The Speech Guys

In the 1970s, Steve Prefontaine lit a fire under the bellies of runners that has never gone out through his American distance track records--largely formed by the coaching and spiritual ethos of University of Oregon cross country and track coach and Nike co-founder, Bill Bowerman. The Speech Guys consider Bill's insights through two speeches, as portrayed in the 1998 film, "Without Limits". A link explaining Alberto Salazar's ban from coaching: https://www.espn.com/olympics/trackandfield/story/_/id/32216748/report-track-coach-alberto-salazar-4-year-doping-ban-upheld-court-arbitration-sport. Speech clips come from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYvpXdSR8gs. Image thumbnail comes from https://medfordsportshalloffame.com/inductee/william-bowerman/.

John Zegar introduces the podcast episode. Matt, Mike, Landon, and Ross discuss the 2014 speech from the University of Texas-Austin commencement ceremony presented by Admiral McRaven. Thumbnail image comes from https://laviolettefoundation.org/news/2022/11/7/admiral-william-h-mcraven-us-navy-retired-watch-up-for-auction-on-november-30th.

It's the final episode of the fourth season of the SGs and they discuss the dialogues performed by John Steinbeck's characters from the 1952 novel, "East of Eden", along with the Genesis story of Cain and Abel that informs them. Primary content comes from chapters 22 and 24 of the book.

Matt is the speech-picker and Mike and Landon are along for the ride--across Teddy's fatherly absence in the Dakotas and his butt-whooping distaste for that dogged curse of "indifference". Read the full speech text from Sorbonne University on April 23rd, 1910 here: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-sorbonne-paris-france-citizenship-republic Reference was made to a documentary called "The Century of the Self", produced by the BBC and aired in 2002. You can view that legally, free on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s Episode thumbnail comes from here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt

This episode is rated PG-13 for a "graphic" clip from the film Calvary (2014) which contains one bleeped out instance of f**k, gun violence, and reference to clerical sexual abuse. The clip is approximately four minutes and begins at approximately the 50 minute mark. Landon, Ross, Matt, and Mike discuss Father Mike's 2019 SEEK Conference talk entitled "Share" and how his recognition of his own indifference challenges us to rise above our own. The thumbnail comes from https://bulldogcatholic.org/about-contact-us/about-fr-mike-schmitz/. The speech audio comes from https://youtu.be/9CF7GpW8rNQ?si=u6czK3DWt0J3Wyee.

Doug Johnson introduces the cast and recalls, with Ross, the (micro)speech he gave to his son before his first football game in the twilight of the 20th century in Springfield, Illinois. Ross and Doug might not remember if he scored, but they remember the speech. And now, you will too. Thumbnail image comes from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/father-son-playing-football--462604192944860833/.

Landon, Mike, Ross, and Matt close out the "Speeches That Got Someone Killed" quad. Some political candidates might be a threat to America's democracy, but this episode isn't--unless you think a Speech Guys oligarchy could make American great again. Full text of speeches discussed can be accessed here: https://alphahistory.com/frenchrevolution/robespierre-revolutionary-terror-1794/ AND here: https://alphahistory.com/frenchrevolution/robespierre-virtue-terror-1794/ Our country's national debt was discussed. Review current value here: https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/national-debt/ The episode thumbnail comes from here: https://www.historyskills.com/classroom/year-9/9-hist-french-revolution-reading/

Mike, Landon, Ross, and Matt consider how John Lennon's interview in March 1966 with London's Evening Standard influenced Mark David Chapman and the legacy of Christianity, the Beatles, and musical counterculture that persists today. The speech can be read here: https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/1966/03/john-lennon-is-quoted-saying-were-more-popular-than-jesus-now/ A blog by Mr. Robert Rosen was discussed and can be accessed here concerning the significance of "Chapter 27" in The Catcher in the Rye: https://robertrosen.blogspot.com/2006/01/roots-of-chapter-27-including-chapter.html Thumbnail comes from here: https://www.businessinsider.com/john-lennon-facts-you-didnt-know-2020-12#lennon-didnt-get-his-drivers-license-until-he-was-24-10 Lennon's song, "God" comes from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCNkPpq1giU

