Then...and Now with Host Jon Shomo
Then... and Now Episode 45
>> Hi, everybody. Welcome and a very happy new year to you. This is John Shomo, host of Then and Now. This is episode 45 of our podcast. We've reached the end of 2024. It is New Year's Eve afternoon as we record here. So a happy new year again to everybody and a very, very prosperous 2025, let's hope. This time, this week, we will look at the facts for the week for January 3rd through the 9th. We will honor an incredible life in our topics. We will look at a local controversy that's brewing just about 30 miles north of here, and then we will ask for three good questions at the end, as we usually do. So let's get started. On January 3rd, 1925, that would be 100 years ago, Benito Mussolini declared himself Ilduche, dictator of Italy. Nothing good came from that, by the way, except the railroad tracks ran on time or whatever. The March of Dines was established to fight polio on January 3rd, 1938. There's another vaccine that worked, by the way, polio. Alaska was admitted as the 49th State of the Union on January 3rd, 1959. The Cleveland Cavaliers retired number 34 in honor of Austin Carr. On January 3rd, 1981, AC still around the area. Broadcasting legend as well as a great, great player. His pro career was cut short by knee injuries. But he still, I think, holds the record for most points scored in the NCAA men's basketball tournament in a game. I think he hit 60 against Ohio University when he was at Notre Dame. Anyway, happy birthday or happy retirement of your Jersey day to Austin Carr. Nick Saban resigned as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins to take the same job at the University of Alabama on January 3rd, 2007. That was a career altering move, for sure, for Coach Saban. Birthdays include the Beatles producer, the great George Martin, born January 3rd, 1926, often referred to as the fifth Beatle, you know, that's kind of trite. But he really had a lot of musical and engineering knowledge that the four guys didn't have, really, and they learned to rely on him, and he learned to trust them. And it was a match made in heaven, as they say, George Martin. Bobby Hall, the great Chicago Blackhawks superstar born January 3rd, 1939. David Stills will be 80 years old on January 3rd. John Paul Jones, bassist of Led Zeppelin, will be 79. Basketball Hall of Famer Cheryl Miller will be 61. And Eli Manning, two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback of the New York Football Giants, Eli Manning will be 44. January 4th, 1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state of the union. Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as the first-ever female speaker of the house on January 4th, 2007. Louis Braille, born on that date in 1809, invented the Braille alphabet for the blind. Hall of Fame coach with some local ties here, Don Schula, born January 4th, 1930, coached the Baltimore Colts and the Miami Dolphins, has the record still for professional football wins. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and a great author as well is 82. And Michael Stipe, the front man for REM, is 65. Moving on to January 5th, Sonny Bono, the half of the great song duo, Sonny and Cher, the easy for me to say, Sonny died while skiing. He ran into a tree literally and died on January 5th, 1998. At the time of his death, he was a U.S. congressman of all things. King Kemp Gillette, founder of the Gillette Company, born January 5th, 1855, former vice president of the late Walter Mondale, a great public servant, born January 5th, 1928, more about the president he served here in a few minutes. Brown's player and Steelers Hall of Fame coach Chuck Knoll, born January 5th, 1932. You know, the Steelers have had exactly three head coaches since the 1969 football season. Some teams have had three in about the last 15 minutes, it seems, right? Birthdays on January 5th include Diane Keaton, the great actress who will be 79. Governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, will be 78. Charlie Huff, the knuckleballer whom we saw our family saw at Cooperstown when we visited in 2002. We were roaming around one of the exhibits and there's Charlie Huff of all people. That was pretty cool. Happy birthday, Charlie. Hall of Famer, Alex English, doesn't get enough credit really for his basketball skills. Alex English will be 71 and actor Bradley Cooper will be 50. January 6th, that date has a whole different sound to it after what happened four years ago. The insurrection at the Capitol building by Trump supporters, I really just cannot believe that they got away with that. I just, you know, it's such a black mark in American history. I can't imagine, and it was such a disastrous thing to happen for our country. But anyway, there was four years