Week 16:
Thu., Dec. 22:
Houston @ Indianapolis - Houston

Sat., Dec. 24:
Miami @ New England - New England
Cleveland @ Baltimore - Baltimore
Arizona @ Cincinnati - Arizona
Minnesota @ Washington - Washington
Denver @ Buffalo - Denver
St. Louis @ Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh
NY Giants @ NY Jets - NY Jets
Tampa Bay @ Carolina - Tampa Bay
Jacksonville @ Tennessee - Tennessee
Oakland @ Kansas City - Oakland
San Diego @ Detroit - San Diego
Philadelphia @ Dallas - Philadelphia
San Francisco @ Seattle - San Francisco

Sun., Dec. 25:
Chicago @ Green Bay - Green Bay

Mon., Dec. 26:
Atlanta @ New Orleans - New Orleans

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 15

2011-12-15T09:44:00.001-06:00

11-5 last week, bringing me to 136-72 so far.

Week 15:
Thu., Dec. 15:
Jacksonville @ Atlanta - Atlanta

Sat., Dec. 17:
Dallas @ Tampa Bay - Dallas

Sun., Dec. 18:
Cincinnati @ St. Louis - Cincinnati
Miami @ Buffalo - Buffalo
Washington @ NY Giants - NY Giants
Tennessee @ Indianapolis - Tennessee
Seattle @ Chicago - Seattle
Green Bay @ Kansas City - Green Bay
Carolina @ Houston - Houston
New Orleans @ Minnesota - New Orleans
Detroit @ Oakland - Oakland
Cleveland @ Arizona - Arizona
NY Jets @ Philadelphia - NY Jets
New England @ Denver - New England (though I'd really like to see Denver win)
Baltimore @ San Diego - Baltimore

Mon., Dec. 19:
Pittsburgh @ San Francisco - Pittsburgh

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 14

2011-12-08T09:45:00.001-06:00

125-67 so far for the season.

Week 41:
Thu., Dec. 08:
Cleveland @ Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh

Sun., Dec. 11:
Tampa Bay @ Jacksonville -- Tampa Bay
New England @ Washington - New England
Houston @ Cincinnati - Cincinnati
Kansas City @ NY Jets - NY Jets
Minnesota @ Detroit - Detroit
New Orleans @ Tennessee - New Orleans
Philadelphia @ Miami - Miami
Oakland @ Green Bay - Green Bay
Indianapolis @ Baltimore - Baltimore
Atlanta @ Carolina - Atlanta (I initially picked Carolina, but changed it this morning, let's see if it bites me like Seattle did last week)
Chicago @ Denver - Denver
San Francisco @ Arizona - San Francisco
Buffalo @ San Diego - San Diego
NY Giants @ Dallas - Dallas

Mon., Dec. 12:
St. Louis @ Seattle - Seattle

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 13

2011-11-29T23:31:00.001-06:00

13-3 last week, bringing me to 116-60 for the season so far

Thu., Dec. 01:
Philadelphia @ Seattle - Philadelphia

Sun., Dec. 04:
Oakland @ Miami - Oakland
Atlanta @ Houston - Atlanta
Tennessee @ Buffalo - Tennessee
Kansas City @ Chicago - Chicago
NY Jets @ Washington - NY Jets
Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh
Baltimore @ Cleveland - Baltimore
Carolina @ Tampa Bay - Tampa Bay
Detroit @ New Orleans - New Orleans
Denver @ Minnesota - Denver
Dallas @ Arizona - Dallas
Green Bay @ NY Giants - Green Bay
St. Louis @ San Francisco - San Francisco
Indianapolis @ New England - New England

Mon., Dec. 05:
San Diego @ Jacksonville - Jacksonville

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 12

2011-11-23T11:22:00.001-06:00

I'm 103-57 so far.

Week 12:
Thu., Nov. 24:
Green Bay @ Detroit - Green Bay
Miami @ Dallas - Dallas
San Francisco @ Baltimore - Baltimore

Sun., Nov. 27:
Minnesota @ Atlanta - Atlanta
Houston @ Jacksonville - Houston
Tampa Bay @ Tennessee - Tennessee
Arizona @ St. Louis - St. Louis
Cleveland @ Cincinnati - Cincinnati
Buffalo @ NY Jets - NY Jets
Carolina @ Indianapolis - Carolina
Washington @ Seattle - Seattle
Chicago @ Oakland - Oakland
New England @ Philadelphia - New England
Denver @ San Diego - San Diego
Pittsburgh @ Kansas City - Pittsburgh

Mon., Nov. 28:
NY Giants @ New Orleans - New Orleans

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 11

2011-11-17T12:33:00.001-06:00

Week 11:
Thu., Nov. 17:
NY Jets @ Denver - NY Jets

Sun., Nov. 20:
Carolina @ Detroit - Detroit
Tampa Bay @ Green Bay - Green Bay
Dallas @ Washington - Dallas
Buffalo @ Miami - Miami
Jacksonville @ Cleveland - Cleveland
Tennessee @ Atlanta - Tennessee
Oakland @ Minnesota - Oakland
Cincinnati @ Baltimore - Cincinnati
Seattle @ St. Louis - St. Louis
Arizona @ San Francisco - San Francisco
San Diego @ Chicago - Chicago
Philadelphia @ NY Giants - NY Giants

Mon., Nov. 21:
Kansas City @ New England - New England

Byes: Houston, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Pittsburgh

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 10

2011-11-10T10:13:00.001-06:00

Week 10:
Thu., Nov. 10:
Oakland @ San Diego- San Diego

Sun., Nov. 13:
Detroit @ Chicago - Chicago
Jacksonville @ Indianapolis - Jacksonville
Denver @ Kansas City - Denver
Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati - Cincinnati
Buffalo @ Dallas - Dallas
New Orleans @ Atlanta - New Orleans
St. Louis @ Cleveland - Cleveland
Washington @ Miami - Miami
Houston @ Tampa Bay - Houston
Tennessee @ Carolina - Carolina
Arizona @ Philadelphia - Philadelphia
Baltimore @ Seattle - Baltimore
NY Giants @ San Francisco - San Francisco
New England @ NY Jets - New England

Mon., Nov. 14:
Minnesota @ Green Bay - Green Bay

Byes: None

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 9

2011-11-05T22:40:00.001-05:00

I feel like crap so I’m sending this through tonight in the event my fever spikes higher tomorrow and I forget. I called in sick to work tonight. I’ve never, in four years there, called in sick without arranging for Keith to cover my spot. I’m hovering just under 102 at the moment, been sleeping on and off all day. About to take some Ibuprofen PM and hit the sack hopefully until morning.

Week 9:

Sun., Nov. 6:

Miami @ Kansas City – Kansas City

Tampa Bay @ New Orleans – New Orleans

Atlanta @ Indianapolis – Atlanta

Cleveland @ Houston – Houston

NY Jets @ Buffalo – Buffalo

San Francisco @ Washington – San Francisco

Seattle @ Dallas – Dallas

Cincinnati @ Tennessee – Cincinnati

Denver @ Oakland – Oakland

NY Giants @ New England – New England

St. Louis @ Arizona – Arizona

Green Bay @ San Diego – Green Bay

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh

Mon., Nov. 7:

Chicago @ Philadelphia – Chicago

Byes: Carolina, Detroit, Jacksonville, Minnesota

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 8

2011-10-30T07:10:00.001-05:00

Week 8:
Sun., Oct. 30:
New Orleans @ St. Louis - New Orleans
Miami @ NY Giants - NY Giants
Arizona @ Baltimore - Baltimore
Minnesota @ Carolina - Carolina
Indianapolis @ Tennessee - Tennessee
Jacksonville @ Houston - Houston
Detroit @ Denver - Denver
Washington @ Buffalo - Buffalo
Cincinnati @ Seattle - Cincinnati
Cleveland @ San Francisco - San Francisco
New England @ Pittsburgh - New England
Dallas @ Philadelphia - Dallas

Mon., Oct. 31:
San Diego @ Kansas City - San Diego

Bye: Atlanta, Chicago, Green Bay, NY Jets, Oakland, Tampa Bay

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 7

2011-10-23T07:36:00.001-05:00

Week 7:
Sun., Oct. 23:
San Diego @ NY Jets - San Diego
Seattle @ Cleveland - Cleveland
Atlanta @ Detroit - Detroit
Washington @ Carolina - Carolina
Chicago @ Tampa Bay - Tampa Bay
Denver @ Miami - Denver
Houston @ Tennessee - Houston
Pittsburgh @ Arizona - Pittsburgh
Kansas City @ Oakland - Oakland
Green Bay @ Minnesota - Green Bay
St. Louis @ Dallas - Dallas
Indianapolis @ New Orleans - New Orleans

Mon., Oct. 24:
Baltimore @ Jacksonville - Baltimore

Byes: Buffalo, Cincinnati, New England, NY Giants, Philadelphia, San Francisco

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 6

2011-10-16T07:05:00.000-05:00

Week 6:
Sun., Oct. 16:
Carolina @ Atlanta - Atlanta
San Francisco @ Detroit - Detroit
Indianapolis @ Cincinnati - Cincinnati
Philadelphia @ Washington - Washington
St. Louis @ Green Bay - Green Bay
Jacksonville @ Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh
Buffalo @ NY Giants - Buffalo
Cleveland @ Oakland - Oakland
Houston @ Baltimore - Baltimore
New Orleans @ Tampa Bay - New Orleans
Dallas @ New England - New England
Minnesota @ Chicago - Minnesota

Mon., Oct. 17:
Miami @ NY Jets - NY Jets

Byes: St. Louis, Denver, Kansas City, San Diego, Seattle, Tennessee

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 10/12-13/2011

2011-10-13T08:43:00.002-05:00

10/12/1997:
In a game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Jacksonville, the Jaguars' James Stewart becomes only the fourth NFL player to rush for five touchdowns in a game. A disappointment since being drafted in the first round in 1995, Stewart is in the game only because starter Natrone Means sprained an ankle on the first drive. He has three TDs in the first quarter on runs of seven, eight and two yards, and the Jags build a 21-0 lead. In the third quarter, he scores again on a one-yard plunge through the line for a 28-7 Jacksonville advantage. Another one-yard run with 12:26 left in the game makes the score 35-7. Jacksonville goes on to win, 38-21.

Birthdays:
Joe Cronin b. 1906
Jaroslav Drobny b. 1921
Tony Kubek b. 1936
Jack Marin b. 1944
Charlie Ward b. 1971

Packers Fact:
End Max McGee led the NFL when he averaged a whopping 23.2 yards per reception in 1959. His 30 catches included 5 touchdowns that averaged 39.6 yards.

10/13/1972:
On Friday the 13th, the first home game of the WHL's Philadelphia Blazers is postponed because the ice is deemed unsafe. At game time, the surface is choppy and cracking, and the machine meant to repair the problem falls through the ice. Blazers president Jim Coops draws boos and a hail of souvenir pucks from the fans when he announces the postponement. After one season in Philadelphia, the Blazers will move to Vancouver.

Birthdays:
Eddie Mathews b. 1931
Doc Rivers b. 1961
Jerry Ric b. 1962
Trevor Hoffman b. 1967
Paul Pierce b. 1977

Packers Fact:
Defensive end Willie Davis (1960-69) played college football at Grambling.

“Make voyages!—
Attempt them!—
there’s nothing else.”

—TENNESSEE WILLIAMS, American playwright

“I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.”

—AGATHA CHRISTIE, English writer

ON FACTS, INCREDIBLE

People who survive grow older with each year they live.

from the article “Average remaining lifetimes can increase as human populations age” in Nature magazine

ON PIANOS, TINY

Weakest Link Host Anne Robinson: How many keys are there on a standard grand piano?

Contestant: Five.

BESTSELLER

Car salesman Tim Blake gets up in the morning, fixes scrambled eggs for his 17-year-old daughter, Sydney, and then things take a turn for the worse. For one thing, Sydney storms out after Tim wrongly accuses her of stealing a pair of sunglasses. When she doesn’t come back from work, Tim, wanting to apologize and make things right, goes to her workplace and finds that no one has heard of her. The cops suspect Tim of foul play, the ex-wife blames him, his ditzy girlfriend is no help, and somebody wants to kill him. Linwood Barclay is a master of characterization and of realistic detail that makes the situation all the more terrifying—it happened to Tim; it could happen to you.

FEAR THE WORST, by Linwood Barclay (Bantam, 2009)

I’LL EAT YOUR LIVER!

The foie gras wars started in Chicago, when Charlie Trotter let fly an uncharitable remark about a rival chef, suggesting his liver be cooked and served foie gras–style. Within a remarkably short time, Trotter was announcing that he would no longer serve the ancient delicacy—shouted down by a firestorm of bad publicity and shrill invective. Foodies, chefs, animal rights activists, politicians, and the very few who produce foie gras in this country started an international food fight and shouting match, and the Chicago Tribune’s Caro is right there at ringside in this analysis of a controversy that may change our food ways forever.

THE FOIE GRAS WARS: HOW A 5,000-YEAR-OLD DELICACY INSPIRED THE WORLD’S FIERCEST FOOD FIGHT by Mark Caro (Simon & Schuster, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 10/11/2011

2011-10-11T17:27:00.001-05:00

10/11/1931:
The Toronto Maple Leafs send Art Smith, Eric Pettinger and $35,000 to the Ottawa Senators for King Clancy. To obtain the cash sum necessary to complete the transaction, Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe borrowed part of the money from friends and bet it on his own filly, Rare Jewel, who came in for a high payoff. While in Toronto, Clancy will be a first- or second-team All-Star four times.

Birthdays:
Maria Bueno b. 1939
Steve Young b. 1961
Chris Spielman b. 1965
Dmitri Young b. 1973
Jason Arnott b. 1974

Packers Fact:
Aaron Kampman entered 2009 ranked fourth on the Packers' career list with 50.5 sacks. The only players ahead of him were Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila (74.5), Reggie White (68.5), and Tim Harris (55.0).

“The drop of rain maketh a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.”

—HUGH LATIMER, 16th-century bishop

ON SPEECHES, REALLY CONFIDENCE BUILDING

One of the very difficult parts of the decision I made on the financial crisis was to use hardworking people’s money to help prevent there to be a crisis.

President George W. Bush

TWO NEW FROM EDWARD HUMES

Edward Humes’s Pulitzer Prize in 1989, for his investigative reporting on helicopter crashes in the military, established him as a force to be reckoned with. His nonfiction has taken on such subjects as grade inflation in high schools, infant emergency medicine, and the juvenile court system; his true-crime stories are acclaimed, as well. These recent titles have garnered a roar of praise, and Eco Barons in particular has been hailed as one of the few hopeful—even inspiring—notes in climate-change news.

ECO BARONS: THE DREAMERS, SCHEMERS, AND MILLIONAIRES WHO ARE SAVING OUR PLANET, by Edward Humes (Ecco, 2009)

MONKEY GIRL: EVOLUTION, EDUCATION, RELIGION, AND THE BATTLE FOR AMERICA’S SOUL, (2007)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 10/10/2011

2011-10-10T09:59:00.001-05:00

10/10/1926:

The Cardinals win their first World Series with a 3-2 triumph over the Yankees in Game 7 in New York. The score stands at 3-2 in the New York seventh with the bases loaded and two out. St. Louis manager Rogers Hornsby gambles by sending in 39-year-old Grover Alexander to relieve Jesse Haines, whose pitching hand had developed a blister. Alexander, who pitched a complete-game victory yesterday and reportedly celebrated far into the evening, strikes out Tony Lazzeri to end the rally and sets down the Yanks in order in the eighth. With two out in the ninth, he walks Babe Ruth, who impulsively tries to steal second and is thrown out to end the game.

Birthdays:

Gus Williams b. 19253

Norm Nixon b. 1955

Brett Favre b. 1969

Pat Burrell b. 1976

Troy Tulowitzki b. 1984

Packers Fact:

On this date in 1969, Brett Favre was born in Gulfport, Mississippi. Favre played 16 seasons in Green Bay beginning in 1992.

“Be thankful for small mercies.”

—JAMES JOYCE, Irish writer

ON HOTEL MANAGERS, OVERLY INTRUSIVE

We hope you want to drop in. I give personal look to the interior wants of each guest.

in a hotel brochure in the Dolomites, Italy

A LIGHTER SIDE

If you read the Los Angeles Times (where a running discussion appeared in “Jacket Copy”) or Playboy (where this spoof was first serialized), you’ve already heard of or read this wisecracking L.A. Confidential sendup from National Book Award-winning author Denis Johnson (Tree of Smoke). Jimmy Luntz, an affable small-time hood and gambler, is in a lot of trouble with the underworld powers that be. While hiding out with the beautiful, if troubled, Anita, whose prosecutor husband set her up to take the fall for his million-dollar embezzlements, Luntz works on a plan to recoup the money. When the bad guys track them down, the pulp fiction implodes, in this breezy, enjoyable read that shows the lighter side of one of our contemporary masters.

NOBODY MOVE, by Denis Johnson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 10/9/2011

2011-10-09T07:03:00.001-05:00

10/9/1915:
Woodrow Wilson becomes the first U.S. president to watch a World Series. It's Game 2 of a matchup between the Red Sox and Phillies in Philadelphia. Rube Foster not only pitches a three-hitter for the Sox but breaks a 1-1 tie with an RBI single in the ninth inning. The game ends when center fielder Tris Speaker reaches into the stands to rob Dode Paskert of a Phillies home run. Boston will win the Series four games to one.

Birthdays:
Walter O'Malley b. 1903
Joe Pepitone b. 1940
Mike Singletary b. 1958
Kenny Anderson b. 1970
Annika Sorenstam b. 1970

ON YOU TELL’EM!

RESPECT ARE
COUNTRY!
SPEAK ENGLISH!

anti-immigrant political sign, held by a protester

“Comin’ in on a wing and a prayer.”

—HAROLD ADAMSON, American lyricist, quoting a fighter pilot in a damaged plane

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 5

2011-10-08T07:22:00.000-05:00

Week 5:
Sun., Oct. 9:
New Orleans @ Carolina - New Orleans
Philadelphia @ Buffalo - Buffalo
Seattle @ NY Giants - NY Giants
Cincinnati @ Jacksonville - Cincinnati
Kansas City @ Indianapolis - Indianapolis
Tennessee @ Pittsburgh - Tennessee
Arizona @ Minnesota - Arizona
Oakland @ Houston - Oakland
Tampa Bay @ San Francisco - San Francisco
NY Jets @ New England - New England
San Diego @ Denver - San Diego
Green Bay @ Atlanta - Green Bay

Mon., Oct. 10:
Chicago @ Detroit - Detroit

Byes: Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, Miami, St. Louis, Washington

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 10/8/2011

2011-10-08T07:05:00.000-05:00

Jim Bouton in his book Ball Four, published in 1970: "You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time."