Fact Check: Landon references a comment made by Former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, that "eight trillion dollars was lost track of", and speculates that the attack on the Pentagon was to obviate the federal government of responsibility toward that amount. See this addressed here: https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/rumsfeld-did-not-reveal-loss-23-trillion-day-before-911-2023-09-14/ Mike referenced a podcast hosted by Catholic apologist, Jimmy Akin, that comments on popular 9/11 conspiracies. Listen to that podcast here: https://sqpn.com/2021/09/the-9-11-attacks-conspiracy-911-truth-september-11-attacks/ Thumbnail image used from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/exclusive-new-photos-show-bushs-response-to-911-attacks/. Speech audio comes from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA8-KEnfWbQ

How do the Beatitudes help the Speech Guys pursue a worthy spiritual frontier? Listen in as Ross, Matt, and Mike cheer for the arrival of Faye Frye and consider what might set Jesus of Nazareth a story worth believing in.

Does art inspire life or life inspire art? Landon, Ross, Matt, and Mike team up for Orson Welles' 1941 campaign "to rid the politics of this State of the evil domination of Boss Jim Gettys". The thumbnail image comes from https://theasc.com/articles/realism-for-citizen-kane.

Listener discretion: "a**" is used several times throughout the episode Is paying for runs really what America's baseball heart beats for? The Speech Guys and special guest, Theus Brown (BAJ and BROWN Podcast), discuss the contemporary consequences of the "moneyball" model via the dramatized speech by Boston Red Sox owner, John Henry, in the 2011 Oscar-nominated film, Moneyball.

"You think I know the first thing about being an orphan because I read Oliver Twist?"... Dr. Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) begins to tear down the intellectual and academic walls that Sean (Matt Damon) built up around himself in this famous speech from the 1997 Oscar-nominated film, "Good Will Hunting". Ross, Landon, and Mike contemplate their own walls they've had to and need to break down to have real knowledge from life experiences.

This episode is rated PG-13 for language and discussion of sexuality. Anne Marie rejoins as guest host to discuss the good, true, and maybe not so universally accurate observations of women and men in Gloria's speech to lift Barbie out of the existential doldrums. Thumbnail image comes from https://people.com/read-the-powerful-barbie-monologue-about-being-a-woman-that-america-ferrera-performed-30-to-50-times-7565806

Merry Christmas from the Speech Guys! Talk, think, and laugh about your favorite holiday fare... fruitcakes, George and Mary Bailey, and the real life Hallmark tradition that took place each season at Johnson's Market. Read the November 2019 article on Ross's family grocery business from the New York Times here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/05/us/rural-farm-market.html Episode note: the nature of Santa Claus' existence is discussed.

In 1986, author and Holocaust-survivor, Elie Wiesel, was awarded for his humanitarian work on behalf of the Jewish community and other historically-oppressed groups. The Speech Guys discuss the legacy of those words, particularly in light of heightened tensions between Israel, Hamas, and Palestinians. The thumbnail image of Mr. Wiesel is used from https://www.hmd.org.uk/resource/elie-wiesel-hmd-2017/. The speech audio comes from https://youtu.be/tu-63eViNPo?si=YC8X0vA8b53enMxc.

Apollo Creed helped Balboa get his body ready for the Heavyweight title against Clubber Lang. But his wife and partner, Adrian (Talia Shire), had to retrain his heart. "I'm afraid alright! For the first time in my life, I'm afraid." Bonus content: Matt's Brooklyn-styled Rocky impression

Who said AI was a new conversation we should be having? Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) and Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) were paving the way for the rest of us all of the way back in 1982. Mike's the speech-picker. Matt and Landon tag along for a trip to the future in... 2019. Or would that be the past? Thumbnail image comes from https://www.exrey.tv/blade-runner-1982/.

The Speech Guys try to imagine a world just before the dawn of their births as they step back into the 1980s with President Reagan's speech following the space shuttle Challenger explosion on January 28th, 1986 over Cape Canaveral.

