Mike Royko (September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997) was a long-running newspaper columnist in Chicago, Illinois. September 19 is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years). ... 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... April 29 is the 119th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (120th in leap years). ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A columnist is a journalist who produces a specific form of writing for publication called a column. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and the Internet. ... Chicago, colloquially known as the Second City and the Windy City, is the third-largest city in population in the United States and the largest inland city in the country. ...

Royko grew up in Chicago living in an apartment above a bar. Once he became a columnist, he drew upon his childhood experiences to become the voice of the everyman Chicagoan. Although he could use biting sarcasm, he never spoke down to his readers, always remembering that he was one of them.

Royko began his career as a columnist for the Glenview Naval Air Base newspaper and the City News Bureau of Chicago before moving to the Chicago Daily News. He worked for the Daily News as a political reporter and was an irritant to the city's machine politicians with his penetrating and skeptical questions and reports. The Glenview Naval Air Base was a U.S. Naval Air Station from 1923 to 1995. ... City News Bureau of Chicago, or City Press, was one of the first cooperative news agencies in the United States. ... The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois which published between 1876 and 1978. ...

He covered Cook County politics and government and wrote a weekly political column. He soon supplemented that with another weekly column on Chicago's active folk music scene. These columns were successful, and soon he was given a regular slot writing on all topics for the Daily News, an afternoon paper with a strong liberal slant. Organized with approximately 100 residents in 1831, Cook County is a county located in the state of Illinois. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ...

When the Daily News shut its doors, Royko moved to the Chicago Sun-Times. In 1984, he left the Sun-Times after it was sold to a group headed by Rupert Murdoch, for whom Royko said he would never work. He famously claimed, "No self-respecting fish would be wrapped in a Murdoch paper" and that, "His goal is not quality journalism. His goal is vast power for Rupert Murdoch, political power." He quickly found employment writing his column at the rival Chicago Tribune, where he wrote until his death at 64, which was caused by a brain aneurysm. Royko's columns were syndicated in more than 600 newspapers across the country, and he wrote more than 7500 columns over a four-decade career. New Chicago Sun-Times building located at 350 N. Orleans St. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch (born 11 March 1931), is an Australian-born American media proprietor who is the majority shareholder and managing director of News Corporation, one of the worlds largest and most influential media corporations. ... The Chicago Tribune, formerly self-styled as the Worlds Greatest Newspaper, remains the leading newspaper of the Midwest of the United States. ...

Royko won a Pulitzer Prize in 1972, the National Press Club Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990 and the Damon Runyon Award in 1995. Many of his columns were collected in book form, although his most famous book remains the 1971 unauthorized biography of Richard J. Daley, Boss. Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-04-13, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 - December 20, 1976) was an Irish-American politician who served as Chairman of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee from 1953 and Mayor of Chicago from 1955, retaining both positions until his death in 1976. ...

Royko was a lifelong fan and critic of the Chicago Cubs. Just prior to the 1990 World Series he wrote about the findings of another fan, Ron Berler, who had discovered a seemingly spurious correlation called the "Ex-Cubs Factor". He predicted that the heavily-favored Oakland Athletics would lose the Series to the Cincinnati Reds. The accuracy of that unlikely prediction, in stunning fashion (four game sweep) propelled the Ex-Cubs Factor theory into the spotlight. The Chicago Cubs are a Major League Baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In baseball, the World Series is the championship series of Major League Baseball in North America, played in October after the end of the regular season between the pennant winner of the American League and the pennant winner of the National League. ... The Ex-Cubs Factor is a seemingly spurious correlation that is essentially a corollary to the Curse of the Billy Goat. ... This article is about the baseball team currently active in the American League. ... The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. ...

Mike Royko is entombed in Acacia Mausoleum, Acacia Park Cemetery, Chicago.

External links

• Column examples including ex-Cubs Factor