Random Facts About Your Favorite TV Shows

Screencap from M*A*S*H of Gary Burghoff playing Radar O'Reilly

Every television show out there has a story on how it got made, who stars in it, and/or other behind the scenes stories that only some of the most loyal fans to these particular shows would know. The fun thing is that these facts are some good conversational fodder while talking to your coworkers around the water cooler or with your buddies while scarfing down wings and beer.

So here it is, some facts about your favorite TV shows and actors that starred in them.

1. Scotty has no middle finger: Star Trek favorite James Doohan, known for playing Scotty, was in the Royal Canadian Artillery during World War II. On the night of D-Day, Doohan was shot six times, including in the chest where a bullet hit a silver cigarette case and in the right hand which led to his middle finger having to be amputated. So next time you see Scotty do a shot or throw a punch, take a look at his right hand if you can.

2. Radar always hid his left hand with a clipboard: "Radar" O'Reilly of M*A*S*H was always seen holding a clipboard with his left hand. When he wasn't holding a clipboard, usually his left hand was out of the frame of the picture. This was because actor Gary Burghoff was born with a congenital deformity of three of his fingers. Occasionally, you can see this if you pause a scene at the right moment. There have been scenes with Burghoff weight-lifting and holding a football that it is most noticeable. Despite this deformity, Burghoff was a drummer for a band called the Relatives in 1968. The lead singer of this band...Wonder Woman's Lynda Carter.

3. The J. Peterman catalog in Seinfeld is real: In real life, there is a J. Peterman catalog that the writer's of Seinfeld incorporated into the show when a catalog came across their desk. The real life company is based out of Kentucky and the owner is named John Peterman, unlike his TV show counterpart, Jacopo Peterman. Want to go a little more meta? Actor John O'Hurley, the man who played J. Peterman, now works and is a part-owner of the real life J. Peterman catalog.

4. Sophia Petrillo was younger than her daughter: Actress Estelle Getty played Sophia Petrillo in the 1980's hit, The Golden Girls. Her character was famous for being short, old, and the mother of Dorothy Zbornak who was played by Bea Arthur. Make-up and acting went a long way as Getty was actually a year younger than Arthur was in real life.

5. Cobie Smulders was not originally asked to play Robin: A hit show that aired for nine seasons and 208 episodes, How I Met Your Mother's Robyn was not originally supposed to be played by Cobie Smulders. A little known actress at the time, show creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, cast Smulders only after their original choice for the role had turned it down. In wasn't until 2014 when the show came to an end when they stated during an interview who their first choice to play Robyn was...Jennifer Love Hewitt. Afterwards, Bays and Thomas said it was best that Smulders was an unknown actress because it was like America was meeting her for the first time at the same time Ted Mosby did.

6. Portlandia's Fred Armisen was originally a drummer: Some people have realized that Fred Armisen is musically talented since he became the band leader for Late Night with Seth Myers. What some people don't know is that Armisen used to be a backup drummer for the famous Blue Man Group. Armisen was also for a punk rock band called Trenchmouth during the late 1980's and into the early 1990's.

7. Comet is Air Bud: The dog known as Comet on the ABC hit show, Full House, was played by a golden retriever named Buddy. Later, after finishing his role as Comet, Buddy went on to the big screen to star in kid-friendly movie, Air Bud.

8. Kevin Arnold dated sisters: A hit series in the late 1980's to the early 1990's, The Wonder Years centered around the life of a teenaged Kevin Arnold while his adult self narrated the series. Arnold's love for friend-turned girlfriend, Winnie Cooper, is a main theme for the show as he tries to figure out how women work. As many people know, Arnold wasn't always part of a couple with Cooper the entire series. Arnold dated Becky Slater, sometimes as a way to make Cooper jealous in hopes that she would come back to him. What many people don't know is that the actress that played Slater is Crystal McKellar, the real life sister to Danica McKellar who played Cooper.

9. The number 47 is everywhere: In the spy series Alias, the number 47 appears all the time. Sydney needs to access information on Server 47 to take down SD-6. There are 47 parts to Rambaldi's magnum opus. Marshall wants to improve a camera design so it has 47 exposures. The key code to access the computer room that houses information on SD-6 is 4747. The number 47 is seen in large print on the door Sydney's abductors take Sydney through while she's retrieving her lost memories.