Mike, Landon, Matt, and Ross finish out the Speeches By Prisoners series with Socrates' speech before his Athenian jury considering whether or not he ought to be executed for crimes of "corrupting the youth" and not properly worshiping the traditional gods of Athens.

The Speech Guys share a common collegiate origin along Illinois' Interstate 74. Here, Landon and Mike recall their coming together merely months before Mike's University of Illinois graduation in spring 2015. The moral of this episode? You never know what treasures are in store until your car is packed and ready to pull away from one of life's stages. So be a good friend all of the way through and don't exit through the garage.

In 1978, Russian exile, Alexander Solzhenitsyn gave the commencement address to Harvard graduates. Unlike most commencement speeches, it painted Western culture in macabre, depressing descriptions of its decline in courage, legalism, direction of freedom and the press, socialism, loss of will, thinking with only respect to what's 'fashionable', short-sightedness, pervasive secular humanism, and its doomed similarities to the communist government under which he'd been exiled. So, don your cap and gown and let's listen and think about what he had to say to those Harvard graduates four decades ago. The speech rendition can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/QC_3xnVOBjk The thumbnail image comes from here: https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/timeline

It's the second episode of the Speeches By Prisoners series and the Speech Guys contemplate the stoicism and devotion to ordinary life Mandela seemed to demonstrate as a South African political prisoner from 1964 to 1990. Listen to the full speech Mandela gave before his 1964 trial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQvlxnWELHM The SG spend a lot of time comparing and contrasting Mandela's decisions to Blessed Franz Jaagerstatter (1907 - 1943). His life was recently depicted in Terrence Malick's film, A Hidden Life. Watch that trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJXmdY4lVR0 Thumbnail image is accessed from here: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw243541/Nelson-Mandela

Mike and Chris keep sippin' their whiskies after the other Speech Guys leave for an extended chat of related topics from the "Becoming Jesus" episode of the Speeches By Prisoners speech series. The interview referenced in the episode of Denzel Washington can be accessed with the URL below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHvtjJY6IsQ "Imagine if America came in a box. You take it off the shelf and you read the back. I want what's in it to match what's on the back." --Chris "You don't want that child to be more afraid of the dad than the consequences of that mistake." --Mike The thumbnail image for this episode was accessed on this website: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/he-got-game-review-1998-movie-1195477/

The Speech Guys lace up their high tops and unpack the first aid kit to talk about wounds... father wounds, that is. Jake Shuttlesworth's speech to his son, Jesus Shuttlesworth, played by Ray Allen in the 1998 Spike Lee film, "He Got Game", serves as their conversational muse. Chris guest hosts.

Episode Rating: 13+ for instances of language ("bulls***", "a**hole") at approximately 2 and 58 minutes, respectively Wipe that melancholy off your face and think wistful thoughts one last time as Mike, Landon, Matt, and Ross tread one more time through Speeches By Losers... this time, Frederick Nietzsche's "Madman Speech" from his 1880 publication, "The Gay Science" or often retranslated as "Joyful Wisdom". Landon hosts and the other three just try to keep up! Thumbnail photo can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/216302041725688/photos/nietzsche-god-is-dead-the-madman-jumped-into-their-midst-and-pierced-them-with-h/3273600292662499/?paipv=0&eav=AfbHlaF2AzY4KAgcEjfHfB64z0oMUJ-HwtExB5V1XP01pO0-YEZz-jh-NvQltTc6dtI&_rdr Text from the speech and a portion of "The Gay Science" here: https://web.stanford.edu/~jsabol/existentialism/materials/nietzsche-gay-science-hurry.pdf

