WEBVTT - Merry Christmas Eve 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.720 Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College, All Things 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.280 Hillsdale at Hillsdale dot ed or I encourage you to 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:08.800 take advantage of the many free online courses there, and 0:00:08.840 --> 0:00:11.119 of course I'll listen to the Hillsdale dialogues, all of 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:14.080 them at Q for Hillsdale dot com or just Google, 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:17.880 Apple iTunes and Hillsdale Morning. 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:19.920 Glory and even Grace America. 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.560 Merry Christmas Eve, twenty twenty five. I'm here you at 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:28.240 live in the studio. Not a lot of news today, 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:32.040 and that's fine. People are out busy getting to their families, 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:38.520 getting the last minute Christmas preparations ready, cooking dinner, getting 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:41.560 ready to go to midnight Mass or church services. Many 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:43.720 of you are coming back from the four o'clock service. 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:46.200 They're getting ready to come to the four o'clock service 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:49.400 where the kids will do the reenactment of the Manger scene. 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.400 Have a wonderful Christmas Eve. Be careful where there is snow. 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.400 There lost snow in Maine and up in the Northern Tier, 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:01.400 but in California it's a nightmare reign like you have 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:05.000 not seen in a long time. And just be careful 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:09.080 as you go doing in feud a grandmother's house, don't 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:11.520 slide off the street, be aware of bud slides and 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:15.720 all that other stuff. I wanted to begin today on 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:21.120 Christmas Eve by reminding you that Christians are celebrating hope. 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:27.399 They're celebrating the arrival of a Jewish Messiah to a 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:33.240 Jewish mother in Judea roughly for Ad. That's what scholars 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:39.600 think now. And it's all set all of the Gospels 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:47.760 and Galilee, Samaria and Judea, lot in Capernaum, lot, some 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:52.200 in Nazareth, not happy times in Nazareth, some in Egypt, 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:58.880 a little bit in Samaria, mostly in Judea. And it's 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:02.760 a Jewish story, which is why I want to begin 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:06.520 on Christmas Eve with an appreciation for our Jewish older 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.480 brothers and sisters. Dennis Prager likes to joke when we 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:14.160 see them Issiah, either we'll be seeing him for the 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:16.800 first time or the second time, and one of us 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:19.919 will be right, but we'll be both there together. And 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:21.680 Dennis was able to do a message by the way 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.840 with Marissa, and it was wonderful. But I've been bothered, 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:26.519 and this is not personal. I'm not going to bring 0:02:26.600 --> 0:02:30.680 up any particular names. I have been bothered by the 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:35.040 almost straight line rise in anti Semitism around the world 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:38.880 and especially in New York, and of course by the 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:43.000 deadly violence not just in and around Israel over the 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:48.560 last two years, but at Bondai Beach in Australia, in Europe, 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:53.880 in New York City and anti Semitism. I thought about 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:57.640 it last night and I made notes to myself. There 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.359 are lots of books written by authors Dennis Prager one. 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.320 I've talked with Dennis about this often at length. There 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:08.080 are at least five sources of anti Semitism. They come 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:14.480 up with Number one. People are afraid and scared of 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:20.280 complex events and rapid change. Scary stuff happens every day, 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:25.120 and people want an explanation to cling to. So some 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:28.920 people come up with the Trilateral Commission is doing this, 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:34.040 or the Builderbergers are doing this, or Davos is doing 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.680 this to us, or the old stand by the ancient evil. 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.720 The Jews are doing this to us. Now, believe it 0:03:41.800 --> 0:03:42.040 or not. 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:47.760 Anti Semitism predates Christianity, but it got turbo charged by 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:53.560 the medieval church, Catholic Church, and John Paul went out 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:57.000 of his way, Saint John Paul the Second to apologize 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:58.840 for that condemn it, as did Benedict. 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:00.120 Ye. 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.560 People are afraid. They look for answers. They grab onto anything, 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:07.520 any explanation they were. Secondly, some folks are sad to say, 0:04:08.480 --> 0:04:09.280 just not very bright. 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:11.080 Some are stupid. 