Cheers

When your father is the "Run" in Run-DMC and your uncle is Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons, it's a gift and a curse to pursue a career in hip-hop. The gift is obvious: unlimited connections, a built-in brand name and hopefully some skills from Dad's DNA. But for Diggy - who raps without using his famous last name - it's the curse that makes the 16-year-old rapper's story interesting. The struggle for Diggy, born Daniel Simmons III, wasn't just the pressure of being born into rap royalty, but also growing up on camera.

Annapolis is swimming in wine bars these days. The choices include the deeply cool Red Red Wine on Main Street, Justin Moore's food-forward Vin 909 over in Eastport and the accessibly cozy Grapes Wine Bar on Forest Drive. Crush Kitchen and Winehouse got there first, though, back in 2010, when it opened on West Street as Crush Winehouse. Crush is a big, inviting space, loud and lively, with a smartly arranged layout of banquettes, four-tops and high tables.

Sam, Norm and the gang at "Cheers" are suitably impressed that one of the guys who puts words in their mouths is going to the big leagues.And Ken Levine, who has been a writer on the highly acclaimed show since its inception in 1982, is quick to point out that this is a serious venture -- a second career he was able to generate because of unique circumstances.Levine moves into the Orioles' radio booth this spring and some already have predicted that he and Jon Miller, one of his partners, will be the funniest partnership in the business.

It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game - in this case, the game show "Jeopardy!" Tom Lynn, of Radnor-Winston, played so well that a crowd of 50 family members, friends and former colleagues and classmates gave him a standing ovation Monday evening at the Zen West cantina on York Road, where they gathered at his invitation to watch the taped show on a big-screen TV. Lynn, who taped his appearance in November, was prohibited contractually...

A muscle disorder kept Dwight Wilcox from coaching when his eldest son joined the Annapolis Baseball Club about 10 years ago. But it has not kept him from helping out. He is the equipment manager for dozens of teams throughout the year. Colin McHale, a member of the club's 12-and-under select team last year, did not get much playing time, but he found a niche off the field. The St. Mary's seventh-grader is the team's unofficial cheer-writer and cheerleader. Wilcox and McHale will be honored Feb. 5 with Sportsmanship Awards from the Mid-Atlantic Recreation and Sports Alliance.

It's not "Cheers," but tonight, "Pearl" may be the next best thing."Wings" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- Helen gets herself a pair of tickets to a hot Broadway play. Joe can't make it, but no problem: She asks Brian instead. But then the pair end up stranded in New York with no money and no way to get home. Problem. NBC."Chicago Sons" (8: 30 p.m.-9 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- The Kolchak brothers set their eyes on a trio of women: oldest bro Mike longs to be with his estranged wife, while Harry continues to lust for the ever-unattainable Lindsay (is she really?

Usually, the best gauge of how well a performance has gone over with an audience is listening to how loudly they cheer when the music stops.But the most telling aspect of Tori Amos' performance at Washington's Lisner Auditorium Sunday wasn't the deafening applause that followed each selection, but the utter silence that prevailed while she was playing. It's one thing, after all, to get an audience on its feet, quite another to leave it utterly enraptured.Amos did both, though, in the course of her 17-song performance.

AS A FORMER bartender, I'm often struck by how little the enduring sitcom "Cheers" resembles life in a real bar.The first thing you notice is that no one in "Cheers" ever gets the slightest bit drunk -- not even Norm, the fat guy who appears to have a full beer mug surgically attached to one hand.This flies in the face of reality. Let's face it: People who spend a lot of time in bars tend to drink heavily. And if you're not drinking in a bar, what's the sense of being there in the first place?

Margaret Mary Cheers, a former Baltimore waitress and homemaker, died of Alzheimer's disease Friday at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. She was 80. Born and raised Margaret Mary Eckenrode in Altoona, Pa., she moved to Baltimore in the early 1940s after graduating from high school. Mrs. Cheers worked as a waitress for 18 years for Bill Pellington, the former Colt linebacker who owned Pellington's Iron Horse Restaurant in Yorkridge Shopping Center in Timonium. After leaving the restaurant in 1982, she worked as a waitress in Little Italy until retiring in 1988.

THE FACT THAT "CHEERS" has made 200 episodes is undoubtedly more important to those that sell it in syndication than to viewers, but it seems as good a time as any to look back at one of the most successful comedies in the history of television.And that's what NBC will do tonight at 9 on WMAR-Channel 2 with a special one-hour "Cheers" that, in fact, should be two hours.It's really a greatest hits compilation of memorable, hilarious moments from the previous 199 episodes interspersed with too-brief snippets of the actors, creators and writers sitting on a stage talking about the show.

