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The Road to Now

Bob Crawford (The Avett Brothers) & Dr. Ben Sawyer (MTSU History) share conversations with great thinkers from a variety of backgrounds – historians, artists, legal scholars, political figures and more –who help us uncover the many roads that run between past and present. For more information, visit TheRoadToNow.com If you'd like to support our work, join us on Patreon: Patreon.com/TheRoadToNow
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Now displaying: June, 2018
Jun 18, 2018

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is underway in Russia, so Ben sat down with soccer historian Alex Galarza and RTN favorite Matt Negrin to talk about the history of the World Cup. We discuss the corruption that has plagued FIFA, the controversy surrounding FIFA’s decision to award the World Cup to Qatar, and what factors helped propel soccer into the world’s most popular sport. We also share some of our favorite experiences at soccer matches abroad and celebrate the recent announcement that the United States, Canada and Mexico will jointly host the 2026 World Cup.

Dr. Alex Galarza is a Post-Doctoral researcher at Haverford College and former Fulbright scholar in Argentina whose specialty is the history of sport in Latin America and digital history.

Matt Negrin is a Digital Producer for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and former freelance journalist who covered soccer around the world. Most importantly though, he is the record holder for “Most Appearances on The Road to Now (non-Bob & Ben category)”.

Bob & Ben are going to take a few weeks off, but we'll be back with new episodes in July. In the meantime, you can see Bob play music with The Avett Brothers and catch Ben on the road at a comedy show. Thank you so much for your support!

The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this an all our other episodes, visit our website: TheRoadToNow.com

Jun 18, 2018

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is underway in Russia, so Ben sat down with soccer historian Alex Galarza and RTN favorite Matt Negrin to talk about the history of the World Cup. We discuss the corruption that has plagued FIFA, the controversy surrounding FIFA’s decision to award the World Cup to Qatar, and what factors helped propel soccer into the world’s most popular sport. We also share some of our favorite experiences at soccer matches abroad and celebrate the recent announcement that the United States, Canada and Mexico will jointly host the 2026 World Cup.

Dr. Alex Galarza is a Post-Doctoral researcher at Haverford College and former Fulbright scholar in Argentina whose specialty is the history of sport in Latin America and digital history.

Matt Negrin is a Digital Producer for The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and former freelance journalist who covered soccer around the world. Most importantly though, he is the record holder for “Most Appearances on The Road to Now (non-Bob & Ben category)”.

Bob & Ben are going to take a few weeks off, but we'll be back with new episodes in July. In the meantime, you can see Bob play music with The Avett Brothers and catch Ben on the road at a comedy show. Thank you so much for your support!

The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this an all our other episodes, visit our website: TheRoadToNow.com

Jun 11, 2018

There’s a good chance you don’t appreciate how engrained professional wrestling is in American history and culture, and this episode is about to change that. We didn’t know all this either until wrestling legend Jim Cornette was kind enough to spend an hour taking us from wrestling’s origins in the late 19th century up to the sport as it exists today. Jim knows the sport like no other- he’s been part of the professional wrestling scene since the 1970s, and currently hosts the tremendously popular podcast The Jim Cornette Experience. Jim has also been ringside (and sometimes in the ring) for some of wrestling’s greatest moments, including the April 5, 1982 showdown between Andy Kaufman & Jerry “The King” Lawler (that was his first time on national television), and his storytelling is second-to-none.

This episode also features wrestling aficionado Jon Burr making a special appearance as guest co-host. Jon is the host of the NBA podcast The Fastbreak Breakfast, the front man for the band How I Became the Bomb, and Ben’s friend & neighbor.

The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this episode and all others, visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

Jun 11, 2018

There’s a good chance you don’t appreciate how engrained professional wrestling is in American history and culture, and this episode is about to change that. We didn’t know all this either until wrestling legend Jim Cornette was kind enough to spend an hour taking us from wrestling’s origins in the late 19th century up to the sport as it exists today. Jim knows the sport like no other- he’s been part of the professional wrestling scene since the 1970s, and currently hosts the tremendously popular podcast The Jim Cornette Experience. Jim has also been ringside (and sometimes in the ring) for some of wrestling’s greatest moments, including the April 5, 1982 showdown between Andy Kaufman & Jerry “The King” Lawler (that was his first time on national television), and his storytelling is second-to-none.

This episode also features wrestling aficionado Jon Burr making a special appearance as guest co-host. Jon is the host of the NBA podcast The Fastbreak Breakfast, the front man for the band How I Became the Bomb, and Ben’s friend & neighbor.

The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this episode and all others, visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

Jun 4, 2018

The world we live in today has Dwight Eisenhower’s fingerprints all over it. When Dwight Eisenhower gave his farewell address on January 17, 1960, he warned the American people of the growing influence of a “military-industrial complex.” What few people remember is that it was Eisenhower who oversaw the transformation of the American military into the large-scale force that spans the globe. “Ike” also helped facilitate the ceasefire in Korea that remains in place over six decades later, and his administration’s use of the CIA and covert operations to install regimes friendly to US interests continues to haunt America’s foreign relations with countries such as Iran today. In this episode, Bob & Ben speak with the University of Virginia’s William Hitchcock to talk about Dwight Eisenhower and the ways his eight years in the Oval Office can still be felt more than half a century later. Along the way, we discuss how Eisenhower's experience as a General during World War II shaped his world view, and where Eisenhower fits within the history of the Republican Party and the greater history of American Presidents. 

Dr. William Hitchcock is Professor of History at the University of Virginia and the Randolph P. Compton Professor at UVa's Miller Center. He is the author of six books, the most recent of which The Age of Eisenhower: American and the World in the 1950s was published by Simon & Schuster in March of 2018.

The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this episode and all others, visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.

Jun 4, 2018

The world we live in today has Dwight Eisenhower’s fingerprints all over it. When Dwight Eisenhower gave his farewell address on January 17, 1960, he warned the American people of the growing influence of a “military-industrial complex.” What few people remember is that it was Eisenhower who oversaw the transformation of the American military into the large-scale force that spans the globe. “Ike” also helped facilitate the ceasefire in Korea that remains in place over six decades later, and his administration’s use of the CIA and covert operations to install regimes friendly to US interests continues to haunt America’s foreign relations with countries such as Iran today. In this episode, Bob & Ben speak with the University of Virginia’s William Hitchcock to talk about Dwight Eisenhower and the ways his eight years in the Oval Office can still be felt more than half a century later. Along the way, we discuss how Eisenhower's experience as a General during World War II shaped his world view, and where Eisenhower fits within the history of the Republican Party and the greater history of American Presidents. 

Dr. William Hitchcock is Professor of History at the University of Virginia and the Randolph P. Compton Professor at UVa's Miller Center. He is the author of six books, the most recent of which The Age of Eisenhower: American and the World in the 1950s was published by Simon & Schuster in March of 2018.

The Road to Now is part of the Osiris Podcast Network. For more on this episode and all others, visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.

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