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:19.839 They read antimitic literature like the Bizarrest manufactured Protocols for 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.400 the Elder of Zion. I mean, it's really terrible writing. 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:27.880 It's idiot, and they fall for it. They think Jews 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:32.599 are running banking or Hollywood or media, and they're doing 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:35.359 it in some kind of a giant conspiration. It's that 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:42.159 it's really quite dumb, but they believe it. Others aren't stupid, 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:47.440 but aren't ignorant. They haven't done any basic reading. And 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:51.320 I'm not talking about memorizing Will Durrant Aarl Durant History 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:55.960 of Civilization. I think of one recent book. Barry Strauss wrote, 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:01.120 Jews versus Rome, and it's about the Jewish wars against 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:05.200 the Roman Empire. The big one is sixty six to seventy, 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:10.120 but there are two other ones before Finally the Second 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:15.679 Temple was leveled in seventy a d. And Barcavo Coba 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:20.880 Revolt one thirty two. After that, they just drive most 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:22.480 of the Jews away after they kill about a half 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:23.000 million of them. 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:25.640 The Romans too, Romans killed Jesus too. 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:31.400 And at that time roman were so down on Jews 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:35.520 they renamed the land from Judea to Palestine, actually Syria Palestine, 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:38.919 and they had other prefects go and rule it. But 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:40.920 if you haven't even read that, if that's all news 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:44.400 to you, you just you need to do some reading. 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:49.680 Third that was third summer ignorant, so he got some 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:54.159 are scared, some are stupid, Summer ignorant. Some are mentally 0:05:54.200 --> 0:06:00.000 ill and whatever reason, mental illness gets into some people 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:05.360 heads and they make Jews the object of their insanity 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:11.640 and then get over that with treatment. But you don't understand, 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:14.799 and you can't possibly begin. I think of the Trio 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:19.119 Life synagogue massacre. That Fellow was amped up on white 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.920 supremacist anti Jewish stuff, and I just think that's mental 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:27.000 illness with a gun. The kind that we are seeing 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:33.880 more and more is corrupt anti Semitism. I can't read minds, 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:36.080 and you can't read minds. You don't know what's in 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:38.880 my heart. You don't know God does, nobody else does, not, 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:42.040 even the fetching missus s Hewett. But some people are 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:46.480 quite obviously making a bunch of dough off of being antisemitic. 0:06:47.360 --> 0:06:52.520 They make money to believe libels against Jews, you know, 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.080 like they run the banks and they run Hollywood, or 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.240 they run the White House, or they were behind the 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.960 assassination of Charlie Kirk, or that Israel is in a 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:03.240 apartheid state, or that there's a genocide in Gaza. These 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:10.160 are demonstrably false things, and to pedal them, you ask yourself, 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:14.040 why are they peddling? Because the first four categories want 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:19.000 to see their fears, their stupidity, their ignorance, or their 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:24.280 mental illness rationalized and made coherent and packaged in the 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:24.800 right way. 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:27.920 So none of that's true. 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:33.160 Israel is objectively the most important ally of the United 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:36.240 States in a world of free countries, opposed by the 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:40.120 alliance of tyrants led by g Putin, Kim Jong Un 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:45.080 Hammini Maduro, the gang run in Cuba. There are a 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:48.360 bunch of tyrants around the world, and they're not our friends. 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.520 And Israel is. It's a nuclear superpower. 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:53.600 It's an intelligence superpowered as the will and ability to 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.840 project power along with us, as we did in Operation 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:01.080 Midnight Hammer. Thank you President Trump this summer, but on 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:08.239 this eve, just a reminder, we are celebrating the birth 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:14.160 of a Jewish baby boy in Judea to a Jewish mother. 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:21.720 Jesus historical figure featured in non Christian writings of Josephus 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.640 and of course in the Gospels. And later in the program, 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:27.440 I'm talking with doctor Mark Roberts, who's a scholar of 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:31.120 extraordinary import I think his best book is Can We 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:32.160 Trust the Gospels? 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:33.040 On Why we Can? 