10. Mitt Romney's sister-in-law almost caused a TV show to be cancelled: Terry Rakolta, Mitt Romney's former sister-in-law, started a letter writing campaign that cost the show Married...with Children many of their advertisers. Rakolta was angry and determined that the show be ripped off the air after she witnessed an episode that featured Al Bundy and Steve Rhoades buying a bra for Peggy. Rakolta would go on to be a guest of many talk shows while the show would garner its highest ratings ever less than a year later.

11. Van Wilder wasn't almost a cast member of Buffy: While many people know that Katie Holmes was originally asked to play the role of Buffy in Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, not as many people know that Ryan Reynolds was asked to play the role of Xander. Coming out of high school in real life at the same time, Reynolds didn't want to play a high school kid and instead was searching for more adult roles. Holmes, of course, would go on to play Joey Potter in Dawson's Creek.

12. People would frequently go missing in Philadelphia...and no one cared: In the ABC's TGIF hit, Boy Meets World, it wasn't uncommon for characters to just disappear without a word. Mr. Turner never appeared again after his motorcycle accident. Stuart Minkus disappeared after the first season, only to be seen one more time when they all graduated high school. Corey's little sister disappeared and was replaced by an older pre-teen version. Shawn's sister Stacey was mentioned in one episode when Shawn called her on the phone, only to have Stacey never heard from or about again. Topanga's parents kept changing appearances. Peter Tork and Michael McKeon both played her father at some point. Marcia Cross and Annette O'Toole both played her mother. Finally, two years of the kid's lives go missing. They never were seen attending the 9th and 10th grades.

13. Jennifer Love Hewitt sure passes on a lot of roles: As earlier, when revealed that Jennifer Love Hewitt was originally asked to play Robyn in How I Met Your Mother, she also passed on the role of Piper in Charmed. Instead, Rose McGowan would go on to be cast in this role that would replace Shannen Doherty's character leaving the show.

14. Twitter is not just for Trump: Wil Wheaton was asked to be a reoccurring member of Big Bang Theory after he tweeted that he enjoyed the show. Producers saw the tweet and asked Wheaton to play an "evil" version of himself to be Sheldon Cooper's archrival.

Baseball Hall of Fame 2017 Ballot

Photo of Barry Bonds by Daniel Millhouse

Yet another year goes by and I find myself without an official ballot for Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame for the 2017 class. I know I would have to be a BBWAA writer, but I figure they should have made the exception. Either way, I give you my picks to make the hall this year (in no particular order)...

