The Final Score

Hard to believe that our Mary is 72 years old today.

Some Dec. 29 birthdays:

1933 Fuzzy Thurston
1936 Mary Tyler Moore, Ray Nitschke
1938 Jon Voight
1939 Mike Lucci
1946 Marianne Faithful
1947 Ted Danson
1950 Joe Gilliam
1962 Devon White
1963 Sean Payton
1971 Jay Fiedler
1974 Richie Sexson
1975 Jaret Wright
1977 Laveranues Coles

Did you know that Star Trek's Nichelle Nicholls was actually born Grace Nichols in Robbins, Ill., and once toured with Duke Ellington?

The Robbins part pretty much makes her a Chicagoan. So Happy Birthday Chicago Uhura.

Some Dec. 28 birthdays

1856 Woodrow Wilson
1900 Ted Lyons
1922 Stan Lee
1932 or 1933 Nichelle Nichols
1947 Aurelio Rodriguez (the original A-Rod)
1952 Ray Knight
1954 Denzel Washington
1963 Mel Stottlemyre (Jr.)
1971 Benny Agbayani
1972 Patrick Rafter
1975 B.J. Ryan
1979 James Blake

Fifty percent off on post-Christmas birthdays. Including Mario Mendoza, inventor of The Line. Many items priced below .200.

Some Dec. 26 birthdays:

1837 Morgan Bulkeley
1893 Chairman Mao
1914 Richard Widmark
1924 Glenn Davis (Mr. Outside)
1927 Stu Miller
1930 Donald Moffat (Portrayed Ford Frick in Eight Men Out)
1935 Norm Ullman
1940 Ray Sadecki
1947 Carlton Fisk
1948 Chris Chambliss
1950 Mario Mendoza
1954 Ozzie Smith
1961 Storm Davis

Merry Christmas. Here are some athletes born on Dec. 25. Can you name the Hall of Famers?

Some Dec. 25 birthdays:

1856 Pud Galvin
1927 Nellie Fox
1935 Al Jackson
1945 Ken Stabler
1946 Larry Csonka, Norm Bulaich
1958 Rickey Henderson
1975 Hideki Okajima
1981 Willy Taveras

Before Phil and Joe Niekro (and before Gaylord and Jim Perry), who were the winningest pair of brothers baseball history?

The answer would be Christy and Henry Mathewson. Christy won 373 games and Henry won none.

Sorry, no pictures of Henry Mathewson, so enjoy this picture of Ava Gardner, who shared a birthday with on-off boyfriend Howard Hughes.

Some Dec. 24 birthdays:

1886 Henry Mathewson
1905 Howard Hughes
1921 Bill Dudley (Pro Football Hall of Fame)
1922 Ava Gardner
1931 Mel Triplett
1940 Paul Tagliabue
1974 Mekhi Phifer, Ryan Seacrest, Kevin Millwood

Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones is 65. Doesn't look a day over . . .

You fill in the blank!

Today were having a birthday party for Moose Skowron, Brad Pitt, Steven Spielberg and yours truly.

We'll start with a game: Find Chicago Norm in the pizza.

Our second party game: Which of the below were born in Chicago? Click on the jump for the answer.

Another game: Name the two people below who are connected by the movie, "Field of Dreams."

Our final party game before the cake and ice cream: Guess who turns 30 tomorrow?

And now for some Dec. 18 birthdays:

1878 Joseph Stalin
1886 Ty Cobb
1916 Betty Grable
1929 Gino Cimoli
1930 Moose Skowron
1939 Zoilo Versalles
1946 Steven Spielberg, Greg Landry
1949 Chicago Norm
1955 Ray Liotta
1963 Charles Oakley, Brad Pitt
1964 Stone Cold Steve Austin, Don Beebe
1978 Katie Holmes
1980 Christine Aguilera

Coming tomorrow: Al Kaline and the founding father of The Final Score.

Continue reading "Moose, Brad and I are waiting for our birthday cake" »

And we're not talking about Rick DiPietro, either. Happy birthday, Billy Smith.

Among people celebrating their birthdays on Dec. 12 are two members of the Rat Pat.

1900 Sammy Davis
1915 Frank Sinatra
1932 Bob Pettit
1938 Connie Francis
1940 Dionne Warwick
1945 Ralph Garr
1950 Billy Smith, Gorman Thomas
1952 Cathy Rigby
1962 Mike Golic
1970 Jennifer Connelly
1971 Tito Wooten

A. Laurie Partridge (pictured)
B. Grace Van Owen
C. Some old chick.
D. Never heard of her.

I'm guessing that each member of your Final Score team will have a different answer. Proves our generational diversity.

And speaking of old chicks, Emily Dickinson turns 170 today. Here are some other Dec. 10 birthdays, including my old pal Reid.

1830 Emily Dickinson
1911 Chet Huntley
1936 Doc Edwards
1938 Bill Mathis
1945 Reid Hanley
1952 Susan Dey
1956 Rod Blagojevich
1959 Mark Aguirre
1960 Paul Assenmacher
1969 Rob Blake
1983 D'Brickashaw Ferguson
1985 Raven-Symoné

Today's lesson involves information available on user-editable websites such as Wikipedia and Brainy History.

Wikipedia is a wonderful tool - but only as a starting point for information because it's just too easy for anyone to accidentally or deliberately mess up an entry.

Cyberspace is filled with sloppy or stupid people who don't double-check for their own typos. Even worse are the sneaky creeps who are just dying to supply you with hideous misinformation.

While visiting a number of sites to hunt for Dec. 9 birthdays, I happened to notice that Brainy History has Al Kaline being born on Dec. 9, 1934. Wrong! I won't tell you the correct date until later in the month, but here's a hint: He shares his birthday with the founding father of The Final Score.

Until then, some some people were most likely born on Dec. 9:

1916 Kirk Douglas
1922 Redd Foxx
1942 Dick Butkus
1943 Pit Martin
1947 Steve Owens
1948 Doc Medich
1952 Bruce Boisclair
1953 World B. Free
1955 Otis Birdsong
1957 Donny Osmond
1960 Juan Samuel
1962 Felicity Huffman (Before "Desperate Housewives" there was "Sports Night")
1967 Ray Agnew
1971 Petr Nedved, Todd Van Popel