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:38.559 But he is also a Dickens savant about a Christmas carol, 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:41.600 and twenty one years ago, in two thousand and four, 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:44.760 we did a program on the Christmas carol that got 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.840 lost or a ransomware attack, believe it or not, and 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:51.320 that happened. So he's coming back. I'm giving myself a 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:56.160 Christmas present in hour two by talking to Terry Pluto, 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:59.079 my favorite sports writer, and I'm going to talk about 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:03.480 Conservatism Inc. Broadcast and our number two. I got a 0:09:03.520 --> 0:09:05.400 lot to cover today, but I wanted to start off 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:08.319 by saying, on this Christmas Eve, just remember, we're celebrating 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:08.839 the birth of. 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:12.640 A Jewish boy to a Jewish mother who Christians. 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:16.880 Believe is the Messiah, and that is the reason for 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:19.200 the season, and it's why I hope you have a 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:21.439 wonderful Christmas. 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:25.800 Will be out of Welcome back to America. I'm Hugh Hewett. 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:28.880 On Christmas Eve twenty twenty five, I decided I'd give 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:32.400 myself a present and I would talk to my favorite 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:36.240 sports journalist in America, the one and only Terry Pluto. 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:39.680 You've heard Terry Pluto many times on this program over 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:42.760 the years. And Terry's got a brand new book out 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.439 which is perfect if you at a gift card for Christmas. 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:49.440 It's entitled why Can't this Team Just Find a Quarterback? 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:55.439 And Other Thoughts on life in Brownstown? Terry Pluto, Merry Christmas. 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:56.360 How are you, my friend? 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:00.080 I am doing well, Hugh. I mean, look Christmas Eve 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.320 and I'm with you, so I'm good with that. 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:04.120 Well, thank you. 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.200 I also want you to know we have been running 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:09.520 a campaign called Angel Tree for the children of people 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:11.520 who are in prison. I don't know if you do 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.960 prison ministry anymore. You might be doing more homeless ministry now, 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.760 But when you were doing prison ministry, did did Christmas 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:19.880 hit the inmates hard? 0:10:21.360 --> 0:10:21.560 Yeah? 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:24.439 And well the homeless. I'll be there tomorrow night at 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:29.000 the behave and arrest, which is after we did a 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.600 couple of punds a month by wife and I and 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.800 he wants to be in jail. Who wants to be 0:10:35.840 --> 0:10:40.600 in a homeless shelter on Christmas? Because everything is reads 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:44.079 it you know, you're away from your family or your 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:47.839 wing the family that it's difficult. But one thing that 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:52.240 is interesting sometimes is that when people are struggling with 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.240 the same things, it will bring them together and you'll 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:59.560 find that they'll be talking, really encouraging each other. They 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.280 kind of go two ways. Either people isolate or they 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.480 come together. There's not a lot of anger or anything. 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:07.840 It's those two things. 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:12.080 Well, I think that's a wonderful thing to do on Christmas, 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.720 even on Christmas Day, So thank you for that. And 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:17.240 I was listening to Terry's talking last night. If you 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:19.280 can pull your computer a little bit closer to you, Terry, 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:21.280 I think the sound might be get a little bit 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:23.600 muffled there because your computers distant. 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:24.959 I was listening to. 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:28.400 Your weekly podcast with David Campbell, the editor of Cleveland 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.560 dot Com, and a couple of thoughts occurred. First of all, 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.800 a lot of your correspondence do something that is rare 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:40.200 in our country, they thank you too for doing your jobs. 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:44.360 And I got to thinking about the number of sports 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:49.280 journalists who work on the holidays, who work around the clock, 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:52.920 who work really hard. You got a Cavaliers Knicks game 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:54.640 to cover tomorrow, you might be able to cover it 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:58.480 from your couch. I'm not sure, but generally speaking, do 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.840 you think the public understands how hard sports journalists work. 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:04.360 Well? 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.400 I remember years ago there was a writer. This is 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:09.600 when I set the Beacon Journal and I was moving 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:15.720 from being the Cavaliers beat man to becoming a columnist. 