After the fall of Fort Henry, Albert Sidney Johnston suddenly became concerned with the defenses at Fort Donaldson along the Cumberland River. Brigadier General Bushrod Johnson was the commander in charge of Donaldson on February 7th, but Johnston started sending in reinforcements with new commanders to strengthen the Fort's defenses. He first sent Brigadier Generals Gideon Pillow and Simon Bolivar Buckner along with the soldiers in their command to defend the Fort. Before the Battle of Fort Donaldson would take place, another Brigadier General, John Floyd, former United States Secretary of War, would also be sent to take command of the Fort. So there were four Brigadier Generals at Fort Donaldson during the battle. According to the US Army regulations, which the Confederacy adopted, the hierarchy of two officers of the same rank would be decided according to who was given the commission first. And if that was on the same day, it would be according to who had the higher rank previously, and if that was the same, who got that commission first. So this put Floyd clearly at the top in Bushrod Johnson at the bottom of the four Brigadier Generals. Pillow outranked Buckner, but the two generals did not care for each other. I told the background two episodes ago about how the two of them established a heated rivalry during a previous political campaign, and the wounds had never healed. So Fort Donaldson, when the attack began, was a situation in which the rankings alone would suggest that Confederate leadership was incredibly concentrated and should have been a great benefit to the Fort's defenses. The reality was probably the opposite. John Floyd may have had the highest rank, but he was a political appointee, and everyone knew it. He had no real military experience, and since he had been the United States Secretary of War only a year earlier, his loyalty was in question. The general consensus among the men at the Fort, and historians seem to agree, is that the hierarchy ran in the opposite direction from ability. John Floyd didn't know what he was doing. Pillow was probably less technically qualified than Buckner, but the real issue between the two of them was their unwillingness to work together very well. Pillow was angry that Floyd, a political appointee, outranked him, and neither he nor Buckner wanted to cooperate with the other, though on the battlefield Buckner would be less willing to put their animosities aside, likely because Pillow technically outranked him only by the date of their appointments. So although I won't go into any details about all the planning and insubordination, these generals constantly worked against each other. Different historians placed the blame more heavily at the feet of one man or another, but it seems certain that they all share some of the responsibility for the outcome of the battle. On paper, the combined Confederate leadership at Fort Donaldson should have had an easy time against Ulysses S. Grant, who didn't even have the confidence of his own commander, who actually was working to replace him even after the capture of Fort Henry. In fact, the replacement that General Halleck had in mind to take over Grant's command was a retired officer named Ethan Hitchcock, and the only reason that Hitchcock declined the offer of command was that he believed Grant was already doing everything that he could. In other words, Grant's potential replacement had more confidence in Grant than his own commander. So on the Union side, you have an officer that nobody in Union leadership had any real confidence in, and on the Confederate side, you have a total of four brigadier generals and a single fort. But if Grant's superiors had little confidence in him, the men under him were who were important. When one soldier from Indiana was captured right before the attack on Fort Donaldson, he was interrogated at a Confederate camp. They asked who commanded the Union army near the fort, and the soldier answered, General U.S. Grant. The Confederates asked where Grant was from, as they'd never heard of him before. The soldiers gave a prescient reply that showed well-placed confidence in his commander, quote, You will soon know him well enough, end quote. Over the course of the next few days, the soldier would be proven correct. I'm Chris Calton, and this is the Mises Institute podcast, Historical Controversies. In the previous two episodes, we've looked at the Union and Confederate forces around Kentucky and the Mississippi River and the Battle of Fort Henry, which was the Confederacy's poorly constructed defense of the Tennessee River. In the next two episodes, we will be looking at the much more exciting Battle of Fort Donaldson, in which Ulysses S. Grant earns national fame. The move on Fort Donaldson came on the morning of February 12th. The gunboats started down the Cumberland River at 4.30 in the morning, moving slowly against the river currents. A few hours later, Grant's army of now roughly 15,000 men started moving overland from Fort Henry 12 miles away from Donaldson. The first contact between Union and Confederate soldiers on this day came when a group of Northerners came upon a cavalry regiment under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest is probably more famous, or infamous, as the case may be, than any other figure in this story other than Ulysses S. Grant. He became rich as a Tennessee slave trader prior to the war, and he's most well known for his role as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Just as an interesting piece of trivia, by the way, his great grandson, Nathan Bedford Forrest III, was the first American general killed in action during World War II, so that might be useful on trivia night one day. But at this moment, he was a cavalry colonel for the Confederacy. When he saw the Union infantry line advancing, he had his men dismount and hold a line against them. Forrest's men were much more well equipped than most of the Southerners at Fort Donaldson. A shortage of arms and ammunition meant that a lot of the Southerners were armed with shotguns or hunting rifles, neither of which were very effective for combat. Forrest's men were armed with breech loading rifles, putting them at an advantage of arms against the Union infantry. For several hours, they held off the Union advance before Forrest ordered his men to fall back. February 12th wasn't a very exciting initiation of the battle to come. The Union advance was slowed not just by Forrest's cavalry and other Southerners, but by problems within their own regiments, such as friendly fire from the 29th Illinois, that took out a handful of Union men. Grant also rejected his West Point training and neglected to have his men entrench, a decision made because his men didn't have the proper tools and Grant wanted to advance too quickly to make it worthwhile, but it also meant that the Union forces were vulnerable. Grant apparently believed that the Union gunboats would be able to make quick work at Fort Donaldson just as they had with Fort Henry, but this would not be the case. But the Confederate leadership wasn't eager to take the advantage. Full Floyd was not on site just yet, so Gideon Pillow was still in charge, and he was telegraphing Floyd and Albert Sidney Johnston to request reinforcements. Floyd and Buckner wanted to abandon the fort, but Pillow thought he could hold it if he had more men, and Johnston ordered Floyd and his troops to make their way to Donaldson, where Floyd would take command. But Floyd hadn't received much in the way of specific instructions from General Johnston, and he apparently believed that the goal of his movement to Donaldson was to hold the fort only long enough for Johnston to move his own army out of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and into Nashville, so Floyd apparently believed that he was just going to hold off the Union advance for a little while, whereas Johnston believed that they could hold the Cumberland River entirely. Meanwhile, Grant's immediate superior, Don Carlos Buell, who had up to this point refused to send Grant any reinforcements of his own, finally realized that he was looking overly cautious and ordered some of his men to reinforce Grant, though their arrival would take some time, as most of the Union transport ships were already occupied carrying supplies for Grant's army. So the first day of the battle was largely uneventful, aside from a handful of skirmishes and the movement of troops. When the battle really commenced on February 13th, neither side was very well prepared. The defenses around Donaldson were set so that the outer defense stretched in three columns, from the fort itself around the nearby city of Dover that sat just down river from Donaldson. Unlike the Union infantry, the Confederates were entrenched, but not very effectively, as their trenches were hastily dug and incomplete. The fort itself had a more effective battery than Fort Henry did, giving it a better defense of the river. Grant's strategy for the 13th was to test the Confederate lines to look for weak points. The attack came first from the river, even though most of the Union ships were still making their way to the battle. But the gunboat the Carindalette was present, and it opened fire on the fort. As the gunboat and the fort fired on each other, each side landed one good hit. For the Union, the second to last shell they sent toward Fort Donaldson, hit one of the fort's cannons, dismounting it. The commander of the river batteries, Captain Dixon, was ducking to avoid the shells when the explosion sent a tool flying, hitting him in the head and killing him instantly. A handful of the gunners were also killed or wounded, so the cannon was taken out of commission and the commander of the batteries was dead. Only two shots from the fort hit the Carindalette, but one of them took the ship out. This shot burst through the engine room of the ship and destroyed the boiler. Miraculously, nobody was injured in this, in contrast to the Essex during the Battle of Fort Henry, in which many men were scalded to death when the boiler was hit. The crew avoided any serious disaster, but the ship itself was forced out of the fight by this hit. Although this doesn't sound like much activity, the firing between the Carindalette and the fort took place over the course of most of the day, and it wasn't enough to provide Grant the opportunity to attack from the land while the fort's batteries were tied up. On the 13th, two major assaults were sent against the Confederates. The first came from Brigadier General Charles Smith, who commanded Grant's second division. He pushed against the Confederate right where Buckner was in command. The other assault was waged by Brigadier General John McClearnand, commander of Grant's first division. McClearnand held the line against both the Confederate center and the Confederate left, but for his attack, he sent one of his brigades to push against the Confederate center. In both assaults, the Union would find out that conquering Fort Donaldson would be much more difficult than Fort Henry. Smith's assault faced a number of challenges. He was looking for any opening on the Confederate right, and he was slowly moving his men around the enemy line, but the terrain made things difficult. One of his brigades was ordered to fix their bayonets and ready a charge, but the move against the Confederate defenses was uphill, as the soldiers moved in, in the words of one regimental officer, quote. At the foot of the hill, the enemy poured on us a terrible fire of musketry, grape and canister, with a few shells, end quote. The Confederates had also felled a number of trees around their entrenchments to make it even more difficult for the Union to advance against them. For hours, the Northerners continued to slowly push against the Confederate right, but they were constantly halted by enemy fire, felled trees, and the natural incline of the ground around them.  