You will hear a LOT at TBOX about going WIRE TO WIRE and the
slogan of the TBOX class of 2009 you will see on your badges says "Wirum to
Wirum" -- what does it all mean? Quite simply, to go from beginning to
end, from Bar 1 to Bar 12, and all bars in between; to "go all the way", to
"fully commit", to go "all in", to block off the entire day, to get up early, to
stay out late, to eschew all other commitments, throw caution to the wind, and
face every challenge thrown at you. A typical conversation I would have in
the late 90s and early 00s might go:
Chris: So are you going to TBOX?
Friend; You Bet!
Chris: Are you going Wire to Wire?
Friend: Huh?
Anyway, if you choose not to go WTW, no one's forcing you,
but the way TBOX started, it was a much more casual, kinda, drop-in when you get
a chance, have a drink, kinda thing. Which was fine. But at the first TBOX, and
at a # of the smaller bar crawls I used to have, I'd often find myself ALONE at
the first bar, and maybe even alone the 2nd bar... people would just have a
natural tendency to show up "fashionably late" or "when things got going" -
understandable. And of course, the one time I did NOT show up at Bar #1 of my
own Bar Crawl, I got a ton of complaints from people who showed up to a
Chris-less bar. So I had to figure out a way to resolve this nettlesome
situation...
I had a friend back in the 90s who I used to go to a lot of
Cubs game with, who of all things, was a Cincinnati Reds fan. Always
looking to rib me about the Cubs, he bragged about how the 1990 World Champion
Reds not only won the World Series but were in first place every day of the
season, from Game 1 to 162, and he always used to say, "90 Reds, Wire to Wire,
Wire to Wire, Baby!" (I just verified that
here) -- annoying, yes, but the phrase stuck in my head, and around TBOX3,
1998, I started pressuring people, "You gotta go wire to wire, baby!" And
at Bar 1 of TBOX3, there were 100 people ready to go, and I never had to worry
about people not showing up early again. And whereas TBOX1 started @ 4pm
and people thought THAT was early, TBOX2009 will be starting at EIGHT-THIRTY AM
to a Full House! And yes, it is a fact, that "the herd thins greatly" by
closing time, but, you'll have that...
So anyway, starting, I think, TBOX10, Former Now-Deposed #2
For Life Fred, said, "Hey, why don't we actually GIVE people WIRE!!!" So I
decided to give people GREEN wire at Bar 1 and RED wire for Bar 12... and over
the past few years, we've handed these out to the crowd. One note > IT IS
NOT LICORICE. DO NOT EAT IT. Just keep it as a souvenir that you survived
the longest day and went all the way... and, yes, it's a bit of an honor
system... technically, you could go to Bar 1, go home and watch TV for 12 hours,
and show up at Bar 12... but why would you?! :)
Someone Who Went All The Way @ TBOX12
A TBOX2008 Wire-to-Wire'r!
Fresh Green Wire
The Aftermath of Going Wire to Wire, 2007
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