Cleveland Polish Boy Sandwich

This sausage sandwich was invented here in Cleveland in the World War Two era by Virgil Whitmore, who owned a barbecue restaurant on Cleveland's East Side. The idea was to put something of a typical grilled kielbasa lunch or dinner of grilled kielbasa, french fries, coleslaw and barbecue sauce all together on a bun. I suggest using hoagie rolls that you can split yourself, and then only cut about 2/3 of the way through the roll. If you can't grill the sausage, broil or fry it until it gets a little brown. This is a BIG sandwich and it is often identified as one of the foods folks should try when visiting Cleveland. It has been touted on national television as one of America's best sandwiches. The napkin industry loves it, because you'll need plenty of napkins. 

Ingredients (per each sandwich):

1 kielbasa (6 to 8 inches)

1 hotdog or hoagie bun

2 to 3 tablespoons coleslaw (not with lots of liquid)

1 "good" handful french fries

2 to 3 tablespoons barbecue sauce

Grill, broil or fry the kielbasa so that it has some brown color to it. Toast the bun lightly, add the ingredients however you choose, as some people like to add the coleslaw or french fries first, then lay the kielbasa on top of that, before adding the other ingredients. I generally put the kielbasa, then the coleslaw, then the french fries and top everything with the barbecue sauce.

 

On this day, I had the Polish Boy Sandwich along with some potato salad ...

WORD HISTORY:

Kielbasa-This word has an "uncertain" origin, so I am going to work backward on its history. In American English, "kielbasa" was first used in the early 20th Century, and in American English it generally means a Polish sausage with rather coarsely ground pork, beef, or a combination of the two, in a casing, and the sausage is seasoned somewhat with garlic and then smoked. Kielbasa often comes in a "U" shape, but it can also come looking more like a hotdog. American English borrowed the word from Polish "kiełbasa," which means "sausage," in general. Polish "likely" got the word from its parent, Old Slavic "kelbasa" (other Slavic languages have forms too), meaning "grilled/roasted meat." This "probably" came from Turkish "kulbasti," with the same meaning, but literally "pressed on the coals/ashes," but transliterated Hebrew "kolbasar," a general term for "meat," is also a possible candidate.    

Scampi

True scampi are a type of lobster and a fairly common source of food, especially in parts of Europe, as the delectable 5 to 10 inch lobsters live in areas of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean from Norway down the western European coast to Portugal, and also in the Adriatic Sea. Scampi were a fairly common food in some parts of Italy, and when some Italian immigrants to America arrived, scampi were not available, so they used the much more plentiful shrimp, but the term "scampi" persisted, which brought a number of Americans to use the term for large-size shrimp. By the way, the singular form of this type of lobster is "scampo," a form not often heard in American English, while "scampi" is the plural, although I've heard "scampis" many times, as the plural has mistakenly become confused as being the singular form by many Americans.

In the early 1960s, we ate at "Captain Frank's," a seafood restaurant right on the East Ninth Street pier on Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland. Visitors often called it "The Lobster House," as the front had those words displayed for many years, but to Clevelanders, it was "Captain Frank's," and EVERY Clevelander had heard of it, whether they had ever been there or not, and I doubt there were many who hadn't been there at least once. Up until then, I don't believe I'd ever heard of "scampi," which were on the menu there, but after that day, they became a favorite of mine. Years later in the 1970s, none other than Captain Frank himself, an Italian immigrant, explained to me how scampi were different from what many Americans believed them to be. Captain Frank's family name was Visconti, and he was born on the Italian island of Sicily, but he had lived in the United States for many decades. He opened "Captain Frank's" in the 1950s and he died in 1984; a couple of years after which, the restaurant began to go down hill and it closed in 1989. The building was torn down and this part of the lives of so many Clevelanders and visitors to Cleveland was gone, except from the file marked "fond memories" stored within our minds.  

This was the first time I ever made scampi at home. In honor of Captain Frank:

Ingredients:

 

scampi

butter

garlic

lemon juice

breadcrumbs

(optional) chopped parsley

As with other lobster, open the scampi shells. Briefly saute some thinly sliced garlic in some butter over low heat, and add a sprinkle of lemon juice and, optionally, a little finely chopped parsley. When the butter is all melted and the garlic has softened, add a little to the scampi and bake at 400 F for about 16 to 18 minutes (until golden), turning once at the 9 minute mark. Serve with small dishes (ramekins) of more garlic butter for dipping.  