Birthdays:
Billy Conn b. 1917
Fred Stolle b. 1938
Paul Splittorff b. 1946
Rashaan Salaam b. 1974
Amos Zereoue b. 1976

Packers Fact:
Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback Jim Taylor (1958-1966) wore number 31.

“Shoulders are from God and burdens too.”

—ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER, Polish-American writer

ON FORGET WE ASKED

Sportscaster: Do the Broncos have your number, Christian?

Kansas City running back Christain Okoye: Do they have my number? I don’t know. Do they have a guy with the number 35?

REBEL WITH A CAUSE

Elizabeth Dawes admits that she’s been stalking Camus for more than 50 years. When Camus’s daughter published her father’s autobiographical novel, The First Man, in 1994, Dawes was again fired by love of her subject and set out to try to understand the mystique of the highly principled novelist, journalist, and philosophe, who was only 46 when he died in a car accident in 1960. The combination literary study and personal memoir is engaging and revealing, both of Dawes and of a thinker who holds a fascination for, and is revered by, many.

CAMUS, A ROMANCE, by Elizabeth Dawes (Grove Press, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 10/7/2011

2011-10-07T11:27:00.001-05:00

10/7/1945:
In the second quarter of a 57-21 win by the Green Bay Packers over the Detroit Lions, Don Hutson scores 29 points on four touchdowns and five extra points, setting an NFL record for points in one quarter. After being held without a point in the first quarter, the Packers collect 41 in the second to set another league record. During an 11-year career that will end this season, Hutson leads the league in receptions eight times, in scoring five times and in interceptions once. He hauls in 99 TD passes, an NFL record that will stand until Steve Largent exceeds it with 100 passes in 1989.

Birthdays:
Willie Naulls b. 1934
Johnnie Morton b. 1971
Priest Holmes b. 1973
Charles Woodson b. 1976
Evan Longoria b. 1985

Packers Fact:
Linebacker A.J. Hawk started each of the first 51 games in his NFL career until the Packers opened in a nickel defense against the Vikings in Week 4 of 2009.

“You cannot fight against the future. Time is on our side.”

—WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, British prime minister

ON AND HOW BIG IS YOUR BRAIN?

Game show host Bob Eubanks (questioning people on the street):
How big is your epidermis?

Man: Six, seven inches.

THE CATS WILL PLAY

In this caustic look at modern life, Zoe Heller follows the bravura performances of Everything You Know (2006) and What Was She Thinking? Notes from a Scandal (2003) with a scathing look at the modern family. Jeff, a successful New York lawyer, lies comatose in the hospital after suffering a stroke in the courtroom while defending a Muslim terrorist. His wife, Audrey, holds court, spouting platitudes and dripping venom, criticizing her daughters, insulting Jeff’s mistress, and enabling the drug habit of her adopted son. Audrey’s special brand of harridanism is a botched, self-serving version of ’60s left-wing politics, gone horribly awry.

THE BELIEVERS, by Zoe Heller (HarperCollins, 2009)

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 4

2011-10-02T07:19:00.001-05:00

Changing PIT/HOU pick to Houston.

Week 4:
Sun., Oct. 2:
Detroit @ Dallas - Detroit
Carolina @ Chicago - Chicago
New Orleans @ Jacksonville - New Orleans
Tennessee @ Cleveland - Cleveland
Buffalo @ Cincinnati - Buffalo
Minnesota @ Kansas City - Minnesota
San Francisco @ Philadelphia - San Francisco
Washington @ St. Louis - Washington
Pittsburgh @ Houston - HOUSTON
Atlanta @ Seattle - Atlanta
NY Giants @ Arizona - NY Giants
Denver @ Green Bay - Green Bay
New England @ Oakland - Oakland
Miami @ San Diego - San Diego
NY Jets @ Baltimore - Baltimore

Mon., Oct. 3:
Indianapolis @ Tampa Bay - Tampa Bay

Byes: None

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/26/2011

2011-09-26T09:27:00.000-05:00

9/26/1908:
The Chicago Cubs' Ed Reulbach, whose eyesight is so poor that his catchers paint their gloves white to help him out, pitches two nine-inning shutouts against the Dodgers in Brooklyn. The first is a five-hitter, the second a three-hitter. The achievement could not have come in a more pressured situation. Involved in a tight three-way pennant race with the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Giants, the Cubs entered the day's action with only a half-game lead on both clubs. They'll eventually capture first place for their third pennant in a row, then win the World Series over the Detroit Tigers.

Birthdays:
Bobby Shantz b. 1925
Dave Casper b. 1951
Craig Heyward b. 1966
Craig Janney b. 1967
Serena Williams b. 1981

Packers Fact:
Tight end Spencer Havner, a converted linebacker, notched his first career reception on a 21-yard pass to set up a touchdown against Cincinnati in Week 2 of 2009.

“If everybody is abnormal, we don’t need to worry about anybody.”

—ROBERT M. HUTCHINS, former president of the University of Chicago

ON HUH?

Tonight he became the name we’ve all been hoping he’d become—the man, in fact, that he has been for some time now.

soccer manager Martin O’Neill

WHAT IS MADNESS

“On July 5, 1996, my daughter was struck mad.” So begins Michael Greenberg’s probing, candid, and heartbreaking memoir. Bright, lively, 15-year-old Sally is struck with a case of manic depression that not only devastates her but puts her entire family through a wringer of anxiety, especially the author, who struggles to understand what is happening inside his daughter’s brain. Eventually Sally recovers, but Greenberg is too honest with himself to go for the happy ending or extract an upbeat moral. This is a descent into hell, and Greenberg is determined that the reader know it.

HURRY DOWN SUNSHINE, by Michael Greenberg (Other Press, 2008)

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 3

2011-09-25T07:30:00.003-05:00

Week 3:
Sun., Sep. 25:
Jacksonville @ Carolina - Carolina
Denver @ Tennessee - Tennessee
Houston @ New Orleans - New Orleans
Detroit @ Minnesota - Detroit
NY Giants @ Philadelphia - Philadelphia
New England @ Buffalo - New England
Miami @ Cleveland - Cleveland
San Francisco @ Cincinnati - San Francisco
NY Jets @ Oakland - Oakland
Baltimiore @ St. Louis - Baltimore
Kansas City @ San Diego - San Diego
Atlanta @ Tampa Bay - Atlanta
Green Bay @ Chicago - Green Bay
Arizona @ Seattle - Arizona
Pittsburgh @ Indianapolis - Pittsburgh

Mon. Sep. 26:
Washington @ Dallas - Washington

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/24-25/2011

2011-09-25T07:14:00.000-05:00

Golfer Lee Trevino, on what it means to win a major championship: "I played the Tour in 1967 and told jokes and nobody laughed. Then I won the U.S. Open the next year, told the same jokes, and everybody laughed like hell."

Birthdays:
Jim McKay b. 1921
John Mackey b. 1941
Mean Joe Greene b. 1946
Rafael Palmeiro b. 1964
Eddie George b. 1973

Packers Fact:
Both of Will Blackmon's punt-return touchdowns in 2008 came against the Minnesota Vikings. He had a 76-yarder at home and a 65-yarder on the road.

9/25/1955:
Playing for the Colts in his first NFL game, Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall draft choice Alan Ameche scores on a 79-yard run on his first carry during a 23-17 win over the Chicago Bears in Baltimore. In all, he rushes for 194 yards on 21 carries. He'll lead the league this season in rushing with 213 carries for 961 yards and 9 TDs.

Birthdays:
Phil Rizzuto b. 1918
Hubie Brown b. 1933
Bob McAdoo b. 1951
Scotti Pippen b. 1965
Chauncey Billups b. 1976

THE FUTURE
AIN’T WHAT IT
USED TO BE.

—YOGI BERRA,
American baseball player

“Cheerfulness keeps up a kind of day-light in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity.”

—JOSEPH ADDISON, English essayist and poet

ON WHY YOU SHOULD
ALWAYS HIRE A LAWYER
TO REPRESENT YOU AT
A CRIMINAL TRIAL

Did you get a good look at my face when I took your purse?

accused thief, who defended himself at his trial, to the alleged victim (Strangely, he got ten years.)

ON SPRING BACK AND
FALL AHEAD?

On September 30, winter timing will start. As of 12:00 midnight all clocks will be forward one hour back.

notice posted at a Cairo, Egypt, hotel

SUMMER VACATION

Benji Cooper spends three quarters of the year at an upscale prep school, dressed in a blazer and tie. In the summers, though, his dad drives the family out to the Hamptons, where they have a place in a mostly black enclave in Sag Harbor that allows Benji to reconnect with his culture. Colson Whitehead’s autobiographical novel is a witty, knowing examination of a 15-year-old black boy’s summer of ice cream cones, early hip-hop, and (not without some guilt) ABBA, a first kiss, and a hundred insignificant things that add up to something very winning.

SAG HARBOR, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/23/2011

2011-09-23T11:13:00.000-05:00

9/23/1992:

Manon Rheaume becomes the first woman to play for an NHL team when she joins the Tampa Bay Lightning as goaltender in a 6-4 exhibition game loss to the St. Louis Blues. She plays one period, faces nine shots and allows two goals. Her second appearance will come on April 10, 1993, when she plays the entire game in an 8-6 loss to the Cincinnati Cyclones. She’ll play a total of 24 games for six minor league teams between 1992 and ‘97, and another with the Flint Generals of the International Hockey League in 2009. She’ll also win a silver medal in the 1998 Olympics while playing on Canada’s women’s team.

Birthdays:

Marty Schottenheimer b. 1943

Larry Mize b. 1958

Pete Harnisch b. 1966

Jeff Circillo b. 1969

Eric Montrose b. 1971

Packers Fact:

Quarterback Tobin Rote, who played for the Packers from 1950 to 1956, also played in the Canadian Football League and the American Football League before his retiring following the 1966 season.

“Confidence of success is almost success, and obstacles often fall by themselves before a determination to overcome them.”

—LORD SALISBURY, British prime minister

ON FOOD MIXUPS, BABY-MEXICAN

Mountain View Friday
Wal-Mart: Police receive a report of a newborn infant found in a trash can. Upon investigation, officers discover it was only a burrito.

from the police blotter column of a California newspaper

THE AWFUL TRUTH ABOUT EL DORADO

New Yorker staff writer David Grann came across some diaries of “the last individualist explorer,” Percy Fawcett. Fawcett had set off in 1925 to find an EI Dorado, which he called “Z,” hidden in the depths of the Amazon rain forest. He never returned. Many other adventurers searched for him and his lost city in the ensuing years, with spectacular lack of success. Grann, a man with “a terrible sense of direction,” became so obsessed with Fawcett that he decided to make his own expedition. The Lost City of Z is the gripping account of his quest.

THE LOST CITY OF Z: A TALE OF DEADLY OBSESSION IN THE AMAZON, by David Grann (Doubleday, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/22/2011

2011-09-22T10:17:00.000-05:00

9/22/1953:

Torben Ulrich of Denmark defaults a third-round tennis match against American Bill Hoepner in the Pacific Coast Tournament in Berkeley, California. Hoepner has an annoying habit of meticulously wiping his glasses and retying his shoelaces at frequent intervals. He also frustrates his opponents by hitting the ball calmly but effectively high into the air. Trailing 11-9, 4-1 and 30-15 in the second set, Ulrich walks to the net, shakes Hoepner’s hand and states: “It wasn’t any fu7n. I quit.”

Birthdays:

Tommy Lasorda b. 1927

Ingemar Johansson b. 1932

David Stern b. 1942

Ronaldo b. 1976

Swin Cash b. 1979

Packers Fact:

On this date in 1935: after being used sparingly in the season opener the week before, rookie end Don Hutson surprised the Bears by hauling in an 83-yard touchdown on the first play of a 7-0 win over the Bears. Arnie Herber threw the pass.

“Despair . . . is too easy an out.”

—PAULE MARSHALL, American writer

ON ZEE-EEE-EEE

Weakest Link host Anne Robinson: What is the only letter in the alphabet with three syllables?

Contestant: Z.

THE DOMESDAY BOOK

We don’t think we’re spoiling anything by giving away the very last line of Stephen King’s newest (at time of writing) opus. Ready? “The King just wants you to have a good read!” That’s what he lives for, and, boy, does he succeed with this one. It’s a sprawling, apocalyptic soap opera of biblical proportions and symbolism, cloistered within the confines of a single week of hell for the small town of Chester’s Mill, when the Dome suddenly claps down on them and every one of the cast of thousands begins to play out his or her role in the cataclysm that unfolds.

UNDER THE DOME, by Stephen King (Scribner, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/21/2011

2011-09-21T11:49:00.000-05:00

9/21/1938:
Officials at the Rockingham Park race track in Salem, New Hampshire, attempt to conduct the day's events despite the approach of a powerful hurricane. Activities are finally suspended when winds exceed 70 miles per hour, pulling two hatches off the grandstand, blowing apart the announcer's booth and lifting jockey Warren Yarberry off his horse as he swings into the stretch leading the field in the sixth race.

Birthdays:
Sam McDowell b. 1942
Artis Gilmore b. 1949
Bob Huggins b. 1953
Sidney Moncrief b. 1957
Cecil Fielder b. 1963

Packers Fact:
The Packers' Aaron Kampman posted 37 sacks from 2006 to 2008. That was the third-highest total int he NFL in that span.

“Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace.”

—AMELIA EARHART, American aviatrix

ON . . . AND NAMES FOOT FOR PODIATRY INSTITUTE

DUKE NAMES HEAD FOR
BRAIN INSTITUTE

The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)

A WORKOUT THAT WORKS OUT

We, too, were “born round” (see yesterday), and Pete Cerqua’s “fitness solution” actually helps. With a few simple poses held for 90 seconds (e.g., Plank, Wall Sit, Airplane), muscles work in tandem with weight resistance provided by one’s own body. No changing clothes, no duffel bags, no sweat, just an amazing muscle workout. Don’t take our word for it, or the word of thousands of others whom Pete has helped and trained in his 25 years of loving his craft, observing fitness routines in gyms, and taking notes. Try his workout. We think, as Pete says, you’ll “get it,” and feel it working, right away.

THE 90-SECOND FITNESS SOLUTION: THE MOST TIME-EFFICIENT WORKOUT EVER FOR A HEALTHIER, STRONGER, YOUNGER YOU, by Pete Cerqua (Atria, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/20/2011

2011-09-20T13:15:00.000-05:00

9/20/1998:
After playing in 2,632 consecutive games, Baltimore's Cal Ripken takes himself out of the lineup for tonight's game against the Yankees. It's the Orioles' last home game and the first time that Ripken has missed a game since May 29, 1982. He explains that he wants to end the streak at home with the fans, adding that there were times he thought the focus was too much on the streak and not on the team: "It just reached a point where I firmly believed it was time to change the subject and restore the focus back where it should be."

Birthdays:
Harry Litwack b. 1907
Red Auerbach b. 1917
Tommy Nobis b. 1943
Guy Lafleur b. 1951
Bonzi Wells b. 1976

Packers Fact:
On this date in 1992: Recently acquired Brett Favre came off the bench to lead the Packers to a 24-23 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at Lambeau Field. Don Majkowski was injured in the first quarter to give way to Favre.

“Our greatest responsibility is not to be pencils of the past.”

—ROBERT A. M. STERN, American architect

ON AND AT THAT RATE, THE WHOLE WORLD
WILL BE UNEMPLOYED IN ONLY SIX MONTHS!

Five hundred million people will lose their jobs each month until we have an economic package.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California)

WE LOVE YOU, FRANK BRUNI

It was said that his initials, FB, stood for Fat Boy. The only thing that made his mother (a WASP who became Italian, food-wise) happier than cooking for 40 was cooking for 80. This man went on to become a New York Times restaurant critic, a powerful, successful man of insatiable appetites and a gaping loneliness that no amount of overeating could appease. But “round is a shape,” as the joke goes, and Frank Bruni brings the circle around and conquers his too round self, with humor, panache, great writing, and a very generous dollop of charm, sweetened just right.

BORN ROUND: THE SECRET HISTORY OF A FULL-TIME EATER, by Frank Bruni (Penguin Press, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/19/2011

2011-09-19T09:12:00.000-05:00

9/19/1971:
At Lambeau Field, in the midst of coaching his first NFL game, the Green Bay Packers' Dan Devine becomes entangled in a sideline pileup and breaks his leg. To make matters worse, the Packers lose to the New York Giants, 42-40. Other reverses include a missed field goal returned 100 yards by Green Bay's Ken Ellis, two New York touchdowns within six seconds when Dave Hampton fumbles twice into the end zone, and four Fran Tarkenton touchdown passes.

Birthdays:
Willie Pep b. 1922
Duke Snider b. 1926
Joe Morgan b. 1943
Sidney Wicks b. 1949
Randy Myers b. 1962

Packers Fact:
On this date in 1971: In his first game as the Packers' coach, Dan Devine broke his leg in a sideline collisions. To add insult to injury, the visiting New York Giants won the game, 42-40.

“Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism. The way you play it is free will.”

—JAWAHARLAL NEHRU, Indian statesman

ON WE KINDA THINK WE’RE ALREADY
AT ADVANCED BATHROOM

INTERMEDIATE BATHROOM & LATIN

EVERY WEDNESDAY 8:30 PM

ad for the Howe Dance Centre

PERENNIAL CLASSIC

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nobel laureate William Golding. Best known for his happy-go-lucky portrayal of adorable children marooned on a desert island, Lord of the Flies (remember their charming little “kill the pig” chant?), he also wrote quite a number of other novels, including Pincher Martin and Darkness Visible. The Spire is a tale of medieval ambition told by its protagonist, Dean Jocelin, in a stream-of-consciousness narration. New York Review of Books called it “a most remarkable book . . . potent, severe, even forbidding” when it first appeared.

THE SPIRE, by William Golding (1964; Harvest Books, 2002)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/17-18/2011

2011-09-18T04:14:00.003-05:00

9/17/1961:
After a nine-year career in the Canadian Football League, Sam Etcheverry makes his NFL debut as a quarterback with the St. Louis Cardinals. He has six fumbles but recovers four of them as the Cards defeat the Giants, 21-10, at Yankee Stadium.

Birthdays:
George Blands b. 1927
Maureen Connolly b. 1934
Phil Jackson b. 145
Rasheed Wallace b. 1974
Alex Ovechkin b. 1985

Packers Fact:
In 2008, the Packers' Aaron Rodgers became only the second quarterback in NFL history to pass for more than 4,000 yards (he had 4,038) in the season that he first started an NFL game. Kurt Warner for the Rams in 1999 was the other.