Episode Rating: 13+ for a few instances of mild language and a few brief references to sex within the context of marriage Welcome to episode #37 of the Speech Guys! (Yes, we keep our episode number secret because... just because.) Matt's the speech picker and Dr. Lucy Kalinithi is the speech-giver in her June 2017 TED talk on navigating the experience of losing her husband, father to their child, Cady, and fellow medical professional, Paul, to lung cancer. Mike contrasts Kalinithi's perspective on suffering as a mode for living with more traditional paths of avoiding pain or treating a cancer prognosis as strictly one of competition. Matt discusses how practicing setting aside our egos could get us better at dying. Landon shares his thoughts on the quality versus quantity of life question. Each of the SGs get vulnerable and answer, "What would you do if you just got off work and learned you were going to die at midnight?", for the Final Bell question. Listen to the full speech here: https://youtu.be/U5-yBjKKicA Thumbnail photo comes from paulkalinithi.com. Fact check: The article URL posted below clarifies Paul's religious position. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/paul-kalanithi-why-i-gave-up-on-atheism Fact check: The gentleman who purportedly never slept is named, "Albert Herpin".

(This episode is rated 16+, best-suited for audiences 16 years and older, as it discusses sex in the context of an ending romantic relationship. This content begins around the 45 minute mark. The Speech Guys pondered General Lee's model for being a good loser in war. But what about being a loser in love? Chuck Noland is the speech-giver from the 2000 film, Castaway, directed by Robert Zemeckis. Mike, Matt, Landon, and Ross are the speech-thinkers in the second installment of the "Speeches By Losers" series. Some nuggets to look out for in this episode... "Is the end of permanent vows the end of cool love stories?" --Matt Why Castaway is first and foremost a love story, not a survival story... --Landon "Providence is a more liberating notion than destiny. Destiny is enslavement--being bound to something inescapable. Providence is agency and grace together." --Mike Why Noland's survival ordeal is a model for perfecting the call to do ordinary work perfectly and being receptive to grace... --Mike "It's too easy to leave a trail of wounded people behind in our pursuit of a partner." --Matt, quoting an online article (The URL is posted below from "Desiring God".) The four articles discussed in this podcast (in order) can be accessed with the following URLs: https://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/a37387805/how-to-heal-broken-heart/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-practice/201406/coping-breakup-10-tips-men https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/its-not-you-its-god https://www.artofmanliness.com/people/relationships/how-to-weather-a-break-up-like-a-man/ The post-credits audio comes from National Public Radio's StoryCorps project and is Mr. Walter Dixon's account of losing a romantic relationship only after surviving an incredible ordeal. Access it through this URL: https://www.npr.org/2019/07/27/745104831/declared-dead-at-war-he-returned-alive-to-find-his-world-had-moved-on-without-hi

Episode Rating: PG for discussion of slavery in the United States The Speech Guys learn how to hold their heads high by kicking off season 3 with the "Speeches By Losers" series--headlined by Confederate General-in-Chief's letter written to his wife, Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee, shortly after the Confederacy's loss to the United States at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. Read the letter here: https://leefamilyarchive.org/family-papers/letters/letters-1863/9-family-papers/1180-robert-e-lee-to-mary-anna-randolph-custis-lee-1863-july-12 References: The opening and closing song is by Adam Agin, entitled "The Road". The thumbnail image of Lee was used from WondriumDaily.com.

Join Landon, Matt, Mike, and Ross for the final episode of season 3 as they listen to and discuss excerpts from an interview with Rene Girard conducted by Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institute in December 2009. See the full interview at the URL below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNkSBy5wWDk

Matt puts the Speech Guys to work, tackling CS Lewis' arguably prophetic "Abolition of Man"--a collection of speeches presented at King's College in Newcastle, England in February 1943. "Chicago... the city of Saturday." --Sean Dust "If your child goes to the Grand Canyon and says, 'meh', there's something wrong with them." --Mike "The Tau... the doctrine that some things are really true. To question it is to ask for proof that something that can't exist." --Matt "You can have your choice of five major religions... Christianity, Judaism, Confuciansim, Islam, and Buddhism... Modern religions have been born of excess and luxury--not scarcity. They aren't a foundation upon which the world was built." --Mike "The actual people of non-faith aren't atheists. They're the nones." --Mike "You can't take one part of the Tau or else you lose the whole thing." --Ross "If you've spent your educational efforts at teaching children how to debunk things... they're going to be very good... at debunking things." --Matt