WORD HISTORY:

Fist-Closely related to "foist," a word borrowed by English from Dutch, to "five," a word from the Germanic roots of English, and to the prefix "pent(a)," which is Greek derived, although Latin borrowed some words with the prefix from Greek and passed them to its descendants (example: "pentagon," Greek to Latin to French to English, but "pentagram" was borrowed by English directly from Greek). "Fist" goes back to the Indo European root "penks/pengs," meaning, "having to do with a hand," a shortened form of "penkwe/pengke," which meant "five." This gave Old Germanic "funshtiz/funstiz" (Indo European "p" became Old Germanic "f"), meaning "balled up fingers or hand;" thus, "fist," which became "fusti" in the West Germanic branch of Germanic. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "fyst" meaning "fist," this then became "fust" and "fist," where it has been for several hundred years. Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German has "Faust," Low German "Fuust," West Frisian "fûst," Dutch "vuist." The North Germanic branch languages use forms from Old Norse "hnefi," which means "fist, fistful," but why Old Norse had the word is unknown, as is the origin of the word.

The Untouchables: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery Star

If my memory serves me right, I first saw this 1987 film, directed by Brian De Palma, at the Colony Theater on Shaker Square here in Cleveland (the theater is now called Shaker Square Cinemas). The movie is only loosely based on history, as much in the film is fiction. It is set in the early 1930s, and it deals with the enforcement of Prohibition,* which, by then, was not popular with many Americans, but it was the law, although Al Capone and others used illegal alcohol to make great fortunes. The film shows the underlying feelings about booze (see Word History, below), including at the ending, as Eliot Ness, when asked what he'll do if Prohibition is repealed says, "I think I'll have a drink." Sean Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as "Malone." Real life Eliot Ness lived in Cleveland and served as the city's safety director during the 1930s. When Ness died in 1957, his body was cremated and his ashes were strewn in Lake View Cemetery here in Cleveland, and there is a memorial for him at the cemetery.** Ness died when I was a kid and after his death, he was portrayed in an ABC television series called, "The Untouchables," starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness from 1959 until 1963.

The film depicts Eliot Ness, played by Kevin Costner, as he tries to combat Al Capone's alcohol business and the violence Capone, played by Robert De Niro, used to keep his control on the Chicago market. Acting on a tip, the idealistic Ness conducts a raid, only have it turn to nothing, as Capone has also been tipped off by a corrupt policeman, and he has the alcohol removed from the warehouse. The Chicago newspapers ridicule Ness over the fiasco and Capone has a good laugh. Ness is feeling low, but then he meets an Irish beat cop, named Jim Malone, played by Sean Connery. Malone has decided to stay alive by walking the beat, rather than go up against the Chicago police department and the Chicago political system, both heavily tainted by the corruption of Al Capone's money. Malone tells Ness that it will take a fight to the finish to break Capone and the corrupt system. Malone is a wise and experienced policeman and he begins to share his wisdom with Ness, who, at first, is a crusading idealist. Together, Ness and Malone check on police recruit George Stone, played by Andy Garcia, known for his ability to handle firearms. When they ask the recruit why he wants to be a cop, he gives the standard textbook answer ("protect and serve... etc"). Malone decides to ruffle the feathers of the young officer and he mentions the officer's name, "George Stone." Malone then asks, "What's your REAL name," and the officers says, "That IS my real name." Malone presses further by saying, "I mean your name before you changed it." Now the officer turns more serious. Finally the young man utters, "Giuseppe Petri." This brings Malone to call the young officer "a lying wop *** and a member of a lying no good race." Now Stone responds by quickly drawing his pistol and telling Malone, "It's better than you, you stinking Irish pig," Malone now says, "Oh, I like him." So Stone becomes part of the team.    

Ness also meets an accountant, Oscar Wallace, played by Charles Martin Smith, sent by the federal government to investigate Capone's finances. Wallace tells Ness that Capone has not filed a tax return for several years, but Ness doesn't really understand the potential significance of the information provided by the little accountant with the big glasses. When Ness, Stone and Malone go on their first raid as s team, Malone hands the accountant, Wallace, a gun. So now Wallace is part of the team, which will eventually be called, "The Untouchables." This raid scores a big hit and Capone scores a big hit by killing a member of his own inner circle with a baseball bat for providing info to the authorities. As Malone had told Ness, this has all of the makings of a fight to the finish.