Bowler Don Carter, four-time U.S. Open champion: "One of the advantages bowling has over golf is that you seldom lose a bowling ball."

Birthdays:
Scotty Bowman b. 1933
Darryl Sittler b. 1950
Rick Pitino b. 1962
Toni Kukoc b. 1968
Lance Armstrong b. 1971

“Serenity of mind and calmness of thought are a better enjoyment than anything without us.”

—BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE, Puritan clergyman

“The road up and the road down are one and the same.”

—HERACLITUS, Greek philosopher

ON HOW TRUE,
HOW TRUE

You can’t teach an old leopard new spots.

Wife swap reality show participant

LIVING HISTORY

The work Jonathan Lopez has done to bring master art-forger Han van Meegeren to life is like his subject’s great tributes to Vermeer—painstaking, perfect in every detail, and a thing of beauty in itself. Each new layer Lopez adds to the extraordinary story enchances the richness and glow of the portrait: the history of Holland and its unique dance with the fascists in World War II; van Meegeren’s own sympathies (collaboration) with the Nazis—reflecting their aesthetic in his painting style—even while he gleefully duped them; the unbelievable scope of his success; his devilish conceit. There are several recent biographies of the master forger out there; we believe this is the most authentic one and has the best documentation.

THE MAN WHO MADE VERMEERS: UNVARNISHING THE LEGEND OF MASTER FORGER HAN VAN MEEGEREN, by Jonathan Lopez (Mariner Books, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/16/2011

2011-09-16T09:41:00.000-05:00

9/16/1950:
In the opening game of the NFL season, the Cleveland Browns polish off the Eagles, 35-10, in Philadelphia. Coached by Paul Brown, the Browns have dominated the All-America Football Conference during the four seasons of its existence, winning all four championships. After the 1949 season, the AAFC folded and the NFL absorbed the Cleveland club from the defunct organization. To test the Browns, the NFL scheduled them against the Eagles, the 1948 and 1949 champions. After their convincing victory, the Browns will go on to a 10-2-0 regular-season record and beat the Los Angeles Rams, 30-28, in the championship game on December 24.

Birthdays:
Elgin Baylor b. 1934
Dennis Conner b. 1942
Robin Yount b. 1955
Orel Hershiser b. 1958
Mickey Tettleton b. 1960

Packers Fact:
In 2009, offensive lineman T.J. Lang became the first Packers' draftee out of Eastern Michigan since linebacker Dave Pureifory was a sixth-round choice in 1972.

“Every man has a rainy corner in his life.”

—JEAN PAUL RICHTER, German writer

ON WOW, THAT HURTS!

Family Feud host Richard Karn: Name a sport husbands and wives can play together.

Contestant: Kickball.

KILLER THRILLER

Dripping with Spanish moss and corruption, Greg Iles’s third mystery thriller featuring Natchez mayor Penn Cage is long, violent, and immensely satisfying. Cage’s childhood friend is brutally murdered just after revealing to Cage what’s been going on—and who’s been going into—the Magnolia Queen, a floating island of vice right in Cage’s backyard. With everything he has or loves at stake, and one friend he can never bring back, Cage digs in for a long, muddy, alligator-infested fight.

THE DEVIL’S PUNCHBOWL, by Greg lIes (Scribner, 2009)

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 2

2011-09-15T10:23:00.000-05:00

Week 2:
Sun., Sep. 18:
Seattle @ Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh
Baltimore @ Tennessee - Baltimore
Jacksonville @ NY Jets - NY Jets
Arizona @ Washington - Washington
Oakland @ Buffalo - Buffalo
Tampa Bay @ Minnesota - Minnesota
Chicago @ New Orleans - Chicago
Green Bay @ Carolina - Green Bay
Cleveland @ Indianapolis - Cleveland
Kansas City @ Detroit - Detroit
Dallas @ San Francisco - San Francisco
Cincinnati @ Denver - Denver
Houston @ Miami - Houston
San Diego @ New England - New England
Philadelphia @ Atlanta - Philadelphia

Mon., Sep. 19:
St. Louis @ NY Giants - NY Giants

Byes: None

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/12-15/2011

2011-09-15T08:52:00.000-05:00

9/12/1962:
Setting an all-time major league record, Tom Cheney of the Washington Senators strikes out 21 batters during a 16-inning 2-1 win over the Orioles in Baltimore. Cheney entered the contest with an 8-15 lifetime record and had never struck out more than 10 batters in a game. Today, after nine innings, he has 13 strikeouts and the score is 1-1. Manager Mickey Vernon keeps him on the mound till the bitter end, and he fans eight more in extra innings for a total of 21. Washington wins the game on a homer by Bud Zipfel. Cheney will finish an otherwise mediocre big-league career in 1966 with a record of 19-29.

Birthdays:
Jesse Owens b. 1913
Albie Pearson b. 1934
Vernon Maxwell b. 1965
Ki-Jana Carter b. 1973
Yao Ming b. 1980

Packers Fact:
Veteran defensive lineman Ryan Pickett started all 16 games for the fourth time in the last five seasons in 2008.

9/13/1964:
Pete Gogolak of the Buffalo Bills becomes pro football's first soccer-style kicker. He has plenty of opportunities early as the Bills roll up 31 points in the first period of their 34-17 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs at War Memorial Stadium. A native of Hungary, Gogolak was the first to kick soccer-style at theh collegiate level on a regular basis while at Cornell. (Two weeks before his first college game in 1961, Cincinnati's Hank Hartong kicked two extra points soccer-style during a 16-12 win over Dayton but never played again.) Don Cockroft of the 1980 Browns will be the last NFL placekicker to approach the ball straight ahead.

Birthdays:
Emile Francis b. 1926
Rick Wise b. 1945
Bernie Williams b. 1968
Goran Ivanisevic b. 1971
Daisuke Matsuzaka b. 1980

Packers Fact:
Fourth-year defensive end Johnny Jolly posted his first career interception in 2009 against Chicago in Week 1. His theft thwarted a Bears scoring threat in the second quarter of Green Bay's 21-15 victory.

9/14/1968:
The Tigers' Denny McLain becomes major league baseball's first 30-game winner since Dizzy Dean in 1934 as he defeats the Oakland Athletics, 5-4, in Detroit. The Tigers score two runs in the ninth to preserve the thrilling victory. McLain will finish this season with a 31-6 record and a 1.96 ERA, and he'll follow with a 24-9 campaign in 1969. But he'll never be the same pitcher after he's suspended for the first half of the 1970 season by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn because of his involvement with gamblers. From his rookie season in 1963 through 1969, McLain's record is 114-57; from 1970 through the end of his career in 1970, it's 17-34.

Birthdays:
Harry Sinden b. 1932
Larry Brown b. 1940
Orest Kindrachuk b. 1950
Tim Wallach b. 1957
Hicham el Guerrouj b. 1974

Packers Fact:
Wide receiver Sterling Sharpe's (1988-1994) younger brother Shannon Sharpe was one of the top pass-catching tight ends in NFL history. Shannon played in the NFL from 1990 to 2003.

9/15/1940:
In a game that has "more the flavor of water polo" according to the Associated Press, the Chicago Cardinals and Detroit Lions combine for only 30 yards in total offense in a 0-0 tie in Buffalo, a venue chosen by the Cards due to the small crowds the club was attracting at home. A terrific thunderstorm hits with the opening kickoff and continues throughout the contest as the Lions gain only 16 yards, the Cardinals 14. The 30 yards of offense will go down in NFL history as the lowest by a wide margin; the next lowest is 136 by the Cardinals and Packers in 1934.

Birthdays:
Gaylord Perry b. 1938
Pete Carroll b. 1951
Joel Quenneville b. 1958
Joe Morris b. 1960
Dan Marino b. 1961

Packers Fact:
Along with Packers star Paul Hornung, Detroit Lions Pro Bowl defensive tackle Alex Karras was suspended for the 1963 season for gambling on NFL games.

“Humor is just another defense against the universe.”

—MEL BROOKS, American humorist

“Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.”

—ANN LANDERS, American advice columnist

“Miracles can be made, but only by sweating.”

—GIOVANNI AGNELLI, Italian entrepreneur

“You can’t argue with a river, it is going to flow. You can dam it up . . . put it to useful purposes . . . deflect it, but you can’t argue with it.”

—DEAN ACHESON, U.S. secretary of state

ON WHY TECH SUPPORT STAFFERS
HAVE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

Caller: Hey, can you help me? My computer has locked up, and no matter how many times I type 11, it won’t unfreeze.

Tech support: What do you mean, “type 11?”

Caller: The message on my screen says, “Error Type 11.”

actual computer tech-support call

ON LOGICAL LAPSES, SPORTSCASTERS AND

Ozzie Smith just made another play that I’ve never seen anyone else make before, and I’ve seen him make it more often than anyone else ever has.

San Diego Padres announcer Jerry Coleman

ON BILLINESS, EXCESSIVE

For me, the thing will be rockabilly freedom. Hillbilly meets psychobilly, with a dash of hippie-billiness.

celebrity stylist Camille Bidault-Waddington, H&M Magazine

ON AIRLINE AGENTS, AIRHEADED

Agent: According to my records you are flying from Oakland, CA. That’s California, right?

Caller: That’s right.

Agent: And it says here you are flying to Shreveport, LA?

Caller: Yes.

Agent: But Los Angeles isn’t a state. What state are you flying to?

Caller: The “LA” actually stands for Louisiana.

Agent: Oh, okay, then.

actual conversation with airline ticket agent (thanks to Jeffrey Fleming)

TOUR DE FORCE

T. C. Boyle is in top form in this novel about Frank Lloyd Wright’s disastrous serial relationships. The tale is narrated by the great American architect’s devoted Japanese apprentice and slave, Tadashi Sato, who paints Wright’s women mostly with delightfully sly jealousy. He tells us of the disastrous 1925 fire in Taliesin West, Wright’s early version of Neverland, and takes us backward in time, unable to avoid revealing the beloved master as a mean, half-mad, stingy, confused, and tortured soul. Scandalously good.

THE WOMEN, by T. C. (Thomas Coraghessen) Boyle (Viking Adult, 2009)

A HOT-BUTTON WAR

In her signature impassioned, knowledgeable, and well-reasoned style, Susan Faludi turns to an interesting by-product of 9/11—a renewed war on feminism. Faludi documents the many sources who announced, in the months following 9/11, the decline, death, uselessness, treason, danger, and/or irrelevancy of feminism. The Terror Dream remains focused on the published statements of the many who engaged in this shadow war. She leaves polemic and bombast to others, instead taking a historical view to show that this is not the first time America has felt the need to reestablish who’s wearing the ideological pants in the family.

THE TERROR DREAM: MYTH AND MISOGYNY IN AN INSECURE AMERICA, by Susan Faludi (Henry Holt, 2007)

PRIZE WINNER

Shadow Country is actually three books (Killing Mr. Watson, Lost Man’s River, and Bone by Bone) edited by their author into one 900-page work. It is the story of Edgar J. Watson, a historical and legendary figure of southwest Florida at the turn of the 20th century. Was Watson as bloody as everyone thought? He allegedly shot outlaw queen Belle Starr, some neighbors who were down on their luck, his man Tom, and others, meanwhile amassing land and power. In the end he was killed by his bayou neighbors. The three sections are written from different perspectives—including those of Watson’s deeply scarred sons—in this moody, Faulkneresque tale. Shadow Country garnered the National Book Award in 2008.

SHADOW COUNTRY: A NEW RENDERING OF THE WATSON LEGEND, by Peter Matthiessen (Modern Library, 2008)

HOT AND SPICY

This lavish coffee-table book is more than just mouthwatering pictures and zesty recipes. It’s also the inside story of the McIlhenny family and the empire they built, and of Avery Island, Louisiana. Shane Bernard, the McIlhenny historian and curator, deals evenhandedly with both fact and fiction, since both are part and parcel of the Tabasco legend. With an introduction by Jeffrey Rothfeder, the author of McIlhenny’s Gold: How a Louisiana Family Built the Tabasco Empire.

TABASCO: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY, by Shane K Bernard; introduction by Jeffrey Rothfeder (University of Mississippi Press, 2007)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/11/2011

2011-09-11T06:58:00.002-05:00

9/11/1987:
Temperamental CBS anchor Dan Rather walks off the Evening Ne3ws set because the broadcast of the U.S. Open tennis semifinal between Steffi Graf and Lori McNeil has delayed his newscast. The network goes black for six minutes.

Birthdays:
Paul "Bear" Bryant b. 1913
Tom Landry b. 1924
Franz Beckenhauer b. 1945
Marty Liquori b. 1949
Ellis Burke b. 1964

ON HIKING TRAIL SIGNS,
WORRISOME

BEWARE OF THE
MISSING FOOT

sign by a hiking trail in China

“Put on a happy face!”

—ALBERT F. PETERSON (DICK VAN DYKE) in Bye Bye Birdie; screenplay by Irving Brecher

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/10/2011

2011-09-10T06:51:00.002-05:00

Coach Bill Parcells, defending his liberal use of sarcasm when addressing his team: "The only players I hurt with my words are the ones with an inflated opinion of their ability."

Birthdays:
Arnold Palmer b. 1929
Roger Maris b. 1934
Bob Lanier b. 1948
Randy Johnson b. 1963
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerton b. 1976

Packers Fact:
Linebacker Ray Nitschke (1958-1972) played college football at Illinois.

Weep,
But do not complain—

—DAG HAMMARSKJÖLD, Swedish statesman

ON NON-MOVING
OBJECTS, MOVING

I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.

written on an actual accident report

ON THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11

After the World Trade Center fell in 2001, it was cordoned off as a crime scene and photographers were not allowed on the site. But through endless resourcefulness and perseverance, Joel Meyerowitz managed to be there day after day with his large-format camera. Aftermath is the extraordinary photographic record of the nine months following the disaster. It was published on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, and it remains one of the great collections of images from a tragic and momentous time.

AFTERMATH: WORLD TRADE CENTER ARCHIVE, by Joel Meyerowitz (Phaidon Press, 2006)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/9/2011

2011-09-09T09:22:00.002-05:00

9/9/1960:
On a Friday night at Nickerson Field in Boston, the first regular-season game in the history of he American Football League takes place with the Denver Broncos defeating the Patriots, 13-10. Gino Cappelletti of the Patriots records the first points with a 35-yard field goal in the first quarter. The Broncos' Al Carmichael scores the first touchdown on a 69-yard reception from Frank Tripucka in the second period. The Broncos have shown up in arguably the worst uniforms in the history of professional sport: brown helmets, white shirts with brown numerals and brown pants, bottomed off by brown-and-white vertically striped socks.

Birthdays:
Franke Frisch b. 1898
Charlie Conerly b. 1921
Joe Theismann b. 1949
Dan Majerle b. 1965
Shane Battier b. 1978

Packers Fact:
Through 2008, no Packers' player ever had led the league in sacks (which became an official statistic in 1982).

THERE IS NO ONE
LUCKIER THAN
HE WHO THINKS
HIMSELF SO.

—German proverb

ON ELOQUENCE, PRESIDENTIAL

Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s.

President Barack Obama (meaning to say that the U.S. is a strong friend)

SIXTH SENSE

Every once in a while a novel comes along that channels the best, most enduring gothic mysteries of Wilkie Collins, Daphne du Maurier, Victoria Holt, and, in another medium, Alfred Hitchcock. As in the earlier Postcards from Berlin, a child is the source of concern and a conduit for disturbing messages from another world and time. Margaret Leroy taps into the magical realism of children and the terror of their visions, both for them and for the adults who try to protect them.

YES, MY DARLING DAUGHTER, by Margaret Leroy (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009)

APCKRFAN's NFL Picks 2011: Week 1

2011-09-08T10:18:00.002-05:00

Week 1:
Thu., Sep. 08:
New Orleans @ Green Bay - Green Bay

Sun., Sep. 11:
Atlanta @ Chicago - Atlanta
Indianapolis @ Houston - Houston
Buffalo @ Kansas City - Kansas City
Tennessee @ Jacksonville - Tennessee
Cincinnati @ Cleveland - Cleveland
Philadelphia @ St. Louis - Philadelphia
Pittsburgh @ Baltimore - Pittsburgh
Detroit @ Tampa Bay - Tampa Bay
Minnesota @ San Diego - San Diego
NY Giants @ Washington - NY Giants
Carolina @ Arizona - Carolina
Seattle @ San Francisco - San Francisco
Dallas @ NY Jets - NY Jets

Mon., Sep. 12:
New England @ Miami - New England
Oakland @ Denver - Oakland

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/7-8/2011

2011-09-08T09:01:00.002-05:00

9/7/2008:
The Detroit Lions open the season with a 34-21 loss to the Falcons in Atlanta. Hopes are high in Detroit after a 7-9 record in 2007, the most wins by the franchise in a season since 2000, and a 4-0 record in the 2008 preseason during which the Lions outscored opponents 8-32. But by the end of 2008 Detroit will become the first team in the history of the NFL to finish the regular season 0-16, concluding with a 31-21 defeat at the hands of the Packers on December 28. In the 16 defeats, the Lions are outscored 517-268. The last NFL team to lose every game was Tampa Bay with an 0-14 record as a first-year expansion team in 1976.

Birthdays:
Paul Brown b. 1908
Al McGuire b. 1928
Clyde Lovellette b. 129
Jacques Lemaire b. 1945
Antonio McDyess b. 1974

Packers Fact:
Donald Lee entered 2009 ranked eighth among all tight ends in Packers' history with 130 career catches.

9/8/2002:
In the first regular-season game in the history of the franchise, the Houston Texans upset the Dallas Cowboys, 19-10, at Reliant Stadium. Rookie quarterback David Carr passes for two Houston touchdowns, including a 65-yard strike to Corey Bradford, to break a 10-10 tie with 12:09 left in the game. A safety with 2:37 remaining cements the win. The Texans will lose their next five games and finish the season 4-12.

Birthdays:
Lem Barney b. 1945
Rogie Vachon b. 1945
Maurice Cheeks b. 1956
Latrell Sprewell b. 1970
Amani Toomer b. 1974

Packers Fact:
Rookie Jordy Nelson turned his first NFL reception into a 29-yard touchdown in 2008 against Detroit in Week 2.

“The most intelligent men, like the strongest, find their happiness where others would find only disaster: in the labyrinth, in being hard with themselves and with others, in effort; their delight is in self-mastery; in them asceticism becomes second nature, a necessity, an instinct.”

—FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE, German philosopher

“How many things I can do without!”

