108 Years of Glitches
As defined in class, a glitch is a short-lived fault or malfunction in the system. Glitch is the production and exploitation of “errors.” Glitches are inevitable mistakes that some times can create beautiful results. For sake of this project, I would like to view glitches in a less literal way. Our lives are full of glitches, mistakes, that some times create beautiful results. The Chicago Cubs are my favorite professional sports team and there is no doubt that they have encountered a plethora of glitches through out the last 108 years. Through a collection of glitch art, I will display a timeline of glitches the Chicago Cubs have faced while also exploring the evolution and advancements in technology.
The Chicago Cubs defeated the Detroit Tigers four out of five games to become the World Series Champions of 1908. This was just the fifth World Series in history. No one had any idea that this would be the last World Series Championship for the Cubs for the next 108 years. Aside from baseball, 1908 made some serious advancements in technology. The year started off with a bang, when the ball dropped in Times Square for the first time signifying the new year. Henry Ford released his first edition of the Model T automobile and railroads swept the country. Transportation in the sky continue to prosper as the the Wright Brothers were determined to fly across the country. Communication increased amongst people due to the telegraph and telephone. Cities became taller as more and more skyscrapers were being built. Overall, Americans were thriving in 1908 and were happy to be alive. America was becoming a dominant country in the world catching up to Germany and Great Britain. There were so many changes in transportation and communication, inventors were motivated to continue to make America the most innovative country in the world. America continued to thrive for the next ten years until the economy took a turn for the worst and the country entered a stage of severe depression.
This was the Cubs third World Series appearance within 10 years. Unfortunately, they all resulted in the same way: a loss. Talk about glitches. I wish I could say that the Cubs were the only people to face a huge loss in 1929…. but that is far from the case. Prior to the economic catastrophe in 1929, Americans and their technology prospered in what is known as the “roaring twenties.” This was an era of innovation. Radios became extremely popular as nearly 60 percent of households owned one. People listened to radios more often to gather news or be entertained by stories rather than using them to listen to music. In the late twenties radios were found in cars as well. The radio had a huge impact on baseball as well. Previously, the only way to know what happened in a game was to physically go and attend the game or what for the results to be published in the newspaper. With the invention of radio, now fans could tune and listen to very favorite team play with out actually attending the ball game. Fans became more loyal and dedicated to their beloved baseball teams. Although radios added a lot of positivity to the world, they, like every form of technology, had a few glitches of their own. The most significant problem with radios during the twenties was the inaccuracy of stations. Stations could be perfectly clear at one moment and then the next would be all fuzzy. This is still a problem is todays world, no one really ever knows when a radio signal will fail to work. Anyway, back to the 1920's….Silent movies gained popularity and going to the movie theater was one of the most common ways people entertained themselves in the 1920’s. Women gained way more opportunities in the 1920’s. In 1920, women received the right to vote. During this era women were able to have white-collar jobs and were able to express themselves in new ways that were looked down upon previous generations. All good things must come to an end, and the Roaring twenties definitely came to abrupt end: the crashing of the stock market which put the entire globe in an economic depression.
After surviving the worst economic downfall in history and after winning a long fought world war, it seems like things were finally starting to turn around for the better for Americans. This was not the case for the Chicago Cubs. It was game four of the World Series and security at Wrigley Field had a very peculiar request. Mr. William Sianis, the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, had brought his pet goat, Murphy, to the ballpark and wanted to bring him inside. Security was like no way Mr. Sianis there’s not pets allowed inside the stadium. A very upset Mr. Sianis called Mr.Wrigley himself requesting that Murphy should be able to enter the stadium. Mr. Wrigley responded a little aggressively by saying that Mr. Sianis could enter the stadium but Murphy could not because he stinks! A fuming Mr. Sianis was very unpleased with this response. Mr. Sianis was so angry that he cursed the Chicago Cubs and said
Sure enough the Cubs lost game four and they ended up losing the whole series. After the lost, Mr. Sianis sent Mr.Wrigley a telegram stating “Who stinks now?” This curse wasn’t just some superstition, it was an actual curse. Yet again, just another glitch the Chicago Cubs organization had to face. For the next 20 years, the Cubs finished the season at 5th place or worse with no World Series championship in sight. This post-curse rut caused the Cubs to adopt the phrase “Wait til next year.” Even though the Cubs suffered some major loses in 1945, technology was making some huge advancements. Radio was the still the primary machine for entertainment, gathering news, and of course listening to baseball games. However, there was a new form communication that had not been accepted yet by most Americans: the television. By 1945, only 5,000 households had televisions. They were the latest technology and only upper-class families could purchase them. The best part about televisions was that one could actually WATCH their favorite team play baseball. It’s one thing to listen to a baseball game… but actually being able to watch it is a whole other level. So now fans could watch the games live from the comfort of their own homes physically being able to see what actually happened throughout the game. Yet again, this technology came with its own glitches. First of all, televisions at this point in time, were luxury items so not every family could afford one. Next, TV stations wouldn’t run all day so the station would run test patterns on televisions when they weren’t running broadcasts or shows. The monitor on the television that actually produced the image was only 10–15 inches wide so a pretty small viewing space. Also, the television signal was fluctuant. Especially in rural areas, televisions would produce very fuzzy images but people were still satisfied with this innovative machine. Another huge advancement in technology was the assembly of the world’s first general purpose digital computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer (ENIAC). This computer was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania, it took up nearly 1800 square feet and weighed almost 50 tons. It’s amazing to think that years later the computer would be turned into a mobile smart phone that weighs less 5 ounces. Technology is a beautiful thing.