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.679 And this guy is a news writer and he goes, man, 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:19.680 I would love basketball. 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:23.080 I'd really like to cover that. And then what happened? 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:28.800 He goes to the schedule. He goes, it's like every weekend. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:33.319 you get a figure of the three days Friday, Saturday, Sunday. 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:36.000 Two of them they're probably going to be playing. They 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.680 might have practiced on the other one. That's how it goes. 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.040 You know, if you cover the NFL, it's every weekend. 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:46.920 The flip side is I worked in a food warehouse 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.280 growing up. My dad worked with the old Fisher five 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:51.559 the other Awes and believe went when I worked there 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:55.720 for I think four summers, and he certified to teach 0:12:55.760 --> 0:13:00.560 the state of Ohio. I taught six months at and West, 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.960 which is on West twenty fifth and Cleveland, tough neighborhood. 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.400 I taught five classes of history and social studies, and 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:08.800 I had a three preps and. 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:10.360 A tell y'all. 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:15.280 I thought, I'll write compared to that stuff anytime you want, 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.920 because that was real, real work, and this is I 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:21.960 mean it could be hard in draining at times, but 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:25.400 it's so different. And I mean he also has an audience. 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:27.400 I mean, you have the same thing you've had an audience. 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:31.840 People are care of like what you say or whatever, 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:36.400 whether they agree or disagree. They're actually interested in that. 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.559 That's a blessing. Very few of us in life and 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.720 our jobs are people paying that kind of attention to us. 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:44.160 And as you said, thanking them. 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:49.840 I enjoy Terry's talking so much, and you and Dave 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.760 Campbell have established it's a great chemistry that I think 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.960 you could do it longer or more often, but it's 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.040 already you're working hard enough. How is the new book selling? 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:03.840 Which is another owed to I will soon be seventy. 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:08.040 I have no memory of nineteen sixty four, and so 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:10.680 my whole theory on the Browns is I don't care 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:13.360 what they do get to the super Bowl soon. Do 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:16.440 whatever has the quickest chance of getting to the super Bowl, 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.720 which I think means sticking with Shador and drafting Tate 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:21.920 and op I, like you guys were talking last night, 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.280 Dave was talking last night. I want to get to 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:27.040 a super Bowl on this side of Heaven, Terry. 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:27.600 That's all. 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:29.400 I have a very small ask. 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:33.880 Well, it could turn into some very big mistakes. I mean, 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.040 that's one of the things we talked about in the book, 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.960 where I can't this team dropt the quarterback that led 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:41.280 to I want to get to a super Bowl yesterday, 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:44.480 Let's do this. I don't care that Deshaun Watson's facing 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:48.720 all these civil lawsuits. I don't care that he hasn't 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.080 played in a year and a half, is going to 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.200 get suspended. I just want to get to the super 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.880 Bowl and maybe he'll get us there. And of course 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:58.320 then you get yourself back if you think about it, Hugh, 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:03.760 whether we're talking about finances or relationships or you're running 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.840 a company, when you get desperate is when you make 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:13.040 your biggest mistakes. You know, the classic overreach. But I 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:15.840 get the feeling like you have, and I mean, I'm 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:18.760 your same age on seventy I do remember listening to 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:21.920 the Browns in the championship game in nineteen sixty four 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.760 in my friend's basement. By the way, think about this. 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:29.160 That game NFL Championship game nineteen sixty four was blacked 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:35.000 out in Cleveland, right, model had the option of showing 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:38.160 it or not. For whatever reason, he was afraid they 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:42.280 wouldn't sell enough tickets, so he blacked it out and 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.160 they were shown the next following evening on TV. Now 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.160 people were I think, if you're outside of fifty miles 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:50.480 outside of Cleveland, it was on. So people were like 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.680 driving to probably around your hometown of Warren and Erie, 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:58.240 Pennsylvania and Columbus, running motel rooms to wash this game 0:15:58.560 --> 0:15:59.160 because it's sold. 