McClearnand's assault went even more poorly. He was probing the Confederate left, and as he looked for a weakness there, he decided to send his weakest brigade under the command of Colonel William Morrison to push against the well-fortified Confederate center. This was a costly decision. At first, though, it looked like the assault was going well. The terrain was much more favorable to the Union advance than smithsmen were dealing with. As they moved in, they faced no enemy fire, but as they got close enough, Morrison himself was suspicious of how easy the advance was progressing, later writing quote. He had advanced within less than fifty paces of the enemy's works without his offering any opposition, and were making our way slowly, but surely, they were undoubtedly waiting for us, end quote. As the Northerners closed in, the Confederates remained hidden in their trenches, waiting patiently as the brigade under the command of Adolphus Hyman, the man for whom the undefended Fort Hyman was named, if you remember from the previous episode. This was the Fort captured without resistance at the outset of the Battle of Fort Henry. In that attack, the Confederates left without a fight, but this time, they would hold to their ground. Along with his infantry, he had a couple of batteries supporting him. When the Union men were within spitting distance, he ordered the Artillerists to open fire with all their guns. The Confederate Artillerists suffered from return fire and lost a good handful of men, but the destruction against the Union line was devastating. The Northerners were driven back only to try their advance a total of three times before finally giving up, and each advance cost them several men. The Confederate casualties amounted to about forty men. The Union lost upwards of two hundred or more, though different sources give different estimates. The worst fate befell the Union wounded, who were left on the ground, unable to escape. The Artilleries set the surrounding foliage on fire, and the flames spread along the hill, burning those who could not escape alive. One of these Confederates left an account of, quote, one poor wretch who had strength enough left to crawl up the breastworks on our left this morning, and was helped over the logs and laid on a blanket by a fire, but death soon relieved him, end quote. Another southerner later wrote, quote, the groans and screams of the poor helpless men suffering this double torch were agonizing, but no help was sent, and death finally put an end to their misery, end quote. The sight of enemy soldiers burning alive and their cries of agony were too much for some of the Confederates who actually broke ranks to try to pull the Union men out of the flames. As the sun set, the fighting settled down, but this offered no respite for the soldiers, particularly the Northerners. The past few days had seen relatively good weather for February in the Upper South, but a snowstorm decided now to sweep through the area. Most Union troops were without shelter. Instead of sleep, they had to keep moving to avoid freezing to death or losing limbs to the frostbite. One soldier wrote that, quote, even the horses after their manner betrayed the suffering they were enduring, end quote. Many of the soldiers had left their coats back at Fort Henry, and although later reports exaggerated this, some men had no blankets. Typically, soldiers would avoid lighting a fire at night as it could be a target for enemy fire, but faced with the terrible cold, many regiments decided to risk it. One officer said he would, quote, rather be shot and have his men shot by Rebs than all of us freeze to death, end quote. Apparently other regimental commanders agreed, and several companies built fires. To keep the blood circulating, the men were ordered to march double time in circles around the fire, though at least one account attributes this to an order made by a regular soldier that everyone else mistook as an officer's command. Either way, it probably saved some of the men from frostbite, but at the expense of a much needed night's sleep between days of combat. Things looked up for the Union on the 14th as roughly 6,000 reinforcements arrived on transport ships during the night. But more importantly, the Union gunboats under Andrew Whole Foot finally arrived, giving Grant another means of taking out Fort Donaldson. If the Confederate defensive line was too strong to break, he now had the power to assault the Fort from the river.  But no significant army engagements took place, as the battle on the 14th would be on the river. On both the Union and Confederate side, the belief was that this would be another Fort Henry, as Foot's flotilla would make quick work of the Fort. Foot's force was actually smaller than the one that attacked Henry a week earlier, and Fort Donaldson was much more well equipped. But he assumed that the strategy that had proven so successful previously would work again here. The gunboat started firing at the Fort from more than a mile away, starting their attack in mid-afternoon. Pillow gave the order to hold fire from all but the two largest cannons as well. Almost immediately, the Confederates had problems. Their best gun was a single rifled cannon, but it got jammed early into the fighting. This meant that as the Union boats started to close in, they were taking almost no fire from Fort Donaldson. But Foot's idea was to anchor his boat only a few hundred yards from the Fort, so they could hit them with everything they had at close range, which would topple the Fort that much more quickly. This was a mistake. When the gunboats were maybe 400 yards away from Donaldson, the Confederates opened fire with every gun they had. Most of the cannons were old smoothbore models, but at this range, they were destructive even against the iron plating of the Union boats. The USS St. Louis was the first gunboat to be taken out. One shell pierced the hull right around the waterline, so that as it rocked in the river, water would pour in through the hull. Another hit broke through the pilot house and killed the ship's pilot. This also happened to be the boat that Foot was on, and the same shot that killed the pilot wounded him in the ankle. Similar damage afflicted the USS Louisville. Early in the fighting, these boats were taken out of commission. The USS Pittsburgh was the next ironclad to go down. It took nearly 40 hits, and by some miracle, only two members of its crew suffered any injuries, with nobody killed. But the boat itself was severely damaged, as several shots tore through its iron plating, opening holes near the waterline, and it was now quickly filling up with water. The ship was taken out of range of the Fort's guns before it sank, allowing the crew to make it to the shore. The worst damage was received by the Karen de Lett, which had been repaired after the damage it suffered the previous day. Part of the damage came when one of the ship's own guns exploded, knocking its crew unconscious. But most of the destruction came from the Confederate shells. As one crewman described it, the shells flew against the ship, quote, taking flagstaffs and smokestacks, and tearing off the side armor as lightning tears the bark from a tree. There was so much blood on the decks that our men could not work the guns without slipping, end quote. Another survivor remembered seeing, quote, three men with their heads off, the sight almost sickened me, and I turned my head away, end quote. This was the fate of the four ironclad gunboats in Foots Flotilla. In total, the Union Navy suffered 54 casualties in this battle, a high count for naval warfare. But from a military point of view, the men were more expendable than the boats that were lost in the battle. The Confederates were elated. At the outset of the battle, they expected to lose, but as they saw the Union ships retreat one by one, they realized that they had the upper hand. One gunner threw his cap in the air in excitement and shouted, quote, come on, you cowardly scoundrels, you are not at Fort Henry, end quote. With the gunboats repelled, General Grant decided that the best thing he could do now was to fortify his own troops around Donaldson and wait for the gunboats to be repaired. He went to speak to Captain Foote, and he would not return to the battlefield until the following afternoon. As the day closed on the 14th, Confederate spirits were high.  