Nearly 40 years since the Chicago Cubs got cursed by the Billy Goat and and still no World Series Championship ring… Holy Glitch. In hopes to create some positive vibes for the Cubbies, Steve Goodman created the iconic song “Go Cubs Go.” Similar to how a record skips and glitches, the Cubs faced some tough obstacles in their 1984 season. The franchise attempted to make amends with their curse-giving four-legged friend. The Cubs invited Sam Sianis, nephew of William Sianis and now the owner of Billy Goat Tavern, and his goat to opening day at Wrigley Field where the goat actually got to walk on the grass of the stadium. Sam and his goat were honored to finally be accepted into Wrigley Field and Sam raised his hat saying “The curse is lifted.” The Cubbies started their 1984 season on fire, winning many of their games. This powerful start continued through the rest of the season where they finished first in their division. The Cubs played the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series, where they were beating the Padres 3 games to 0, but all the games thus far were held at Wrigley. The Cubs headed for California but forgot two very important individuals in Chicago, Sam and his goat. Needless to say, the Cubs lost this series and still remained cursed by the Billy Goat. Just another glitch to overcome.
Before I can talk about the technology of 1984 here is some essential computer and “internet” history before 1984 from livescience.com:
“ 1965: Two computers at MIT Lincoln Lab communicate with one another using packet-switching technology.
1968: Beranek and Newman, Inc. (BBN) unveils the final version of the Interface Message Processor (IMP) specifications. BBN wins ARPANET contract.
1969: On Oct. 29, UCLA’s Network Measurement Center, Stanford Research Institute (SRI), University of California-Santa Barbara and University of Utah install nodes. The first message is “LO,” which was an attempt by student Charles Kline to “LOGIN” to the SRI computer from the university. However, the message was unable to be completed because the SRI system crashed.
1972: BBN’s Ray Tomlinson introduces network email. The Internetworking Working Group (INWG) forms to address need for establishing standard protocols.
1973: Global networking becomes a reality as the University College of London (England) and Royal Radar Establishment (Norway) connect to ARPANET. The term Internet is born.
1974: The first Internet Service Provider (ISP) is born with the introduction of a commercial version of ARPANET, known as Telenet.
1974: Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn (the duo said by many to be the Fathers of the Internet) publish “A Protocol for Packet Network Interconnection,” which details the design of TCP.
1976: Queen Elizabeth II hits the “send button” on her first email.
1983: The Domain Name System (DNS) establishes the familiar .edu, .gov, .com, .mil, .org, .net, and .int system for naming websites. This is easier to remember than the previous designation for websites, such as 123.456.789.10.”
1984 was a year to remember in the computer world. One of the most legendary things happened in 1984: Apple released its Macintosh computer. Not only did Apple just launch this state-of-the-art computer but they created one of the most iconic commercials of all time. This Macintosh computer and the commercial were made to distinguish the quality and uniqueness of Apple products over IBM products, Apple’s biggest competitor at the time. It’s super interesting to think that people who originally bought Apple products were hipsters or wanted to be unique, whereas today Apple is the most mainstream company globally. Not only were new computers released in 1984 but many other software systems and memory saving systems were created that forever changed computers. In this year, CD-ROMs and CompacTape were invented. The term “cyberspace” was coined by William Gibson in his novel Neuromancer. Gibson define cyberspace as “A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts… A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding…”
Computers and internet were not the only technological advancements in this era. Television and cable were almost as common as refrigerators in American households in 1984. Now almost every TV had color and had larger viewing screens than 10–15 inch screen that the original television sets had. Due to cable television, there were specialized sports stations like ESPN. This allowed for baseball fanatics to eat, sleep, and consume statistics like never before. Baseball players, fans, and statisticians now had a new appreciation for stats thanks to computers for making it easy to record them and thanks to television to easily displaying stats about each player as they are up to bat. Also, because of stations like ESPN if fans missed the game they could easily find recaps of the games on these stations and definitely see the big plays of the game. Overall, cable television and computers allowed fans and people in general to really have a whole new perspective about baseball. Now, people made careers being baseball analysts and broadcasters on ESPN and such like stations.