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.520 Rabbit ears on the television each week to try and 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:05.120 pick up a Pittsburgh station. 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:07.720 Yeah, that was it. Think about that. 0:16:07.800 --> 0:16:11.040 There's your chance, there's your memory if you're a Cleveland 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.640 fan of the last time the Browns went to the 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.240 final two to a championship, which is pre Super Bowl, 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:18.840 just the championship game. 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:23.880 Well, I think what you got to do is fabulous, 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:28.200 and I like the fact that your listeners express appreciation 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:31.440 for you and Dave and the depth you go into. Now, 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.960 I wanted to ask you a question about bosses because 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:36.480 there's a guy who works over at Fox. 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:37.640 I work at Fox a lot. 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.400 And his son wants to be a sports journalist, and 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:44.160 I said, well, make sure you find out a are 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.240 there any jobs, what are they paying be? Pick a 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:48.840 good boss, because if you have a bad boss, it's 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.040 going to be a horrible environment no matter what you got. 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:53.320 It's always the same advice I give to young people. 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:56.120 Always pick a boss. So I'm going to give you 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:59.320 a second to think about that here and then come 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:01.520 back and tell me the best boss you worked for 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:05.560 and why. Because you've worked for in major from Earl 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.320 Weaver to Kevin Stefanski, I don't know if you can 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:12.280 have two different types of people you got to interview, 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:14.879 and then your boss is above you looking at your work, 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.240 whether it's Dave Campbell or Chuck Heaton or any of 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.960 these other great legends of Cleveland sports. I'll come back 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:24.000 with Terry Pluto. Go over to Terry Pluto dot com 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:25.720 if you want to pick up why can't this team 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:26.800 find a quarterback. 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:29.040 It's a great new book, and you're gonna. 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.240 Get a gift card for Christmas, and I would recommend, 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.000 especially if you're a football fan, that would be a 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:38.040 good one. Chuck tied a blessed memory here on the show, 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:40.320 and maybe I'll be back someday and we'll talk to sports. 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.639 Swears by Loose Balls as one of the greatest georks 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:45.280 books he's ever ever read. 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:46.480 In Chuck Knows Sports. 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:49.399 Even if we disagree on how any politics, don't go 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:49.960 anywhere America. 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:50.640 I'll be right back. 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:56.960 Welcome back to America to you, and on Christmas Eve, 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:00.600 and I'm giving myself a Christmas present. A few minutes 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:03.320 of conversation with Terry Pluto. You can follow on Exit 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:06.320 Terry Pluto. Listen to his podcast once a week with 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:10.920 Dave Campbell talking Terry's Talking Terry bosses. In the world 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.920 of sports, it's been the best, and you don't need 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:16.000 to name the worst already. You already named the man 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:18.040 who must not be named on my show for twenty 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.040 five years, I've never named the man who must not 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:22.200 be named. He took the Browns out of Cleveland. But 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.240 who's been the best in what makes for a terrible boss. 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.640 Well in terms of coaches or managers, because there's two 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:32.719 different things that those guys are not my boss. Those 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.720 are people uncovering, but it's you can learn a lot 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:41.119 both ways for how they coach or handle the team. 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:46.520 Probably the best overall was Terry frank Count I thought 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:51.720 was terrific. He was a combination of knowing how to 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.600 keep things together when it feels like they're all flying apart, 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.399 to knowing how to do tough well generally it was 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:05.240 in private, to being a storyteller and almost like kind 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.879 of when the team's going bad, having some kind of 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.840 parables to give or something to the media to buy 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:15.240 his team at players time, and just a general feeling 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.240 that this is a guy that is sincere when he 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:21.359 was talking about players who had been cut or whatever, 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:26.399 and I really liked covering him. Earl Weaver was covering 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:31.200 kind of this eccentric genius and when it came to sports, 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:34.120 I mean, he's the man who invented the batting averages 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:37.560 of pictures and hitters when they can face each other. 