A note on listener discretion... at approximately 36 minutes, Mike lets the expletive "sh*t" slip. America's longest-living POTUS takes the mound for the Speech Guys' second time at bat in the Speeches By Prophets series. Mike's Dad, Rich Schaefer, makes his second visit to the Speech Guys' digital studios by commenting on the role that JC and Mike's Mom had on influencing the evolution of his own environmental sensibilities. "I gotta say. You are three very intelligent fellows." --Rich Schaefer "People don't like hearing from your Mom or Dad to make sacrifices let alone a guy who lives 1,000 or 3,000 miles away." --Mike "What if a Republican had been in office during the 1970s' Energy Crisis? Would political attitudes on environmental policy be flipped between parties?" --Mike "Every society is going to have vegetables that it doesn't want to eat." --Matt "You'll find a fact that suits you--that allows you to live more comfortably along your baseline lifestyle." --Matt The article that Mike's Dad wrote for Mother Earth News can be accessed here: https://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-living/renewable-energy/solar-power/passive-solar-midwest-winter-zm0z22fmzram/ Listen to President Carter's full speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpEAefTT-d0 An audio clip from Rocky IV (1985) is used from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxj1NOxcRUM

It's Martin Luther King Day early this year... or late. Regardless, Matt, Ross, and Mike step up to the plate and talk MLK's legacy, how the nature of race conversations seem to have changed between 1968 and 2022, and how they'd talk to their kids about race. "Complaining about (accusations) of white privilege is small change compared with what Black people have had to deal with in the context of racism." --Matt "Why is the political discussion whether or not something's a problem and not a question of the manner in which to go about solving it?" --Mike "The elephant in the room is that, no matter how great of a point we might make, at the end of the day, we're three white guys and we don't know what it's like to live 50, 60, 70 years as a minority." --Mike "I think the reason that the conversation on race gets messy now is because our culture can't use God as the center in that conversation anymore." --Matt The intro for this episode is a performance of excerpts of "I Have A Dream" by children from Watkins Elementary School students. The video of that performance can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8_1NYYKixM

The Speech Guys tip their hats (and masks) to the English Monarchy by drinking and thinking over Queen Elizabeth II's April 2020 speech, "We Will Meet Again". The Show: Recalling COVID lockdown experiences, initial reactions to the Queen's speech, and lessons to pass on from COVID The Quotable Quotes: "Will we have a short or long memory with COVID... when did animosity between Americans end regarding the Great Depression?" --Landon "How would COVID have been different without the Internet?" --Mike "How much of our behaviors regarding COVID were based upon information that was not only easy to generate, but also easy to access?" --Mike "Americans can't recreate the monarchy. It has to emerge naturally from the spiritual ethers of our humanity." --Mike "There's no devotion to the sacred brain of Jesus." --Matt The 'Facts That Matter' Check: President Biden is quoted as saying "the pandemic is over". Still, approximately 500 people die each week from the virus (NY Times). Governor Pritzker and doctor who opposed mask mandates... https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/doctor-illinois-threatening-medical-license-over-mandatory-mask-opposition/article_4a4f40f6-006e-11ec-a070-a78e30de9e54.html The percent of British citizens who opposed the existence of the monarchy... https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-18237280 Technical and professional background on Dr. Robert Malone... https://www.politifact.com/article/2022/jan/06/who-robert-malone-joe-rogans-guest-was-vaccine-sci/ General references: The photo is used from the Associated Press. The audio from President Biden was accessed from this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHT1enFH2sI. The audio from Queen Elizabeth's speech was accessed from this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2klmuggOElE.