Steve Bartman. This could possibly be the most hated man in Cubs franchise history. It was Game 6 of the National League World Series and the Cubs were leading the Florida Marlins three games to two. This game was being played at Wrigley Field and Bartman was sitting on the left field foul line. The Cubs were beating the Marlins the entire game and only needed 5 more outs to go to the World Series, until the infamous Bartman incident occurred. One of the Marlin’s player hit a high pop-up to left field and this was when Steve Bartman decided to reach over the wall and grab the ball. If Bartman had not touched the ball, Cubs’ left fielder Moises Alou could have easily caught the ball and the Cubs would have only needed one more out to end the inning. After Bartman touched the ball, the Marlins proceeded to take advantage of the Cubs and won Game 6 of the NLCS. Bartman had to be escorted out of the stadium for his safety. Although I was only seven when this event occurred I remember it very vividly. Ironically enough, my family and I were in Florida for vacation when this game was happening. All I remember was my mom, a diehard Cubs fan, screaming and cursing at the TV and then crying when they lost the game. Just hearing the name Steve Bartman brings tears to her eyes. In all honesty, Bartman wasn’t the sole reason why the Cubs lost Game 6 or why the lost the NLCS, Cubs fans just always need to have a scape“goat.” The 2003 Steve Bartman catastrophe was yet again, another glitch the Cubbies encountered.
In 2003, Americans were fascinated with the internet and mobile phones. According to the US Census of 2003, it claimed that in 1984 only 8.2% of households owned computers and almost no household had internet access, fast forward to 2003 and 61.8% of households owned a computer and 54.7% had internet access. Now that the majority of American households had access to a computer and internet, people began to spend a tremendous more time in front of the monitors. Google got its official domain (google.com) back in 1997, but by 2000 nearly Google searches were made by 18 million per day. By 2003, advertisers saw the potential consumers they could reach via Google, hence Google launched Adsense. Not only could uses Google things but by 2003 ESPN and Major League Baseball had their own sites as well. These sites and Google really allowed for fans to uncover limitless information about statistics and the history of their favorite sports teams. Also, social networking was on the rise this year. The precursors to social networking sites we know today were definitely BBS and AOL. Both of these sites allowed for users to communicate with each other via the web and create a sense of community. Social networking sites continued to evolve with the creation of Sixdegrees.com and Friendster, an online community that connects people through networks of friends for dating or making new friends. In 2003 there were a few major social networking sites that sprouted up: LinkedIn, a professional network, and MySpace, what I consider to be the truly original social networking site. With all these digital networking sites popping up, people could talk to others located on the other side of the world without even knowing what they look like or even if they were telling the truth about their identities. People have never been able to connect so easily before since all the communication being done on these sites were completed behind a computer monitor. This was just the beginning of social media.
Cell phones were becoming more innovative and more companies were deciding to join the cell phone industry. Nokia dominated the beginning era of the cell phone industry stating in 1995, but this phone was basically still a brick with an antenna. Cell phone innovation was moving rapidly and it seemed like every year cell phones were getting smaller, more colorful, more tools being added (like cameras), and overall just more useful. By 2003, cell phones were being well adopted by adults and most people felt the need to buy one. Cell phones with internet weren’t yet in the picture but it wouldn’t be too much longer until the first one was invented.
2015 was the final glitchy season for the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs, a very youthful, versatile team, started the season off with high expectations after a very successful spring training. Due to a very competitive division, the Cubs did not a land a guaranteed spot in the playoffs, but they did end up on the wildcard. The Cubbies defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Wildcard game that advanced them to the National League Division Series where the faced long-time rival the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs and Cardinals had very similar regular season records, but it was the team from Chicago that came out on top. The Cubs progressed to the National League Championship Series where the faced another rival team, the New York Mets. Unfortunately, this was the series the Cubs “glitched.” The Mets defeated the Cubs in four straight wins leaving the Cubs one series shy of the World Series. Cubs fans still believe in the motto “Wait til next year.”
