Your birthday

Who was born on your birthday? Who died on your birthday? What other events happened on your birthday?

These are the things I ask myself when I'm bored at work.

Sept 3

People who share my birthday: Whitey Bulger, Charlie Sheen, Raheem Morris, former porn star Amber Lynn, Jennie Finch, Justin Halpern (Shit My Dad Says), and Shaun White.

People who died on my birthday: Vince Lombardi, William Rehnquist

Other events: The U.S. flag is flown in battle for the first time Sept. 3, 1777; Frederick Douglass escaped slavery Sept. 3, 1838.

Your turn.

 

Aug. 9

People who share my birthday: Caylee Anthony, Jason Heyward, JaMarcus Purple Drank, Anna Kendrick, Tyson Gay, Deion Sanders, Whitney Houston, Kurtis Blow and Sam Elliott.

People who died on my birthday: Bernie Mac, Gregory Hines and The Manson Family victims.

Other events:

1483 – Opening of the Sistine Chapel in Rome with the celebration of a Mass.

1854 – Henry David Thoreau publishes Walden.

1936 – Summer Olympic Games: Games of the XI Olympiad – Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the games becoming the first American to win four medals in one Olympiad.

1945 – World War II: Nagasaki, Japan is devastated when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. 39,000 people are killed outright.

1974 – As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, becomes president.

 

Aug. 9

People who share(d) my birthday: Doug Williams (same year, too), Deion Sanders, Melanie Griffith, Whitney Houston

My birthday in history: Manson murders, A-bomb falls on Nagasaki, Nixon resigns

 

What are the odds?

 

I was also born on Aug. 9.

 

September 9:

Shared birthdays: Wright Thompson (maybe one year he and I can break my SEC football cherry at Oxford), Adam Sandler, Colonel Sanders, Otis Redding, Hugh Grant, Michelle Williams, Henry Thomas (the boy from E.T.), Joe Theismann, Shane Battier, Frankie Frisch, Todd Zeile, Frank Lucas.

Deaths: Edward Teller, Richie Ashburn, Bill Monroe, American Horse, William I (1407). http://www.brainyhistory.com/daysdeath/death_september_9.html

Events: St Sergius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope (701), Columbus' fleet sets sail west (1492), Mary Stuart, at nine months old, is crowned "Queen of Scots" in the central Scottish town of Stirling (1543), New England colonies declare war on Wampanoag indians (1675), Continental Congress renames "United Colonies," "US" (1776), ohn Herschel takes 1st glass plate photograph (1839), Territories of New Mexico & Utah created (1850), California admitted as 31st state (1850), Boston Herald again refers to NY baseball club as Yankees, when it reports "Yankees take 2," Yankee name not official till 1913 (1904), Orville Wright makes 1st 1-hr airplane flight, Fort Myer, Va and on the same day Russian takes Poland (1908), Battle of Marne (German advance stalls, Paris saved) on the same day Boston Brave George Davis no-hits Philadelphia Phillies, 7-0 (1914), The U.S. National Broadcasting Company formed (1926), Tony Lazzeri Day at Yankee Stadium (1927), Yankees sweep Indians, NY clinches pennant on earliest date in history (1936), 1st bombing on continental US soil, Mount Emily Oregon (WW II) (1942), Italy surrenders to Allies (1943), US, British & French troops land in Salerno (operation Avalanche) (1944), Jimmie Foxx hits his 534th & final HR on the same day Phila A's Dick Fowler no-hits St Louis Brown, 1-0 (1945), Bkln Dodger Rex Barney no-hits NY Giants, 2-0 (1948), Elvis Presley's 1st appearance on Ed Sullivan's Show on the same day Don Zimmer, hits 4,000th Dodger home run (1955), Pres Eisenhower signs 1st civil rights bill since Reconstruction (1957), Alabama Gov George Wallace served a federal injunction to stop orders of state police to bar black students from enrolling in white schools (1963), Sandy Koufax pitches his 4th no-hitter, a perfect game vs Cubs (1-0) (1965), Bowie Kuhn suspends Denny McLain for carrying a gun (1970), John Lennon releases "Imagine" album (1971, the day I was born), NHL great Gordie Howe retires (1971), 1st TRS-80 computer sold (1977), Tiger rookies Lou Whitaker & Allan Trammell debut together & will play together for 19 years (1977), Gary Hart admits on "Nightline," to cheating on his wife (1987), Nolan Ryan strikes out his 4,500th batter (1987), Oakland beats NY 7-3 to complete a 12-game sweep of Yankees this year (1990), Mike Tyson indicted for rape of Desiree Washington (1991), Only 1,695 fans watch Boston Red Sox play Cleveland (1991), Robin Yount, is 17th to get 3,000 hits (1992), PLO recognizes state of Israel (1993), Sinn Fein accepts Mitchell Principles on para-military disarmament (1997), Pitcher Randy Johnson reaches 300 strikeouts for the fifth consecutive season, extending his major league record (2002),

 

Offsetting the various tragedies for which our day is known.

 

I never bothered to check. Jan. 28. The only person I know I share a birthday with is Rakim, the greatest MC ever, and I only know that because of Nas' "Unauthorized Biography of Rakim." Oh, and my 21st birthday was a Super Bowl Sunday, so that was cool.

Names that stick out from a Wikipedia search are two more rappers who share the birthday - Rick Ross and J. Cole - and two writers who died that day - W.B. Yeats and Zora Neale Hurston.

 

The best person I share my birthday (Sept 27) is Samuel Adams, and we celebrate it together every year.

 

May 3.

Pretty non descript list of people born on that day, at least that are still alive: Frankie Valli, Ron Popiel, Davy Lopes, Greg Gumbel, Doug Henning, Christopher Cross.

Joltin' Joe did make his Yankee debut on that date.

My kids have birthdays they share with Paul McCartney and Michael Jordan. A little more cache than my listed names above.

 

Christopher Cross was pretty badass.

 

I have read somewhere that if there a certain number of people in a room, the odds are pretty high that there will be someone else present with your birthday.

Here's what I find on it this morning on Yahoo! Answers. I don't remember the exact numbers I'd heard before, but it was close
"If you have 23 people in a room, what is the likelihood two of them will have the same birthday?
"Believe it or not, about 50%
"By the time you have 50 people in a room, the odds of two of them having the same birthday are better than 99%."

So who here, like me, shares a birthday with Nat King Cole, Rob Lowe and Mia Hamm?