First of the Month: March

Ahh yes, the craziness from last night’s extra day has ended and the real madness has begun as the basketballs are rolling to the sounds of Luther Vandross and people are in the streets celebrating Saint Patrick over a mug of Guinness and a batch of fresh Irish stew. (you know the kind with lots of taters)Let’s welcome the third month of Gregorian calendar, March. It is home to American Red Cross Month and of course March 15^th, the Ides of March, and the anniversary of the assassination of Julius Caesar by his bud Brutus. We celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8 and U.S. residents celebrate Women’s History Month. March begins on the same day of the week as November and February in common years and in leap years, such as 2008, it ends on the same day of the week as November. Outside of college basketball’s Road to the Final Four, the sports world is idle. But that’s OK because the madness starts today and will last for weeks.

Today little Opie, Ron Howard, turns 54, Zach Morris turned Dead Man on Campus turned NYPD star Mark-Paul Gosselaar turns 34 and Growing Pain dad Alan Thicke turns 61. Apple’s dad, Chris Martin, turns 31 tomorrow, which is seven days before Lil Bow Wow now Bow Wow turns the drinking age of 21. On March 12 smoked-out home run hitter Darryl Strawberry turns 46 and “Fire and Rain” poet James Taylor turns 60 with “Carolina On his Mind.” One week after Taylor’s birthday, John McClane badass Bruce Willis turns 53 as Ashton Kutcher hangs out with his kids. Two days later “War Games” alum Matthew Broderick turns 46 just four days before SI swimsuit goddess Danica Patrick revs into number 26 on the same day as Broderick’s wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, turns 43. To round out the month Mr. Green, Al Gore, turns 60 on the same day as Rhea Pearlman --Carla from Cheers – turns the same age.