The Untouchables get info about a shipment of liquor coming from Canada and they go to the border area to arrest those involved. Not only do they kill a number of Capone's men, but they capture one of his bookkeepers, who can help tie Capone to the gangster's large net of businesses; and thus, to income tax evasion. We also see another reference to how many Americans wanted alcohol, as Wallace, an Untouchable, takes a drink of liquor streaming from a bullet hole in a keg. The bookkeeper's ledger also has names of people who have taken money from Capone (been bribed). When Wallace is taking the bookkeeper away later, both are killed by one of Capone's hitmen, Frank Nitti, played by Billy Drago.**** In Wallace's blood on the wall, Nitti scrolls, "Touchable." So now one of the team members is gone. Malone gets the chief of police, who is part of the corruption, and he forces him to tell him the whereabouts of Capone's main bookkeeper. Before Malone can act on the information, a man with a knife gets into his apartment, and Malone forces him out with a gun, but this brings him into the fire of Nitti who is waiting in ambush. Severely wounded, Malone crawls back into the house and Ness and Stone get there in time for Malone to give them the info about the main bookkeeper. Malone dies, so another team member is gone.

Ness gets the bookkeeper after a major shootout and a dead on shot by Stone at the train station and the man begins his testimony in court about Capone's massive organization. Capone, however, sits in court yawning, appearing to not have a care in the world. Nitti briefly talks with him, and Ness sees the Nitti's gun. When Ness and the bailiff escort the Nitti out of the courtroom, Ness searches him and finds a book of matches with Malone's address on it. He now knows this is Malone's killer. Nitti  takes off and gets to the roof, with Ness in hot pursuit. Ness finds Nitti as vulnerable as he could be, climbing a rope, but he decides to remain within the law and have Nitti tried for Malone's murder.  But then the cocky Nitti tells Ness that Malone "died screaming like a stuck Irish pig," and that Ness should think about that when he goes free for the murder (he knows the court system is fixed). Now Ness's emotions take hold and he pushes the son-of-bitch off of the building roof. Nitti screams and Ness shouts out, "Did he (Malone) sound anything like that?" I remember the movie audience cheered when all of this took place.

Back in court, Ness has notes from Nitti about how Capone's jury has been bribed. This is why Capone was so confident. Ness asks to speak to the judge privately and when court resumes, the judge orders the bailiff to switch juries with the courtroom next door. Capone is furious and orders his attorney to do something, which he does, he tells the judge that on behalf of Capone, he is changing Capone's "not guilty" plea, to "guilty." All hell breaks loose with the press and the people in the courtroom, as now Capone is in big trouble. The district attorney asks Ness what he told the judge. Ness says he told him his name was in the payoff list in the ledger too, but the DA says, "His name wasn't in the ledger." I take this to mean that the judge had received some "favors" from Capone, other than direct payoffs. While the film doesn't show it, in real life, Capone was convicted and sentenced to eleven years in prison, plus fines and also back taxes. Most people are probably unaware that the real life Capone "ruled" Chicago when he was only in his mid 20s to early 30s.        

* Prohibition was the ban on the production, transportation, importation and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States, as established by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1920. It was repealed by the 21st Amendment in late 1933.

** President James A. Garfield and his wife Lucretia are buried there, as well as billionaire oilman John D. Rockefeller, who founded his Standard Oil Company here in Cleveland. 

*** "Wop" has long been a highly derogatory term for an Italian.

**** Frank Nitti was a real person and the head of Capone's "enforcement department;" which was responsible for intimidating people, and led to some being killed or seriously injured. The scriptwriters have simply used his name for the movie, and the film does not truly mirror Nitti's life, although his character's killings in the film do symbolically show his responsibility.  

Photo is from the 2004 Paramount Home Entertainment DVD 

WORD HISTORY:
Booze-This word has both a noun (alcoholic beverage) and verb form (to drink alcohol, usually more than a small amount), but its origin is very unclear. It was borrowed in the late 1200s as, "bouse(n)," from Dutch "busen," which meant "to drink a lot of alcoholic beverages." The noun apparently was taken from the verb. Where Dutch or how Dutch got the word is unknown. The modern spelling "seems" to date from the 1700s. 

