E. A. Blair: November 2008 Archives
Before I get to anything else today I would like to take this opportunity to recognize a little something special for us here at memeticians. We are celebrating our one year anniversary today! I speak for all of us when I say thank you, a million times over thank you, to our tiny little world of readers out there. I'd like to thank Joe and Tim for all their time and hard work into what we do here and the support they have given me. And to Hank, our life saver and site admin. There are absolutely no words that could be used to express just what Hank means to this little world. Simply put, without him we would absolutely, positively, NOT be here today. He is our MVP. So to those of you reading along at home, thank you from all of us here at memeticians.
~ Joe, Gerard, Tim and Hank
Lucy van Pelt: Charlie Brown! Oh, Charlie Brown!Charlie Brown: I can't believe it. She must think I'm the most stupid person alive.
LVP: Come on Charlie Brown. I'll hold the ball and you kick it.
CB: Hold it? Ha! You'll pull it away and I'll land flat on my back and kill myself!
LVP: But Charlie Brown, it's Thanksgiving!
CB: What's that got to do with anything?
LVP: Well one of the greatest traditions we have is the Thanksgiving Day Football Game. And the biggest, most important tradition of all is the kicking off of the football.
CB: Is that right?
LVP: Absolutely! Come on Charlie Brown it's a big honor for you.
CB: Well if it's that important a person should never turn down a big honor. Maybe I should do it. Besides, she wouldn't try to trick me on a traditional holiday. This time I'm gonna kick that football clear to the moon! AAUGH!
LVP: Isn't it peculiar Charlie Brown how some traditions just slowly fade away?
And so begins A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. This year Lucy doesn't know just how right she is, some traditions just slowly fade away. This year, for the first time in as long as I can remember, there will be no annual Thanksgiving Day Football Game. It has slowly faded away.
The yearly circumstances may not always be the same, but the annual game is a highlight of the holiday season for thousands to millions across the country. The details of your particular game may change from year to year but any steady (read: yearly) participant can trace the evolution of his game from the years spent playing neighborhood kids in the biggest yard amongst you in grade school to its move to the local football field and expansion to include high school friends from surrounding areas. Then your 20's hit and only a select group could be counted on so cross town games would merge into a super game pitting 11 v 11 full field battles of tackle football with accompanying subs. The soreness would last for days and one person would always end up with some sort of quasi serious injury but it was the best of times.
After a couple of years though, the numbers would begin to dwindle. At first it's mostly laziness that comes with age. Partying on Thanksgiving Eve gives way to sleeping in and missing games. Some get married and head to the in-laws or have children and can't escape for 3 hours on such a hectic morning. While others plain and simply can't risk the potential injury that comes with playing pad-less tackle football with grown men. Whatever the reason the game begins to show signs of weakness, chinks in its armor.
The younger neighborhood kids show up early and get the good field. Instead of 25 willing and able bodied participants your group shrinks to 15 and those who do make it show up later and later. Once the game does start you are repeatedly calling your buddy, the one guy you would have never thought would miss a game, wondering where he is. 2 hours later he finally arrives but the writing is on the wall. Your game is not the same.
The next year plans change. In lieu of tackle you switch to flag football. A less violent option hoping to entice some no shows from the previous years and hold on to those you've got left. But alas, disaster strikes. Only 8 men show up. It's a horribly depressing moment. You may even start to feel embarrassed. You can hardly field one team. The younger neighborhood kids show up 50 strong, an army larger then anything you've seen, and immediately break into TWO full fledged 11 v 11 games. And a sinking feeling begins to wash over you. This is it. The magical days of Thanksgiving Day Football games are over. You join the army of 50 and play anyway but it's not the same. The familiar faces are gone. The yearly grudge matches and fights have been replaced with disputes between unrecognizable foes and over unknown commodities. The trash talk and banter takes a back seat to silently trying to do your best, to show the younger and faster opponents that your experience in these yearly battles has given you that intangible something that keeps you competitive. When a memorable moment does happen you give a slight nod to your friend, momentarily remembering years gone by perhaps harkening back to that time years ago when skulls collided with a crack loud enough for all to hear or the infamous 'wishbone drive'. But while that intangible something that keeps you competitive still breathes, it's that intangible something which you get from battling with your friends that has burned out. It is the worst of times indeed.
The following year it's suggested, "let us do something different this year" and the apathy with which the suggestion is presented to, let alone received by, the masses is appalling to you. The suggestion itself is not even a 'group' oriented event that would keep all participants together as football did. What's worse is that at the mere suggestion of another attempt at football you are meet with derision and scorn by some. It's a twist of fate that your younger self would never see coming and that your older self struggles to deal with.
As I'm sure you can tell by now, this isn't a tale of fiction. Unfortunately it is a turn of events that is all too real. But I'm not ready for alternatives just yet. So if you need me on Thanksgiving morning you can find me at the local field trying to keep up with the 22 year olds and hopefully avoiding serious injury. In the words of Lucy van Pelt, "One of the greatest traditions we have is the Thanksgiving Day Football Game." It's a big honor.
Our very own Timothy remarked to me after the election that he was feeling a bit of an election hangover. The, at times, overwhelming coverage by the media, the constant barrage of advertising by the candidates, and the unavoidable bar stool debates with co-workers, friends and family were all over. The seemingly empty space left behind once the election was over could leave even the most politically conscious among us feeling a bit foggy and lost at times. But if there is one thing that this election may very well leave as a legacy, it's that it has rejuvenated a large portion of the American public's interest in national and global politics.
Based on James' comment to the previous post I have created three new graphs.
The first is the same as my original graph but with the total voter turnout percentage added as a fourth data set. As James requested. What's interesting here is the decline in voter interest after the 1968 election. Coinciding with the third party Wallace losing rather badly to Nixon and Humphrey. Interest seemed to level off until the Perot affect in 1992 only to drop again in 1996 and 2000. Perhaps voters are truly turned off by the lack of a viable third party to contend on a regular basis and need something as drastic as the G. W. Bush Administration to come running back to the booths as evident in '04 and '08. Obama may carry voting rates above recent historical rates in 2012 but I wouldn't be surprised to see voter turnout drop to the high 40% - low 50% range either then or subsequently.
On the day following the election Heading East did a little analysis of the Presidential Elections since 1960 using total votes cast. An interesting graph to say the least. See below.