—SOCRATES, Greek philosopher, at a market

ON BUSINESS, BIG

I’ll tell you, it’s Big Business.
If there is one word to describe Atlantic City, it’s Big Business. Or two words—Big Business.

businessman Donald Trump

ON METEOROLOGICAL INSIGHT,
CATEGORY STUPID

Even if this hurricane drops back to a category 3, it’s still going to be a category 3 hurricane.

a Weather Channel forecaster, reporting on Hurricane Frances (thanks to Danny Amelio)

SISTERS FOREVER

“Peachy” (Georgia) is the dutiful daughter who stayed at home on the farm and is now married, with two boys—one an epileptic. Beth went on to a (supposedly) glamorous, swinging-single life in New York City. When Peachy catches her sister and husband flirting with disaster, she decides it’s time for the country mouse and the city mouse to trade places for a weekend. Like George Cukor’s film Rich and Famous, this novel succeeds brilliantly as fun and also on a deeper level as an exploration of identity and family.

THE ALMOST ARCHER SISTERS, by Lisa Gabriele (Simon & Schuster, 2008)

TRAVEL BOOK AWARD WINNER

What a wonderful country we live in! Not only do we have civil liberty and economic opportunity but also indoor bungee-jumping. Every state and region in the Union yields out-of-the-way havens of absurd, insane festivals, as well as shrines made out of the oddest things. Try the Furniture Races in Montana, or sleep underwater in a facility designed for science experiments in Florida. Spend a special day in Laguna, California, to join residents and visitors when they moon every passing Amtrak train—or book passage on one of the trains!

ECCENTRIC AMERICA: THE BRADT TRAVEL GUIDE TO ALL THAT’S WEIRD AND WACKY IN THE USA, 2ND EDITION, by Jan Friedman (Bradt Travel Guides, 2004)

Producer Brian Reilly dies - Entertainment News, Obituary, Media - Variety

2011-09-06T09:23:00.000-05:00

Producer Brian Reilly dies - Entertainment News, Obituary, Media - Variety

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/5-9/6/2011

2011-09-06T07:18:00.002-05:00

9/5/1961:
Lee Thomas of the Los Angeles Angels has a career day by becoming the first player in major league history to collect at least nine hits and hit at least tw home runs in a doubleheader. It happens against the Athletics in Kansas City, although the Angels lose twice by scores of 7-3 and 13-12. Thomas has four singles and a double in five plate appearances in the first contest. In the nightcap, he has three homers and a single in six at-bats, along with eight RBIs. The Angels overcome a 9-2 deficit to carry a 12-11 lead into the ninth, but the A's win on a two-out, two-run walk-off homer by Bobby Del Greco.

Birthdays:
Nap Lajoie b. 1874
Bill Mazeroski b. 1936
John Ferguson b. 1938
Billy Kilmer b. 1939
Dennis Scott b. 1968

Packers Fact:
Antonio Freeman led the NFL when he amassed 1,424 receiving yards in 1998. He averaged 17.0 yards on his 84 catches, 14 of which went for touchdowns.

9/6/1951:
NBC announces that this year's World Series will be the first sporting event ever telecast from coast to coast. As it turns out, the New York Yankees (98-56) will play the New York Giants (98-59) at Yankee Stadium in the opening game on October 4. The first World Series telecast took place in 1947. The participants were the Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers, and the games were shown only in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Schenectady.

Birthdays:
Hal Jeffcoat b. 1924
Dow Finsterwald b. 1929
Ron Boone b. 1946
Kevin Willis b. 1962
Tim Henman b. 1974

Packers Fact:
Packers coach Vince Lombardi played college football at Fordham, where he was one of the legendary "Seven Blocks of Granite".

“To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labor.”

—ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, Scottish writer

“Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage: it can be delightful.”

—GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, Anglo-Irish playwright

ON W-O-R-K . . . HMM,
WE COUNTED AND WE GOT FOUR

We have a lot of kids who don’t know what work means. They think work is a four-letter word.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

ON HOLD THE HEDGEHOGS, PLEASE

• Fish Toad With Mushrooms and Hedgehogs

• Chinstrap With Get Them

menu items, Santiago, Spain

WAR AND PEACE IN BOSTON

Bestselling author (Gone, Baby, Gone and Mystic River) Dennis Lehane has written a brilliant epic of Boston and America in the period during and after World War I. The two protagonists, Boston cop Danny Coughlin and a black man on the lam, Luther Laurence, struggle mightily in the shadows of Babe Ruth, “Gene” O’Neill, John (J. Edgar) Hoover, and other historical notables, as well as such historical eruptions as the Spanish flu epidemic, the beginnings of the NAACP, and a climactic Boston police strike. A novel of both breadth and suspense, The Given Day is a rewarding read.

THE GIVEN DAY, by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow, 2008)

WIKISTORY

It began in 2001, the online encyclopedia that anyone could write and edit, and from there it grew to be the largest encyclopedia in the world, with more than 10 million articles in more than 50 languages, 2.5 million of them in English. Andrew Lih is himself a fan and a “wikipedian” contributor. His book is full of stories about founder Jimmy Wales and the conflicts and controversies that have attended the encyclopedia’s rise. Lih’s enthusiasm is infectious, and it makes his book a pleasure to read.

THE WIKIPEDIA REVOLUTION: HOW A BUNCH OF NOBODIES CREATED THE WORLD’S GREATEST ENCYCLOPEDIA, by Andrew Lih (Hyperion, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 9/2-4/2011

2011-09-04T06:47:00.003-05:00

9/2/1979:
The Atlanta Falcons defeat the New Orleans Saints, 40-34, on a bizarre play in overtime at the Superdome. With just over eight minutes elapsed in OT, a punt snap sails over the head of the Saints' Russell Erxleben and rolls to the goal line. Erxleben attempts to pass the ball with two hands to avoid a safety, but it falls into the hands of Atlanta's James Mayberry at the six-yard line. Mayberry saunters into the end zone for the Falcons victory. It's the first NFL game for Mayberry, and the interception will prove to be the only one of his three-year pro career.

Birthdays:
Adolph Rupp b. 1901
John Thompson b. 1941
Terry Bradshaw b. 1948
Jimmy Connors b. 1952
Eric Dickerson b. 1960

Packers Fact:
After only two seasons, Ryan Grant already stood 14th on the Packers' career rushing list with 2,159 yards entering 2009.

9/3/2006:
At age 36, before a cheering throng at the U.S. Open, Andre Agassi plays the last match of his career. Despite an impressive string of wins in the four tennis majors between 1992 and 2003 (four Australian Opens, one French, one Wimbledon and two U.S. Opens). Agassi enters this tournament unseeded. In today's third-round match, he loses to Germany's Benjamin Becker in five hard-fought sets.

Birthdays:
Eddie Stanky b. 1916
Luis Gonzales b. 1967
Damon Stoudamire b. 1973
Jevon Kearse b. 1976
Jennie Finch b. 1980

Packers Fact:
Third-year linebacker A.J. Hawk led the Packers with 121 tackles in the 2008 season.

9/4/1891:
Making light of being called an "old man" by the press, 39-year-old player-manager Cap Anson of the Chicago Cubs (currently nicknamed the White Stockings) dons a shaggy gray wig and a long false beard for a home game against the Boston Red Sox. The Cubs win, 5-3. Anson will continue to play in the majors until 1897.

Birthdays:
Dawn Fraser b. 1937
Ray Floyd b. 1942
Tom Watson b. 1949
John Vanbiesbrouck b. 1963
Mike Piazza b. 1968

“Being young is greatly overestimated . . . any failure seems so total. Later on you realize you can have another go.”

—MARY QUANT, English fashion designer

“I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived.”

—OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES, American writer and physician

NO PAIN,
NO PALM;
NO THORNS,
NO THRONE;
NO GALL,
NO GLORY;
NO CROSS,
NO CROWN.

—WILLIAM PENN, founder of Pennsylvania

ON OUR FAVE FECAL BOOKS

• Excrement in the Late Middle Ages: Sacred Filth and Chaucer’s Fecopoetics

• Fecal Matters in Early Modern Literature and Art: Studies in Scatology

• The Interpretation of Geological Time From the Evidence of Fossilised Elephant Droppings in Eastern Europe

• Curbside Consultation of the Colon

actual book titles

ON SO MUCH FOR
SNACKING ON TOMMY

While solution is not toxic it will not make child edible.

in the instructions for a bubble-blowing plastic gun, Japan

ON ANSWERS,
TECHNICALLY RIGHT
BUT NOT SO GOOD

Family Feud host Richard Karr: What is something that can be described as “on the rocks”?

Contestant: A bug.

(thanks to Sarah Whitaker)

HEAVEN’S HIS DESTINATION

Car thief Preston Clearwater picks up 20-year-old Bible salesman Henry Dampier from the side of the road and convinces the boy that he, Preston, is actually an FBI agent investigating a car thievery ring. Thus begins a wild and woolly road trip through the South of the 195as, with Bible thumping and pet funerals and a woman who can make you think her cats are talking and a lot more crazy yarns and crazier people. Clyde Edgerton knows his material and carries it off in high and funny style.

THE BIBLE SALESMAN, by Clyde Edgerton (Little, Brown, 2008)

A LIFE

“Oh well, I suppose every self-respecting writer should have an English biographer,” Gabriel García Márquez once observed. And now the Nobel Prize–winning author of One Hundred rears of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera has his. Gerald Martin has written an exhaustive and admiring book that is the go-to reference on Latin America’s great novelist, probably for years to come.

GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ: A LIFE, by Gerald Martin (Knopf, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/30-9/1/2011

2011-09-01T13:35:00.003-05:00

8/30/1904:
The Olympic marathon in St. Louis ends in controversy. The course includes seven hills on unpaved roads, and the judges, doctors and journalists constantly raise dust by following the runners in automobiles. The temperature is 90, and the only water available is from a well located 12 miles from the stadium, where the race starts and ends. After 3 hours and 13 minutes, Fred Lorz of New York is declared the winner. Just before he's given the gold medal, however, it's discovered that he had run only 9 miles, hitched a ride in a car for 11 miles and then started running again. The real winner was American Thomas Hicks, who made it to the finish line after being administered an oral dose of strychnine sulfate along with several sips of brandy by his handlers during the race.

Birthdays:
Ted Williams b. 1918
Jean-Claude Killy b. 1943
Tug mcGraw b. 1944
Robert Parish b. 1953
Shaun Alexander b. 1977

Packers Fact:
The Packers led the NFL in interception returns for touchdowns in 2008. 6 of their 22 picks were brought back the distance.

8/31/1934:
College football's All-Star Game is staged for the first time. Pitting the best seniors from the previous year's college senior class against the defending NFL champion, it will be played annually at Soldier Field in Chicago until 1976. Tonight's game, held as part of the Chicago World's Fair, draws a crowd of 79,432 and ends in a 0-0 tie with the Chicago Bears. Night games are still a rarity in 1934. According to The New York Times, the stadium is "a picture of splendor, with 100 powerful lights casting upon the lightning-fast greensward, and the World's Fair lights of red, blue and green in the background." As each college player in introduced, he's followed onto the field by a single beam of light while a band plays the song from his alma mater.

Birthdays:
Jim Finks b. 1927
Jean Beliveau b. 1931
Frank Robinson b. 1935
Edwin Moses b. 1955
Hideo Nomo b. 1968

Packers Fact:
Mike Holmgren went 84-42 (a stellar winning percentage of .667, including postseason) as the Packers' coach from 1992 to 1998.

9/1/1991:
At 51, Harry Grant of Taylorsville, North Carolina, becomes the oldest winner of a NASCAR cup race, claiming victory in the Heinz 500 at Darlington Raceway. Amazingly, it's teh first of a record-tying four-straight victories for Gant. On September 7, he wins the Miller Genuine Draft 400 at the Richmond International Raceway. On September 15, he wins the Peak Antifreeze 500 at the Dover International Speedway. On September 22, he crashes on Lap 377 of the Goody's 500 at the Martinsville Speedway, but his team repairs the car and he proceeds to charge through the field to regain the lead.

Birthdays:
Rocky Marciano b. 1923
Guy Rodgers b. 1935
Tim Hardaway b. 1966
Cuttino Mobley b. 1974
Clinton Portis b. 1981

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted quarterback Don Majkowski in the 10th round in 1987 out of Virginia. He played in Green Bay for six seasons.

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

—STEPHEN KING, American novelist

“The secret of happiness is not discovered in the absence of trials, but in the midst of them.”

—TED NACE, American writer

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never is, but always to be blest.

—ALEXANDER POPE, English poet

ON AND THAT’S WHY THE NEW TESTAMENT
IS WRITTEN IN CHRISTIAN

The Quran is perfect just the way it is, that’s why it is only written in Islamic.

former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania), in “a lecture on Islam” at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

ON AND THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR
WRITING THIS SORT OF FILM DIALOGUE

There are consequences for breaking the heart of a murderous bastard.

Bill (David Carradine), Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)

ON WE’RE NOT GETTING SOMETHING HERE

Andrea de Cesaris—the man who has won more Grands Prix than anyone else without actually winning one of them.

racing commentator Murray Walker

KILLER THRILLER

At an academic conference in Buenos Aires concerned with the works of Edgar Allan Poe, German scholar Joachim Rotkopf is found stabbed to death in front of a mirror in his hotel room. Vogelstein, the story’s narrator, who has come to the conference hoping to meet Jorge Luis Borges, not only has his wish fulfilled but teams up with the great fictionist in order to solve the mystery. A truly clever and marvelously entertaining whodunit.

BORGES AND THE ETERNAL ORANGUTANS, by Luis Fernando Verissimo, translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jule Costa (New Directions, 2005)

STRANGER THAN SHANGRI-LA

In his latest book after his bestselling Sex Lives of Cannibals and Getting Stoned with Savages, J. Maarten Troost takes us on a rollicking trek through the most populous and probably the most complex country on Earth. In Shanghai and Beijing, Tibet and the Gobi Desert, and many points in between, Troost gives us an enjoyable but grit-and-all look at this world-changing nation.

LOST ON PLANET CHINA: THE STRANGE AND TRUE STORY OF ONE MAN’S ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD’S MOST MYSTIFYING NATION OR HOW HE BECAME COMFORTABLE EATING LIVE SQUID, by J. Maarten Troost (Random House, 2008)

GIFT IDEA

In 1984 Peter Feldstein went to Oxford, Iowa, and photographed all 676 of the people who lived there. Twenty years later, he returned with writer Stephen G. Bloom and photographed everyone who had not moved away or died, which turned out to be a large percentage of the population. Bloom interviewed the subjects and was rewarded with their extraordinary and poignant life stories. The result is The Oxford Project, which The Atlantic Monthly calls “a hard-to-put-down coffee-table book, with big, striking then-and-now portraits, that pulls you deep into small-town America, with its almost excessive joys.”

THE OXFORD PROJECT, by Stephen G. Bloom and Peter Feldstein (Welcome Books, 2008)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/29/2011

2011-08-29T06:51:00.002-05:00

8/29/1951:
Midway through his fourth-round match against Gardnar Mulloy in the U.S. Nationals at Forest Hills, Earl Cochell attempts to climb the umpire's chair and grab the microphone. The fans have been booing him for interrupting play to argue about calls, and he wants to give them a piece of his mind. He's allowed to finish the match, which he loses in four sets, but two days from now he'll become the first player ever to be banned for life by the United States Lawn Tennis Association.

Birthdays:
Womia Tyus b. 1945
Bob Beamon b. 1946
Jerry Bailey b.1 957
Pierre Turgeon b. 1969
Roy Oswalt b. 1977

Packers Fact:
Cornerback Charles Woodson's Pro Bowl berth in 2008 was the fifth of his 11-year career, but his first since joining the Packers in 2006.

WHO DARES
WINS.

—British Special Air Service World War II motto

ON MAGAZINES ARE JUST FINE

DO NOT USE MICROWAVE TO DRY NEWSPAPERS.

warning on a microwave oven

KNOWING LOSS

Award-winning novelist Elizabeth McCracken was a happy, self-proclaimed spinster when in her mid-30s she fell in love, married, moved to France, and got pregnant. The pregnancy ended in a stillborn child, however—“the happiest story in the world with the saddest ending,” as she characterizes it. This memoir of the experience is thought-provoking and sensitive, heartfelt and ultimately wise.

AN EXACT REPLICA OF A FIGMENT OF MY IMAGINATION: A MEMOIR, by Elizabeth McCracken (Little, Brown, 2008)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/28/2011

2011-08-28T07:19:00.002-05:00

8/28/1991:
The crowd thins to a mere 4,000 after Connors loses the first three games of the third set, but in his seventh career comeback from a two-set deficit he takes the set and goes on to win the fourth. At 1:35 A.M., 4 hours and 25 minutes after the match began, he claims victory in Game 5 with a service winner on his third match point.

Birthdays:
AndyBathgate b. 932
Lou Piniella b. 193
Ron Guidry b. 1950
Joel Youngblood b. 1951
Janet Evans b. 1971

ON ADS, PATHETIQUE

Job: French into English Profreading

on the translation website proz.com

“An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while the pessimist sees only the red stoplight. The truly wise person is colorblind.”

—ALBERT SCHWEITZER, French theologian and missionary physician

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/25-27/2011

2011-08-27T06:35:00.002-05:00

8/25/1952:
Virgil Trucks pitches the second of his two no-hitters this season as the Detroit Tigers defeat the Yankees, 1-0, in New York. His first no-hitter was on May 15, when the Tigers beat the Washington Senators on a ninth-inning walk-off homer by Vic Wertz. Otherwise, it's a terrible season for Trucks. Coming off a 13-8 record in 1951, he's 5-19 in 1952. He'll rebound next year with a 20-10 season while pitching for the St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox. After 17 years in the major leagues, he'll finish his career with a record of 177-135.

Birthdays:
Althea Gibson b. 1927
Rollie Fingers b. 1946
Albert Belle b. 1966
Cornelius Bennett b. 1966
Marvin Harrison b. 1972

Packers Fact:
Cornerback Charles Woodson intercepted 2 passes in 2008 in a game against Detroit. He returned 1 of the thefts for a touchdown in the Packers' 48-25 victory in Week 2.

8/26/2007:
Warner Robins, Georgia, defeats Tokyo, Japan, 3-2, in the Little League championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. With the contest knotted at 2-2 after the regulation six innings, Dalton Carriker wins the game on a walk-off home run in the eighth. The homer is followed by the Warner Robins team coming over to comfort and embrace the losing Tokyo club ina notable display of sportsmanship. Tokyo reached the championship game yesterday on a walk-off grand slam that beat Willemstad, Curacaco, 7-4.