Randy & Some Spanish Sailors

Way back in 1981, I believe it was, I left a baseball game early at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium one evening. As I walked up W. 3rd Street, a group of about ten guys came over to me. One guy asked me a question in broken English, a question I no longer recall. Anyway, I asked the guys where they were from, and the spokesman answered, "Spain." He explained their ship was docked  right by the stadium at the Port of Cleveland and that they were out to see a little of the town before heading back to the ship. Well four or five of the guys decided to go along with me, while the others chose to return to the ship. I took them to a few places and they had a good time and when the time came for them to get back to their ship, they asked me to come along. Maybe I was daring, I don't know, but I accepted, although I thought, "Randy, you're going to end up at a bullfight in Barcelona." These guys were great. They gave me some type of Spanish melon and some Spanish cheese, and what else but some Spanish beer, the word for which is "cerveza" (see Word History), since they taught me the word that night. It was a great experience. They all were very friendly and one guy they teased a little, because he was from Basque country in Spain, up in the north of the country, on the border with France, in the region of the Pyrenees Mountains. All of these years later, I still think of these guys on occasion.    

WORD HISTORY:
Cerveza-This word for "beer" goes back to Indo European "krhem," which had the notion of "heating liquids." This gave its Old Celtic offspring "kormi," meaning, "heated or brewed liquid." Borrowed by Latin from some form of Celtic, where it had come to mean, "beer" (Welsh and Irish had such forms). In Latin it was "cervisia/cervesia," and meant, "beer." In Spanish, a Latin-based language, it was "cerveza," and North American English has essentially borrowed the word, as there are imported brands of beer from Spanish speaking countries, especially Mexico. 

Borscht

"Borscht" is a common eastern European soup, likely of Ukrainian origin, most often made in modern times from beets, although there are types without beets. Originally a particular type of parsnip was the main ingredient of the soup that developed into the varied modern recipes. Many Ashkenazi Jews lived in eastern Europe, and when Jewish immigration from the old Russian Empire to the United States increased significantly in the latter part of the 1800s and early 1900s, they brought both the word and the soup to this country. In those times, both modern Ukraine and much of Poland were part of the Russian Empire. In that time period, and especially after World War One, further immigration from (the) Ukraine and (the then) eastern region of Poland, spread the use of the soup in the United States. How likely Americans are to encounter "Borscht" on a menu will certainly depend upon where you live. I'm sure it is much more commonly seen in New York City and vicinity. Here in Cleveland I used to see it at restaurants in the city's northeast neighborhood of Collinwood, as many Lithuanians, and their descendants, live there. Also, the same was true in the city's near West Side neighborhood of Tremont, where there were many people of Ukrainian and Russian descent. And back on the East Side, I would certainly think it is common at places in the general vicinity of University Heights and Beachwood, as there are many people of Jewish background in that area, including many who immigrated to Cleveland from Russia after the fall of the Communist regime. I'm sure the same would be true in other places across the country where there are fair concentrations of people from these various backgrounds. This recipe, my own version, is based upon one from, "The Best of Russian Cooking," by Alexandra Kropotkin, published by Hippocrene Books, 2002. (The original edition was published by Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1964). I've made this simple by using both canned beef consommé and canned beets.

Ingredients:

2 cans/jars beets (14 to 15 ounces each, not pickled), with 3/4 cup of their liquid
2 cans beef consommé (10.5 ounces each)
2 1/2 cans water (use a can from the consommé)
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup sour cream (reduced fat is fine)
1 teaspoon salt (you can omit the salt, as the consommé and beet juice have salt)
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh or dried dill

Put the consommé, water, onion and carrot into a pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 to 12 minutes. Strain the vegetables from the broth, then add the beet juice, the vinegar, the Worcestershire sauce and the salt and pepper. Bring back to a simmer and cook just 2 to 3 minutes more. Add the beets, which should be cut into somewhat smaller pieces, stir to mix in. I used canned sliced beets, and I halved the smaller slices and cut the larger slices into 3 or 4 pieces. The hot liquid will heat the beets (canned beets are already cooked). Let the soup cool, then refrigerate until chilled. Serve with a nice dollop of sour cream and sprinkle on some dill. You can eat the soup hot, too, by stirring in the sour cream after the soup has cooled a bit, or stir it in with each serving.      