1. Barry Bonds - All-time home run leader, eight gold gloves, all-time leader in walks and intentional walks, seven MVP's, 12-time Silver Slugger winner, and 514 stolen bases. It's ridiculous that he hasn't been voted in during the first four times he was eligible. One anchor on the MLB Network claimed that he couldn't vote for Bonds solely because Bonds wasn't a nice guy. If that's the case, then explain players such as Ty Cobb, Reggie Jackson, and Don Drysdale who were known to be hated players while still playing.
2. Roger Clemens - Almost the pitcher version of Barry Bonds. Seven Cy Youngs, one MVP, 354 career wins, third on the all-time strike outs list behind fellow Texan Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson, and a 3.12 career ERA. Just like Bonds, he has been passed by four times so far for the hall.
3. Jeff Bagwell - A former Rookie of the Year, MVP, three time Silver Slugger, Gold Glove first baseman, with 449 career homers, a .297 career batting average, over 1,500 RBI's, and 202 stolen bases. In any other time period Bagwell may have stood out more, but he played first base in the National League at the same time as Mark McGwire, Fred McGriff, Andres Galarraga, Mark Grace, Ryan Klesko, and Todd Helton.
4. Trevor Hoffman - He's second all-time in career saves behind Mariano Rivera, second for the Cy Young Award in 1998 and 2006, and sported a career ERA of 2.87.
5. Billy Wagner - Sixth all-time in saves, Wagner often hit over 100 mph on the radar gun and was feared by hitters. He had a career ERA of 2.31, had a K/9 of 11.9, and a WHIP of 0.99. Only John Franco had more saves as a left-handed closers.
6. Ivan Rodriguez - Known for being one of the best defensive catchers of all-time, Rodriguez had an amazing arm that he would use to throw base runners out all the time. Pudge wasn't bad with the bat either. He had 312 homers, a .296 career batting average, over 1,300 RBI's, and 2,844 base hits. He won the AL MVP in 1999, won the Silver Slugger 7 times, and 13 Gold Gloves.
7. Fred McGriff - Overlooked because he played first base in the National League while so many other stars also played, many people don't realize how good he exactly was. He retired with 493 homers (tied for the most with Lou Gehrig for players who failed to reach 500), 1,550 RBI's, a .284 career batting average, and three Silver Slugger awards.
8. Mike Mussina - Mike Mussina won 270 games, stuck out over 2,800 hitters, won seven Gold Gloves, and he only failed to reach double digit wins in a season once in his career (during his rookie season). The Moose was in the top 10 for Cy Young votes nine times, but the closest he ever came to winning was in 1999 when he came in second. Good to the end, Mussina was 20-9 with a 3.34 ERA and a Gold Glove his final season.
9. Vladimir Guerrero - One of the freest swinger hitters in recent times, Guerrero is one of two first-time ballot eligible players I voted for this year (Ivan Rodriguez is the other). He hit 449 homers, had 1,496 RBI's, a .318 career batting average, and 2,590 career hits. He won the MVP during his first season with the ANAHEIM Angels and won eight Silver Slugger awards. If the Gold Glove was solely based on arm strength, Guerrero would have won some. He had a cannon for an arm which kept him playing in the outfield for a couple extra seasons before being converted to a designated hitter. In 2002, he was one homer short of being a 40-40 player. He is also the last former Montreal Expo left with a valid chance at making it to the hall. If he receives enough votes to get in, I hope he goes in as an Expo.

Star Trek Reboot Killed Picard, Seven of Nine, and the House of Mogh

Promotional photo for Star Trek by Paramount Pictures

People often wonder what life would be like if events in the past played out differently instead of the way they did. A change in past events can easily end up worsening a situation just as easy as it can improve the present day.

This happened in the Star Trek universe when it was rebooted after Nero traveled back in time for his revenge on Spock. While the movie was enjoyable, everything in the Star Trek universe was changed. Not just what you saw in the trilogy of reboot movies released to date, but it also changed the universe in other ways you may not have noticed.

For starters, the changing of the universe surely affected the future captain-ship of the USS Enterprises. This means that Jean-Luc Picard may or may not be the future captain of Enterprise D. It's even possible that he not only may not become the captain, he may also decide to enter the field of archeology after making the choice to follow in his favorite professor's footsteps. If the leadership of not only the Enterprise, but also the Federation is shifted around in the past, who knows what the future may hold for other Enterprises.

Another change in the universe is that now with present day events in the original series changed, there's a good chance that the famous kiss between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhara may never happen. With Uhara and Spock being romantically involved, the storyline from a romantic standpoint has forever changed.

A third change in the universe affects Star Trek: Voyager. With the planet Vulcan now obliterated, future Vulcans such as Tuvok will surely never be born. If his ancestors died in the near extinction of the Vulcan species when Nero blew up the planet Vulcan, Tuvok cannot exist in the future universe. Even if his ancestors are one of the survivors that the elder Spock led, the tragedy would surely change the storyline completely.


In the category of diplomatic relations, if the TNG has changed because of prior events, what will become of the House of Mogh? Not only would Worf's history be changed, but his grandfather, Colonel Worf, who was the legal advocate for Kirk and McCoy in Star Trek VI: Undiscovered County, may have never come to defend them after they were accused of murdering Chancellor Gorkon. With the universe changed, Gorkon may never meet Kirk and McCoy, Colonel Worf's history may take a different direction, and eventually his grandson may never find himself in the Federation, working for Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Lastly, if the storyline to the original universe is changed, it can be assumed that first contact with the Borg may change. With Picard possibly not leading the Enterprise D, he could never be assimilated and become Locutus. The movie Star Trek: First Contact is completely out the window. Also, Seven of Nine may never become a member of Voyager, if she is ever even assimilated in the first place.