Birthdays:
Billy DeMars b. 1925
Tom Heinsohn b. 1934
Swede Savage b. 1946
Donnie Shell b. 1952
Ricky Bottalico b. 1969

Packers Fact:
Defensive end Willie Davis made the Pro Bowl for the first of five seasons in a row in 1963.

8/27/1991:
Wild card Jimmy Connors takes the court in his 21st U.S. Open, matched with John McEnroe's brother Patrick in the first round of the tournament. He's trying for his sixth title in the Open but loses the first two sets, 4-6, 6-7, despite strong support from the huge crowd - inspired in part by the fact that he'll turn 39 two days from now...

Birthdays:
Frank Leahy b. 1907
Buddy Bell b. 1951
Bernhard Langer b. 1957
Adam Oates b. 1962
Jim Thome b. 1970

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted quarterback Tobin Rote in the second round in 1950 out of Rice.

“There is no such thing as bravery—only degrees of fear.”

—JOHN WAINWRIGHT, English writer

“I left the room with silent dignity, but caught my foot in the mat.”

—GEORGE GROSSMITH, English comedian

“I don’t want to make money. I just want to be fabulous.”

—MARILYN MONROE, American actress

ON PROFS, DUMB

Pasteur’s theory of germs is a ridiculous fiction. How do you think that these germs in the air can be numerous enough to develop into all these organic infusions? If that were true, they would be numerous enough to form a thick fog, as dense as iron.

Professor Pierre Pochet, 1872

ON WELL, YEAH, RIGHT, BUT . . .

Family Fortunes host: We asked a hundred people to name a place where you wouldn’t expect to meet a nun. Janet.

Female contestant: A brothel.

ON WHAT’S THAT AGAIN?

This extraordinary man left no children behind him, except his brother who was killed at the same time.

excerpted in a nineteenth-century Irish newspaper, writing about French revolutionary Robespierre

BESTSELLERS

In the first volume, hot-tempered computer hacker Lisbeth Salander joins the dominant character, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, in solving a 40-year-old murder case. Salander is more of a presence (without some of her tattoos) in the second book. These page-turning thrillers make up a trilogy by Stieg Larsson, who died just after completing it. Larsson’s view of his native land is one of unvarnished grit. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo won the Nordic countries’ Glass Key Award and was a bestseller all over Europe.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, by Stieg Larsson, translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland (Knopf, 2008)

IT AIN’T NECESSARILY SO . . .

David Plotz is no theologian nor rabbi nor scholar. He’s just a guy who was attending a bat mitzvah one day, picked up a Bible, and after reading a few pages realized it didn’t seem to be the book his parents and teachers had long told him it was. There was Cain committing murder and getting away with it; Solomon, who seemed to prefer pagan ladies to nice Jewish girls; and God smiting people all over the place. Plotz’s reading of the Old Testament Bible isn’t particularly profound—and this isn’t a book for the devout—but it is entertaining and does pose questions of interest.

GOOD BOOK: THE BIZARRE, HILARIOUS, DISTURBING, MARVELOUS, AND INSPIRING THINGS I LEARNED WHEN I READ EVERY SINGLE WORD OF THE BIBLE, by David Plotz (HarperCollins, 2009)

PERENNIAL CLASSIC

As you lie on the beach in August, surrounded by nubile young things and soaking up the summer heat, cast your mind back to Gustav von Aschenbach on the Lido, expiring even as he is beckoned by the retreating figure of the beautiful Tadzio, and remember what a transporting moment it was to read Mann’s extraordinary masterwork. If you’re up for a reread of the great novella, consider this latest translation, which is perhaps a little less staid and heavy than the nonetheless great translation of H. T. Lowe-Porter.

DEATH IN VENICE, by Thomas Mann, translated from the German by Michael Henry Heim (1912; Harper Perennial, 2005)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/24/2011

2011-08-25T01:42:00.002-05:00

Basketball legend Michael Jordan, on facing adversity: "If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it."

Birthdays:
Mike Shanahan b. 1952
Cal Ripken Jr. b. 1960
Reggie Miller b. 1965
Tim Salmon b. 1968
Rafael Furcal b. 1980

Packers Fact:
The Packers' 31-21 victory over Detroit in Week 17 of 2008 doomed the Lions to the first 0-16 season in NFL history. (Green Bay also beat Detroit 48-25 in Week 2 that year.)

EVERYONE
MUST ROW WITH
THE OARS HE HAS.

—Dutch proverb

ON VERSUS WHAT?

Van Der Sar is one of the best two-footed goalkeepers in the league.

soccer commentator Chris Waddle

CUP O’ JOE WITH THAT?

Do you know what “Adam and Eve on a raft” is? You probably know what “dead soldiers” are, but what about “dead presidents”? The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang has these and about 25,000 other words and phrases covered, and it pulls no punches with what we affectionately refer to as expletives, either. Great for browsing. (Adam and Eve on a raft is diner slang for two eggs on toast; a dead soldier is, of course, an emptied liquor bottle; dead presidents refers to money.)

THE ROUTLEDGE DICTIONARY OF MODERN AMERICAN SLANG AND UNCONVENTIONAL ENGLISH; edited by Tom Dalzell (Routledge, 2008)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/23/2011

2011-08-24T00:04:00.003-05:00

8/23/1989:
Against the Expos in Montreal, Rick Dempsey of the Dodgers sets a record for the latest home run in major league history to win a 1-0 game. The game is scoreless for a tense 21 innings before Dempsey homers in the 22nd off Dennis Martinez, who is normally a starter but was pressed into service as a reliever for the first time in three years. The contest lasts 6 hours and 14 minutes. There is also a bit of levity. After complaints by Tommy Lasorda, the Montreal mascot Youppil is ejected by the umpires in the 11th inning for dancing on top of the Dodgers dugout. Permitted to return if confined to the Expos dugout, Youppil puts on pajamas in the 13th and pretends to go to sleep on the dugout roof.

Birthdays:
Sonny Jurgensen b. 1934
Nancy Richey b. 1942
Julio Franco b.1 958
Rik Smits b. 1966
Kobe Bryant b. 1978

Packers Fact:
Reggie White (who played in Green Bay from 1993 to 1998) played two seasons with USFL team the Memphis Showboats before beginning his NFL career in Philadelphia in 1985.

“Much in life cannot be affected . . . but must be borne . . . without complaint, because complaints are a bore . . . and undermine the serenity essential to endurance.”

—DEAN ACHESON, U.S. secretary of state

ON I’VE NEVER HAD MORE TENDER BRICK.
THE STONE, THOUGH . . .

• Brick with Egg

• Brick with Tuna

• Brick with Prawns

• Salmon Paving Stone to the Sorrel

menu items, Paris, France

DREAMY DEXTER

Perhaps you’ve seen (or are addicted to) the Showtime series based on the first Dexter book. Now author Jeff Lindsay is scrambling to keep up with his lovable psychopathic creation. In the latest, Dexter is bitten by the cannibalism bug. As always, Dexter is delicious.

DARKLY DREAMING DEXTER, by Jeff Lindsay (Ballantine, 2004)

DARKLY DEVOTED DEXTER (2005)

DEXTER IN THE DARK (2007)

DEXTER BY DESIGN (2009)

DEXTER IS DELICIOUS (2011)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/22/2011

2011-08-22T06:53:00.002-05:00

8/22/1965:
A game between the Dodgers and Giants at Candlestick Park is marred by one of the ugliest incidents in baseball history. When San Francisco pitcher Juan Marichal comes to bat in the third inning, Sandy Koufax throws two inside pitches and catcher Johnny Roseboro comes close to hitting Marichal with the return throws. After an exchange of words, Marichal raises his bat and pounds Roseboro at least twice in the head. Roseboro bleeds profusely from a gash in his head, and a wild brawl ensues between the two teams. Acting as a peacemaker, Willie Mays leads Roseboro into the dugout and tends to his injuries. Marichal is slapped with a fine of $1,750 and a nine-day suspension. Roseboro will file a civil suit against him for $110,000; it's settled for $7,500 in 1971.

Birthdays:
Carl Yastrzemski b. 1939
Bill Parcells b. 1941
Diana Myad b. 1949
Paul Molitor b. 1956
Mats Wilander b. 1964

Packers Fact:
The 1983 Packers played in an NFL-record five overtime games. The Packers were 2-3 in those games and finished the season 8-8.

“Pain makes man think. Thought makes man wise. Wisdom makes life endurable.”

—JOHN PATRICK, American playwright

ON GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE, POOR GRASP OF

They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan.

Alaska governor Sarah Palin, while campaigning in San Francisco

RYE WHISKEY, RYE WHISKEY, RYE WHISKEY I CRY

It’s everything you ever wanted to know about whiskey, and then some. Climate, grain, fermentation techniques, the oak of the cask, the period for aging, and a guide to all the whiskey distilleries in the world. A handsome, encyclopedic tome for those who love their whiskey and those who wonder if they ought to.

WHISKEY: THE DEFINITIVE WORLD GUIDE, by Michael Jackson (DK Adult, 2005)

Sports Fact of the Day 8/21/2011

2011-08-21T07:59:00.003-05:00

8/21/2008:
In the gold medal beach volleyball final at the Beijing Olympics, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh defeat the Chinese tandem of Tian Jia and Wang Jie. May-Treanor and Walsh also won the gold medal at the Olympics in Athens in 2004. A loss to fellow Americans Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs in the AVP Crocs Cup Shootout on August 31 snaps the pair's streak of 19 tournament victories.

Birthdays:
Chris Schenkel b. 1923
Toe Blake b. 1912
Wilt Chamberlain b. 1936
John Wetteland b. 1966
Usain Belt b. 1986

“Life isn’t all beer and skittles.”

—THOMAS HUGHES, English jurist and writer

ON THAT’S SAYIN’ IT!

A memorable half hour to forget!

sportscaster Alan Mclnally

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/20/2011

2011-08-20T05:44:00.002-05:00

When asked how he addressed his control problems in 2004, White Sox closer Bill Koch replied: "I just pretend the catcher's mitt is Mark Buehrle's face. They look about the same."

Birthdays:
Sihugo Green b. 1933
Graig Nettles b. 1944
Mark Langston b. 1960
Duffy Waldorf b. 1962
Todd Helton b. 1973

Packers Fact:
The "T.J." in offensive lineman T.J. Lang's name stands for Thomas John.

“A man must take the fat with the lean.”

—CHARLES DICKENS, English novelist

ON WELL, AS LONG AS
THEY’RE PEELED . . .

AS ADVERTISED
Shurfresh
Whole Peeled Baby
$1.69

supermarket sign

DEAD POETS SOCIETY

Jean-Claude Izzo left us some marvelous novels, among them the Marseilles Trilogy. The series, as black as noir can be, features Fabio Montale. In Solea he’s retired and surprisingly open to love, but wouldn’t you know, the Mafia machine gets him again—through his loyalty to a former lover. Whether it’s because we know this was the last book or because Izzo himself had a sense of fate moving in, Solea is tighter, leaner, and more elegiac than the others, but they’re all good, with a wonderfully colorful setting.

THE MARSEILLES TRILOGY, by Jean-Claude Izzo, translated from the French by Howard Curtis (Europa Editions)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/19/2011

2011-08-19T12:37:00.002-05:00

8/19/1951:
St. Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck sends 3'7" Eddie Gaedel to bat in the first inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Tigers at Sportsman's Park. Wearing a small Browns uniform bearing the number 1/8, Gaedel leads off as a pinch hitter for Frank Saucier. Detroit pitcher Bob Cain walks him on four pitches and Jim Delsing is sent in as a pinch runner. Between games of the twin bill is a massive celebration of the Browns' 50th season in St. Louis. During the festivities, Gaedel is announced as "another outstanding player signed by the Browns in their expanded worldwide scouting system."

Birthdays:
Bill Shoemaker b. 1931
Anthony Munoz b. 1958
Ricky Pierce b. 1959
Morten Andersen b. 1960
Mary Jo Fernandez b. 1971

Packers Fact:
While at Boston College in 2008, B.J. Raji (a nose tackle in the Packers' 3-4) became the first defensive tackle in 23 years to lead the team in sacks. (He had 8 that season.)

WHO MAKES
TIMID REQUESTS,
INVITES DENIAL.

—SENECA, Roman statesman and writer

ON LOSSES, PAINFUL

U.S. MUTUAL FUNDS ROCKED
Industry has lost more than 20% in asses under management. Pain may not be over yet.

from a story on MarketWatch.com (thanks to Jed Galbraith)

COMPULSIVE READING

Hats off to Babbette Hines for her love of ephemera and her talent for bringing out its permanently fascinating qualities. In the more recent volume, as in Photobooth (also from Princeton Architectural Press), Hines has hunted out, found, and culled the best of the best from scraps of paper. The vulnerable, the class clowns, the poseurs, the deadly earnest—all are exposed here to our greedy glance, with the double satisfaction of realism and anonymity.

LOVE LETTERS, LOST, by Babette Hines (Princeton Architectural Press, 2004)

PHOTOBOOTH (2002)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/18/2011

2011-08-18T23:24:00.002-05:00

8/18/2004:
American gymnast Paul Hamm recovers from a bad fall into the scorers' table during his vault and delivers an amazing high bar routine to win the men's all-around gold medal at the Olympics in Athens, Greece. After the event, bronze medalist Yang Tae Young of South Korea will complain of a scoring error related to his parallel bars routine. The International Gymnastics Federation will admit the error and suspend three judges, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport will officially award Hamm his medal on October 21.

Birthdays:
Roberto Clemente b. 1934
Rafer Johnson b. 1935
Matt Snell b. 1941
Bobby Higginson b. 1970
Jeremy Shockey b. 1980

Packers Fact:
Safety Eugene Robinson (1996-97) played college football at Colgate.

“Happiness is a conscious choice.”

—MILDRED BARTHEL, American poet

ON ADVICE, NOT EXACTLY WHAT WE’D
EXPECT FROM THE ROYAL GAZETTE

HOW TO COMBAT THAT
FEELING OF HELPLESSNESS
WITH ILLEGAL DRUGS

headline in the Royal Gazette (Bermuda)

A WILD RIDE

Nick Harkaway thinks writers nowadays should be more conversant with the technologies we use unthinkingly every day, because the ramifications of progress might be something like what takes place in this apocalyptic, funny-serious, genre-bending, almost indescribable novel of war, love, and heroism in the future. (By the way, Harkaway is John Le Carré’s son.)

“It is not only clever, it is also genuinely terrifying . . . the pace and action of an episode of 24.”—The Times (London)

THE GONE-AWAY WORLD, by Nick Harkaway (Knopf, 2008; Vintage Contemporary, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/17/2011

2011-08-17T23:38:00.002-05:00

8/17/1948:
An estimated 100,000 fans line up to pay their respects to Babe Ruth, who lies in state at Yankee Stadium. He died last evening at 8:00 P.M. at Memorial Hospital in New York City following a two-year battle with throat cancer. The flag on Main Street in Cooperstown is flown at half-mast, and the lights in all ballparks are dimmed in tribute. In Japan, all baseball games are stopped for one minute. The funeral mass will be held on August 19 at St. Patrick's Cathedral, where thousands of mourners gather outside in the rain. The burial ceremony will take place at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Mount Pleasant, New York.

Birthdays:
Boog Powell b. 1941
Guillermo Vilas b. 1952
Christian Laettner b. 1969
Jorge Posada b. 1971
Dustin Pedroia b. 1983

Packers Fact:
Guard "Iron Mike" Michaelski finished his 11-season Pro Football Hall of Fame career with one year in Green Bay in 1937.

“Great men are but life-sized. Most of them, indeed, are rather short.”

—MAX BEERBOHM, English critic and caricaturist

ON YES, WE CAN SEE WHERE PROHIBITING
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FROM IMPOSING
EXCESSIVE BAIL COMES INTO PLAY HERE

Q: Who is tougher to handle—your 14-year-old daughter or Manny Ramirez?

Red Sox manager Terry Francona: I plead the Eighth.

ARMCHAIR TRAVEL HISTORY

We highly recommend the travels of Arabian scholar and traveler Ibn Battuta, whose voyage, or rihla, came only a half century after Marco Polo’s better-publicized travels and covered more territory. Starting from his native Morocco, over more than three decades, he saw much of Africa and reached China, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and large parts of the known Islamic world, including the Holy Land. Ross Dunn, his translator and commentator, takes us right into the colorful and diverse terrain.

THE ADVENTURES OF IBN BATTUTA: A MUSLIM TRAVELER OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY, by Ross E. Dunn (University of California Press, 2004)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/16/2011

2011-08-16T21:14:00.003-05:00

8/16/1998:
Driving int eh Pepsi 400 at the Michigan Speedway in Brooklyn, Jeff Gordon wins his fourth NASCAR race in a row in just over three weeks. Gordon won the Pennsylvania 500 in Long Pond on July 26, the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis on August 1 and the Bud at the Glen in Watkins Glen, New York, on August 8. His streak will be broken a week from now, when he finishes fifth in the Goody's 500 in Bristol, Tennessee, but he'll follow up with victories in his next two races: the Farm Aid on CMT 300 in Loudon, New Hampshire, on August 30 and the Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina, on September 6.

Birthdays:
Amos Alonzo Stagg b. 1862
Frank Gifford b. 1930
Tony Trabert b. 1930
Ron Tary b. 1946
Ben Coates b. 1969

Packers Fact:
Cornerback Tramon Williams returned an interception 67 yards to set up a touchdown in a 21-15 victory over Chicago to open the 2009 season.

What did you think, that joy was some slight thing?

—MARK DOTY, American poet

ON DEFENSES, ALL WET

Judge: You are charged with habitual drunkenness. Have you anything to say in your defense?

Defendant: Habitual thirstiness?

from actual courtroom testimony

BESTSELLER

Jonathan Tropper once again firmly establishes himself as a writer whom it’s almost impossible not to like. This Is Where I Leave You is an intelligent, funny, serious, beautifully crafted novel, with characters so exactingly described, you could invite them to your own family barbecue (and know exactly how much they’ll drink and how they’ll react to the news of your divorce). Judd, who is traumatized and on the verge of divorce, must endure an excruciating seven days of shiva for his father, in the company of his family. Intense and bound to be a classic. Read the book before it (inevitably) becomes a movie.

THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU, by Jonathan Tropper (Dutton Adult, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/15/2011

2011-08-15T09:13:00.002-05:00

8/15/1941:
The Red Sox win a forfeit in Washington because the Senators fail to protect the field during a rainstorm. The game is stopped in the eighth inning with the Senators leading 6-3, but the infield is left uncovered and the contest is called after 40 minutes when the umpires declare the field unplayable. Red Sox manager Joe Cronin will complain to American League president Will Harridge that the game could have been resumed if the tarp had been spread on the infield. Harridge agrees and forfeits the game to Boston in a decision announced on August 27.