WORD HISTORY: 
Cream-The ultimate origins of this word are unclear. It goes back to two separate, but similar, sources: Greek "khrisma," which meant, "ointment, oily healing substance." This was borrowed by Latin as "chrisma," with the same meaning. This gave the same word the additional "church Latin" meaning, "oil for anointing," which then contributed to Old French, a Latin-based language, "cresme," which meant, "oil for anointing, ointment." The French word also seems to have been partially derived from Latin, "cramum," which meant, "cream," "seemingly" from Gaulish, a Celtic language, "crama," which also meant "cream," from an original meaning of "skin, layer;" thus later, "cream," the layer at the top of milk (the saying is appropriate: "the cream rises to the top"). English borrowed the word from French in the 1300s as "creyme," although it took time to displace the native English word "ream," the original English word for "cream." ^ Notice too, the word carries both the meaning, "fatty thickened liquid of milk," and, "oily healing substance, salve, ointment." The verb form was derived from the noun and still means "to beat milk or cream into a thickened state," and thus also, "to completely defeat an opponent or enemy," a meaning which seems to have come from the American branch of English. 

^ For the history of the word "ream," use this link and see the "Word History" there: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/04/schnitzel-with-creamy-mushroom-gravy.html

George Voinovich

To me, George Voinovich will always be Mayor Voinovich. Although he later was elected governor of Ohio, then U.S. senator from Ohio, he loved his time as mayor, because he loved his hometown of Cleveland. For about 45 of his 79 years he lived in the same house in the northeast neighborhood part of town, called Collinwood. He was mayor at a time when the country was seeing a continuing decline in the decent paying jobs provided by heavy industry, as technology replaced human labor. Cleveland's economic foundation had long been heavy industry. Voinovich, a Republican, was not a member of the fanatical right wing that developed a major foothold in the GOP during the 1980s, but he had a definite conservative side, based upon his devout Roman Catholicism, derived from his Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian heritage, as the child of immigrants from that region of southeastern Europe.

As mayor, George Voinovich developed a great working relationship with another man named George; the president of Cleveland city council, and highly influential political force, George Forbes. Together, the two helped move a number of projects and reforms forward, laying the foundation for the highly modernized Cleveland of today. Forbes, known for his highly volatile temperament, forced controversial legislation through a sometimes reluctant city council, while Voinovich was more laidback and a conciliator; the two were like a perfect match. One time, however, angry with the media criticism of the Cleveland Indians, Mayor Voinovich publicly laid into the press, then saying, "I think we've got a damn good team." Jaws dropped, including mine, as Voinovich's public use of "damn" stunned many people more than Rhett Butler's 1930's retort to Scarlett O'Hara, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!" The mayor picked a date and set "City of Cleveland Night" at an Indians' game which drew a huge crowd to the then home of the Indians, old Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

As a Republican in an overwhelming Democratic city and county, Voinovich learned how to compromise and how to get along with various groups, and it showed, as people of all backgrounds liked George Voinovich. In a nation now so often polarized by venomous politics, Voinovich was a rare bridge between the two parties, between the, in my opinion, false choice of being either a Fox News or an MSNBC viewer. When he was a senator, he angered me once, as in reply to a letter I sent about the staggering increase in oil and gasoline prices at that time (2007), he wrote something that could have been written by an oil company CEO, not a true representative of the people: "while oil companies experienced record high revenues, their profit margins are still below that of many other industries." Then to rub salt into the wound, he continued, "...these larger industry profits have translated into greater tax revenues from these companies payments' of federal and state taxes." I couldn't believe Voinovich had said this, but you put people in Washington D.C., and sometimes they change. It was like, "Thank God for sky high gasoline prices, they give us more tax money." It was all a bunch of nonsense, which was demonstrated when the economic nosedive occurred just months later, and oil prices, vastly inflated, collapsed along with the economy and many people's lives. I eventually got over Voinovich's remarks, and when he later decided to retire, he said "something to the effect" about how a person can get out of touch with the people he grew up with and worked with for so long. He talked too how he missed home, and that meant Cleveland. His time in Washington was just not for him, as extreme partisanship was not Voinovich's style. He later told how, upon Barack Obama's assuming the presidency, the Republican leaders in the Senate had told Republican members  to oppose everything the new president proposed, Voinovich saying, "If he was for it, we had to be against it."

So now we've lost George Voinovich, a man who became a part of so many lives, including my own. His ally from his days as mayor, George Forbes, now 85, commented about his long time friend: "Most of us saw ourselves as leaders, George Voinovich saw himself as a servant." Farewell Mayor Voinovich!