The new reboot of the Star Trek movies have been wonderful so far, led by good acting and intriguing storylines that lead to more debates. It unfortunately leaves the future of the universe up in the air, possibly destroying it as we all know it. On their own, the reboot holds up, but if it changes the future of the greatest captain (Jean-Luc Picard), then was the change worth it?

Talking Turkey: The Truth About Ben Franklin and the National Seal

Coming closer to the big turkey day, a common misconception is that the turkey could have been our national bird instead of the bald eagle. Some people believe that Benjamin Franklin himself argued to make the turkey our national bird. This is simply not true.

After the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin was one of several people tasked with coming up for an idea for the seal of the United States of America. A few ideas floated around, just not the idea of using a turkey.

It is true that Franklin talked about a turkey, but this was in a letter that he wrote to his daughter, Sarah. He praised the turkey, calling it "a much more respectable bird" and "a true original native of America." In contrast, he called the bald eagle "a bird of bad moral character" and "too lazy to fish for himself" because it tends to steal fish from hawks.

The revelation of the existence of this letter later hit newspapers a century later, long after Franklin and his daughter had passed. Franklin's disdain for the bald eagle being on the seal was never publicly revealed until then, as was his respect for the turkey.

Over the years, just as the subject can change when people play the "telephone game," the story of Franklin and the turkey developed into the false notion that he wanted gobblers to be the national bird.

He did not.

The turkey was never considered to be the national bird, thus never putting the status of a turkey in jeopardy from not being the main course for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Turkey and avocado sandwiches...safe.

Those large drumsticks that you enjoy at county fairs...safe.

Your ability to stay awake after a big Thanksgiving dinner...well, that's still in jeopardy because of the tryptophan.

What I've Learned from Saturday Night Live

Promotional image from NBC's Saturday Night Live

Debuting on October 11, 1975, Saturday Night Live has been a fixture on Saturday night television for 42 seasons and over 800 episodes. It has been guest hosted by a variety of celebrities, from Tom Hanks to George Carlin to even politicians such as Bob Dole. Speaking of politicians, SNL has spawned out a mass amount of stars to go on to bigger and better things including Senator Al Franken.

A show that has been on for so long is bond to accidentally teach a lesson or two to the audience. Believing to have watched all 42 seasons, I will now share with you XXXX lessons I have learned from my years of enjoying the comedy skit show.

1. "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me." - Often the lessen given to the audience and the guest of the Stuart Smalley skits performed by now Senator Al Franken, the message was both positive and hilarious at the same time. Smalley would impart his message with those who even didn't necessarily need it (i.e. see Michael Jordan). The character of Smalley is obviously a flawed one (fictionally), but he always tried to see the best side of life anyway by trying his hardest to stay positive.

2. "Consume Mass Quantities!" - Perhaps the worst aliens in disguise as humans, the Remulak natives known as the Coneheads (Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtain, and Laraine Newman) found themselves stranded on Earth. Trying to blend in, they lived life to fullest. That included drinking a whole six-pack of beer at once and smoking a pack of cigarettes simultaneously. Unfamiliar with their alien biology, I'm sure that this is probably something that doesn't bug them. The family mislead others by claiming they were French, but unlike any European, the Coneheads ability to consume "consumables" was more American than anything else.

3. "Devon? What are you doing here?" - The Californians mock the accent of those who live in the Los Angeles area, but one of the reoccurring themes is that the unexpected is likely to happen. You have to be prepared and not caught off guard like Stuart (not Smalley) is when he see Devon. (Stuart-Fred Armisen; Devon-Bill Hader)

4. "Sorry." - A sincere apology is always appreciated, but when Gilly (Kristen Wiig) gradually ramps up the violence and still gives the same apology, one could surmise that the apology is fake. Some people will do things to get under your skin, but when they say sorry and continue to do it, they don't mean it. Gilly is an extreme example, but there are people out there that will intentionally mess you and try to come off as apologetic the whole time.

5. "I am filled with anticipation, and it is most delicious." - Sometimes the anticipation of an event is more enjoyable than the event itself. Dieter (Michael Myers) from the "Sprockets" skit teaches us that, usually just before dancing to techno music by Kraftwerk. And he's right. Sometimes an event such as a holiday doesn't live up to the build-up of the day itself. That's why it's sometimes better to enjoy the build up to the event than the event itself.

