Luke’s Locker Room
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56,609,280 minutes. 943,488 hours. 39,312 days. 5,616 weeks. 108 years. 1 championship.
The Chicago Cubs are the 2016 MLB World Series Champions after their dramatic Game 7 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
And what a Game 7 it was. Momentum swung back and forth between teams as the Indians rallied back to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth before the Cubs scored two in the 10th to win.
That game was the epitome of what a Game 7 in sports should be. Two great teams, a fantastic finish in an epic atmosphere and lots of new babies born in Chicago nine months from now.
Let’s also not discount the Cleveland Indians here. A lot of people only pay attention to the Cubs and their World Series drought but fail to realize the Indians haven’t won the World Series since 1948.
Imagine waiting 108 years for your favorite professional team to win a championship. I cannot imagine the agony die-hard fans of any professional team could feel if their favorite team did not win a title in their lifetime.
I admire the real Cubs fans who stuck it out when the Cubs were terrible — the fans who bought season tickets to Wrigley even when they knew the Cubs performance that season was not going to be worth the price of admission.
At least they had the 1985 Bears and Michael Jordan in the 90s to win some titles for the city.
I had the opportunity to go to a game at Wrigley Field this past summer with my dad for Father’s Day. From the moment we got into Chicago, it was obvious that city loves the Cubs.
To demonstrate the agony that comes with not winning a championship in forever, there is a Tumblr page called “sincethecubswon.” That should be a clear enough sign of how desperate Cubs fans became to win the series.
There were only 16 Major League teams when the Cubs won in 1908. The unofficial anthem of baseball, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” had just been released.
Republican William Howard Taft was running against Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryant in the presidential election. Don’t worry, that’s all the politics this column will contain for the rest of the academic year.
There were no African-Americans playing baseball in 1908. That didn’t change until Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers in 1947.
The 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote was not ratified at the time.
According to Business Insider, the average life expectancy of a man living in 1908 was 49.5 years. Today it is 76.6 years.
According to Bleacher Report, an accountant in 1908 earned about $2,000 a year, a dentist $2,500, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000, and a mechanical engineer earned around $5,000.
Compare that to today, where first baseman Albert Pujols made $154,321 per game he played in the 2012 season with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Sweet tea was not around in 1908, and doctors believed they could use heroin and morphine to help treat their patients.
You couldn’t order a glass of sweet tea, but you could get all the morphine and heroin that you wanted over the counter at your local drug store.
As you can see, a lot has changed in the century since the Cubs last won the World Series.
But one thing is for sure: J. Cole went platinum with no features.
Fly the W.
Dillard is the sports editor.