At midnight, the officers called a council of war to discuss their plan of action now that the Union was vulnerable. The goal was to hold the fort long enough to let the Confederate forces retreat to Nashville. The plan they formulated was to have Pillow lead the attack on the Confederate left. Buckner would move his troops to the center of the line, Pillow would break through the Union line and open the door to escape, and Buckner would hold off the rest of the Union forces to cover the retreat. The attack was scheduled to begin as soon as the sun rose, giving the Confederates the element of surprise. Unfortunately, maneuvering troops in the dark night over icy terrain is easier said than done, and not everybody was in position in time. Still the same conditions that slowed the Confederates, particularly the cold weather, hindered the Union, and the Confederate movement went unnoticed by the northern skirmishers who would probably occupy trying to keep warm. The assault began around 6 a.m., and despite the setbacks, the Confederates still had the element of surprise on their side. When the order was given, the Southerners charged out firing at their surprised enemy and sounding off their famous rebel yell. As soon as the firing started, the Union forces nearest to them, under the command of Colonel John MacArthur, jumped into action. The gray uniforms of the Confederates blended well with the snow, and they had trouble seeing their targets, but they shot at the enemy whenever they could identify one, though the firing wasn't very accurate. Gideon Pillow was all over the field, giving his men orders and encouragement. His strategy was to try to direct his soldiers around the enemy to flank them. The Northerners tried to hold them off, but it wasn't long before they were overwhelmed as the Southerners started appearing behind them, and they were running out of ammunition. The Northerners were now being assaulted from the front, the rear, and their right. The Union officers who tried to encourage their men to stand firm made easy targets for the Confederates who picked them off. As the field started to pile up with dead and wounded, men who ran out of their own ammunition started salvaging what they could from their fallen comrades. As one officer described to the scene, quote, so thickly was the battlefield strung with dead and wounded that I could have trekked across it, stepping almost every step upon a prostrate body, end quote. Hundreds of men fell wounded between both sides during the combat, too many to carry them all to the already overflowing filled hospitals nearby. Many of them were left bleeding in the snow, where in many cases they would linger for days without anybody coming to help them. One regimen alone, the 18th Illinois, fought until it was completely out of ammunition and left the battlefield, leaving behind 250 comrades dead or wounded. The plan for Nathan Bedford Forest and his cavalry was to circle around the enemy, but the terrain slowed them down, forcing his men to dismount and operate his infantry. As a result, the Union line was already breaking by the time they finally arrived to their destination, but they showed up just as one Union battery was trying to hitch the horses to the single operable howitzer they had left. When Forest's men pounced on them, they were forced to retreat, letting the cannon fall into Confederate hands. The Union response was a mess. Grant was currently onboard the USS St. Louis, talking to Captain Foot, unaware of the goings on with his army. His subordinates were reluctant to respond without orders. In the Union center, Brigadier General Lou Wallace, commander of Grant's third division, received word of the attack and refused to reinforce McClearnand, reluctant to abandon the position until Grant gave him new orders. When a second messenger showed up though, Wallace knew he had to do something. With tears in his eyes, the messenger, a regimental officer, said, quote, our flank is turned. The regiments are being crowded back of the center. We are using ammunition taken from the dead and wounded. The whole army is in danger, end quote. It was roughly 8.30 in the morning when Wallace finally decided to reinforce McClearnand, and it would be another hour before they would actually arrive where they were needed. When the new troops showed up, the Union men they were trying to reinforce didn't know if they were friend or foe when the two northern regiments exchanged friendly fire before they realized what was going on. The regiments broke into confusion and the reinforcements may have done more harm than good. Over in the Confederate right, where Buckner was supposed to be covering the retreat, the Confederacy was having a bit more trouble. While Pillow was pressing hard against the Union right, Buckner sent three regiments to press against the Union in front of him. They were driven back by Union artillery. Buckner had his men hold their line, but he refused to push aggressively. Pillow was pushing back against a force that at this moment was maybe twice the size of his own, but Buckner's conservative tactics made it easier for the Union to send new troops against Pillow. Even with the weak assault from Buckner, the Union troops were forced to eventually move back, even though the order to retreat didn't make it to one Illinois regiment. Left behind by their retreating comrades, the 11th Illinois were unsupported when Nathan Bedford Forestsmen made their way up behind them. Now the Union left started to crumble just as the Union right had been doing. Grant's army was now unfolding on both sides, but Pillow's men were running out of ammunition. Pillow wanted to know what was going on. He figured that the way that his men had been cutting down the Union right, the enemy should have broken completely by now. When he came across Forest, he demanded to know what the Colonel had been doing this whole time. Forest presented the captured howitzer as well as a handful of Illinois prisoners and said, a bang orders general by protecting your left flank. Pillow was satisfied. Now his frustration turned to general Buckner. He saw that both lines were breaking, but he suspected that the enemy was falling back to reorganize and what the Confederacy needed was a coordinated assault from both sides. Pillow on the Union right and Buckner on the Union left. So Pillow took off to find Buckner. But when he found Buckner, Buckner and his men were still settled in the trenches, not advancing despite their enemy falling back. Pillow outranked Buckner and he ordered Buckner to press harder against the Union left. Buckner wasn't happy about taking orders from Pillow, but he complied. While taking fire from the Union line, the Confederates pressed on toward them, dropping to their knees to reload. Because of the snow, many of their old flintlock muskets became useless, but they closed the gap. Meanwhile, Pillow took off once again and saw Union shell take out an entire Confederate artillery team. He found a nearby Virginia infantry regiment and led them to the cannon that no longer had a team to operate it and he took command of the cannon himself, quickly instructing the untrained infantry in how to operate the gun. For another unmanned gun, Pillow sent forest with his dismounted cavalry to take over manning the cannon despite not being trained for it. Just as they had done earlier in the morning, the Union line held until they were out of ammunition, but they were eventually forced to fall back. The Union line was now retreating from all flanks. The Southerners pressed in, now under orders to rely on their bayonets. They moved down a ravine and swarmed on a Union battery covering the retreat. When they met, both sides resorted to hand-to-hand combat. Those who had them fired off pistols, but the rest fought with bayonets, swords or bowy knives. Driving off the Union artilleryists, the Southerners captured another Union cannon as well as several horses. They also captured a hospital tent recovering 60 Confederate prisoners. As the Confederates were losing steam, Nathan Bedford Forrest led his cavalry to wherever they were needed. Forrest's horses took the worst of the fighting. His original horse had suffered several wounds but was still trucking, but now it finally collapsed from exhaustion and blood loss. He mounted one of the recently captured horses that had been pulling a Union cannon. Barely a moment after he mounted it and started moving down the ravine, his new horse was hit in the thigh. As he started to move his limping horse away, a cannonball hit the poor animal square in the body just behind Forrest's legs, ripping through and killing the horse instantly. Over the course of the war, 29 horses would be killed while Nathan Bedford Forrest was riding them. But the Union line had broken and now there was a veritable stampede of Union soldiers retreating. But the Southerners were running out of steam as well. They had driven back the entire Union line which had now crumbled but their leaders ordered them to fall back. The morning looks like a rousing Confederate success but they neglected to take advantage of it. Although this was a mistake, it's easy to understand their hesitation. A gritty account of the aftermath of the morning fight was left by a Virginia soldier. He wrote, quote, our own men had there removed most of the enemy's wounded that they had not carried off with them as they fell back. But the dead were still lying there in numbers that astonished me for the duration of the conflict had not been such as to prepare me for such slaughter. It was terrible. The dead lay in every conceivable position and were shot in every part of the body. Whenever a face was turned up to view as many were, its ghastly power was rendered more horrid by contrast with blood and gaping wounds. The ground was all along, strewn with blankets, canteens, haversacks, knapsacks, guns, cartridge boxes and every kind of equipment. The trees and saplings were all sacrificed in torn and many of the latter cut down by balls. In one place where the battle raged with greatest fierceness where in fact our forces having first driven the enemy back were themselves forced to retreat a little way and there again drove the enemy back. I could but stop and note the marks of the storm that had passed and repast over it. The growth was mostly small and it was cut down by the ball so that it looked something like I have seen a thick growth of corn that had been swept over and cut down and shattered by a severe hellstorm. The dead were mostly slain by the balls of the infantry. Those slain by the artillery were of course more mangled in torn but were not I thought so horrid to look on as those who were killed by smaller arms retained most or all of their features and limbs and thus seemed to force on the mind a stronger realization of the scene around him. End quote. The plan was to open the door for escape but the Confederate leadership did not seem to be of one mind about some of the details of the plan. Apparently, Pillow believed that once his assault opened the door for escape his men would move back to their encampments to retrieve their supplies and equipment and then escape. Buckner on the other hand had his men carry their knapsacks with them so they could flee without returning to their camps. This misunderstanding would prove important in the outcome of the plan. Most importantly, Grant would return to the battlefield during the law and take command. The result would be to turn an undeniable Confederate victory into one of the most important union successes of the war. This will be the topic of the next episode. Historical Controversies is a production of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. If you would like to support the show please subscribe on iTunes, Google Play or Stitcher and leave a positive review. You can also support the show financially by donating at Mises.org slash supportHC. If you would like to explore the rest of our content please visit Mises.org. That's M-I-S-E-S dot O-R-G.