ago now, the insurrection by Trump supporters at the Capitol. New Mexico became the 47th state on January 6th, 1912. Theodore Roosevelt passed away at his home at Oyster Bay, Long Island, January 6th, 1919. Birthdays include Joan of Arc, born January 6th, 1412. Hall of Fame pitcher spent a lot of his career with the Cleveland Indians early win winner of 300 games, born January 6th, 1920. Hall of Fame college football coach, coached in the pros a little bit too, Lou Holtz from East Liverpool, Ohio and Kent State will be 88. Hall of Fame player and current Fox studio analyst, Howie Long of the Raiders will be 65. The 2013 Heisman Trophy winner and current Cleveland Browns quarterback, James Winston. Happy birthday to him. He'll be 31. Buckeye linebacker, national champion, H.A. Hawk will be 41. Eric Trump, son of the soon-to-be once-again president, will be 41. Also, as will comedian and actress Kate McKinnon. That was very clever. She will be 41 as well. On January 7th, the Senate impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton began on January 7th, 1999. The 13th president, Millard Fillmore, born on that date in 1800. Aristotle Onassis, at the time he died, he was the richest man in the world. Also was married to Jacqueline Kennedy. Aristotle Onassis, born January 7th, 1906. Hall of Fame first baseman, Johnny Mise, born on that date in 1913. And actor Nicholas Cage will be 61 on January 7th. Moving forward to January 8th, the Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8th, 1815, unbeknownst to or ignored by the generals, depending on which version of history you read. The Americans under General Andrew Jackson gave the British a weapon at the Battle of New Orleans. A couple of weeks after they actually signed a peace treaty in Washington. Anyway, the Battle of New Orleans, January 8th, 1815. The 2006 National Championship game was played January 8th, 2007. And it was a disaster for the Ohio State Buckeyes. They were defeated by Urban Myers, Florida Gators, 41 to 14. Confederate General James Longstreet, born January 8th, 1821. Stephen Hawking, the scientist of Fabulous Mind, born January 8th, 1942. Hall of Fame relief picture, the late Bruce Souter, born on that date in 1953. Maybe you've heard of this next guy, Elvis Presley, Elvis Aaron Presley, born January 8th, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, and the rest is history, as they say. Robbie Krieger of the Doors, lead guitarist of the Doors, will be 79 on January 8th. The late great David Bowie, born January 8th, 1947. And North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un will be 42. Last but not least, a lot of happenings here on January 9th, Connecticut became the fifth state of the Union when it ratified the Constitution on January 9th, 1788. Mississippi seceded from the Union on January 9th, 1861. The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Milwaukee at the old Mecca, 120 to 104 on January 9th, 1972. That ended the Lakers 33 game win streak, which is still the regular season record in the NBA for a win streak. That Laker team went on and did win the NBA title, by the way. That's the longest win streak still in the big four North American pro sports hockey basketball, baseball or football. So the Milwaukee Bucks and then Lou Alcindor, as he was named then, put it put an end to that Lakers 33 game streak. Carrie Chapman Cat, the founder of the League of Women Voters. Carrie Chapman Cat, Chapman Cat, easy for me to say once again, born January 9th, 1859. The 37th president of the United States, Richard Millhouse Nixon, born near Yorba Linda, California, January 9th, 1913. You want to talk about a complicated legacy? There's one for you. Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr from the University of Alabama and the Green Bay Packers. Bart Starr was the winning starting quarterback in the first two Super Bowl games in the late 1960s. Bart Starr born January 9th, 1934. Bob Denver, the actor who is most known for his role as Gilligan in Gilligan's Island. Bob Denver, born January 9th, 1935. As was the legendary great, one of the all-time greats in my view, sports announcers, Dick Enberg, Miss Dick Enberg, hearing Dick Enberg, call big games. Dick Enberg was born on January 9th, 1935 as well. Joan Baez, who has a role in the new Bob Dylan film, I guess. Joan Baez will be 84. Jimmy Page, legendary guitarist of Led Zeppelin will be 81. Crystal Gale will be 74. Dave Matthews will be 58. The 2017 Masters Champion from Spain, Sergio Garcia, now on the Live Golf Tour. Sergio will be 45. And the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, will turn 43 on January 9th. There you have it. A lot of happenings there on that last day in particular. That's our rundown, our weekly rundown of birthdays and