Matt and Ross keep the Speech Guys rolling as they break down the key ingredients in their friendship recipe. "Joe came up to our apartment on the first day... long hair, riding a skateboard... and I thought, 'Son of a gun'..." --Ross "Who in the hell hangs curtains in their college apartment? What in the hell is his problem?" --Matt "Don't even stat to call someone who's 5'11" 'short'." --Ross "The Lighthouse... we would leave a light on for weary travelers for rest and nourishment." "It illustrated a deeper meaning to fraternity than just drinking buddies." --Matt "It's hard to convince or convert anyone if they don't matter to you." --Ross An audio excerpt from the 2013 Tullamore Dew "Parting Glass" commercial is used without profit and acquired through Codigo Web (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL9yB0ne67A).

Pull out your milk pens, TV Guide, and Windows XP update manual. The Speech Guys put their minds and hearts to the questions posed by the 1990s and early 2000s TV Dads. A speech given by Debra Barone, played by Patricia Heaton, in the TV series, "Everybody Loves Raymond" is the focal point for discussion. Mike's grandmother, Audrey Tinoco (Episode #12: "Holey Shoes, Mom-Made Clothes, and Spooky Radio Shows in the Great Depression"), makes a return appearance to introduce the crew on the phone call! Here's some snippets to see what this one is all about... "What explains the chasm between "Father Knows Best" and 'Everybody Loves Raymond'?" "Is relatability in TV and film the conceptual response to nihilism?" --Matt "Tim Taylor.. neighbor has eyes and a forehead." --Matt "Men and women can't live together ABC said. So, what holds them with each other then? That was the point of the show, 'Home Improvement'?" --Landon "The housework by parents is even more important now as Grandma Tinoco pointed out because kids just see the parents on the couch--not working, if they're not doing that." --Landon "If my daughter is okay with being treated that way (by a jackass), I'd take that as a fault of my own as a father." --Ross Post-credits scene... Ross breaks down how to do the Current River like a champ.

This episode is rated PG-13 as it discusses the topic of sex, abortion, and contraception. While the Speech Guys are fans of, well, speeches... they aren't fans of making claims without doing their best to verify it from outside sources. The most prominent data referenced in this episode can be accessed via URLs at the bottom of this page. (Unfortunately, Soundcloud doesn't let us create links in this space.) While you scroll down there, check out some of this episode's quotable quotes! "I don't think we should equate pregnancy as something that's terrifying. Pregnancy is a gift." --Anne Marie "Abstinence was communicated as a lot of 'no's'--not really what you were saying 'yes' too." --Matt "I feel like the whole 'scare thing' (about sex) is kind of an indicator that the kids aren't ready to talk about it--at least not in that setting." --Ross "Whenever the discussion gets into intent of individuals, especially in today's political climate, I like looking at the facts on the ground. Intent of a group is hard to really know--especially of large groups, in this case, Planned Parenthood. There's no doubt that there's people at PP who are better people than me. Certainly a lot of people who are at least sincere in trying to help and serve." --Mike "54% of people who have an abortion were using artificial contraception..." https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2018/about-half-us-abortion-patients-report-using-contraception-month-they-became Yes, this article does link to "Secular Pro-Life". But within this article, you'll find links that take you directly to Pew and Guttmacher's original data that Mike and Matt reference regarding the relationship between abortions by state and types of contraception coverage required by law. https://secularprolife.org/2018/09/pro-choice-states-have-just-as-many/

The Speech Guys do their best to stay out of the mansplaining zone for Episode #27 as they discuss a speech given by Dr. Carrie Gress at the Family Institute of Washington. The speech was based upon her book entitled, "Ultimate Makeover: The Transforming Power of Motherhood", A few Speech Guy nuggets to sip and think on this episode: "This is what my parents felt." --Matt "You're in this water without realizing what it is. Apply this to being in mom-water." --Mike "I think motherhood requires a lot of the same muscles as religious faith. It can be awkward at times. Goofy-feeling. But, also meaningful and special. But we all know we can't just invest in religion when it feels good and right, just like with being a mom... or parent." --Mike "What are the things in our lives that are so present that we see through it?" --Matt "Clare's experience of parenting is just so different from mine. And it's not accidental. I feel like it's very much tied to her being a mom." --Matt "Most Christians believe there is some kind of connection between sex, marriage, and family. and the modern world has kind of deviated from that." --Matt Post-credits scene... Mike tries his hand at speech-giving... a back-up best man speech for Stephen and Teagan Barany's June 25th wedding