Smartphones revolutionized the world we live in today. A phone with internet. Genius. Smartphones have been in the making since 1992. The first smart phones weren’t widely accepted until mid 2000’s. The industry leaders were HP, HTC, Nokia, Blackberry, Samsung, Motorola, and Audiovox. People gravitated towards these new smartphones because the liked the option of having their email and internet browser in the palm of their hand. Of course it wasn’t until Apple launched the iPhone in 2007 that forever changed the meaning of a smartphone. The original iPhone was nothing like anything before its time. In article from pocketnow.com it describes the first ever iPhone as, “It had a large color display with a capacitive digitizer, and its user interface was finally finger-friendly. And unlike phones before it, the iPhone had only one button on its face — the Home button — and three around its edges, two for volume up/down and one for power/standby. Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS, was still very basic at the time, but it was the first glimpse into the new, modern mobile smartphone operating systems we know and love today.” The iPhone was sleek, modern, innovative, yet had a very simple operating system which made it very appealing to consumers. Apple really set the standards with smartphones and competitors tried and are still trying to make a product that will surpass the iPhone.
With the acceptance and outbreak of smartphones, came applications and social media. Social media really took off in 2004 when Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook which was initially just for Harvard students but it blossomed into a global networking site with nearly 1.86 billion users each day. Facebook was just the beginning of social media. Along came Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Google Plus, Snapchat, and the list goes on and on. People were connected through these applications via their smartphones. I have personally seen what I like to call the “down affect.” This meaning that people, especially millennials who were born with advanced technology, spend so much time looking at their phones scrolling through social media life passes them by. It has become a habit that we can most likely never get rid off. We love our smart phones, we love our wifi, and we need this feeling of always being connected virtually. Social media in my opinion is definitely a blessing and a curse. It’s absolutely amazing that I can be connected with people literally across the entire world and know what they are doing. I love being able to post photographs and being all to express myself in writing through these networking sites. I love that I can follow people like Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell and truly feel like I know them because of what they post. However, these sites come with their own glitches. One huge glitch is that one truly never knows who they’re talking to over social media. People create fake accounts and catfishing is a real thing. This leads to trust issues and self-esteem issues that can turn into to actual long-term problems. Cyber-bullying is a real thing as well. Growing up in this digital era, I am lucky to have never been associated or affected with cyber-bullying but kids have committed suicide due to the negative things people post on social media. Social media definitely has its pros and cons, but for kids in my generation I don’t think it something we could ever live with out.
As the internet became more and more advanced the government and marketers began to track user’s browser history. People are so willing to tell Google and Facebook their personal information with out even considering the consequences. The internet which seemed like one crazy, mind-blowing idea in its origin has turned into a pile of irrelevant Big Data. Marketers and researchers attempt to gather internet user’s information and group complete strangers together based upon similar web activity. People fail to realize that almost every web search they make is being tracked. Just by doing this assignment through out the semester, I have gotten numerous ads to buy Cubs tickets and Cubs apparel even on Instagram I get promoted advertisements about Cubs gear that I don’t even realize are advertisements because they are similar to the accounts I follow. Big Data has some big glitches and privacy is the largest one.
November 2, 2016 a day I will never forget. The Chicago Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the World Series. This was one of the most legendary World Series games in MLB history. After 108 years, being cursed by a goat, and facing countless amount of glitches the Chicago Cubs were finally World Series Champions. This is proof that glitches can create beautiful results.
As technology continues to advance, there will always be glitches. In this paper I have explained how technology has evolved and how it has had a huge affect as something as small as the game of baseball. Each advancement in technology has brought the fans closer to the actual baseball players and fans have fell in love with the game again. Technology is not perfect, and neither are our lives, we will all face glitches and obstacles but sometimes those glitches can create beautiful results.
Works Cited
https://www.brainyhistory.com/years/1908.html
https://www.tellwut.com/surveys/sports/103233-go-cubs-go.html
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1908-7683115/
http://www.cubsbythenumbers.com/score29ws.html
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug00/3on1/radioshow/1920radio.htm
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1945.html
https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/1984/
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1984.html
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/22/us/chicago-cubs-steve-bartman/
https://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p23-208.pdf
http://www.datesandevents.org/events-timelines/18-google-timeline.htm
https://www.digitaltrends.com/features/the-history-of-social-networking/
