And then I wrote...

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that during three decades of writing hundreds of obituaries and seven decades of reading thousands, the phrase that the deceased “was a fan of the Chicago Cubs and the Iowa Hawkeyes” was often repeated. Once in a while there would be a Yankee or Iowa State fan, but much less often.

In all those years, not since I sat on the front porch with my barber J.B. Swain at his West Main home and listened to Cubs games on radio in the early 1940s, had the Cubs advanced to the World Series. That was accomplished the year I moved from the neighborhood to a new part of town, 1945. The Cubs lost to the Detroit Tigers.

Not a lot has changed. There are undoubtedly thousands of Iowans who were among those rejoicing Saturday night when the Cubs won the National League championship pennant. Many fans, and I knew a lot of them personally, did not live to see that happen. There might have been some seismic activity as they rolled over in their graves in joy Saturday.

Oh, by the way, things went the opposite way for the Hawkeyes that same day. The offense was totally inept against Wisconsin, the passing game in particular. I realize it takes a passer and a receiver to complete a pass, and the latter have not proven to be an effective corps this season. But I wonder if, just maybe, like Samson in the Bible, C.J. Beathard lost his quarterback powers when he lost his flowing golden locks.

Now, the Hawks will probably be underdogs in at least three of their final four games, maybe all four. After a 12-win season a year ago, the Hawks have to win one more to even be eligible for any sort of a bowl game.

And their number one recruit, seeing what is happening this season, Sunday said he had changed his mind and would not be coming to Iowa.

Candidate Donald Trump says the election is rigged against him. I don’t think that is true, although his opponent is the darling of the national media even with her faults.

The one place it could be true is in the area of absentee voting by mail. I learned recently of a case where a young, college educated woman, listening to an aged relative who said she was probably not even going to vote, encouraged her to cast an absentee ballot, saying she would help her. I don’t know the extent of that help, but it could have gone so far as to actually marking the ballot, couldn’t it?

I remember from my days as editor hearing from a resident of a nursing home that a quasi-governmental employee had visited and offered to help residents vote absentee. He did so after extolling the virtues of the government service his job provided, which was a service not favored by the opposition party. I called him, as editor, and asked about the charge. He denied it.

The resident insisted it was true.

I don’t know.

But it could have been.