6. "...living in a van down by the river." - Motivational speaker Matt Foley (Chris Farley) is a down-on-his-luck man who famously points out that he lives in a most unfavorable place to reside. Often tasked to scare kids straight, Foley has driven his point home by (accidentally) crashing down on a table while the kids laugh while breaking character. But it does prove that while you might be down, you can help others from meeting a similar fate and still be a positive influence in someone else's life.

7. "We're not worthy!" - Wayne and Garth (Michael Myers and Dana Carvey) praise those that they idolize such as Madonna with the phrase, "We're not worthy!" Now this is not to say that you have to gush over someone in an embarrassing way, but just letting them know that you are appreciative of the work someone has done isn't a bad thing. People, including artists, often doubt whether what they do has a positive impact on other's lives. Finding out that others are appreciative of what you do can not only make their day, but also give them motivation to keep doing what they do.

8. Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey - While there is not a single quote by the Deep Thoughts skits that stand out more than others, it does reveal that you're not the only one with odd and sometimes disturbing thoughts. While you may have grown up thinking you're awkward, others grew up thinking the same thing.

9. "When I see a solar eclipse, like the one I went to last year in Hawaii, I think 'Oh no! Is the moon eating the sun?' I don't know. Because I'm a caveman -- that's the way I think." - Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, Cirroc (Phil Hartman) said things like this while in the courtroom. It reminds us that there are people out there that haven't been able to enjoy the wonders of everyday life that many others have. Don't take life for granted. While you may have witnessed a natural wonder many times, others may have not. Soak up your experiences and don't be afraid to share them with others if you have the chance.

10. "Lambortini" - The Former Porn Star Commercials remind people to always aim higher. I'm not kidding. Even though the former porn stars (Cecily Strong and Vanessa Bayer) aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, they aspire to be something more than just porn stars. In this case, they want to be spokespeople for various brands such as Lamborghini and Swarvoski. They just have trouble pronouncing the brand names. Even with that said, they want to better themselves and that is commendable.

11. "Toonces, no!" - Cats can't be trusted to drive a car. Enough said.

How Captain Jean-Luc Picard Influenced Me

Screencap taken from an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation

There are not too many characters on television that can go multiple seasons and remain a true hero type the entire run. I'm not necessarily talking about super powers when I say hero. Just someone that can remain a role model for every episode during a show's run. Often a protagonist-type of character will have at least some sort of slip up if their television series runs long enough (unless you're in a sitcom).

One character that remained the positive role model type for 178 episodes.

His name was Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Out of all the main cast members from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Picard was the only one that remained a positive character for every episode. Data turned evil when his brother Lore and the Borg teamed up; Riker fell under the influence of Q for an episode; and even La Forge got in a war of words with Wesley when it came to Crusher's dating life.

You could say that Picard may have been swayed towards the dark side when he became Locutus of the Borg. I would argue that with the nanobots that transformed Picard into a member of the Borg, he was temporarily no longer himself, but a whole separate person.

Now to get to the point of this post. I give you the things that I have learned from Jean-Luc Picard.

1. Earl Grey Tea - I have had tea many times in my life, but it wasn't until Picard would order the replicator to make him Earl Grey tea that I even knew there were other flavors. I only thought tea came in one flavor. Because of Picard, I found out that tea could have a hint of citrus. As I grew older, I found that I actually preferred tea to most non-alcoholic drinks. Not just hot tea, but iced tea as well. This revelation came because of Captain Picard's obsessive ordering of the same flavor of tea.

2. Pulp Fiction - I have always been the bookworm type. It wasn't until Captain Picard entered the holodeck and assumed the role of the private detective known as Dixon Hill before I knew what mid-twentieth century pulp fiction was. It was because of the Dixon Hill character that Picard loved that I became interested in the cheesy but interesting storylines. This eventually led to my love of movies such as LA Confidential. In some way it may have been one of the factors to my current career as both a writer and online investigator.