Question is from Shane Omak, 716. What are your thoughts on the ketogenic diet in regards to building muscle? So ketogenic diet has certain benefits for some people. One of them is not packing on muscle. It's actually a difficult, can you build muscle on a ketogenic diet? You can, I've done it. Way harder to do though. Carbohydrates make building muscle a lot easier. You get your stronger, you get better pumps, and I just don't build as much muscle on a ketogenic. It's hard to eat enough calories to gain muscle. That's the thing. I think this answer to this really depends on the person, right? Katrina puts on muscle pretty well. Harder for her to lose body fat. She does phenomenal on the ketogenic diet. She packs muscle on, she leans out at the same time. She loves it. For me, it's the opposite. But I'm also the, I fall on the camp of people that struggled to build muscle most of my life, that struggled to get enough calories. And eating a diet that's high in fat and moderate protein, which are both very satiating, it was really tough. And I tried this. A couple years back, depending on how far back you've listened to the show, we talked all about the ketogenic diet right when it was first starting to get popular and we all decided to do it. And I thought it was a really good experiment, especially for someone like me who was at the time eating like 400 to 600 grams of carbs every day, because it would be such a shift for me. And I saw lots of great benefits that I noticed. But one of the things that I struggled with was to try and put size on, to put mass on. And it was mainly because I just, I didn't have the, I just had a really hard time eating at that and at that time my maintenance, my calorie maintenance was around 4,500 calories. That's a lot of calories to get through, eating healthy fats all day long. It's a lot of fat. You're eating like 300 grams or something like that. And that's what I found myself doing. I was like, this can't be ideal. It can't be ideal for me to be eating all this butter and macadamia nuts and just to try and hit this calorie intake. Yeah. It was silly. Like I started out trying to go through ketogenic. And it's, I mean, to be completely transparent, honest, I found the carnivore diet even easier than that. Cause it's, I mean, it's very straightforward.    But I mean, if you pull it off, it's great. There's obviously other benefits to it that I think people probably want to focus on a little bit more in terms of like the neuroprotective part of it, the lower information, like things like that. Yeah. That's, that's why I'll do keto sometimes. If I go ketogenic, it's not to improve my performance or build muscle. It's to reduce inflammation and feel mentally sharper. That's what ends up happening. So ketogenic diets characterized by very, very, very low carbohydrates, high fat intake, moderate protein intake. And because you don't have carbohydrates in your diet, your body produces what are called ketones from fat, either the fat that you consume or from fat from your body, depending on if you're a deficit or not in terms of calories. And those ketones are used for energy. And when the body uses ketones, you feel some people or most people tend to feel sharper and they tend to have more level amounts of energy. And there's also an anti-inflammatory effect. Now as far as muscle building is concerned, it's very tough. I've done this. I've had clients do this and it's just hard. I just, you just build more muscle with carbohydrates. You're stronger with carbohydrates. This is actually a fact. Now unless carbohydrates bother you and don't react to you, there's always individual, you know, individuals that don't fall within this, but generally speaking, carbs also make you stronger. So for, for, for bulking or building muscle, unless the ketogenic diet, here's, here's how the ketogenic diet could help you build muscle. If it's the healthiest diet for you. So if you have, if carbohydrates don't work well with your body for whatever reason, if you get really inflamed, your digestion is off and just doesn't work, then you'll probably build more muscle on a ketogenic diet. But if you're okay either way, keto is not the best for muscle building.


Women's safety is a global issue. Sexual harassment is unfortunately an everyday episode for women and girls across developed and developing countries of the world. Tamil Nadu, a southern state in India, with a population greater than that of the United Kingdom, was no different. Mothers in Tamil Nadu were concerned about their daughter's safety outside their homes. Hamam saw this as an opportunity to take its core message of keeping skin safe one step further by starting a new conversation on women's safety. We sought to contextualize this promise of protection. Hamam Goes Safe Outside was born to enable and empower young women to feel safe and confident, to give them the courage and tools to defend themselves in unpleasant situations. Silambam, a forgotten martial art form native to Tamil Nadu, was revived to become the weapon of the women of Tamil Nadu. As conversations around women's safety continued in media, we activated relevant consumer channels to show Hamam's affirmative action. We started with Silambam training classes in schools. A network of key community influencers was developed. Communication was sent to parents to drive participation. Short format self-defense videos were seeded across digital media to educate girls on self-defense techniques. With the brand reaching 8 out of 10 homes in Tamil Nadu, we turned over 10 million Hamam packs into a demonstration medium. Mainstream media picked up Hamam's initiative as the need of the hour, adding 350,000 US dollars as earned PR. Brands scores soared. World records were created. In the end, Hamam inspired young girls to take safety into their own hands.


seeing, believing, and knowing. Like some people just know. Yeah. But I think sometimes we believe but knowing is like even a deeper, like I know. Right, do you know what I mean? I agree with that. That's interesting. Cause I definitely, when I was coming up, it was that knowing feeling. It was, there was no doubt. Like doubt did not exist in my brain. I knew that it was gonna work and you couldn't tell me any different.


A 3.8 magnitude earthquake shook areas along the Kentucky-Tennessee border Monday afternoon. The quake was centered in La Follette, Tennessee and was felt in many areas of Kentucky, including in Saliersville, West Liberty and Jackson. One person who felt it was former Letcher County resident Tommy Oaks, who now lives in Greenville, Tennessee. Well, I was sitting in my living room and was by myself at the time and I could feel the house start to move and the windows were creaking and kind of like when dynamite gets blasted, except it lasted a lot longer. It was probably 10 to 12 seconds of just moving and the house shaking. Well, at first I thought, well, my wife had started the washing machine and I was like, no, she didn't do that. That lasted a lot longer and then I thought, oh my goodness, this is an earthquake. I was kind of in shock, you know, because I'd never really been in a earthquake before. And I just kind of looked around thinking, I hope this quits. And it did after about, like I said, about 10 to 12 seconds. And then I went into the other part of the house where my wife and my son were to see if they were okay and see if they had felt anything. You know, they had too. So, yeah, it was different. Well, no damage. We just had to feel the house move and creak and felt the windows, you know, shake and creak. And it was, it was a different experience. Never having been through one. Now I kind of know what it feels like. No widespread damage was reported as a result of Monday's earthquake in Tennessee.


Dear students, in this topic, we shall discuss the features of cardiac muscles. The cardiac muscles are found only in the heart. These muscles are striated muscles like these skeletal muscles. So, they share many characteristics with skeletal muscles, however, they differ from skeletal muscles in several important features. The cardiac muscle cells are called myocytes and these cells are mononucleate. That is, they have only single nucleus in each cell. Iska mukabhle mein jus skeletal muscle cells hai go multinucleate hote hain. The cardiac muscle fibers are innervated only diffusely by the excitatory, sympathetic neurons and inhibitory parasympathetic neurons. Iska mukabhle mein jus skeletal muscle fibers hai go individually innervated hote hain by only excitatory motor neurons axons. Dear students, the cardiac neural innervations are only modulatory in their role. Contractions in cardiac muscles are produced because of the electrical activity of pacemaker not because of the nerve impulses. Ye jo cardiac neural innervations hai ye post-synaptic potentials bhi produce nahin karthi cardiac cells mein. Toh inka bhi role jo hai ho sirf ye hai ke ye cardiac cells ki contractions ki strength ko increase or decrease karthi. Dear students, the cardiac muscle cells are connected with each other through interclated disks. Ye jo interclated disks hain ye elektrikali connect kati hain cells ko. Isliye pacemaker region mein jo action potential generate hote hain wo rapidly hartke ek cell se du se cell tak in fast conducting pathways ke through transfer ho jata hai. Dear students, now we shall discuss the contraction mechanism of cardiac muscles. The contraction mechanism of cardiac muscles fundamentally resembles to that of skeletal twitch muscles, yani ke it is activated by an increase in cytosolic calcium ion concentration. However, difference kaha pe hai that is the action potentials length differ in both cardiac and skeletal muscles. Skeletal muscles action potentials are of very short duration. Iske mukabh le mein action potentials in cardiac muscles have a palliative ways of hundreds of milliseconds long. Dear students, ye jo action potential ki long duration hain aur uske baad longer refractory period hain that prevents the tattinic contractions of cardiac muscle fibres. It also permits the muscles to relax. As a result ventricles ke feeling ke liye jo time required hain wo isi gap ke dhoran hain jis me ke do action potentials ke dar mein anka jo gap hain wo dhoran mein ventricles are filled with blood. Dear students, the regular pace and prolonged duration of action potentials causes the heart to beat, iterate, which is suitable for its functioning as a pump. To betor pump ke jab heart ne kama karna hain toh phir ye wali regular pacing and prolonged apes are required jo ke heart ke muscles ke paas hain. Dear students, heart ke muscles e contraction ka jo mechanism hain, excitation contraction coupling jo hain that involves raising of the calcium ion concentration in cytoplasm. Calcium ions ka influx do trikon se jaisi ke skeletal muscle fibres me hota hain usi taray se hota hain that is across the plasma membrane and from the cells internal resources involving sarcoplasmic reticulum. Choke sarcoplasmic reticulum me calcium ions ka store hain is liye cardiac muscle fibres ke under b jo network hain sarcoplasmic reticulum ka aur T-tubules ka wo bohot elaborate hota hain.