events and historical facts and so forth. All right, moving on. As you know, I'm sure President Jimmy Carter passed away earlier this week at the age of 100. He was an interesting president to have taught about in class for all those years, and interesting to have lived through as well. One of the most, I don't know, contradictory biographies in all of our history. I don't think there's been a better person ever occupy the White House than Jimmy Carter, a better human being. That did not translate necessarily into a successful presidency, however, we'll look at his ranking in a couple of minutes here in the latest C-SPAN Historians survey. His term was not among the most successful in my lifetime, it's easy to say. We had what was called stagflation, which is a combination of a stagnant economy and high inflation. That's a bad combination. There was a gasoline shortage. We were rationing gasoline literally here in Ohio at least in 1979. The Iranian hostage crisis starting November 4th of that year made him look weak on the international stage. He wasn't a weak person, but it gave the appearance of him being a weak leader. He attempted a failed rescue mission of the hostages in April 1980. Bad weather, malfunction happened, eight Americans were killed in that disaster. It just made things worse. He clawed for a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan was the last weekend of 1979. We hosted the 1980 Winter Games at Lake Placid, and Carter decided, I guess, recommended in the Olympic Committee went along with him, that we not send our athletes to Moscow for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games. That's a controversial decision. We often talked about that when I was teaching. On the one hand, you don't want to give Moscow any credit for anything after something like that. On the other hand, imagine that you were an athlete, trained your whole young life in your field of expertise, your sport, whatever it may be. Then you make the Olympic team, and then because of political reasons, you don't get to go and compete in the Olympics. The thing that you've actually been pointing toward all that time. That's a tough one. I've not really come down on either side of that ever since. It is apparent, by the way, speaking back to the failed rescue mission and the hostage crisis in Iran, it's apparent that there were some efforts by Carter's opponent in the 1980 campaign, the Ronald Reagan campaign, who urged Iran to keep the hostages until after the election. That has come forth in the years since. It's not that surprising. I wouldn't put it past them, but it contributed to Carter's defeat, certainly. If they did it on purpose, it succeeded. It's very crass and inhumane to do something like that for political purposes, but if that happens, so be it. Let's honor Jimmy Carter in the end as a man who, unlike a lot of people, lived his faith rather than just spouted off about it. He didn't have to sell $60 Bibles online to convince people of his faith. It's really, to me, opinion here, sad and ironic that the so-called religious right in our country demeaned Carter for the rest of his life, and now seemingly backs a convicted felon and sexual assault. I just can't get over things like that. Carter was the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2002. His ex-presidency, his post-presidency, as I referred to before, I think is the best in American history. He was a tireless worker for human rights, lent his hand to Habitat for Humanity numerous times, even when he was in his 90s, just a paragon of virtue in his life, the way he led his life. As to his rankings in the Presidential Historian Survey, just a background of that, C-SPAN gathers almost 100 authors, writers, historians, etc. Every time there is a change in the presidency and ranks all the presidents from best to worst in a number of categories, eight or nine different categories, and then they present an overall ranking of the presidents. They change a little bit every time. We learn more about people as time goes on or things that they did during their presidencies get viewed differently because of intervening events or so forth. Anyway, President Carter, in the latest C-SPAN Historian Survey, which was done in 2021, was the 26th ranked president among all 45 people who had been president, I guess. That's right about in the middle. His high grades were for pursuit equal justice for all, he was ranked fifth in that category, and moral authority, which is certainly apropos, he was ranked seventh in that. His low rankings came for economic management, he was 37th, crisis leadership, and public persuasion. He was 35th in each of those categories. I think those are very accurate, really, in my opinion. But Jimmy Carter, his funeral will be, his state