WORD HISTORY:
Mayor (Major)-These are really the same word, although the specific meanings diverged. They go back to Indo European "meg," which had the idea of, "large, great." This then produced "megnyo," as a comparative adjective meaning, "greater, larger." The Indo European form gave Latin "magnus," which also meant "large, great." and also "maior," the comparative form of "magnus;" thus, "larger, greater." A noun developed from the use of the adjective, and "maior" meant, "main leader of a town." Old French, a Latin-based language, had "maire," with the governmental meaning, and English borrowed the term from both the French and Latin forms, likely with one reinforcing the other. The adjective "major" was also derived from "magnus," as another comparative form (larger, greater), and it "seemingly" was borrowed into English directly from Latin in the early 12th Century. Meanwhile, Latin also used "major" as a noun, meaning "an adult, a grown up, mature person," but also, "a superior officer of an organization, often military." French used the term as part of the military rank, "sergeant-major," which was often shortened to just "major" by many, and it was borrowed by English in the mid 1600s as the military rank. The verb, "to study a particular subject with great emphasis," and that noun use, "main course of study," developed in American English in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Cleveland & The Republican Convention

It's about money, I know, BUT explain to me how a Democratic mayor, a Democratic Cuyahoga county executive, a Democratic Cleveland city council, a Democratic majority Cuyahoga County council, and a number of other Democratic officeholders, all worked to bring the REPUBLICAN CONVENTION here? Granted, not many people, if any, would have thought the likes of Donald Trump would be the Republican nominee, but the security tasks for any nominee are immense, only made even more immense with such a polarizing figure as Trump coming here to accept the nomination. Protests will likely (and correctly) be numerous. The question is, will we have a downtown area left when the Republicans leave?

WORD HISTORY:
Task-The ultimate origins of this word, related to both "tax" and "taxi," is uncertain. ^ It goes back to Latin "taxare," which meant "to assess, to charge." This then provided the basis for the noun "taxa," which meant "calculated fee or rate, a charge," which later became "tasche," and was inherited as such by Old French, a Latin-based language, but in the Old Northern French dialect it was "tasque." This was borrowed into English as "task," circa 1300. The meaning, "work to be done as payment of an obligation," seems to have come from the feudal system, as work/service was often owed by vassals to the nobles. This later broadened to the more general meaning, "work needing to be done."

^ For the history of the related word "tax," this is the link to that article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/11/answer-on-taxes.html

Is It 'Rumania' or 'Romania?' Part One

I just want to set down a little basic historical information about this nation located in southeastern Europe. I hope some of you will take an interest and head to your local library to learn more about "Rumania" ... I mean "Romania." Actually, the form "Rumania," which I still use, is now considered outdated, with "Romania" being the preferred spelling. A good deal of my reading about this country over the years was done about its participation in World War Two, and it was done reading German text, which uses "Rumanien," so that likely has reinforced the use of "u" with me. I also recall seeing the spelling "Roumania," but I can't recall just where. Anyway, here's just a very brief sketch of "Rumania," the spelling I'll use. American readers should take note that somewhere between 500,000 and about a million Americans are of Rumanian descent.* For Clevelanders, a prominent Rumanian-American neighborhood has been on the near West Side in the Detroit-Shoreway area, where there have traditionally also been many Italian-Americans. There is a Rumanian Byzantine church on W. 65th Street and a Rumanian Orthodox church is located further out on the West Side of Cleveland on Warren Road.

The present day Rumanians trace back to an Indo European people called the Thracians, who also were known to some as the "Dacians," and indeed the Romans, who conquered the area inhabited by the Dacians in circa 105 A.D., called their colony "Dacia." This brought Latin to the region, and after all of these centuries, Latin is still the base of the modern Rumanian language, although a small number of words are presumed to have remained from Dacian, as these words do not seem to be linked to other languages which have had influences on Rumanian, like Slavic, which has provided a fair amount of borrowed vocabulary. German has also had some influence on vocabulary, as a sizable German settlement took place in Transylvania, known as "Siebenbürgen" in German (Seven Castles or Fortresses, after seven German fortified cities in the area).**