What happens when the host of the episode loses contact with America and the Speech Guys while in Europe? Nothing good. Ross, Matt, and Mike struggle to wrap their heads around Hal and the famous speech to his astronaut passenger, Dave, from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, "2001: A Space Odyssey". Hear remnants from a 25-minute tangent into Bill Barr and COVID, consider how one truly learns about the stars ("Do you learn more about the stars by going outside and looking at them or researching them in a book?") and which Speech Guys might struggle to disconnect Hal. If you still have some whiskey left in your glass when the episode finishes up, hang around for Matt's recitation of his original poem entitled, "Sculpture", in the post-credits scene.

Mike and Ross podcast solo in this special episode before the fourth and final installment of "Sci Fi Speeches". They tell the origin story of half of the Speech Guys that came about on the campus of the University of Illinois, Bradley University, and Illinois' State Parks and Catholic churches. "I think we talked about dating, romance, and adventure... and I think we've been talking about those things ever since." --Mike "Rob knew you for 25 years and only got best man at your wedding. Julie and I knew you for four years and got groomsman and spouse. That's a pretty good rate of return on our parts." --Mike "We don't believe in things based on one thing. Science, logic, who tells you it... a lot of different factors. That's why evangelizing the culture is so important." --Ross

Sip your favorite whiskey and think with the Speech Guys tonight as they unpack questions about scientific ethical questions that Ian Malcolm brings to the social foreground in the book and 1993 film, "Jurassic Park"... the post-credits scene, what is going to be Landon and Lauren's most special stop on their trip to Europe? "What is the proper relationship between Man and Nature?" --Matt "What is the modern day Jurassic Park?" --Matt "A man with a car in a world designed for feet is a god. A man with a car in a world designed for cars is in traffic." --Matt, quoting the article, "Christians Shouldn't Use Smartphones" by Marc Barnes "Will Newman always be the one to destroy society's metaphorical Jurassic Parks?" --Mike "To treat someone as the summation of their genetic prowess is an inherently dehumanizing thing." --Matt "No one knows who the first person to have the genetic capacity to run a sub 4 minute mile was." --Mike "Ross is going to change the model for Jurassic Park. You can't see them out back in the wild. You're mostly going to eat them like at a steakhouse." --Landon

Sip your favorite whiskey and think with the Speech Guys tonight as they unpack questions about free will that Marty McFly and Doc Brown bring to the fore in the 1990 film, Back to the Future Part III... "Son, there are only two things in life that are free... your will... and your last name." "We wanted to show you movies that wouldn't morally corrupt you." "Let's just assume we start building nihilistic schools of anti-free will..." "How could something that influences everyone so dramatically and almost universally be seen as a positive... how could that not exist in some real way?"

The Speech Guys listen to and discuss excerpts from the speech presented by the fictional President in the 1998 film, Armageddon. This is the first episode in the "Sci-Fi Speeches" series. Questions and topics explored in this episode consider how the Speech Guys thought about the (potentially) apocalyptic turning of the millennium in the year 2000, how the film contrasts with contemporary apocalyptic stories, what the Bible and Catholic and Protestant theology says about the End Times, and much more! Stay tuned for the post-credits scene. Ross Johnson gives a review of Buffalo Rock State Park. This episode utilizes audio from the President's speech in Armageddon. The scene was posted by "Speeches HD". No revenue is generated from use of this content.

The Speech Guys listen to and discuss excerpts from the 2005 Kenyon College commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace. This is the fourth and final episode in the "Speeches Before They Died" series. Questions and topics explored in this episode consider the tension between objectivist and subjectivist perspectives expressed in the speech, the role that boredom plays in cultivating self-awareness and introspection, how the empathetic, conscientious vision of the "This Is Water" mindset is cultivated and built up within an individual, and more! (Be sure to listen through for the post-credits scene ; ) This episode utilizes audio from the "This Is Water" speech posted by Ms. Lynn Skittle on YouTube. No revenue is generated from use of this content.

