Answer of the Day
Can we take off the paper bags yet? Thirty years ago, New Orleans Saints fans began the inglorious tradition of wearing paper bags over their heads to demonstrate their shame for rooting for the Aints. Their quarterback was Archie Manning, a local legend and the losingest quarterback in NFL history. Today Drew Brees, the NFL's highest rated quarterback, leads the Saints into their first Super Bowl. Leading the Colts is Archie's son and New Orleans' (former?) pride and joy, Peyton, who just won his unprecedented 4th MVP. It's the first time in 16 years that the NFL's highest seeds face off in the Super Bowl, and it should be a fun matchup of great quarterbacks. Queen Latifah sings "God Bless America," Carrie Underwood the national anthem, and The Who perform at the half. Kickoff should be about 6:30 EST.

Quote
"There is no future. This is the season. Get to the Super Bowl." — Troy Vincent

Word of the day
lexiphanes
(lex-SIF-uh-neez)

noun
One who uses words pretentiously.

Etymology
From Greek lexiphanes (phrase monger), from lexis (word or phrase) + -phaneia (to show).]

Usage
"The danger is in becoming so seduced by the lexiconic that we become lexiphanes. There's no excuse for indulging in the bombastic at any time, of course." — Murray Waldren; That's Language; The Australian (Sydney); Jul 16, 2005. (© Wordsmith.org)

Today's History

Pluto and its Moon, Charon

• British invasion: The Beatles arrived in US for the first time and were mobbed at JFK International Airport (1964)
• suffrage: women were granted the right to vote in Switzerland (1971)
• Pluto: the dwarf planet moved closer to the Sun than Neptune for the first time since its discovery (1979)
• "Baby Doc" Duvalier: Haiti's "president for life" fled for France; five years later on the same date, the nation swore in its first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide (1986)
• Maastricht Treaty: was signed in the Netherlands; it created the European Union as a successor to the European Community, and established a central banking system and a common currency — the euro (1992)

Today's Birthdays

James Spader

• Sir Thomas More (1478-1535): author of Utopia; he was beheaded for refusing to recognize King Henry VIII as head of the church
• Charles Dickens (1812-1870): author of Great Expectations and Oliver Twist; other authors born on this birth date include Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957), Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) and Gay Talese (78)
• Frederick Douglass (1817-1895): abolitionist
• An Wang (1920-1990): computer pioneer, Wang Laboratories; plus, inventor John Deere (1804-1886)
• James Spader (50): Alan Shore on Boston Legal; also, actors Miguel Ferrer (55), Eddie Izzard (48), Chris Rock and Jason Gedrick (both 45), Ashton Kutcher (32) and Tina Majorino (25)
• Garth Brooks (48): country singer/songwriter who, in 1992, had an unprecedented five albums at once on Billboard's pop top 50 chart; musicians Eubie Blake (1883-1983) and David Bryan (48) were also born on this date