Powerful Impact

Kicking off Far Middle episode 164, Nick heads to the NFL for this installment’s sports dedication.

As players report to training camp this month and the 2024 season approaches, Nick picks up where he left off in episode 159 to highlight the crucial role of the offensive line. Without the O-line succeeding in the trenches, “you're not going to have a successful football team, and its stars are not going to be able to be stars.”

Earning dedication honors is the Oakland Raiders O-line of the early 1970s, which Nick argues is the greatest in offensive line history. That dominating line included Hall of Famers: Jim Otto, Gene Upshaw, Art Shell, and Bob "Boomer" Brown. After reflecting on each player’s contributions and their collective powerful impact, Nick transitions by noting Bob Brown’s playing days at the University of Nebraska, which connects to the episode’s focus: William Jennings Bryan.

William Jennings Bryan moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1887. Four years later he was elected to Congress to represent Nebraska’s 1^st congressional district. While Bryan would only serve two terms in Congress and go on to lose three presidential elections (1896, 1900, 1908), his campaigns and policies would have a lasting and powerful impact on American politics and public policy that is still evident today.

“I sense Bryan was obviously onto something with his policies and how they took root in American politics and society,” says Nick. “Yet I also sense they got completely out of control after Bryan's time to the point where the Frankenstein monster is now running wild. No matter how you cut it though, William Jennings Bryan was a great American—perhaps one of the greatest—and more Americans,  they need to know his story.”

In closing, Nick follows the yellow brick road from Nebraska to Kansas, looking back on The Wizard of Oz, as it’s rumored The Cowardly Lion was based on William Jennings Bryan. Nick concludes with a few interesting notes and connections from the film.

For more Far Middle, The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939, the year “Teddy Ballgame” would make his Major League Baseball debut. Head back to episode 130 for Nick’s dedication to Ted Williams, “the greatest hitter that ever played the game.”