This is covering the spread part of the Fandall podcast network What a fun weekend of sports that was we had this blend of some really good NCAA tournament games We had the world baseball classic with an absolute thriller a couple nights ago And now we get to run it all back again the WBC final coming up tomorrow We've got more NCAA tournament action tonight on the women's side and then more coming up in the men's side on Thursday We got NBA NHL for tonight, too. That's what we're breaking down today with Austin Swain We're gonna need his read on both the NBA and the NHL Let you know where he is seeing value right now at Fandall sports book This is covering the spread right here on the Fandall podcast network and number fire calm My name is Jim saw this. I am a senior writer and analyst for number fire calm Joined here as mentioned by Austin Swain find him on Twitter at a Swain 3 you can find his work over at number fire calm Austin Fantastic weekend the sports world. So, how are you doing on this delightful Monday? I? Have I'm doing well and the reason why is because I've mentally decided that it is way cooler that I had produced my national champion On my bracket this year because for years and years and years I'm gonna get to say I had Purdue the year they lost to that one seed that was one of the worst five teams To ever make the tournament. So I've got a story. I won't have any bracket pool winnings, but that is all right And that means I'm doing well. I was conflicted during that game because As a north-western fan, I feel like I should root for the big 10 But also it was a Purdue fan who dropped my wedding ring in a lake. So I was like kind of vindictive He was he's great about he's a very nice guy. He paid for the new one. No, no grudges. He's great I just was like I can't honor it against Purdue here a little bit So I was I feel bad to admit that I was ready against your bracket. So I'm sorry Austin. That's my bad I feel like the right narrative is what sunk you there actually.  That's like holds a hundred people. It's really cool story Yeah, I definitely lean towards underdogs. I picked Alabama and Houston to be in the national championship game Who won seeds Chaka Sanis over here? So we're still looking okay in that in that regard, but We're gonna talk more NCAA tournament stuff coming up on Tuesday and Wednesday here on the show Dr. Ed Fang with it is with us on Tuesday Well, let's talk on Friday to break down some of the elite games the Austin cast get his read on those So we'll be talking more basketball on this show here this week once again But for today, we're talking about the other basketball the NBA talks in NHL We're gonna check in on the NBA MVP market because there has been a lot of movement there even overnight last night There were some more so we're gonna talk about that and the implications of it in just one second First a reminder to make sure you're subscribed to covering the spread wherever you get your podcast You want to get this NC double a tournament shows as they go up? 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I'm talking trash about Purdue, but I also did pick boys. You say to win in my bracket, so Picked against my own school. Who am I to talk? Who am I to talk? Let's shift focus here and talk about some MBA and Austin. I was talking last night You were mentioning how you wanted to focus on the NBA MVP market because it has been a fascinating market to track here Especially the last couple of weeks a lot of evolution in this market and right now Joel Embiid is minus 190 to be the MVP It's been Nikolaj Wilkic for pretty much the entire year last night though and bead was minus 250 He's now minus 190 so some movement even overnight in this NBA MVP So we've seen this shift. We've seen another shift since then. How do you see this market playing out down the stretch? So I thought this market was done and over with when you and I were recapping awards After the all-star break It's very interesting because with this particular race It gets so much media attention that you don't typically see these wide shifts in the market so quickly But I think it started back at the end of January when Joel Embiid drops 47 points in 18 boards Head-to-head with Yoakage seemed to make a bit of a point of it, right? That kind of reopened the market as we crawled into the all-star break And then as much as people don't want to say that team success has a massive portion of this MVP award It apparently does because the Sixers 9 and 1 in the month of March Denver now 4 and 5 in the month of March But you might have seen that line movement because they got a big win on the road yesterday over Brooklyn And the unfortunate reality of this award is this is not a scientific process If there was a sort of calculation or analysis I could give you That would stand to what the votes of reason are going to be then I would give that But it's more subjective than you think and a lot of like team level beat writers They can't watch every single NBA game every game of Yanis every game of Embiid and Yoakage So they kind of lean on these advancement these catch-all metrics Like like I just happen to look at all the time and for the first time since 2019 at this late in the season Nicole Yoakage is actually not the leader and player efficiency rating It's actually Embiid by the tiniest of margins 32.0 to 31.8 But could this shift again? Absolutely these two go head to head in Denver next week one one week from today on Monday And I think that that is a huge seismic shift point on national television when we saw Embiid really start his candidacy With a similar head-to-head matchup. I almost think there's value on Yoakage at this number It was plus 380 last night looks like it is Whatever we got 300 right now and moving so it may not even be the same by the time you get to it But um, I have Embiid from plus 250 earlier this month. So just like as a personal strategy thing I'm thinking about taking Yoakage three to one for one unit. It just to lock in Uh a guaranteed profit no matter which guy ends up pulling out and getting ahead But there's definitely a turning point for such a long number on the board at three to one for Yoakage And that he could re overtake the player efficiency rating metric Denver could win more games coming in I think this thing's going right down to the wire. So a number that big is very intriguing to me Now the one concern with that with the hedge with going with Yoakage is that Yannis and Tatecumpo is also lurking here He's down to plus 440. Is he a consideration for you? Like do you think that he has a realistic shot or Is it really going to come down to just Embiid or Yoakage in your mind? I don't because the bucks are already in the one seed I don't think there's a team success element that they could necessarily have and think about Yannis He's fighting a thumb injury. He's fighting a knee injury Um, Anthony Davis is a similar guy where it's really hard to see them making progress in some of these individual races When they are having to set out games just because the body is failing them Yoakage and Embiid have been act as for for several games in a row now So, um, I don't see Yannis as a realistic third challenger But if these two were to fall off or you know, one guy gets hurt and then Embiid starts to fall off That's I think where you get Yannis is the obvious third choice And then the others are just long shot darts at this point with a clear established top three Yes, I think the clear inflection point lurking this market Is that game you mentioned the head-to-head match between the sixers and the nuggets coming up? So if you decide that you like Yoakage I would be trying to lock that in before then because inflection points are always Something you want to identify in markets and that is a big one coming just around the corner Okay, let's shift our focus now and talk about tonight's slate in at the nba It is a six game slate and awesome Let's start things off with the more traditional markets here in the nba any value you see right now over at vandal sportsbook So I love this warrior's rockets over. Uh, it's it's sitting at 238 on vandal sportsbook at minus 110 Um, the warriors have just been an over machine on the road this year That the conversation is about how they can't win games on the road They've only won seven games all year But I especially look at their defense on the road 26 of 36 warriors roads games have gone over the projected total this year So that's a a great trend to see that the markets kind of really having a hard time letting go Of what the warriors are at home defensively and they have a 126 defensive rating on the road this month Which is just awful. It's 126 for 100 possessions The rockets have a 115.5 defensive rating at home too So they are not a good defensive club the warriors are not these are two top half teams in pace I've got this line like personally closer to the warriors games. We saw this weekend against memphis or against atlanta One of those had 247 points total in atlanta. I would take this line up to 243 I see another really high scoring game and competitive game when you're not getting stops on the defensive end And it's they still played a lightning quick pace golden state number one in the nba pace And the wiggle room note you made there is important because this total has ticked up a bit It is now 238 and a half minus 110 so up a half point there So it does look like there is some interest in the over in this game for the warriors and rockets again 238 and a half right now minus 110 on the over there anything else you like in the more traditional markets in the nba Yeah, so I also find this this a little bit of a whack-a-mole type of betting line because the injured reporter is so deep in this one But I kind of like the mavericks on the road here Uh, they were sitting plus 100 last night now. They're sitting plus 114. So the line moving the other way I'm just kind of reading the tea leaves on the injury report here. Luca Doncic said he hoped to return Monday Practice fully thursday. So I think he is in a pretty good spot to return from a four game absence for the maps tonight Kyrie Irving played 39 minutes extremely effectively. They need to win this game I really can't see him setting it out But the the lead addition yesterday of jaren jackson to the injury report to me He is the single most impactful grizzly for betting. Maybe not the most flashy Maybe not the guy who most scores the points, but they have a plus 11.3 net rating with him on the floor Minus 1.9 without him. That's one of the biggest splits in the league for an individual player It's probably why he's gonna win the defensive to player the year award If he is even at remotely at risk of playing I love dallas in this game But I think I would even go ahead and take the nod on the fact that luka and kairi will return Memphis offensive rating has been in the toilet since jaws been out. He's still out conditioning for this one So I do like the maps is an underdog on the road here So right now that spread is plus two for the mavericks and minus 110 the money line for the mavericks plus 114 preference for you between those two markets I so I was on the money line at plus 100 I think I would I think I would still remain on the money line If that spread continues to creep my fear is that jackson is going to play That's the sentiment and the information that's being gathered. So I I am totally fine taking the mavericks to win right now I'd probably stay away from this entire if we got very early news Uh, the jackson was going to play but the the late ad and mba injury reports is never good news That is not good news as far as the guy's