First of the Month: April

Jokes over everyone; April Fools Day is here and “America’s Pastime” is in full swing. Welcome to the fourth month of the Gregorian calendar: April, which for many is the center of our nation’s sports scene. Only when the Cherry Blossoms are in beautiful blooming form can we can see the Final Four, some man wearing the covenant green jacket and 50,000 of your best drinking friends saying, “Thank You God” to the sound of wood crashing on two thin rubber layers. (Come on, I am talking about baseball.) April is beyond sports though. It is when the jokers aren’t the only ones pulling the pranks and when green-loving hippies are given not just one holiday in Earth Day, but another in Arbor Day. For our Jewish crowd, Passover occurs this month and for our tax paying citizens, you have just 15 days until you know what is due to you know who. Finally -- but not the least important thing -- April is home to National Poetry Month and Patriots’ Day, a civic holiday in Massachusetts and for some reason a public school observance in Wisconsin. (I guess that’s what you get with a socialist state that claims to have founded the Republican Party).

And how could anyone celebrate the fourth month without birthdays? To start off the month, today, we celebrate the 70^th birthday of Ali McGraw. (Whom you say? Well, the woman from “Love Story.” What movie you ask? Go to your local blockbuster to see this 1970 hit.) Two days after McGraw, Axel Foley turned Nutty Professor turned Pluto Nash back to Nutty Professor turns 47 and that lovely star from “30 Rock,” Alec Baldwin turns 50. On April 13^th Kentucky fan Ashley Judd turns 40 exactly nine days after great debater Pete Rose turns 67. (Question of the Month: When, if ever, will Rose get into the Hall of Fame?) And to round out April birthdays, we tip a “beer for our horses” on April 20^th for Willie Nelson’s 75^th birthday.