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:40.560 Until Earl Weaver came along, he was all just well 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:44.720 right handed pictures versus left handed, you know, righty's versus lefties. 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:45.159 That whole thing. 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:47.960 Well, he began to realize he wuld see weird things 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:50.199 like a guy like Mark Blandrew, who was not a 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:54.360 very good hit or whatsoever, was facing Noan Ryan, one 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:56.960 of the greatest pictures at that time, and he knew 0:19:57.040 --> 0:19:59.600 going to Hall of Fame, and for some reason Bilandrew 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:01.959 was able to hit him. It made no sense. So 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:04.720 he had a couple of their interns in the PR department 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:08.640 start going through looking at things like that, different batting averages, 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:12.680 and and he suddenly found all these trends which are 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:15.920 now just given. When you watch a baseball game, they'll 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.960 tell you know who the how they match up. 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:23.520 And that was plus minus that you guys did on 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:25.880 the Cavs. That's a new stat that actually makes sense 0:20:25.920 --> 0:20:28.480 to me. Plus minus. I just never even thought about 0:20:28.480 --> 0:20:28.959 it before. 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:31.600 Right, if you have five guys playing at one time, 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:36.199 you could sometimes see how a certain player you know, 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:40.199 makes more of an impact than others. And also it 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:44.720 could tell you could break it down even further. Of all, right, 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:47.640 these four play together, well, well, when that fifth guys 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:49.080 with them, they don't. But if you put them with 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.520 the three other guys. It can get complicated, but in general, 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:57.000 some players simply lend more to winning than others. Not 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:03.399 because they're so gifted athletic. Is they fit in combination 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:07.040 with the other guys that are out there, and those 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:10.280 are Earl Weaver, by the way, today, we'd go crazy 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:13.720 with all the stats available. He probably would overthink everything 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:16.879 because he was how about you know, we everything on 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:20.720 computers and everything now, Hugh, when Earl Weaver had those 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:24.040 batting averages of pitchers versus hitters, and that he kept 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:26.840 them on index cards and a cigar box and his death. 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.919 Ronald Reagan giving a speech, So, Terry Planal, would you 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:32.920 recommend we got like two minutes in this that would 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:34.800 you recommend to a young person that they go into 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:37.840 sports journalism? Now, I have lots of guardrails for people 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.840 who want to do political journalism because it's it's kind 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:45.480 of combative, and I don't think everyone's cut out for it. 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:46.640 What about sports. 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:49.960 Journalism if you want to do it, But I would 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:52.560 recommend you, you know, if you're in school, these people 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:55.359 just get a whether it's a sports management degree or 0:21:55.400 --> 0:22:00.679 mass media degree, get a secondary degree and marketing or 0:22:00.680 --> 0:22:03.159 whatever I mean. I Actually the reason I went and 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:09.639 got a degree in social studies and secondary education because 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:11.800 I thought I might not cut it as a writer. 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:14.199 I got to go get a job because there's so 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:17.400 few think about this. I've been I'm seventy years old. 0:22:17.400 --> 0:22:20.320 I've been a sports columnist. You know, it's harder to 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:23.359 get my job than it's going to be to playing 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:25.400 the major leagues because. 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:26.160 You get in the conference. 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:33.560 Yeah yeah, or yeah exactly absolutely, or if he's the 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:34.960 I want to be the I want to do the 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:37.840 Cleveland Guardians game. So Tom Hamilton's going to Hall of Fame. 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:40.720 He's my age, he's seventy and he's been doing it 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:47.120 since nineteen ninety and his partner, Jim Rowsenhouse is I'm 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:48.199 twenty years together. 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:50.400 And that's amazing. 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:53.960 In fact, it's amazing that Mary Kay Cabot and Paul 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:57.919