availability for that night. So seeing jackson last night was certainly a concern Okay, so that's 114 right now. Keep an eye on the the health for that mavericks grizzlies game Uh, but potential check out the mavericks money line for that one. What about player props in the NBA anything stand out to you there tonight? So jim, I'm going to play a little bit of a narrative. It's not based on the narrative But I am going to know we have a a kid returning to indiana who went to school at baller I'm going to take gordon hayward from the hornets over 19 and a half points in rebounds and minus 122 Uh on sportsbook. I am picking on indiana just like I did last time I was on with you The pacers really are an interesting defensive matchup. You could argue they're starting for traditional guards Even including erin the smith who's playing quote-unquote power forward for them They allow the third most rebounds in the mba because they just don't have very much size and the pacers specifically seed The third most points and sevens most rebounds to combo wings, which is how I classify hayward for my day job over and mba daily fantasy on fan duel Um, so he is a great matchup for him and I expect him to take more shots I only took four shots on saturday, but he's averaging almost 11 this month So I think he's more aggressive offensively. He's a real scrap threat to just score 20 points here But if I add on add in the boards in a plus matchup there, I do really like that combination for him In a little bit of a homecoming, right? Uh, what's the statute of limitations on a homecoming narrative because gordon hayward is uh, he's getting up there Does that expire at any point? I think like I love narratives So I should know this I should like have a rule for this But do you have a a baseline number as far as number of years before that expires? I I think a decade could be fine I mean when you have the shot that is still getting played on nca tournament highlight reels that you and I've been watching All over the past week. I think that's fine It's a little bit less Special that the hornets visit the pacers far more often than his jazz did back when he was in utah They'd come once a year whereas, you know, you get two or three trips into india and it's like, okay Give it a rest. Yeah, right Okay, I think the the fact that it's march. Maybe that adds to the narrative that extends it's a little bit longer So indiana in march, maybe that's the narrative we go with here. Uh, the number was hayward over 19 and a half Points plus rebounds. That's minus 128 at fandal sportsbook. Okay before we wrap up mba anything else stand out to you before we close up shop I I think I've already uh bitten off more than I can chew on just a six game slate. So let's talk some puck I love it. Let's do that. It's a five game slate on the the nhl side of things What you see in there starting with the traditional markets austin So i'm actually gonna go against my favorite team, which is probably a good sign Anytime someone's going to say, oh, this doesn't look good for my favorite team That is that someone you should listen to because that is fan pessimism and knowledge coming out But I actually like the chicago blackhawks plus one and a half. They're visiting my hometown, colorado avalanche here Number sitting very heavy for a one goal spread plus 146. It is really about the number here Uh, just 40.7 percent implied But we expect here at number fire chicago to cover 57.3 of the time So a huge gap I get it nobody's rushing to to bet on the blackhawks, especially if they cleaned out their talent After the trade deadline, but there are two prohibitive things working in the blackhawks favor here The avalanche are not scoring a ton of goals at present 12th fewest expected goals for 60 minutes since february 1st It's really hard to cover a spread if you have a trouble scoring yourself, you know, you can be dominant defensively win one nothing The abs aren't scoring very well right now. And the second thing is that the blackhawks projected starter alex stalock He's actually been stellar this year. He's like a piece they can build on despite the last year He has 7.10 goals saved above expectations and gsax is a cumulative stat kind of like war and baseball The fact he's only played 20 appearances so far and already has that many goals saved above expectations He's been excellent. So, uh, I think you could even give the goal tending not to chicago here May stands on his head a little bit and this is about the juice But I do think the blackhawks keep things tight uh at ball arena tonight Yeah, that is plus one and a half for the blackhawks and the puck line at plus 140 as you mentioned They've had some two and a half um recently So they're uh the market not very high on the blackhawks right now Justified, you know, you get it for sure, but uh, it's still a big number for sure anything else you like in the hl for tonight austin So, uh, we're gonna look at a very intriguing game western conference wildcard races heating up and the calorie flames visiting the los angeles kings I like the king's money line here. Um, they were sitting minus 114 last night Looks like they're minus 113 right now.  Um, seven point five zero gsa x yaka markstrom has really struggled here for calgary um In he's at a flat zero as far as that metric that is 58 that a 92 qualifying goalie So he has not been very good. Los angeles has the gold tending edge here These squads both top six and goals expected goals scored top four and expected goals allowed So these are two of the hottest teams in hockey playing the best right now But one of them has an excellent goalie that is cupway at home on rest So I do like los angeles to win and by the way number fires modoff has him about 65 to win here Against 53 implied it's it's favorite bet of the day That is a wide margin for sure. So that's the king's money line their overall money line not to win in regulation Overall money line minus 113 for the kings against the flames for tonight. How about player props? What you see in there for tonight? So I saw one that that was kind of interesting I'm gonna look at a game that isn't going to be very competitive And I don't even know if I'd recommend to watch the oilers and sharks in edmonton The sharks kind of limping home here, but I do like ryan new jen hopkins over one and a half points It's sitting at plus 140 When I gotta match up this good It's a little bit, you know, kind of square But I think I'm just gonna take it because new jen hopkins has scored 11 points in his last eight games next to leon dryside'll connor mcdavid on the power play Sharks allowing the third most expected goals since february 1st So they're struggling defensively recently here comes this offensive juggernaut in edmonton with two of the best guys in the sport And rnh gets to play alongside and He's really playing a lot the thing about edmonton. They're not very deep So even in blowouts they play their guys quite a bit new jen hopkins over 17 minutes of ice time In every single game since the all-star break and some top shelf forwards don't even average 17 minutes on the ice They just play their dudes a lot that helps with the blowout potential especially in a matchup like this Number fire hasn't projected for 1.36 points in a median But when I've got plus 140 juice here that that is a really good proposition for new jen hopkins In such a delightful matchup Yeah, so 1.36 the average there and you're getting If you're getting to two points, that's not a bad mark plus 140 So you want You know, I think that that makes a lot of sense, especially if you are Thinking that they keep their guys in the ice despite a potentially wide score I think that all makes a lot of sense. So again, if you go to the sharks and oilers points slash assist market Ryan new jen hopkins over 1.5 points is plus 140 right now fandals sports again for these sharks and the oilers match up Alrighty austin, that's all we got for you for today. I want to thank you for coming on once again We'll get you back on here again in the very near future Go recoup after a fun weekend sports and we'll talk to you again the very near future Sounds good. Jim. I'll see you soon Alrighty that is austin sway make sure you check him out on twitter at a swayne three Now do you want to go back through last week's show before we close up shop for today? Just recap the show here both in terms of the ncda tournament and The nascar race in atlanta just from a transparency perspective. Let's start things off with our two ncda tournament shows last wednesday Those were austin cast and ben stevens ben stevens of sports grid austin cast a number of fire Check out austin on twitter at austin cast you can find ben on twitter at ben scott stevens and find him on the morning after On sports grid as well. Let's start things off with austin He previewed thursday's games the one future that he liked was drake to make the sweet 16 At plus 4 20 or ken state to make it at plus 5 20 and both those teams were competitive in the first round neither could advance but They did keep it somewhat close So competitive games couldn't quite get there on those kind of long shot futures to make the sweet 16 As far as individual games austin went two and two the wins were northwestern over ucla Or sorry over boyz state that have been sick Northwestern over boyz state at minus 120 and then they had the auburn iowa over at 151 and a half auburn iowa first half was a brick fest They could not make a shot either side second half though they hit the over pretty easily still so Over 151 and a half a win there for austin and again the northwestern money line against boyz state The losses for austin were utah state money line against mizu and then oral roberts plus six and a half against duke So Tough luck on the oral roberts one given how poorly they played early on that game It kind of made it where it was a non-competitive match But again check out austin on twitter at austin cast living back on friday We're gonna talk some college basketball with him then to preview the elite eight saturday games The oral roberts game also bit ben stevens. He mentioned like the overall on their team total at 69 and a half They again couldn't get a bucket early on finished with 51 points. So Couldn't get that one there, but the friday bedster ben were three and two Uh, the wins were f a u money line at plus 102 He had miami won this one and a half against rake at minus 120 and then kraton Minus five and a half uh, the two losses were ben were gonzaga minus eight and a half the first half line And then ken states plus four and a half in their game So overall about 50 50 on the show here last week on the college basketball side of things I think the bracket advice from uh ed and ben is looking pretty good so far given they were lower on perduing kansas pretty high on Uh on both alabama and houston. So that looks good so far still a lot left to be decided there We'll see how things play out on the ncda tournament side of things as mentioned ed is back with us tomorrow Talk about the thursday games in the suite 16 I ran through nascar stuff on wednesday's show uh for atlanta podium bets I mentioned there were bubba walls plus 650 eric jones 11 to 1 bubba wrecked pretty early got three laps down couldn't make those laps up so He finished. I think 27th in that race jones. No podium at plus 111 or uh plus 1100 But top 10s did go better at eric jones there plus 250 austin dillon plus 360 tie gibbs six to one And then those were like the three like locked in ones I liked lots other ones where I was showing values that my favorite was michael mcdowell Though I was less high on him the gibbs one hit he ran well the