Birthdays:
Lionel Taylor b. 1936
Gene Upshaw b. 1945
Ivan Boldirev b. 1949
Scott Brosius b. 1966
Kerri Walsh b. 1978

Packers Fact:
Cornerback Charles Woodson's interception return for a touchdown against Cincinnati in Week 2 of 2009 made him the first player in the Packers' storied history to return at least 1 pick for a touchdown in four consecutive seasons.

ON WHA?!?

Family Feud host Richard Dawson: Name something you can’t use without water.

Contestant: Your ice cream cone.

Life is a jest, and all things show it.
I thought so once, and now I know it.

—JOHN GAY, English poet

TRUE PIRATES

Last month we exhorted you to check out an old classic tale of pirates and the high seas, Daniel Defoe’s The Life Adventures and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton. If you’re hungry for more hardtack and rum, horniness and cussing, we urge you to dip into this fascinating and delightful modern study of the pirates of yore. David Cordingly, formerly curator of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, attacks his subjects with gusto—from the real-life Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, and others to fictional favorites such as Captain Hook and Long John Silver.

UNDER THE BLACK FLAG: THE ROMANCE AND THE REALITY OF LIFE AMONG THE PIRATES, by David Cordingly (Random House, 2006)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/12-14/2011

2011-08-14T06:41:00.003-05:00

8/12/1950:
Confusion reigns as the New York Giants defeat the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League, 27-6, in an exhibition game before 15,000 at Landsdowne Park. The first half is played under CFL rules, the second half under NFL rules. Makeshift yard lines are put in place at halftime to mark the smaller field used in the NFL. The same format will be used between the same two teams on August 11, 1951, during the Giants' 41-18 win in Ottawa. Between 1959 and 1961, five more exhibition games will be played in Canada between CFL teams and those from either the NFL or the AFL. The NFL will be 4-0 in those games.

Birthdays:
Fred Hutchinson b. 1919
George McGinnis b. 1950
Pete Sampras b. 1971
Antoine Walker b. 1976
Plaxico Burress b. 1977

Packers Fact:
Bart Starr (1956-1971) never passed for as many as 2,500 yards in a season and never tossed more than 16 scoring passes in any year. But he was the consummate leader and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.

8/13:
The Phillies' Pat Burrell, when asked if he could put a finger on what caused his season-long slump in 2003: "I don't have enough fingers."

Birthdays:
Ben Hogan b. 1912
Bobby Clarke b. 1949
Betsy King b. 1955
Shayne Corson b. 1966
Jarrod Washburn b. 1974

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted center Jim Ringo in the seventh round in 1953 out of Syracuse.

8/14/1971:
Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals throws his only career no-hitter in an 11-0 rout of the Pirates in Pittsburgh. He walks 3 and strikes out 10. For the last three outs, he retires Vic Davalillo on a grounder to shortstop Dal Maxvill, Al Oliver on an easy roller to Ted Kubiak at second and Willie Stargell on a called third strike. It's Gibson'sn 201st5 career win.

Birthdays:
Earl Weaver b. 1930
John Brodie b. 1938
Debbie Meyer b. 1952
Magic Johnson b. 1959
Wayne Chrobet b. 1973

“There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and recovered hope.”

—GEORGE ELIOT, English novelist

“Maybe one day we shall be glad to remember even these hardships.”

—VIRGIL, Roman poet

“Nature reacts not only to physical disease, but also to moral weakness; when the danger increases, she gives us greater courage.”

—JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE, German poet and dramatist

ON SACRIFICES, ALMOST TOO HARD TO BEAR

W hat was hard [during this recession] was giving up my live-in maid five days a week. My daughter said, do we really need somebody? So I cut back, and I just hired somebody for two days. And you know, it kind of brought our family together. We cook together more as a family. Normally when the housekeeper was there cooking for us, my husband would be off with the paper and I would be on the phone with my friends and the kids were doing homework. I do have the woman make one extra dinner for us though, and one or two nights we do order in, and a lot of times we will go out.

Real Housewives of New York City star Ramona Singer

ON WARNING SIGNS,
TOO GRAMMAR-ORIENTED

NOUN AREA
BATHING
ADJECTIVE
FORBIDDEN

tri-lingual sign at a beach in Israel (over the English translation is Hebrew and Arabic, reading CAUTION! DEEP WATER NEAR THE SHORE.)

ON TOO TRUE,
TOO TRUE

He’s trying to take the decision out of the hands of 12 honest men and give it to 435 congressmen!

Representative Charles Vanik (D-Ohio)

AN UNPLEASANT SUBJECT

It’s a wacky idea, taking one of the most vilified life-forms in the world today, E. coli, and tracing its genealogy, history, and economic significance, but that’s what venerable science writer Carl Zimmer has done. He even manages to defend the little guys’ usefulness to society—these bacteria, of which there are many different strains, some of them vital to our vitals, are now important links in the research on human cell aging, in genetic mapping and engineering, and in the classroom. We couldn’t have said it any better than Steven Johnson (author of The Invention of Air): “Creepy, mind-twisting, and delightful all at the same time.”

MICROCOSM: E. COLI AND THE NEW SCIENCE OF LIFE, by Carl Zimmer (Pantheon, 2008; Vintage, 2009)

THE GREATNESS THRUST UPON THEM

In this controlled and well-paced story, shy, emotionally wounded photojournalist Maria accompanies her brasher fellow journalist Imogen on assignment for an exposé on the phenomenon of young Afghan women’s self-immolating rather than submitting to arranged marriages. Maria, who has been protecting herself against life by cowering in the safety of employment as a food photographer, finds within her a life-giving elasticity and effectiveness that deepen the satisfaction of reading this admirable novel.

THE END OF MANNERS, by Francesca Marciano (Vintage, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/10-11/2011

2011-08-11T06:25:00.003-05:00

8/10/2009:
After announcing her plans to retire at the end of the season, Lisa Leslie becomes the first player in the WNBA to score 6,000 career points as the Los Angeles Sparks beat the Indiana Fever, 75-63, at Staples Center. Leslie has played for the Sparks since the league's founding in 1997. Among her accomplishments are two WNBA titles, two finals MVP awards, three All-Star Game MVP awards, seven first team WNBA selections, two Defensive Player of the Year honors and first to dunk the ball in a WNBA game. She also won gold medals in four different Olympiads.

Birthdays:
Red Holzman b. 1920
Rocky Colavito b. 1933
John Starks b. 1965
Riddick Bowe b. 1967
Samari Rolle b. 1976

Packers Fact:
By ranking eighth in the NFL in total offense in 2008, the Packers ranked among the league's top 10 for the 12th time in the last 15 seasons.

8/11:
Alabaman Hugo Black, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court until the age of 85: "When I was 40, my doctor advised me that a man in his forties shouldn't play tennis. I heeded his advice carefully and couldn't wait until I reached 50 to start again."

Birthdays:
Bill Monbouquette b. 1936
Vada Pinson b. 1938
Otis Taylor b. 1942
Craid Ehlo b. 1961
Edgardo Alfonso b. 1973

Packers Fact:
Second-year fullback Korey Hall scored his first career touchdown when he caught a 1-yard pass against Minnesota on Kickoff Weekend in 2008.

“When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”

—FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, U.S. president

“I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that.”

—LAUREN BACALL, American actress

ON ANNEXING THE FOOTBALL FIELD
WAS THE FINAL STRAW

UNIVERSITY OF AKRON
STUDENTS PROTEST
INVASION BY ISRAEL

headline in the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal

ON BUT SOMEBODY NEEDS TO
START ENGLISH LESSONS

FRENCH LESSONS:

DEBUTANT, CONFIRMED, AND EVEN SPECIALIST.

NOBODY ENDS TO LEARN.

sign in Toronto, Canada

A GREAT ESCAPE

There are many who would never even consider the possibility of living abroad and moving away from friends and family, especially in retirement. This book, of course, is not for them. But for those who have been tempted, or who have even started looking into it, “Retirement Without Borders is absolutely positively the best book that I have read on why, where, and how to retire abroad,” says Ernie J. Zelinsky, the author of How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free. Written and researched by two happy, successful expats, and focused on ten main spots and more briefly on many others. For the budget conscious as well as the well-off.

RETIREMENT WITHOUT BORDERS: HOW TO RETIRE ABROAD—IN MEXICO, FRANCE, ITALY, SPAIN, COSTA RICA, PANAMA, AND OTHER SUNNY, FOREIGN PLACES (AND THE SECRET TO MAKING IT HAPPEN WITHOUT STRESS), by Barry Golson, Thia Golson, and the Expert Expats (Scribner, 2008)

TRUTH IN FICTION

In 1887 Henry Ward Beecher lies on his deathbed, occasioning his illustrious family’s backward glance into the sex scandal in which Henry was involved as a younger man and the firestorm of courtroom drama and journalistic attention that ensued. Henry’s numerous family members, including writer Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the many others who were embroiled in the high-profile shenanigans come alive in this seamless, hugely diverting historical novel. “A compelling page-turner with unmistakable echoes in our own times,” says Thomas Dyja, author of Play for a Kingdom.

HARRIET AND ISABELLA, by Patricia O’Brien (Touchstone, 2008)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/8-8/9/2011

2011-08-09T06:52:00.003-05:00

8/8/2001:
Tigers second baseman Damion Easley collects six hits in six at-bats during a 19-6 win over the Rangers in Arlington. Facing Texas starter Joaquin Benoit, Easley singles in the second and fourth innings and homers in the fifth. He adds a single in the eighth against Pat Mahomes for his fourth hit. Heading into the ninth, the score is 6-6 and Easley is the sixth hitter scheduled to bat that inning. During a 13-run rally by Detroit, he singles off Mike Venafro and Mark Petkovsek. After doubling in a run in his first plate appearance in the ninth, Shane Halter caps the night with a grand slam.

Birthdays:
Jerry Tarkanian b. 1930
Frank Howard b. 1936
Ken Dryden b. 1947
Nigel Mansell b. 1953
Roger Federer b. 1961

Packers Fact:
Desmond Howard's league-leading 3 punt returns for the Packers in 1996 were just 1 short of the NFL single-season record.

8/9/1993:
Soccer fans in Ixiamas, Bolivia, are so excited by their country's 3-1 win over Uruguay in a World Cup qualifying match that they allow their village to burn to the ground. Amid the celebrations, residents fail to notice that 40 houses, comprising most of the village, are on fire. By the time they take action, it's too late to save any of the homes and all are destroyed. The blaze was caused by firecrackers that fell on the thatched roofs during the festivities.

Birthdays:
Bob Cousy b. 1928
Rod Laver b. 1938
Brett Hull b. 1964
Deion Sanders b. 1967
Chamiue Holdsclaw b. 1977

Birthdays:
Kicker Chester Marcol was from Poland. He was born in Opole, Poland, in 1949, and moved to Michigan when he was 15 years old.

ON GAME SHOW CONTESTANTS WHO
PROBABLY FAILED KINDERGARTEN

Simply the Best game show host: How many Olympic Games have been held?

Contestant: Six!

Host: Higher!

Contestant: Five!

ON NONSENSE, POLYSYLLABIC

judgmental lapse ................................................ crime
maximum incapacitation .....................death penalty

government definitions, as collected by William Lutz in his book Doublespeak Defined

“Be fair with others, but keep after them until they’re fair with you.”

—ALAN ALDA, American actor

“You are born with two things: existence and opportunity, and these are the raw materials out of which you can make a successful life.”

—CHARLES TEMPLETON, Canadian writer

MEN ARE TWO-TIMING, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING STINKERS

The Nation writer Kathe Pollitt gets personal in this collection of essays on subjects that include her life as a daughter reading her parents’ FBI files, as a mother, and, most completely and scathingly, as a woman wronged by philandering men. In “Learning to Drive,” “After the Men Are Gone,” and many more, Pollitt imparts her life lessons with candor and unflinching wit.

LEARNING TO DRIVE: AND OTHER LIFE STORIES, by Kathe Pollitt (Random House, 2008)

A HIGH-WIRE ACT

Colum McCann has managed to write an elegy for post–9/11 New York disguised as a paean to the city’s past. In the still August heat, several ordinary yet extraordinary New Yorkers look up and see the wondrous sight of Philippe Petit (but he’s not named here) making his daring cable walk between the twin towers in 1974. So commence the beautifully wondrously interlocking stories of the prostitute, the priest, the nurse, the grieving mother, the judge, the computer hackers, the cable walker, and others. The voices and music of this huge “symphony” (Frank McCourt) will haunt you for a very long time to come.

LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN, by Colum McCann (Random House, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/6-7/2011

2011-08-07T09:26:00.003-05:00

8/6/1926:
Eighteen-year-old New Yorker Gertrude Ederle becomes the first women to swim the English Channel, covering the 21 miles from Cap Gris-Nez in France to Kingsdown on the English coast in little more than 14-1/2 hours. Only five men accomplished the feat before Ederle. The best time among the quintet was 16 hours and 39 minutes.

Birthdays:
Hank Iba b. 1904
Clem Labine b. 1926
Dale Ellis b. 1960
Tony Fernandez b. 1962
David Robinson b. 1965

Packers Fact:
With 1,012 yards in 2002, Donald Driver set a franchise record with his sixth 1,000-yard pass-catching season. Two other Packers had five such seasons: James Lofton and Sterling Sharpe.

Hollywood icon and baseball fan Humphrey Bogart: "A hot dog at the ballpark is better than a steak at the Ritz."

Birthdays:
Don Larson b. 1929
Abebe Bikila b. 1932
Carlos Monson b. 1942
Alan Page b. 1945
Sidney Crosby b. 1967

ON AND THE OBVIOUS
QUESTION IS NO

So the obvious answer is Why?

newscaster John Humphrys

ON INSTRUCTIONS,
DIFFICULT-TO-FOLLOW

Could you get a little closer apart?

film director Michael Curtiz, to two stars

“A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

—ERNEST HEMINGWAY, American writer

“Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us victories.”

—ABRAHAM LINCOLN, U.S. president

RAVE REVIEWS

In July 1950 Corporal Robert Leavitt is in a tunnel in Korea, pinned down by friendly fire and wondering how he’s going to get out alive. In July 1959 Leavitt’s physically and mentally disabled nine-year-old son, Termite, is in West Virginia being cared for by his half-sister, Lark, and his aunt Nonie. Aunt Nonie is a woman of few resources and much stress, and Social Services threatens to take Termite away and break up the family. We wonder what has happened to Termite’s parents. Jayne Anne Phillips reveals this family’s “tangled secrets in such a profound and intimate way that these ordinary, wounded people become both tragic and magnificent,” Ron Charles writes in The Washington Post Book World.

LARK AND TERMITE, by Jayne Anne Phillips (Knopf, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/5/2011

2011-08-05T08:57:00.002-05:00

8/5/2001:
the Cleveland Indians erase a 1-run deficit to defeat the Seattle Mariners, 15-14, in 11 innings. Three different Cleveland batters are down to their last strike before the club pulls out the victory. The Mariners, who came into the game with a record of 80-30, lead 12-0 at the end of the third inning and 14-2 at the end of the sixth. The Indians score three runs in the seventh and four in the eighth, but still trail 14-9 with two out in the ninth and a runner on first base when Marty Cordova doubles. Wil Cordero walks on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases, and Einar Diaz delivers a single on a full count to drive home two runs and make the score 14-11. Kenny Lofton singles to reload the bases, Omar Vizquel falls behind in the count, 1-2, then draws two balls and fouls off two pitches before hitting a three-run triple to tie the score. Jolbert Cabrera drives in the winning run in the 11th with a single.

Birthdays:
Roman Gabriel b. 1940
Patrick Ewing b. 1962
John Olerud b. 1968
Mark Mulder b. 1977
Carl Crawford b. 1981

Packers Fact:
Fourth-year wide receiver Greg Jennings posted the 10th 100-yard receiving day of his career when he amassed 106 yards in the Packers' 21-15 victory over the Bears on kickoff weekend in 2009.

“Everyone is necessarily the hero of his own life story.”

—JOHN BARTH, American writer

ON THEY DO?!?!?

BOYS CAUSE AS MANY
PREGNANCIES AS GIRLS

newspaper headline

A LIFE WELL LIVED

Joseph Priestley began his career as a minister and theologian in the 18th century. His wide-ranging interests brought him to science, the discovery of oxygen, and, happily, the invention of soda water. His is an extraordinary story full of intellectual passion, of the tribulations brought about by his unconventional religious beliefs, and of encounters with the great (Thomas Jefferson in particular). Steven Johnson has fun with his subject, which connects him to no end of developments down through the years (find out what the discovery of oxygen had to do with the French Revolution). An enjoyable approach to mostly serious subjects.

THE INVENTION OF AIR: A STORY OF SCIENCE, FAITH, REVOLUTION, AND THE BIRTH OF AMERICA, by Steven Johnson (Riverhead Books, 2008)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/4/2011

2011-08-04T09:20:00.003-05:00

8/4/1982:
Center fielder Joel Youngblood collects hits off two Hall of Famers while playing for two different teams in one day. As a member of the Mets, Youngblood strokes a two-run single against Ferguson Jenkins in a 7-4 win over the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He's taken out of the game after the third inning and informed that he's been traded to the Expos for a player to be named later. He hops a plane for Philadelphia and arrives at Veterans Stadium during an Expo game against the Phillies. Batting in the seventh inning, he singles off Steve Carlton.

Birthdays:
Maurice "Rocket" Richard b. 1921
Dallas Green b. 1934
Mary Decker Slaney b. 1958
Roger Clemens b. 1962
Jeff Gordon b. 1971

Packers Fact:
Quarterback Tobin Rote led the Packers in rushing three times in the 1950s. He played for the club from 1950 to 1956.

ON HELPFUL HINTS FROM THE WEATHER CHANNEL

DO NOT DROWN

warning on the Weather Channel to Denver-area viewers during flood coverage (thanks to Garrick S.)

BETTER THE COTTAGE
WHERE ONE IS MERRY
THAN THE PALACE
WHERE ONE WEEPS.

—Chinese proverb

DELISH DISH

One Fifth Avenue, an attractive Art Deco building at Washington Square, is one of Manhattan’s most desirable addresses. Candace Bushnell uses it as the setting for her witty and entertaining chick-lit novel about what the would-be upwardly socially mobile will do when a major socialite dies and her prime penthouse apartment becomes available. Another knowing, sharp satire from the author of Sex and the City.