3. Whiskey - Maybe this isn't a positive aspect I learned from Picard, but his choice of alcohol is Aldebaran whiskey. Obviously I can't try an alien brand of whiskey, but it led me to try whiskey first out of all the hard liquors. Now, out of all the hard liquors out there, I found that I enjoy a nice whiskey the most. The moment Picard shared a shot of whiskey with Scotty from the original series was an awesome moment for me. It connected my favorite character from the original series to one of my favorite characters from the newer series.

4. Never Back Down - In fairness, I've learned this from many different avenues of influence in my life. Picard was just one of those who cemented this thinking into my personality. Even when confronted with malevolent characters with god-like powers such as Q and Ardra, Picard never flinches. From episode one of the Next Generation series, Picard matches wits with characters of undeniable powers and in every case, he defeats them through will and occasionally with his smarts. He even put the Enterprise on the line in a court case against Ardra who claimed to be also known as the devil on Earth. Confident in his abilities in a courtroom setting, Picard held his own.

5. Dealing with Lose - In this, I don't mean dealing with the death of someone close to you. I mean dealing with the fact that no matter what, you will lose at some point in your life. In the episode called "Peak Performance", Picard tells Data, "It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness; that is life." He was right.

6. Be Yourself - Picard realized that one of the biggest headaches in life is when you try to be someone you're not. It causes problems and could lead to disaster in your social life. From the first episode of the series, Picard said, "If we’re going to be damned, let’s be damned for what we really are.”

6. Silence is Golden - Picard was not written to be the Captain Kirk-type of character. Initially he wasn't the type of captain that would sleep with every alien woman he encountered. He was quiet and did not brag about those he slept with or at least had relationships with. By the time the television series wrapped up and the movies were done being made, Picard had been in the most relationships out of any of the crew members of Enterprise D. I'm not kidding.

Picard started in the academy, pining for a woman with the initials A.F. His feelings for her were strong enough that he carved their initials in groundskeeper's Boothby's prized tree and then failed Organic Chemistry because he couldn't take his mind off her.

He then had a relationship with Jenice Manheim, but chose his career over love. He then moved on to Vash when he vacationed on Risa. The two not only had a physical attraction, but a common love in archeology. Any hope of this relationship was quashed when she ran off with Q.

Picard had a run-in with an empathic metamorph named Kamala (played by Famke Janssen). The two bonded so well that it left a lasting impression on Picard.

Another woman, Nella Daren, took over the Enterprise's Stellar Sciences department. The red-head (a common theme for Picard) became so inseparable from Picard that the rest of the crew noticed. Troi gave her blessing while Dr. Crusher became jealous. Eventually, Picard was forced to make a decision to save lives, putting Daren's life on the line. She survived, but the two knew they couldn't continue to work together.

And then there was Anij, a 300-year-old woman that Picard fell for while saving her people from the Ba'ku. Before leaving, he pledged that he would spend his 318 days of shore leave to visit her.

And then there are those that Picard never hooked up with--or at least not on camera. He had a relationship with Guinan that was said to go beyond friendship. Maybe they hooked up a few times, but decided to be friends. Then there was Lwaxana Troi. She would openly say that she liked the naughty thoughts that he had about her. Even when butting heads with the false god, Arda, she made it known that she wanted Picard to be her own personal love toy and even was willing to morph into the shape of others including Deanna Troi to get him hot.

Finally, there is Dr. Beverly Crusher. Picard has a thing for red-heads and she fits the bill. Despite commanding the mission that led to the death of her husband, Crusher had feelings for Picard for the entire series. In several "future" based stories, it was shown that the two would eventually marry.

Ultimately Picard had the best love life on the Enterprise without bragging about it or using the holodeck to fulfill his fantasies (i.e. Barclay).

Final Point... While many still view Captain James T. Kirk as the ideal star ship captain, it was Picard that held all the necessary traits to be a legend. Kirk was just born before Picard and therefore his legend grew. If he had to live up to the expectation levels of Picard, Kirk may have only been considered above average.

108 Things That Have Happened Since the Cubs Won the World Series

With the Chicago Cubs battling it out with the Cleveland Indians for the title of World Series champion this year, one of Major League Baseball's longest droughts will come to an end.

The Cleveland Indians are currently in the middle of the longest drought in the American League having last won in 1948. The Cubs aren't much better. Their last appearance was in 1945, but their last World Series victory was in 1908.