entire third stage You know, he kind of hung out in the back early on but he ran really well I thought that he actually showed a lot of patience which is always the concern with gibbs that attract like this He was pretty good though. So the gibbs six to one Cashed uh dillon did not plus 360 i'd mentioned coyla joy on the show at five to one didn't Lock him in as a bet here. He wasn't the betting guy to number fire So hopefully you read that in addition to checking out the podcast here But no credit for that uh based on just the show Jones plus 250 top 10 qualified poorly. He got loose on his uh his warm-up lap qualified 28th So starting pretty far back and he ran pretty far back the entire race was not aggressive Didn't try to do anything and I'd kind of written him off as a loss He crossed the start finish line with to get one lap to go in 17th place He then wove his way through traffic and finished 8th NASCAR's official like twitter account put up a video of like his in-car camera He went three wide two separate times got a massive push down the back straight away finished 8th So I'm not sure if I deserved to win that but I'm gonna take it every single day. Um, I think that it was uh I think that he's a it was still a good process because he's a very good pack racer We saw that skill in the last lap and that matters We saw the The finishing order was very pack-esque with la joy in fourth tie Gibbs in the top 10 You had jones up there in the last lap as well So I think the process was good. Maybe it was lucky in terms of results But I think that the process was there So good week for top 10s with the Gibbs six to one jones plus 250 He helped you grab the joy at five to one as well via the petting guide But overall feel good about that coda the circuit in the americas a road course coming up this week I think that's gonna be a fun one. We'll try to find time to talk about that likely on wednesday I would guess when we have Awesome time to talk college after we talk college basketball So either wednesday or thursday breaking down some NASCAR at circuit of the americas That is all that we have here for today's show though once again a big thank you to austin swain Check him out on twitter at a swain 3 find his work over at number fire dot com I am on twitter at jim sonnis j i m s a n n e s if you want to get our nc double a tournament shows as they go live throughout this week Make sure you are subscribed to covering the spread wherever you get your podcasts and again If you like what you hear leave us a rating and review and also check us out over on the fan dual youtube page Good luck to all you tonight. If you're betting nba nhl We'll talk to you once again tomorrow to break down the sweet 16 This has been covering the spread right here on the fan dual podcast network


The National Broadcasting Company in conjunction with the Fund for Adult Education presents Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville. Human societies, like people, become worthwhile only through their use of liberty. Providence has not created mankind entirely independent or entirely free. It is true that around every man a fatal circle is traced, beyond which he cannot pass. But within the wide verge of that circle he is powerful and free. As it is with men, so it is with communities. The nations of our time cannot prevent the conditions of men from becoming equal. But it depends upon themselves whether the principle of equality is to lead them to freedom or servitude, to knowledge or barbarism, to prosperity or wretchedness. These precious premises. A study in political optimism, item 14 in the series Democracy in America, prepared by the Division of General Education of New York University under the direction of George Probst, American historian. A series designed to bring to life the America of the 1830s, as recorded by Alexis de Tocqueville, and so to illuminate the image of democracy itself. A study in political optimism. These precious premises. Midnight. Midnight. December the 2nd, 1851. Twenty years after Tocqueville visited America. And this city, sleeping in the winter night, is Paris, still ancient and disordered. Her great squares and boulevards still unbuilt. But the man who is to build them is behind that lamplit window, working at his desk. He is short and unimpressive.   He has a sort of immobility of features as he sits quietly with his head on one side. He has a good-natured smile, although one of his friends once caught him with a tiger-like expression that frightened her speechless, but never mind, he conquered himself in the instant and was kind again. Look at him carefully. Remember him well. He is the president of the Republic of France, and he is contriving schemes to appeal to the people of France to elect him their emperor in a thoroughly democratic plebiscite. The tendency to be elected emperor evidently runs in the family, for this man's name is Char-Louis-Napollion Bonaparte, and he is the nephew of the great Napoleon. The 2nd of December, the most glorious day in the history of Imperial France. On the 2nd of December, 1806, Napoleon the uncle won his greatest victory on the field of Austerlitz. His enemies were Austria and Russia. But Louis-Napollion the nephew is not without his victories, or on the 2nd of December 1851, Louis-Napollion has won his greatest victory, and his enemies were the laws and the liberty of France. Midnight in Paris, on the anniversary of Austerlitz. Leave the lighted window behind which President Louis-Napollion schemes for the imperial crown. Cross this still medieval city to this building, also showing some lights. Armed sentries outside show that there are valuables inside. These are the members of the Chamber of Deputies, the freely elected representatives of France. There behind that window is the Vice President of the Assembly of France, Alexis-Charles-Henry-Marie-Sclarelle-Conte-Tochville. But this great building, full of deputies, is not the legislative chamber. It is a jail. The deputies of France are in prison, and the President has put them there. All quiet. You're late. Did none of them make any fuss? No. These are the members of the Chamber of Deputies. But of deputies, they're not the kind of people that make a fuss in prison. They're above all that sort of thing. Someone down the corridor has got the candle-burning still. Oh, that one. That's Laconte-Tochville. He's the one that went to America and brought back a lot of American ideas about prisons, solitary cells. Well, I hope he likes it. Give him a taste of his own medicine. That'll teach him to plot against our government. See you tomorrow morning. Right. You shouldn't have any trouble. These aren't your ordinary jailbirds, remember? Good night. Good night. To us who come later, this is an old story, the coup d'etat, power in the hands of the saviour and liberator of the country. The elected representatives accused of plotting against the President, against the Constitution, against liberty, against anything you please, so long as the dictator gets his vote. For always, we have seen the plebiscites, the referendums, the spontaneous 99% votes, despotism purified by the trappings of democracy. Tochville looks across vast sleeping Paris and thinks of Louis-Napoléon, elected President, by 5.5 million votes to 1.5 million, and within a year to be elected Emperor Napoleon III by an even greater majority. Tochville stares at France, voting away her freedom, and remembers his words of a few years before. Nowadays, men have two conflicting passions. They want to be free, but they want to be led. They try to have both at once. They devise a government that is paternal and all-powerful, but it is elected by the people. This gives them a respite. After an election, they console themselves for being in tutelage by the reflection that they have chosen their own guardians. By this system, the people shake off their state of dependence just long enough to select their master and then fall back into it again. Oh, I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but in the time in which we live, I am ready to worship it. Busy at his desk, Louis-Napoléon is thinking too, those honeyed words that we who come later have heard so many times in so many places, in so many languages, under flags and shirts of every imaginable color. In 1851, it's Louis-Napoléon's turn. People of France, I am your deputy and your leader. Make me your overlord and I will rule for your good and in your name. I do not need the leaders, but I must have the people. As the Emperor used to say, men who have changed the universe have never succeeded by converting the leaders, but always by influencing the masses. We have had in France in the last 40 years every form of anarchy and despotism, but never anything resembling a democratic republic. Well, we scarcely believe ourselves worthy of the freedom enjoyed by other nations. After all, political liberty is a food hard to digest, only the most robust constitutions can support it. But when it comes, even mixed with other institutions, it gives the whole social body a vigor and energy that surprise even those who are expecting the most from it. For after all, the sleeping city, the sleeping country, the world itself is not populated with either animals or angels, but men, a mixture of both. And Tocqueville is always prepared to take them not as they ought to be, but as they are. Men in general are neither very good nor very bad, but average. Since we haven't got angels, we cannot touch ourselves to nothing greater and more worthy of our devotion than our own kind. And therefore, there is but one great goal that merits the efforts of man, that is the good of humanity. Those who do not trust the human race think differently, and we who come later know their denunciations so well. They are all traitors but me. I am the only man you can trust. I tell you so myself. The new despotism born of democracy must have its votes. Everything must be done legally. Everything must be sanctioned by a vote, a plebiscite, a referendum. Then the road is clear. We who come later recognize the now familiar picture of the strong man pretending to be led by the people. Well, sir, I saw your light still burning. Yes, I have been writing. Well, we've got no orders to stop you doing that. I hope not. If you behave yourselves, I shouldn't be surprised if you gentlemen are not let out again tomorrow. The president just wants to teach you a lesson, you know. Louis Napoléon wants to teach all of us a lesson. You're the one that visited America, aren't you? Michel de Comte de Tauqueville? Yes, I visited America 20 years ago. Louis Napoléon went to America, too. I know. Just after I was there. I wonder if he thought the same as you did. Evidently not. Louis Napoléon wishes to govern us all himself. But I saw how America presents for the solution of this great question of freedom some very precious premises. They have faith in human perfectability. Each man regards himself as interested in public security and in the functioning of the laws. Instead of counting on the police, he counts only on himself. In America, public force is everywhere, but it never shows itself. The republic is everywhere, in the streets as well as in the Congress. That seems hard to believe. It is hard to believe, I assure you, how the American people keeps itself in order through the single conviction that its only safeguard against itself lies in itself. Is this the sort of thing you deputies were trying to suggest for us? Not at all. The simple and logical institutions of America would not suit a great nation like this, which needs a strong internal government and a fixed foreign policy. A people to be republican must be