Sam Spade Sam Spade Sam Spade is a fictional private detective and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, "The Maltese Falcon". Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett. "The Maltese Falcon", first published as a serial in the pulp magazine "Black Mask", is the only full-length novel in which Spade appears. The character, however, is widely cited as a crystallizing figure in the development of hard-boiled private detective fiction—Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, for instance, was strongly influenced by Spade. Spade was a departure from Hammett's nameless and less-than-glamorous detective, The Continental Op. Spade combined several features of previous
Falcon (sport) Falcon (sport) Falcon is a tongue-in-cheek term that is used in different forms of football to describe an accidental knock to the head with the ball. The phrase originated from rugby league in Australia. On "The Footy Show", casual presenter Mario Fenech's weekly segment was introduced by a piece of footage from his playing days showing a ball being passed accidentally into his head. Fenech, being of Maltese descent, has the nickname ""The Maltese Falcon"", and thus the 'Golden Falcon Award' began to be informally awarded to players whose head came into contact with the football in professional matches. This