In those 108 years, a lot has happened. Events that changed world history; people that were born or died; and changes in popular culture. So here's a list of 108 events that happened in the 108 years since the Cubs last won a World Series.

1. World War I
2. World War II
3. The creation of the state of Israel
4. Ronald Reagan was born (and died)
5. The Mexican Revolution
6. Lenin's October Revolution
7. The United States adds Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii to the union
8. Major League Baseball expanded from 16 teams to 30 (Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Miami Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, ANAHEIM Angels, Washington Senators/Texas Rangers, New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays) and 7 teams moved/changed their mascot (Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, New York/San Francisco Giants, Boston/Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics, St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins, New York Highlanders/Yankees)
9. The Great Depression
10. The Social Security Act
11. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
12. India and Pakistan become independent countries
13. I Love Lucy airs for the first time
14. Lucille Ball was born (and died)
15. Television is invented
16. Disneyland opens for business
17. Rock'n'Roll is invented
18. Jean Harlow was born (and died)
19. Scientology was formed
20. The NFL formed
21. 19 different American presidents are elected
22. 9 popes take the helm of Catholicism
23. Mount Rushmore is finished
24. The city of Las Vegas, Nevada incorporates
25.  Berlin Wall is constructed (and falls)
26. Medicare and Medicaid created
27. President Lyndon Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law
28. The fall of the Ottoman Empire
29. Iraq was created
30. The Titanic sinks
31. Motorized movie cameras replaced hand-cranked cameras
32. The crossword puzzle is invented
33. Life Savers candy is created
34. The modern zipper is invented
35. Bras are invented
36. Charles Jung invents fortune cookies
37. Band Aids are invented
38. Pluto was discovered
39. Velcro is invented
40. The Holocaust
41. Prussia falls
42. Bubble gum is invented
43. The game, Monopoly, is invented
44. Credit cards are invented
45. Yugoslavia forms and falls
46. The Hindenburg disaster
47. The NBA formed
48. Pablo Picasso died
49. Nikola Tesla died
50. Martin Luther King Jr. was born (and assassinated)
51. The hula hoop is invented
52. Superman is created
53. The first handheld calculator invented
54. Wyatt Earp died
55. Women's Suffrage
56. Prohibition
57. The Star Spangled Banner is adopted as the national anthem of the United States
58. The Empire State Building was built
59. The Dust Bowl
60. Mark Twain died
61. The Cold War
62. Bettie Page is born (and died)
63. Mother's Day is nationally recognized
64. The NHL is formed
65. Frank Sinatra is born (and died)
66. The Bloody Mary cocktail is created
67. The Black Sox scandal
68. The first black baseball player plays in the MLB (Jackie Robinson)
69. McDonalds opens up their first restaurant
70. The KKK ran the city of Anaheim, California
71. Thomas Edison died
72. The minimum wage was created in the United States
73. Leo Tolstoy died
74. Sigmund Freud died
75. The first home versions of refrigerators were sold
76. Ranch dressing was created
77. Desegregation of schools
78. Franz Ferdinand was assassinated
79. Snickers candy bars was created
80. Wizard of Oz was released in the theaters
81. Instant coffee was invented
82. D-Day
83. The Roswell incident
84. The rise of AIDS
85. Babe Ruth's whole career
86. The Grand Canyon is declared a National Park
87. Bugs Bunny and the other Warner Brothers cartoons were created
88. Mickey Rooney was born (and died)
89. Amelia Earhart disappeared
90. The CIA was founded
91. HG Wells died
92. The Charleston and Jitterbug dances were created
93. Teddy Roosevelt ran for president under the Bull Moose Party ticket
94. The modern hula-hoop was invented
95. The vaccine to Polio discovered
96. Marie Curie died
97. Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
98. Modern scuba diving invented
99. Al Capone is held at Alcatraz
100. Bonnie and Clyde's crime spree
101. The discovery of King Tut's tomb
102. The Spanish flu killed millions
103. The first talking movie
104. The first radio station goes live
105. The Dust Bowl
106. Penicillin is discovered
107. French fries are introduced to America via soldiers returning home from World War I
108. Christ the Redeemer statue erected in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

And as a bonus...Ford introduced the Model T to the world while the Cubs were playing the last World Series they won.