poised, religious and very enlightened. American democracy demands of the people who adopt it a long practice in freedom and a massive true enlightenment that is only acquired rarely and after a long time. All the same, it's a fine thing. And I am very sorry that the moral and physical constitution of man forbids him to obtain it everywhere and for always. Do you want this sort of democracy in France? Alas, in France there is more genius than common sense and more heroism than virtue. I'm afraid American democracy is not easy to transplant. So far, it has combined equality and liberty. And these two things do not always go together. Well, Louis-Napoleon, sir America, and evidently he didn't like it. I'm tired of all this talk about democracy and liberty. I want to see a strong government and the country great again. I'd like to see a second empire. Louis-Napoleon will give us back authority. He'll give us back national morality. Give us back authority? Can you believe for a moment that to use the means that have been used and to do what has been done will give us back authority? Don't you see that he's destroying all authority except his own? Do you believe that you can give back morality by giving the world the most luring example of trickery, violence and perjury? Triumphing in the acclamation rested by fear from the educated and respectable people? He doesn't make me afraid either. He doesn't make me afraid either, but he's trying to. That is why we are getting a little taste of jail and national morality. Do you think that will be established by violating all the laws? On the side of the country's best men in prison vans? Simply for the crime of having been faithful to their commissions and to the laws of their country? I see you deputies in prison, but you aren't the country's best men. You elected us. You chose us. If we are not, the fault is yours. You blame the voters. I blame the deputies. You wait and see who we vote for next, Michel Aconte de Tocqueville. It will be Louis-Napoleon, the second empire. Good night, sir. And consider yourself very lucky to get off with nothing but a warning. It is hopeless. The French peasant has never understood the working of free institutions. Perhaps I should go and do exile. Perhaps back to America, where I first saw equality and democracy at work. America. Twenty years ago, I set foot on those far-off shores. Even then, I foresaw democracy for the whole world. Equality without limits. I knew that France would stomach it very badly, but I was sure we would be pushed into it. All the efforts to halt it were only temporary. The progress of equality is a fact which a government can regulate. Yes, but it cannot stop. And many Frenchmen want absolute equality under one man, which is not liberty, nor it may be democracy. Another visitor at this time of night. Good night, sir. Or rather, good morning. Good morning, Monsieur Laconte de Tocqueville. May I have the honor? I am a captain in the army. I am in charge of the garrison. I am ordered to ask if there is anything you need. Only liberty. Liberty. I think you will be released tomorrow. One day is not much hardship. One day? Will the assembly ever meet again under Louis-Napoleon? I hope not. You hope not? France is tired of Tocque. We need a strong man. You know, Monsieur Laconte, I was a drummer boy at Austerlitz under the emperor. Liberty has poisoned the world. I want to see our country great. I want glory. Do you not fear despotism? No. Even despots don't deny the value of liberty, but they want to keep it all to themselves. They say the rest of us are unworthy of it. Perhaps we are. Perhaps. But the difference between a despot and myself is not in our opinion of liberty, but in our judgment of mankind. We have equality and democracy. When we have glory as well, there will be no further chatter about liberty. Even you, Monsieur Laconte, will be content. You will have order and peace instead. No, sir. I shall always love liberty. And I am not one of those who are ready to sell free will and our laws for the sake of sleeping safely in their beds. There are enough of them already. But I dare to prophesy that they will never accomplish anything great or durable. I long to see liberty in all the political institutions of my country. But at the same time, I respect justice. I love order and law. I have so deep and so reasonable an attachment for morality and religious beliefs that I cannot but believe that people will see plainly in me a liberal of a new kind and will not confuse me with the majority of Democrats of our day. Are you too good even for your own party, Monsieur Laconte? No, Captain. But I know that the upper classes are distrustful of liberty. The lower classes inclined to license. That is France. I saw the glory of Austerlitz. Louis Napoleon acted yesterday on the anniversary of Austerlitz. That is enough for me. That is all the liberty I need. Frankly, I don't understand why you have this exaggerated affection for what is after all only a convenience. Possibly you acquired it in America. The love of liberty? It was because I love liberty that I went to America to see if it would be destroyed by democracy and equality. And your conclusion? Not necessarily. Then perhaps you love liberty because you have read too many books. Captain, many men have loved liberty. Still, you have asked a good question and I have often asked myself what is the source of that passion for political freedom which in all ages has been the fruitful mother of the greatest things which mankind has achieved? It's evident you see that when nations are badly run they readily conceive the wish to govern themselves. But a love of independence which only springs up under the influence of the evils produced by despotism is never lasting. Why not? It passes away with the accident that gives rise to it. What seems to be the love of freedom is only the hatred of a master. Men love freedom because they think it will bring them advantages. It is very true in the long run that freedom always brings to those who know how to keep it ease, comfort and even wealth. But there are times at which it disturbs for a season the possession of those blessings. There are other times when despotism alone can confer their enjoyment, even though it may be passing. Then let us have despotism. The world does not frighten me. Some even call the emperor despot. But don't you feel a love of liberty for herself alone? This is what I am trying to say. Freedom has native charms, independent of her gifts. What? The pleasure, the very great pleasure of speaking, acting and breathing without restraint and of no master but God and the law. He who seeks in freedom anything but herself is only fit to serve.  And many have done so. There are whole nations who have pursued freedom through every sort of peril and hardship. They didn't love her for her material gifts. They regard freedom herself as a gift so precious and so necessary that no other could console them for the loss of that which consoles them for the loss of everything else. In your case, Monsieur Lecombe, your taste for freedom is undisciplined and unwise and unpatriotic. I do not understand it. Thank God for Louis Napoléon. Well, Captain, I can't explain further if you really don't feel the sentiment. The love of freedom enters of its own accord into the large hearts God has prepared to receive it. It fills them. It enraptures them. But to minds which have never felt it, it is past finding hours. I am glad I have never felt it. I am an autocrat and whom I can rely to the follies and uncertainties of freedom. You remind me once again, Captain, that it is very easy to establish a despotism when the conditions of society are equal. And I think that if such a government is established, it will not only oppress men, but strip them of the highest quality of humanity. If there is nothing I can do for you within the terms of my duty, I bid you good night. Good morning, Captain. It is a winter night, but the day will be breaking soon enough. I will not despair. All these people who trust in strong men, who trust in these special despots that democracy brings forth, all these people treat other people as if they were overgrown children, very degenerate and very ill-educated. I think that people today have been badly brought up, but the remedy is to bring them up better. We can't do something with our fellow men today through unable appeal to their decency and common sense, in short, by treating them as human beings. I may be wrong, but I follow my principles and I delight to follow them. Human societies, like people, become worthwhile only through their use of liberty. No. I shall not believe that this human race, which is at the head of all visible creation, has become that bastardized flock of sheep that some think it is and that nothing remains but to deliver it without future and without hope to a small number of shepherds who, after all, are not better animals than we, the human sheep, and who indeed are often worse. I have less confidence in the prophets of gloom than in the goodness and the justice of God. It would seem as if the rulers of our time sought only to use men in order to make things great. I wish that they would try a little more to make great men, that they would set less value on the work and more upon the workman. I am full of apprehensions and hopes, but I cling with a firmer hold to the belief that for democratic nations to be virtuous and prosperous, they require but to will it. I am aware that many people maintain that nations are never their own masters here below and that they obey with absolute necessity some insurmountable and unintelligible power arising from previous events, from their own race, or from the soil and climate of their country. Such principles are false and cowardly. Such principles can never produce anything but feeble men and faint-hearted nations. Providence has not created mankind entirely independent or entirely free. It is true that around every man a fatal circle is traced beyond which she cannot pass. But within the wide verge of that circle she is powerful and free. As it is with men, so it is with communities. The nations of our time cannot prevent the conditions of men from becoming equal but it depends upon themselves whether the principle of equality is to lead them to freedom or servitude, to knowledge or barbarism, to prosperity or wretchedness. You have just heard these precious premises, a study in political optimism, item 14, the final in the series based on Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. This series, presented by the National Broadcasting Company, was prepared by the Division of General Education of New York University under the direction of George Probst, American historian, produced in the studios of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation by Andrew Allen, script by Lister Sinclair, music by Lucio Agostini. This series, Democracy in America, is made possible by a grant from the Fund for Adult Education as part of a general course of study of the nature of American society. These new de Tocqueville study materials, including de Tocqueville's two-volume work, an album of the recordings, a recently published book, The Happy Republic, containing writings from the 1830s, and a discussion and reading guide may be obtained from the American Foundation for Continuing Education at a reasonable charge. For information, write to American Foundation for Continuing Education, Post Office Box 749, Chicago 90, Illinois. This is Ben Grower. Tonight's program brings to a close and is a presentation of the NBC Radio Network. This is NBC, the largest single source of news and information in the free world.