ONE FIFTH AVENUE, by Candace Bushnell (Voice, 2008)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/3/2011

2011-08-03T20:04:00.002-05:00

8/3/1939:
On his 37th birthday, catcher Joe Sprinz of the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific Coast League is injured on a Treasure Island stunt in San Francisco Bay. During the Golden Gate International Exposition, celebrating the opening of the Bay Bridge (1936) and the Golden Gate Bridge (1937), Sprinz tries to set the altitude record for catching a baseball. The first ball, dropped 800 feet from a blimp, hits the bleachers. The second becomes embedded in the field. Sprinz gets his hand on the third drop, but the ball glances off his glove and back into his face. He's knocked unconscious, suffers 12 broken bones and loses 5 teeth. It's later estimated that the ball was traveling 150 miles per hour.

Birthdays:
Lance Alwroth b. 1940
Marcel Dionne b. 1951
Rod Beck b. 1968
Troy Glaus b. 1976
Tom Brady b. 1977

Packers Fact:
Linebacker Bernardo Harris led the Packers in tackles in 1997 and 1998. He did it again in 2000 and 2001.

ON POST OFFICE-RELATED MOVIES,
GREAT LINES FROM

Blind woman: You’re a godsend, a savior.

Postman (Kevin Costner): No, I’m a postman.

The Postman (1997)

“Every ‘kick in the pants’ sends a real man a step forward.”

—J. KENFIELD MORLEY, American businessman

YOUNG AMERICA’S OLD HICKORY

The age of Andrew Jackson was also the era of the Erie Canal, utopian dreams, Joseph Smith and the birth of Mormonism, the first recorded utterance of the phrase “manifest destiny,” the Trail of Tears, mesmerism, phrenology, a fast-growing economy, P.T. Barnum, Henry David Thoreau, unrestrained drinking, and the first temperance movement. David Reynolds argues that it was a major turning point in American history and does so entertainingly and persuasively.

WAKING GIANT: AMERICA IN THE AGE OF JACKSON, by David S. Reynolds (Harper, 2008)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/2/2011

2011-08-02T12:40:00.002-05:00

8/2/1928:
Several women collapse from exhaustion after the 800-meter race at the Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. Antifeminists point to this occurrence as evidence that women should be limited to races of 200 meters or less, doctors declare that women who compete in feats of endurance will "become old too soon" and the president of the International Olympic Committee suggests that all women's sports should be eliminated from the Games. Women's sports will return in the next Olympics in 1932, but women will be barred from races of 200 meters or longer until 1960. The women's marathon will be held for the first time in 1984.

Birthdays:
Lamar Hunt b. 1932
Matt Hazeltine b. 1933
Billy Cannon b. 1937
Tim Wakefield b. 1966
Tony Amonte b. 1970

Packers Fact:
Former practice-squad linebacker Spencer Havner converted to tight end during Packer' organized team activities in 2009.

ON UPDATING, UPDATED

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pop-up computer message

“Seldom is it given to one generation to have such an opportunity to rise again.”

—DAVID SARNOFF, American businessman

GET OUT YOUR TROWELS

You Western gardeners have something special with your unique climates and plants, and Sunset magazine’s staff are the experts on helping you make a glorious wonderland in your backyard. Considered the bible of Western gardening, this new update includes more photography; more than 8,000 plant listings; a fabulous introduction by editor Kathleen Brenzel, with a photographic tour of the best of the West—everything you need to get going, get new ideas, or build a private Eden.

SUNSET WESTERN GARDEN BOOK, by Sunset Books; edited by Kathleen Brenzel (Oxmoor House; eighth edition, 2007)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 8/1/2011

2011-08-01T15:40:00.003-05:00

8/1/1914:
On the same day that Oscar Kreuzer and Otto Froitzheim finish up a 5-0 loss to Australiasia (Australia and New Zealand) in a Davis Cup match in Pittsburgh, Germany declares war on Russia. The two German tennis stars announce they'll be sailing home to fight for their country. On August 4, Great Britain declares war on Germany, and a British warship patrolling off the Gibraltar coast intercepts the ship carrying Kreuzer and Froitzheim. The pair are taken prisoner and released when the war ends in 1918.

Birthdays:
Jack Kramer b. 1921
Cliff Branch b. 1948
Kiki Vandeweghe b. 158
Gregg Jefferies b. 1967
Stacey Augmon b. 1968

Packers Fact:
Linebacker Clay Matthews is the son of Clay Matthews Jr., who played linebacker in the NFL for 19 seasons beginning in 1978. His uncle is Bruce Matthews, the Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive lineman.

ON AND OURS IS FEW

And my concern, David, is several.

President George W. Bush

“They underestimated me, because I am a fighter and not a quitter.”

—PETER MANDELSON, British politician

A GREAT ESCAPE

This great stew of a historical novel revolves around the opium trade and similarly unsavory business in the early 19th century. It brims with magnificent characters, such as Baboo Nob Kissin, an overseer of coolies, a fallen raja, a transgendered mystic, and a great many others. An abundance of historical detail is ingeniously woven into the plot, and the author’s gloriously inventive use of the English language is a joy to read. Sea of Poppies is the first volume of a projected and eagerly awaited trilogy.

SEA OF POPPIES, by Amitav Ghosh (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008)

A different kind of sports hero

2011-06-12T10:25:00.000-05:00

http://theweek.com/article/index/215500/a-different-kind-of-sports-hero

A different kind of sports hero

When Muhammad Ali burst onto the scene, says Robert Lipsyte, no one knew what to make of him

posted on May 20, 2011, at 1:30 PM

In 1964 Cassius Clay, a.k.a. Muhammad Ali, was a 22-year-old underdog, on the verge of becoming a champion, and one writer was there to capture it all. Photo: Bettmann/CORBIS SEE ALL 59 PHOTOS

MUHAMMAD ALI WAS my first Big Story. He put my name on Page 1. He made me a columnist. He was also the single most important sporting lens through which I learned about politics, religion, race, and hero worship. Loving Ali has been easy. It’s grasping what he stands for at any given moment that’s been hard.

Our journey began as sheer joy. The first time I ever saw him, I was standing with the Beatles. That was Feb. 18, 1964, when his name was Cassius Clay. He was 22 years old. I was 26. The New York Times was so sure that Clay would be knocked out early in his heavyweight title fight in Miami against the champion, Sonny Liston, that the paper didn’t bother to send its boxing writer. Instead, it sent a feature writer whose time was less valuable. I was thrilled with the assignment.

My instructions were stark: As soon as I landed, I was to drive my rental car from the arena to the nearest hospital, mapping the quickest route. The paper didn’t want me to waste any deadline time following Clay to intensive care. After my mapping expedition, I drove to the seedy old 5th Street Gym (in what is now trendy South Beach) to watch Clay’s daily training session for the first time. He hadn’t arrived yet, but the gym was packed with tourists and sportswriters—Clay had been on the cover of Time for his coffeehouse-doggerel readings (“This is the story about a man / with iron fists and a beautiful tan”) and his ability to predict the round in which his carefully chosen opponents would fall.

As I climbed the splintery stairs, there was a hubbub behind me. Four little guys around my age in matching white terry-cloth cabana jackets were being herded up. Someone said it was that hot new British rock group on their first American tour. I was annoyed. Bad enough this disgrace to poetry was sullying boxing, now these noisy mop tops were trying to cash in on the sweet science. A British photographer traveling with the Beatles had tried to pose them with Sonny Liston, but the champ had refused—“Not with them sissies,” he is supposed to have said—and now they were settling for a photo op with the challenger.

The Beatles were cranky in that damp dressing room, stomping and cursing. I introduced myself, rather importantly, I’m afraid, and they mimicked me. John shook my hand gravely, saying he was Ringo, and introduced me to Paul, who he said was John. I asked for their predictions. They said that Liston would destroy Clay, that silly little overhyped wanker. Then they ignored me to snarl among themselves again. “Silly little overhyped wankers,” I thought.

Suddenly the locker room door burst open, and Cassius Clay filled the doorway. The Beatles and I gasped. He was so much larger than he looked in pictures. He was beautiful. He seemed to glow. He was laughing.

“Hello there, Beatles!” he roared. “We oughta do some road shows together, we’ll get rich.”

The Beatles got it right away. They followed Clay out to the boxing ring like kindergarten kids. You would have thought they’d met before and choreographed their routine. They bounced into the ring, capered, dropped down to pray that Clay would stop hitting them. He picked up Ringo, the bittiest Beatle. Then they lined up so Clay could knock them all out with one punch. They fell like dominoes, then jumped up to form a pyramid to get at Clay’s jaw. The five of them began laughing so hard their impromptu frolics collapsed. That photo op is a classic.

After the Beatles left, Clay jumped rope, shadowboxed, and sparred as his court jester, Drew Bundini Brown, hollered, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, rumble, young man, rumble!” Afterward, stretched out on a dressing-room table for his rubdown, Clay pretended to fall asleep as reporters asked him what he was going to do after he lost. Finally, a crabby old reporter from Boston said, “This whole act is a con job, isn’t it?” and Clay pretended to wake up and said, “I’m making all this money, the popcorn man is making money and the beer man, and you got something to write about. Your papers let you come down to Miami Beach, where it’s warm.” The Boston reporter shut up.

That was the moment when I began to wish this kid wasn’t going to get his head knocked off. He would have been such a joy to cover, I thought. Too bad he’s only passing through, a firefly fad like the Beatles.

My reverie of regret was interrupted by Clay, poking me. He put his head close to mine and whispered that he had noticed me coming out of the locker room with the four visitors. “Who were those little sissies?” he asked.

THE WEEKLONG BUILDUP to that fight was intense and clamorous, a feverish, hilarious, nutty series of encounters with down-and-out old boxers, sleazy hustlers, hookers, gamblers. While the week was a twilight reminder of the Damon Runyon days, it was also a foreshadowing of the more politicized days to come. Clay’s mentor, Malcolm X, then a Black Muslim minister and white America’s designated bogeyman, was floating around the edges of the scene. His presence made plausible the rumor that Clay was waiting until after the fight to announce his membership in the Lost-Found Nation of Islam.

I kept an eye out for Malcolm that week in Miami but never saw him. The summer before, I’d been assigned to write a sidebar to the second Floyd Patterson–Sonny Liston fight. This usually meant a chat with Patterson’s wife or former manager or some old juvies from his neighborhood. I’m not sure if it was my political nature kicking in or if I was trying to create
my own style, but I headed out to Brooklyn, where a thousand blacks and whites were protesting racial bias in the construction industry.

I spotted Malcolm, whom I recognized from newspaper photos. Tall, handsome, cold-eyed, the former Malcolm Little, a robber, drug dealer, and pimp who had found Islam and radical politics in prison, was standing across the street smirking at the demonstrators. I rushed over and asked him what he thought the fight signified. He said, “That’s a stupid question,” and his bodyguards, three black-suited members of the Fruit of Islam, the paramilitary wing of the Nation of Islam, shoved me into the gutter. As I went down, I yelled, “The only stupid question is an unanswered question!”

Malcolm smiled and nodded. The Fruit picked me up. I introduced myself. He said, “I’m pleased to see that the two best men in the sport are black. But they’ll be exploited, of course, and the promoters will get all the bread. They’ll let a Negro excel if it’s going to make money for them.”

That sidebar was a turning point for me. It gave me the courage to find my own signature. The Times ran the story without discussion, and it may have led to my being sent to Miami Beach six months later.

That week of his first title fight, Clay dazzled with charm and braggadocio. The sportswriters of my generation were delighted with a subject who reflected our happening times of hippies, pop art, psychedelics, free love, rock and roll. We bemoaned his imminent demise at the hands of the baleful ex-con Liston, whose most searching remark about Clay, written in red in my notebook, was, “He’s a fag, I’m a man.”

The older sportswriters—Red Smith, Jimmy Cannon, Dick Young, Arthur Daley—clustered in Liston’s camp. They derided Clay’s unorthodox boxing style (he leaned away from punches rather than letting them “slip” over his shoulders). They seemed offended by his trash talk, “Liston’s a big ugly bear” and “I am the greatest.” They also resented the casual way he treated them, his cheery disrespect for their importance.

The fight, of course, was my professional dream come true. The first inkling that the prohibitive 7-to-1 odds against Clay might be a mistake came when the fighters met in the middle of the ring. Clay was bigger than Liston. Round by round, I kept losing my breath. Except for the moments when he was apparently blinded by some chemical from Liston’s gloves, Clay totally dominated the fight. Clay danced around Liston, he jabbed, he slugged, he mocked the brute. Then Liston sat down on his stool and wouldn’t get up, and it was over. Clay capered on the ring apron, yelling at the press, “Eat your words!”

And then it was my turn, minutes to deadline, banging out a paragraph on my little Olivetti, ripping out the page, handing it to the telegrapher at my side, banging on. I loved the rush of writing under the gun. I’d never say it was better than sex, but it was in the same ballpark.

The front-page, above-the-fold story I filed began, “Incredibly, the loud-mouthed, bragging, insulting youngster had been telling the truth all along. Cassius Clay won the world heavyweight title tonight when a bleeding Sonny Liston, his left shoulder injured, was unable to answer the bell for the seventh round.”

I don’t remember what I did with the rest of that night, but I don’t think I slept. I still have the scrawled notes of my future-story file: Muslims, Malcolm, Clay’s early life in Louisville, Liston’s reputed mob connections, whither boxing?, a new model of sports hero. I wanted to hang on to this story.

It got even better the next morning, at Clay’s press conference. He was subdued and polite, and after he said that he would give Liston a rematch and fight all contenders, he said, “I’m through talking. All I have to be is a nice, clean gentleman.”

The older reporters liked that. They smiled and nodded at one another. It had all been a put-on after all. They shifted a little nervously, though, when he added, “I’m sorry for Liston. You people put too much load on him, you built him up too big, and now he has such a long way to fall.”

At that, most reporters, certainly the older ones, left to file their stories: All was right with the world—Clay was a nice kid, if a little full of himself. Some would write that he had gotten lucky, a few that the fight might have been fixed so Liston would get an even bigger payday next time.

The younger reporters lingered, unsatisfied. We asked about Malcolm and about the Muslims’ nationalism and their espousal of racial separation.

“Listen,” said Clay. “In the jungle the lions are with lions and the tigers with tigers and the redbirds stay with redbirds and bluebirds with bluebirds. That’s human nature, too, to be with your own kind. I don’t want to go where I’m not wanted.”

Most of us were integrationists, supporters of Freedom Rides, sit-ins, voter-registration drives. We looked at one another. Is he kidding?

Someone asked, “So are you a card-carrying Muslim?”

Clay sounded annoyed. “I go to Black Muslim meetings, and what do I see? I see that there’s no smoking and no drinking and no fornicating and their women wear dresses down to the floor. And then I come out on the street, and you tell me I shouldn’t go in there. Well, there must be something in there if you don’t want me to go in there.”

“What about your responsibility as champion to the youth?”

Clay quickly replied, “I don’t have to be what you want me to be, I’m free to be who I want.”

That sounded like an athletic declaration of independence to me. Maybe my heart didn’t quite leap, but it bounced a little. This was going to be a big story, and it was going to be around for a while, and I was going to ride it to the buzzer.

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/24-28/2011

2011-05-28T10:28:00.003-05:00

5/24/1988:
A Stanley Cup finals match between the Oilers and the Bruins at Boston Garden ends in a tie because of a power failure. Edmonton headed into Game 4 leading three games to none. The Oilers had just tied the score, 3-3, at 16:37 of the second period when the arena went dark. The outage occurred when an overloaded 4,000-volt transfer unit on a street beside the Garden burned out. Before the power failure, the steamy, airless rink was shrouded in knee-high waves of fog and play had to be intermittently halted. The Oilers will take the Stanley Cup with a 6-3 win on May 26 in Game 5 in Edmonton.

Birthdays:
Mitch Kupchak b. 1954
Joe Dumars b. 1963
Pat Verbeek b. 196
Bartolo Colon b. 1973
Tracy McGrady b. 1979

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted cornerback Brandon Underwood in 2009. He was the second of the club's two sixth-round picks that year.

5/25/1951:
Called up from the New York Giants' Minneapolis farm club after batting .447 in 35 games, 20-year-old Willie Mays makes his major league debut during an 8-5 win over the Phillies in Philadelphia. Wearing number 14 (he'll switch to number 24 a week from now), Mays makes a couple of sparkling plays in center but is hitless in five at-bats. After 26 big-league at-bats, he'll have only one hit- a homer off the Boston Braves' Warren Spahn on May 28- but his batting average will exceed .300 by the end of June and he'll finish his rookie season with a .274 average and 20 homers in 121 contests.

Birthdays:
Gene Tunney b. 1897
Bill Sharman b. 1926
K.C. Jones b. 1932
Miguel Tejada b. 1976
Brian Urlacher b. 1978

Packers Fact:
End Max McGee is best known for catching 2 touchdown passes in Super Bowl 1, but he had 345 catches in all, including 50 for touchdowns, in 12 seasons in Green Bay (1954, 1957-1967).

5/26/1959:
Harvey Haddix pitches 12 innings of perfect baseball only to lose 1-0 to the Braves in Milwaukee. Haddix retires the first 36 batters to face him, but his Pirates teammates are unable to dent the plate against Lew Burdette, who scatters 12 Pittsburgh hits while pitching 13 innings. Felix Mantilla leads off the Milwaukee 13th by reaching base on a throwing error by third baseman Don Hoak, Eddie Mathews bunts Mantilla to second and Hank Aaron is intentionally walked. Joe Adcock then delivers over the center field fence for an apparent home run, but he's declared out for passing Aaron between second and third during the jubilant celebration by the Braves. Adcock earns a double and the Braves get the win.

Birthdays:
Cliff Drysdale b. 1941
Darrell Evans b. 1947
Dan Roundfield b. 1953
Wesley Walker b. 1955
Travis Lee b. 1975

Packers Fact:
Linebacker Charley Brock was a three-time Pro Bowl player and two-way center. He was named to the NFL's 1940s All-Decade Team.

5/27:
President Jimmy Carter, on cultural differences between fans at the U.S. Open and those at the Wimbledon tournament in a London suburb: "New Yorkers love it when you spill your guts out there. Spill your guts at Wimbledon and they make you stop and clean it up."

Birthdays:
Sam Snead b. 1912
Jeff Bagwell b. 1968
Frank Thomas b. 1968
Todd Hundley b. 1969
Antonio Freeman b. 1972

Packers Fact:
Greg Jennings caught at least 1 pass in each of the first 44 games of his NFL career until he was shut out against Cincinnati in Week 2 of 2009.

