Jay GreesonIN YOUR WORDS
Tuesday is Election Day. It will be a crazy day, and with these candidates, an emotional one. If you had to describe the last year of this election cycle in one sentence, what would you say? Send your sentence to jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.
Friday in Chicago, more than a million people lined streets with signs and songs to celebrate the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series.
It was a win for a fan base that has ached but never wavered for the lovable bunch that calls Wrigley Field home.
There is a short list of professional sports teams and fandoms that are passed down like treasured heirlooms.
The Cubs are chief among them, and for the first time in 108 years, they are the champions.
How much does this team mean to its fans? Well, there are hundreds of stories, but this one may be the most powerful.
Meet Wayne Williams, a North Carolina man who drove back to his hometown of Indiana to listen to Game 7 of the Cubs-Indians series earlier this week.
"I talked it out with my boys forever. I let them know that I told my dad - we had a pact. When the Cubs - not if, when - the Cubs got into the World Series, we would make sure we listen to the games together," Williams told WTHR, the Indianapolis NBC affiliate.
So there he was, getting his chair ready right next to his dad, Wayne Sr., on Wednesday night to listen to the action of a game that was watched by more than 40 million people.
When the Cubs sealed the final out in the 10th inning of the 8-7 clinching win, Wayne Jr. stood and said, "We did it." He placed the Cubs' 'W' victory flag next to the headstone marking his father's grave in the military portion of the Greenwood Forest Lawn Cemetery. Wayne Sr. died in 1980, but a pact is a pact, his son said.
Especially in a family of Cubs fans.
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Now that's a long time
There are a lot of streaks in life and in sports that carry a lot of weight.
The milestones can be powerful numbers, anniversaries and milestones.
How long was the Cubs' drought? Try some of these:
- There are roughly 400 women, according to Bloomberg news, and roughly 40 men in the U.S. alive today who were born in 1908.
- In 1908, just 13 days before the Cubs beat the Tigers to win that year, the Ford Motor Co. unveiled the first Model T. It retailed for $850.
- In 1908, the world's tallest building was the Singer Building in Manhattan. It stood at all of 47 stories.
- In 1908, workers and engineers were about halfway through completing the Panama Canal.
- In 1908, Mother's Day was celebrated for the very first time.
- In 1908, there were only 46 states in these United States of America.
- In 1908, a man's life expectancy was 49.5 years. Today, it's 76.6.
- In 1908, if you wanted to watch the Cubs you had to buy a ticket. Baseball on radio started in 1921 and TV came around in 1939.
- In 1908, and if you did decide to watch a game, you were going to have to take the day off work. All baseball games were played in the day until the first night game in 1935.
- In 1908, women were not allowed to vote - that wrong was righted 12 years later in 1920.
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Voting rights indeed
In the span between Cubs' World Series wins, women landing the right to vote could very well lead us to next week when a woman is expected to be elected to the highest office in the land.
And if early voting around this area and in the state of Tennessee are any indication, next Tuesday will be a busy day at the polls.
According to the Tennessee secretary of state's office, a record number of 1,675,679 either voted early or have submitted absentee ballots across the state's 95 counties. That toppled the previous record set in the 2008 election of 1,579,960.
"I'm thrilled people are engaged and took advantage of the convenience of early voting," Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett said in a news release.
There were 73,793 early votes submitted in Hamilton County.
To those who have already voted, well done. To everyone else, remember that no matter how passionate you are for one candidate or against the other, if you don't vote your voice does not count. Polls in Tennessee are open Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and in Georgia it's 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343.