The Speech Guys read and discuss excerpts from the final speech given by Father Zossima, in the Russian novel, "The Brothers Karmazov". It was written by Fyodor Dostoyesky in 1879. This is the third episode in the "Speeches Before They Died" series. Questions and topics explored in this episode consider how sincerity of prayer expresses itself inside and outside of oneself, the extent to which one can be responsible for others' sin, and what each Speech Guy might like to have read to their children at their death. Special guest host includes longtime friend of the Speech Guys, Sam Mangieri of Fiat Films!

This episode is rated PG-13 as it discusses the significance of sex and sexuality in society and culture. The Speech Guys read and discuss excerpts from the final interview Marilyn Monroe gave just a few weeks prior to her taking her life in August 1962. This is the second episode in the "Speeches Before They Died" series. Questions and topics explored in this episode consider how Marilyn Monroe experienced both conflict and satisfaction with her fame and her depiction as a sexual object in culture, the masculine-feminine dynamic in the sexualization of women, the nature of beauty, glamor, and "sexualness", and the challenges in articulating and implementing an egalitarian notion of sexual responsibility! Special guest hosts include Anne Marie Williams and her sister Clare Schultz! Anne Marie references the contemporary academic consideration of sexual consent as an objective barometer of moral sexual behavior. Two pieces of scientific literature concerning this question are investigated in detail below. The first URL links a literature review published by the University of Tennessee in January 2017. The second links a paper published in Frontiers in Psychology in February 2020. "Sexual Violence, Consent, and Contradictions: A Call for Communication Scholars to Impact Sexual Violence Prevention " https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1362&context=pursuit "Contributions From Psychology to Effectively Use, and Achieving Sexual Consent" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7042399/

The Speech Guys listen to and discuss the North Carolina State University's Coach Jimmy V's speech he gave at the 1993 ESPY Awards, just two months before he died. This is the first episode in the "Speeches Before They Died" series. Questions and topics explored in this episode ask why "laughing, thinking, and crying" each day is so important, when the last time each of the Speech Guys cried was, how crying is perceived in the West for men and how that might contrast with a more traditional Judeo-Christian perspective, and how modern day people might prefer keeping the material realities of death at a distance and more! Ross asked me to point you to an episode of "Art of Manliness" that was referenced. Feel free to listen, but be sure to come right back when you're done. Copy this URL into your favorite browser! https://www.artofmanliness.com/people/relationships/podcast-171-the-dying-experience-myths-and-answers/

The Speech Guys read and discuss the Seneca leader, Red Jacket's (1750 - 1830), speech he gave at a meeting between members of the Seneca tribe and missionaries from Boston who'd requested permission to evangelize his people. Questions and topics explored in this episode include the relationship between theology and virtue, the socio-economic dynamics that influenced the actualization of Manifest Destiny, the logical antagonism of moral relativism and objectivism when different societies interact for the first time, and more!

The Speech Guys read and discuss Graham's speech he gave at the Washington National Cathedral on September 14, 2001 following the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Questions and topics explored in this episode include how Graham attempts to explain or not explain why suffering exists and how that's important, whether or not Islamic extremists did ultimately tear apart the country, how Graham's political style and personal character made him a Christian leader who endured through generations, and more!

The Speech Guys read and discuss Ms. Day's "speech" from her autobiography, 'The Long Loneliness'. Some questions that we explore are "Why is 'order' and 'structure' important to raising children?", "What was different about the way that she 'rebelled' against Church authority?", and "How did the Book of Job figure into her interpretation of hell and suffering?".

The Speech Guys read and discuss Saint John Paul the Great's speech that he delivered in Warsaw, Poland in June 1979. Some questions we discuss and topics that we comment on include how Communist Poland interpreted and manipulated his social influence, how he deftly navigated faithfulness to Christ and the Church and compliance with the atheist government, and special guest host, Father Rob Johnson joins us of the podcast, 'Three Dogs North'!