5/28/1968:
Dale Long, a relatively obscure first baseman with 25 career homers in 201 games, sets a major league record by homering for the Pittsburgh Pirates in his eighth game in a row. He hits one home run in each of the eight games, starting on May 19. Don Mattingly will match the feat in 1987.

Birthdays:
Jim Thorpe b. 1888
Jerry West b. 1938
Terry Crisp b. 1943
Kirk Gibson b. 1957
Ben Howland b. 1957

Packers Fact:
The Packers selected linebacker Brad Jones out of Colorado in the seventh round in 2009.

“All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.”

—BENEDICT DE SPINOZA, 17th-century Dutch philosopher

“If you think you are beaten, you are.”

—WALTER D. WINTLE, American poet

“Believe in fate, but lean forward where fate can see you.”

—QUENTIN CRISP, English writer

“I have some problems with my life, but living is the best thing they’ve come up with so far.”

—NEIL SIMON, American playwright

TO BE DEFEATED
IS PARDONABLE;
TO BE
SURPRISED—
NEVER!

—NAPOLÉON I, emperor of the French

ON TAKING CLASS DISTINCTIONS TOO FAR

Deer, redfish, tarpon, upland game birds and peasants—you name it, you can fish for it or shoot at it.

from the London Times

ON THE IRS, SO HELPFUL

Definition of a qualifying child revised. The following changes to the definition of a qualifying child have been made.

Your qualifying child must be younger than you.

from IRS Publication 919, “How Do I Adjust My Tax Withholding” (thanks to Chris from Long Island, NY)

ON HEY, OURS TOO!

When I look at my backside, I find it is divided into two parts.

an Australian diplomat in France, trying to tell a French audience (in French) that as he looked back over his career, it was divided into two units—before Paris and after Paris

ON MUST YOU SHARE THIS WITH US?

It’s been a long time since I caught crabs. The last occasion was 15 years ago on the Isle of Wight. Oh, what a long, hot summer that was.

journalist Bryony Gordon, in a Daily Telegraph story

ON BUT IT’S A
PAIN SENDING IT
THROUGH THE MAIL

Family Feud host Richard Dawson: Name a food people give as a gift.

Contestant: Lasagna.

A GREAT ESCAPE

Detective Inspector John Rebus throws a cup of coffee at a superior, which results in his being sent to police college for some retraining in teamwork. There he begins an investigation of police corruption, at the same time working away at a couple of murder cases. The plot may be somewhat intricate, and Rebus can be moody and difficult, but Ian Rankin has developed him into one of the great contemporary fiction detectives. A compelling page-turner, as always.

RESURRECTION MEN, by Ian Rankin (Little, Brown, 2004)

A LIFE

The story of John D. Rockefeller is undoubtedly a major, and powerful, chapter in the story of American capitalism. Ron Chernow, author of The House of Morgan, gives a balanced and engrossing account of the great monopolist and Baptist, from his childhood with a father who was a snake-oil salesman and his pious and long-suffering mother to his rise in and domination of the oil industry and his efforts to be a caring and dutiful father. A richly interesting biography.

TITAN: THE LIFE OF JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER SR., by Ron Chernow (Vintage, 2004)

CHILDREN’S AUTHOR UNDERCOVER

Yes it’s true. The author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a spy. Working with Ian Fleming and other cosmopolitan Brits, he charmed his way into the parlors and bedrooms of Washington, passing gossip and information to London while planting propaganda with American journalists. Jennet Conant’s book is an entertaining, somewhat scandalous account of wits and playboys in the service of their country.

THE IRREGULARS: ROALD DAHL AND THE BRITISH SPY RING IN WARTIME WASHINGTON, by Jennet Conant (Simon & Schuster, 2008)

MORE THAN TREES GROW IN BROOKLYN

Brooklyn in the last third of the 20th century is Jonathan Lethem’s territory. He knows its aches and pains, its graffiti and its streets. And in Fortress of Solitude the life, the music, of Brooklyn is all-pervasive. The story is about Dylan Ebdus, a white kid growing up in a mostly black but gentrifying neighborhood, and his friend Mingus Rude. In the end Dylan becomes a rock journalist, but on the way he goes through schoolyard bullying, punk and rap, drugs, crime fighting, and a ring with strange powers. “Prose as supple as silk and as bright, explosive and illuminating as fireworks,” says Publishers Weekly.

FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, by Jonathan Lethem (Vintage, 2004)

RAVE REVIEWS

If you need an intellectual feel-good book, we recommend this rollicking yet scholarly history of some extraordinary moments of scientific discovery that had huge ramifications throughout the world of ideas. It’s a group biography and a sweeping cultural history of the 1700s and early 1800s, where poetry and the planets, the telescope and Frankenstein’s monster, hot-air balloons and magical voyages to Tahiti rub elbows, and there’s no such profession as “scientist” yet.

THE AGE OF WONDER: HOW THE ROMANTIC GENERATION DISCOVERED THE BEAUTY AND TERROR OF SCIENCE, by Richard Holmes (Pantheon, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/23/2011

2011-05-23T10:35:00.003-05:00

5/23/1895:
The Brooklyn Dodgers win a forfeit over the Colonels in Louisville because the home team fails to supply enough baseballs to complete the game. At the start of the contest, there are only three balls on hand, and two of those are practice balls borrowed from the Dodgers. With Brooklyn leading 3-1 in the third inning, all three have been battered out of shape. Louisville business manager Harry Pulliam telegraphs for a dozen more balls and sends a messenger to retrieve them. The messenger boards a streetcar that breaks down en route, delaying his return to the ballpark. Unwilling to wait any longer, umpire William Betts forfeits the game to the Dodgers.

Birthdays:
Vic Stasiuk b. 1929
John Newcombe b. 1943
Tom Penders b. 1945
Marvin Hagler b. 1954
Rich Karlis b. 1959

Birthdays:
The Packers fashioned a turnover differential of plus-7 in 2008 (28 takeaways and 21 giveaways), only the New York Giants at plus-9, had a better mark among NFC teams.

“We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist.”

—QUEEN VICTORIA

ON MAMMA MIA!

Game show host Steve Wright: What is the Italian word for motorway?

Contestant: Espresso.

(The answer is autostrada; thanks to Colin Griggs.)

THE BIRTH OF THE NEW AGE

When you think of San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley do you envision hippies? Beatniks? They stood on the shoulders of giants—the bohemians, visionary artists, writers, conservationists, and philosophers who paved the way in the West. Jack London, John Muir, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Bernard Maybeck (father of the Arts and Crafts movement), Ina Coolbrith (first California poet laureate), and Charles and Louise Keeler (Charles founded the very modern-California-sounding Cosmic Religion) are some of the many interesting figures brought to life in this meticulously researched volume.

BERKELEY BOHEMIA: ARTISTS AND VISIONARIES OF THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, by Ed Herny, Shelle Rideout, and Katie Wadell (Gibbs Smith, 2008)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/19-22/2011

2011-05-22T07:25:00.002-05:00

5/19/1999:
The Cincinnati Reds pound the Colorado Rockies, 24-12, on a record-setting afternoon in Denver. The two teams combine for 81 total bases, breaking the record of 79 established in 1923. The 15 extra-base hits by the Reds (9 doubles, 6 homers) tie a National League record. Seven different Reds have at least 3 hits; Cincinnati has 28 hits in all. Sean Casey is perfect in seven plate appearances with two homers, two singles and three walks, tying a modern major league record for most times reached base in a nine-inning game (batting 1.000). Jeffrey Hammonds' three homers, normally a lead story, on this day are merely a footnote.

Birthdays:
Dolph Schayes b. 1928
Archie Manning b. 1949
Bill Laimbeer b. 1957
Turk Wendell b. 1967
Kevin Garnett b. 1976

Packers Fact:
The Packers drafted defensive end Jarius Wynn out of Georgia in the sixth round in 2009.

5/20/1999:
Robin Ventura of the New York Mets becomes the first player in major league history to hit grand slams in both ends of a double header. In the first inning of the opener, Ventura clears the bases with a homer off the Milwaukee Brewers' Jim Abbott to give his club a 4-0 lead and the Mets hang on to win, 11-10. Facing Horacio Estrada in the fourth inning of the second tilt, he belts grand slam number two and the Mets win again, 10-1. He'll finish his career with 18 grand slams in 188 at-bats with the bases loaded.

Birthdays:
Hal Newhouser b. 1921
Bud Grant b. 1927
Stan Mikita b. 1940
Sadaharu Oh b. 1940
David Wells b. 1962

Packers Fact:
Star center Jug Earp's (1922-1932) last name appeared as "Earpe" during his playing career. The correction wasn't made until long after his retirement.

5/21/1904:
Bill O'Neill commits six errors, a modern (since 1900) major league baseball record, during a 13-inning 5-3 Red Sox loss to the St. Louis Browns in Boston. Normally a Sox outfielder, O'Neill is playing the second of the only two games he'll ever play at short. He's subbing for the injured Freddy Parent, who misses only two games all year.

Birthdays:
Johnny Majors b. 1935
Johnny Roland b. 1943
Dave Wannstedt b. 1952
Kent Hrbek b. 1960
Ricky Williams b. 1977

Packers Fact:
End Billy Howton made the Pro Bowl four times in his seven seasons with the Packers (1952-58). He caught 503 passes, including 61 four touchdowns.

5/22:
Don King, notorious boxing celebrity: "I am the best promoter in the world, and I say that humbly."

Birthdays:
Al Simmens b. 1902
Larry Siegfried b. 1939
Nick Tingelhoff b. 1940
Tommy John b. 1943
George Best b. 1946

ENOUGH IS
GREAT RICHES.

—Danish proverb

“I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you’ll understand that.”

—RICK BLAINE (HUMPHREY BOGART) in Casablanca; screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch

“True courage is facing danger when you are afraid.”

—L. FRANK BAUM, American writer

HOPE IS
A TALENT
LIKE ANY
OTHER.

—MARGARET STORM JAMESON, English writer

ON OH, PUT A SOCK IN IT, JULIETTE

It just happens that I’m acting because I’m in the process of meeting someone—myself—on the way back.

actress Juliette Binoche

ON ALBERTANS, FRIGID

Most of the sex is south of you.

closed captioning on a TV weather report in Alberta, Canada

ON STATS, STUPID

If crime went down 100 percent, it would still be 50 times higher than it should be.

Washington, D.C., city councilman John Bowman, commenting on the high crime in the city

ON AND THE
53RD AMENDMENT
FREE-SPEECH THINGIE

I support the First Amendment right to carry and bear arms.

politician Rudy Giuliani

KILLING THRILLER

If you like your mysteries superbly crafted, lavished with unforgettable images and characters, quietly devastating, and intellectually engaging to the last page, dig into this multigenerational tale of betrayal, entanglement, and deceit that starts in World War I and still haunts the descendants of those involved decades later. The stories and time frames and points of view are intertwined so masterfully that the mystery that unfolds is as fresh as if we were discovering each life-changing secret right along with the characters.

IN PALE BATTALIONS, by Robert Goddard (1988; Delta, 2007)

READ THIS MATEY!

The son of Jonathan Livingston Seagull’s creator had, as you might imagine, an interesting childhood, but you’d never guess just how interesting. A poor student, yet clearly gifted, James Bach fought and rebelled and failed his way through about three quarters of a high school education and then, with the blessing of his illustrious and iconoclastic father, dropped out and emancipated himself from his parents. Here is his prescription for how to ride the high seas of autodidactic adventure and enjoy life’s bounty.

THE SECRETS OF A BUCCANEER SCHOLAR: HOW SELF-EDUCATION AND THE PURSUIT OF PASSION CAN LEAD TO A LIFETIME OF SUCCESS, by James Marcus Bach (Scribner, 2009)

SAINT JOAN OF MEXICO

The Hummingbird’s Daughter is Luis Alberto Urrea’s beautifully conceived and executed novel based on the life of his great-grandmother Teresita, who was called the Saint of Cabora. She was the child of a 14-year-old Indian girl and a rancher, Don Tomás Urrea, who later took his illegitimate daughter into his home. At 16 she was raped and left for dead, but at her funeral she surprised everyone by sitting up in her coffin, very much alive. She was believed to have miraculous healing powers and was denounced by the church as a heretic. An amazing book, full of struggle and heart.

THE HUMMINGBIRD’S DAUGHTER, by Luis Alberto Urrea (Little, Brown, 2005)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/17-18/2011

2011-05-18T22:34:00.002-05:00

5/17/1875:
Aristedes wins the first Kentucky Derby. According to the custom of the day, when Thoroughbred owners utilized the skills of men who worked their stables and knew the horses best, both his trainer and jockey are African Americans. Trainer Ansel Williams, born a slave in Virginia, will be elected posthumously to horse racing's Hall of Fame in 1998. Aristedes will receive his own honors. The Aristedes Stakes will be inaugurated at Churchill Downs in 1988, and in the Clubhouse Gardens a handsome life-size bronze statue stands in his memory.

Birthdays:
Cool Papa Bell b. 1903
Earl Morrall b. 1934
Tony Roche b. 195
Sugar Ray Leonard b. 1956
Danny Manning b. 1966

Packers Fact:
Billy Howton broke Don Hutson's Packers'-record for receiving yards in his first NFL season in 1952. He had 1,321 yards that season.

5/18/1958:
Pinch-hitting for Roger Maris, Carroll Hardy hits his first major league home run-a three-run blast in the 11th inning - to give the Indians a 7-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland. Though a .225 hitter in 433 big-league games, Hardy is a pinch hitter for the stars; he'll pinch-hit for Ted Williams in 1960 and Carl Yastrzemski in 1961. Having played halfback and scored four touchdowns for the San Francisco 49ers in 1955, he'll return to football as a player/personnel director for the Denver Broncos in the 1970s and help put together the team that will win the 1977 NFC championship.

Birthdays:
Fred Perry b. 1909
Choo Choo Justice b. 1924
Brooks Robinson b. 1937
Reggie Jackson b. 1946
Jari Kurri b. 1960

Packers Fact:
Kicker Mason Crosby opened his NFL career by making 100 consecutive extra-point tries in his first two-plus seasons before misfiring in a victory over St. Louis in Week 3 of 2009.

ON TEAM NAMES, HO-RRIBLE

George Shinn. He’s the owner of the Charlotte Harlots basketball team.

baseball announcer Ralph Kiner

ON TALK ABOUT YOUR GREAT DEALS!

EVERYTHING
ON SALE
AT REGULAR PRICE

hardware store sign in Louisville, Kentucky

“You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”

—MARK TWAIN, American writer and humorist

Distrust yourself, and sleep before you fight.

’Tis not too late tomorrow to be brave.

—DR. JOHN ARMSTRONG, 18th-century Scottish poet

RAVE REVIEWS

When Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan returns to her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, after graduation from Ole Miss, she has an English degree and a lot to learn. Once we’ve settled down with Skeeter and her friends and neighbors in the world she inhabits, which is painted in breathtakingly vivid detail, the real work of the novel begins: to describe the world of the people who make the white people’s lives possible—“the help.” When Aibileen and Minny and their friends start talking, you won’t want them ever to stop.

THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam Adult, 2009)

STRANGER THAN FICTION

Between 1979 and 1981, the restless, striving, voracious filmmaker and writer Werner Herzog was filming Fitzcarraldo, his wildly eccentric vision of the fictional rubber baron title character’s descent into the heart of the Amazonian darkness. Perhaps you’ve seen the unforgettable film or the equally mesmerizing documentary made about Herzog and the filming. Here are the journals from the period, wild with jungle fever.

CONQUEST OF THE USELESS: REFLECTIONS FROM THE MAKING OF FITZCARRALDO, by Werner Herzog (Ecco, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/16/2011

2011-05-16T09:04:00.002-05:00

5/16/1939:
The Philadelphia Athletics stage the first night game in American League history and lose to the Cleveland Indians, 8-3, at Shibe Park. The A's are the third team to play home games at night. The Cincinnati Reds were first in 1935, the Brooklyn Dodgers second in 1938. The A's will be followed in 1939 by the Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox, and in 1940 by the New York Giants, St. Louis Browns, Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals. Fans of the Washington Senators, Boston Braves, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers will see night games at home in the 1940s. Of the 16 pre-expansion clubs, the Chicago Cubs are the last holdout, lights won't be installed at Wrigley Field until 1988.

Birthdays:
Billy Martin b. 1928
Rick Rhoden b. 1953
Olga Korbut b. 1955
Jack Morris b. 1955
Thurman Thomas b. 1966

Packers Fact:
Lavvie Dilweg was a star end for Green Bay from 1927 to 1934. He went on to become a United States Congressman and, later, worked in the Kennedy administration.

ON POM POMS, MORE IMPORTANT
THAN YOU EVER DREAMED

My goal is to take Pom Pom international to different areas of conflict around the globe, be it arguing neighbors in Aylesbury or rock throwers in the Gaza Strip. Dealing with differences is much easier with a stress-busting pom pom in your hand. Making a pom pom for peace may appear frivolous, but it touches people in a profound way.

broadcaster/writer Amy Lamé

“If thou follow thy star thou canst not fail of a glorious heaven.”

—DANTE, Italian poet

PHYSICIAN, HEAL THYSELF

Dr. Olivier Ameisen is a world-renowned cardiologist who was heavily addicted to alcohol for more years than he cared to remember, and indeed there are many experiences he cannot remember at all. Using his groundbreaking research with the antispasmodic drug baclofen, he was his own experimental subject and cured himself. This is the remarkable account of his journey on the frontiers of science into the heart of his own darkness, and a passionate plea for the acceptance of baclofen, formerly prescribed for other purposes, in the treatment of the tragic and prevalent sickness.

THE END OF MY ADDICTION, by Olivier Ameisen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2009)

Sports Fact & Book Rec of the Day 5/15/2011

2011-05-15T07:02:00.002-05:00

5/15/1919:
In one of the strangest games in major league baseball h istory, the Cincinnati Reds whitewash the Brooklyn Dodgers, 10-0, in 13 innings at Ebbets Field. Brooklyn's Al Mamaux pitches 12 scoreless innings before giving up 10 Cincinnati runs in the 13th.

Birthdays:
George Brett b. 1953
John Smoltz b. 1967
Emmitt Smith b. 1969
Ray Lewis b. 1975
Josh Beckett b. 1980

“We succeed in enterprises which demand the positive qualities we possess, but we excel in those which can also make use of our defects.”

—ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, French historian and philosopher

ON WHY PTA MEETINGS
CAN GET NOISY

ARMY SHIFTS
PRACTICE BOMB
RUNS AT PTA

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