funeral will be January 9th. Our flags aren't half mass now for 30 days, as has happened for the death of any president or ex-president, certainly in my lifetime, which means that the flags will be half massed over the Capitol Building on Inauguration Day. That's a little interesting sidebar there. But salute to Jimmy Carter, a life well-lived. As I said, not a tremendously successful four-year term as president, but a successful 100-year term as a human being, that's for sure. Moving on, a quick change of topics here. The Cleveland Browns, they're heading towards three and 14. They have one game left as we record here. It's in Baltimore this coming Saturday. They'll probably lose. How many of the following people, three people, will still be employed by the team in 2025? I give you Kevin Stefanski, Barry and Deep Podesta. I say one. I say that Barry and Deep Podesta will be let go and Stefanski will still be head coach. We'll see about that prediction. Now, here's the part I really hate. Here in Northeast Ohio, when the Browns stink, and that's more often than not, there is a four-month period where talk radio, sports talk radio in this part of the country, is endlessly speculating about who the Browns are going to take with their very high draft choice. That's such a loser mentality in my mind. I hate it. I can't stand it. Yeah, we got the second or third draft choice. You got the second and third draft choice because you sucked on the field. That's why I can't deal with that. I just won't listen. That was that. Anyway, you're just awful, awful season, awful team right now. They need a lot rather than a quarterback. You're draft a quarterback and there's nothing around them. Anyway, enough about that. Now, on a side note for the Browns, the mayor of Cleveland, Justin Bib announced yesterday, as we record, that the city of Cleveland is going to invoke something called the Modell Law, which I completely forgot about until he brought it up yesterday. The Modell Law was passed in the wake, as you might imagine, of Art Modell stealthily moving the Browns out of Cleveland to Baltimore after the 1995 season. Here's what it said. I had to look it up today. The Modell Law passed by the Ohio General Assembly in 1996 said, and I quote, "No Ohio professional sports team owner playing in a tax-supported stadium can go elsewhere without having an agreement with the city where it plays or unless that city is given six months advance notice with an opportunity to buy the team." That's complicated. In other words, Cleveland can invoke this law and put the Haslams on a clock and they must give somebody else the opportunity to buy the team and keep it in Cleveland, in other words. Or the owners, the Haslams would have to have an make an agreement with the city, with that they can move, if in other words, and that's probably not going to happen. The legal system, as it does with anything else, the Sixth Amendment be damned. The legal system will slow the process to a crawl. For those of you that don't remember the Sixth Amendment promises a speedy trial, that's been forgotten about, hasn't it? The legal system will slow the process to a crawl. I don't know where this will go, but it's quite a threat for the city of Cleveland to throw at the Haslams. Let me tell you this. If the Browns got a new owner, I'd be thrilled. They stink. It's time for a rant here. They stink as owners. They're awful. They got us in this predicament with the Deshaun Watson contract and Harry and Deep Podesta went along with it, but they're awful owners. The sooner they're out of here, the better, in my view, but I don't know how long this is going to take and what it's going to look like in the end. I really don't care one way or another if the Browns play in downtown Cleveland or in Brook Park. They're still right there in Kaga County in Northeast Ohio. That's what matters the most to me. But it's an interesting little sidebar, isn't it? Anyway, enough about that little deal. It's an exciting time in football other than the Browns. The college football playoff is underway. New Year's Eve has one game. New Year's Day has three. You can head over to our college football podcast, The Fifth Quarter, which is also found on Spotify. If you want to hear more discussion about college football and all those things, that's The Fifth Quarter podcast on Spotify. Okay, I think that's going to do it for 2024, for episode 45 of Then and Now. Thanks to all of you who have become loyal listeners of the podcast. I'm really thrilled that folks listen in and I really, really appreciate the feedback. I appreciate all of you. Hope you have a great 2025. Let's make it the best year we can. I'm John Shomo. Happy New Year, everybody. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening. You