The strain on Loyola coach Charley Toomey and Maryland coach John Tillman isn't limited to determining a winner and loser in Saturday's showdown between the top-ranked Greyhounds and the No. 3 Terps . For the past week, the close friends have mutually agreed to refrain from contacting each other. "The one thing that I do miss when you play against your friend is that we don't talk that week," said Toomey, who has coached Loyola (2-0) since 2007. "We don't talk X's and O's, we don't wish each other luck, we don't do things midweek.

Dr. Benjamin Carson, the eminent Johns Hopkins pediatric neurosurgeon, has received much attention over the years not only for his skills in the operating room but for what he has achieved beyond it. For many Baltimoreans, his story is a familiar one - born in Detroit, raised in poverty by a single mother, he overcame much to not only become a Medal of Freedom winner but a benefactor to thousands of young people through his scholarship program....

Ever since Mitt Romney lost the presidential election, there's been a lot of talk about how the Republican Party needs to "rebrand" itself. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal wants, among other things, for the GOP to stop being "the stupid party. " Rep. Paul Ryan has concluded that the watchword for the Republican Party needs to be "prudence. " Sen. Marco Rubio is the front man for the most tangible aspect of the rebranding effort: getting on the right side of the immigration issue. In the process, he's become something of the de facto point person for the party.

Geography is such that driving north out of Harford County will put you in the Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania in a matter of a little more than an hour and a half. The change in latitude isn't all that much, but elevation makes a difference, and the effect on the weather is substantial, especially at this time of year. Punxsutawney, Pa., may be a solid five or so hours from Harford County by car, but anyone who has ever spent a winter weekend anywhere in the mountains of the Keystone State can get an idea of how important it becomes to predict when the weather will break.

Baltimoreans will be cheering for their beloved Ravens during Super Bowl XLVII this Sunday, but you can cheer on another local celebrity earlier in the day during Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl . That's when cheerleader Valkyrie will enjoy her big moment in the sporting spotlight, and she'll be easy to spot--she's a hedgehog. Jennifer Smith of Columbia adopted her three-year-old, three-legged (Valkyrie lost a leg to an infection shortly before she was adopted) pet in October 2011 from Tru Chance Hedgehog Rescue & Rehab.

The residents and employees of Oak Crest retirement community in Parkville wanted to do their part to cheer on the Ravens before the Baltimore team plays in the Super Bowl this Sunday. What would be the best way to get their message out? YouTube, of course. The 90-second video called "Super Dreams" released Wednesday, captures the thrill of being introduced before the big game through the eyes of Gene Miller, a 71-year old resident of Oak Crest.  Miller roots for the Ravens with his fellow residents and then shows off his dance steps in the big moment, ala a certain future Hall of Famer middle linebacker.

The 200th episode of "Cheers," a mock scholarly retrospective of Boston barroom comedy, got the highest ratings of any prime-time show this season.The hourlong NBC special, moderated by talk show host John McLaughlin, was seen in nearly 27.5 million homes last week, receiving a 29.5 rating and a 44 share, the A.C. Nielsen Co. reported yesterday.A rating point equals 931,000 households with television. A share is the percentage of TV sets in use that are tuned to a show in its time period.

A huge audience tuned in to see the final episode of "Cheers" Thursday night. But it wasn't nearly enough to challenge the 1983 finale of "M*A*S*H" as the most-watched TV show ever.A.C. Nielsen measured the audience for the 90-minute-plus "Cheers" episode at a 45.5 rating and 64 share. By comparison, the final "M*A*S*H" episode had a 60.2 rating and 77 share. (A ratings point currently represents 931,000 TV households; shares are the percentage of sets in use.)After seeing the ratings, NBC announced yesterday it will rerun the final episode tomorrow night at 7 (locally on WMAR-Channel 2)

Each Sunday, Ralph Friedgen flips through the NFL games on television, looking for kids he coached at the University of Maryland. Watching them play now brings him back, maybe to a practice where he pulled one of them aside for one-on-one teaching or to quiet moment away from the field. He thinks about how they've grown. Friedgen, who was forced into retirement following the 2010 season, will have three former players in New Orleans for Sunday's Super Bowl: Vernon Davis, a veteran tight end and star for the San Francisco 49ers; wide receiver Torrey Smith, who has become one of the most exciting playmakers for the Ravens; and his teammate and Baltimore native LaQuan Williams, an important special teams player before being sidelined with a hamstring injury late in the season.

When Maureen Neunan's only child headed off to college halfway across the country, the four-bedroom, four-bathroom Ellicott City house where the two lived suddenly seemed enormous to the 56-year-old divorcee. "I decided this was not where I wanted to be," she said. "I didn't need big or grand anymore. " And so she and her friend, real estate agentr Carol Walters of Long & Foster's Columbia office, paid a visit to the Ritz-Carlton Residences at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Neunan recalled visiting the unit she bought at first sight.