As Rome's empire struggled to endure incursions from invaders and internal strife, the Roman presence in Dacia diminished. Dacia too saw numerous invaders, including Magyars,*** who occupied the Transylvania area, although "seemingly" the native Dacians remained in the overall majority. The main regions of the area in southeastern Europe associated with Rumania are: Wallachia, Moldova, and Transylvania, but Bukovina, Dobruja, Bessarabia and part of the Banat also have connections, although often contested by other countries, as has been the case with much of Transylvania.**** One of the historical debates about the Rumanians has involved their ancestry. Generally, Rumanians have said they are from the Dacians, who withdrew to safer areas to avoid the invaders who rampaged through their territory. As the invasions subsided, these people gradually moved back into their former lands. This "history" certainly has support, as the Latin dialect continued to be spoken by the people, later known as Vlachs, which would seem to tie in with the Latin speaking Dacians of previous centuries. I'll come back to this in "Part Two," which will follow shortly.

* From U.S. Census Bureau.

** A number of these Germans, generally known as "Transylvanian Saxons," immigrated to Cleveland beginning in the late 1800s, and indeed the "Alliance of Transylvanian Saxons" is headquartered here on Pearl Road (in the Cleveland suburb of Parma).

*** The Magyars were an ancient people generally believed to have been from the area of western Asia, in the vicinity of the Ural Mountains. Like many tribes, they moved around, eventually moving into Europe and settling in what is now the general area of Hungary, where they formed the basis for the modern Hungarians. As with all of the groups mentioned in this article, extensive modern DNA testing will provide better information on the history of the various ethnic groups in history, thus "perhaps" superseding some of the assumptions made by historians over time.

**** When nobles ruled the various parts of Europe, they acquired lands through conquest, heredity or marriage, often irrespective of the ethnic-linguistic composition of any given area. Natural resources were often a major driving force to acquire an area, as such resources could provide a direct economic benefit, and could also be a powerful source of economic benefit by selling or trading those resources, or a specific resource, with those in need of such. For example, in more modern times, when oil and its derivatives came into prominence for fuel, nations with large oil reserves became very important. As nationalism among ethnic groups developed, especially more from the 1800s onward, boundary adjustments based upon those ethnic groups became a major source of confrontation, not that the national resource or industrial benefit of an area no longer mattered.

I consulted the following sources for this article: 

"Kingdoms of Europe" (Chapter 17, Kingdom of Romania) by Gene Gurney, published by Crown Publishers, Inc. NY 1982

"Romania/An Illustrated History" by Nicolae Klepper, published by Hippocrene Books, NY 2002

WORD HISTORY:
Map-This word "seems" to trace back to some Semitic language source, as Hebrew has "mappa," which seems to have meant "cloth," thus, "banner." The Semitic languages are a group of related languages "centered" in the Middle East and eastern Africa, but also spoken beyond those areas. The most common modern Semitic languages are Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew and Tigrinya,^ but in ancient times it included Phoenician, which was spoken in the Middle East and in North Africa by the Carthaginians, a people who had much contact with the Romans, and thus, Latin. Latin borrowed the word as "mappa," which meant "cloth," thus "tablecloth, towel, napkin, banner." This was then used in a compound by Latin as "mappa mundi," which meant "map of the world," with "map" essentially meaning "cloth with drawings of geographic features." Old French, a Latin based language inherited the term as "mapemonde, which was later shortened to just "mappe" in common speech. English borrowed the longer expression from French in the early 1500s, but quickly picked up the shortened version as "map."

^ Arabic and Hebrew are commonly known in much of Europe and North America, but Amharic is spoken in a large part of Ethiopia. Tigrinya is also spoken in parts of Ethiopia and Eritrea, another East African nation.

Cleveland Zoo Attendance Record

Reports on all of the local news programs say a new one day attendance record was set at the Cleveland Zoo, as about 35,700 attended the April 26 event, free to the public, but paid for and sponsored by the Cleveland Foundation. The previous one day record was about 24,700. For those who would like to visit the zoo at some time, but who have physical limitations, there is free tram service available. For more information about the Cleveland Zoo, the link is below. For info about the tram service, go to the website (link provided below), along the selections listed across the top, hover the cursor on "Visit," which will produce a drop down menu, click on "Guest Services," this will bring up a page with various choices, including "ADA Accessibility," click there.

http://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/Zoo/Zoo.aspx

Check Out Global Cleveland

For those looking for jobs, whether you live in Cleveland or in some other part of the world, or for those looking to relocate, this site will give you just about any information you'll need.

http://www.globalcleveland.org/

WORD HISTORY:
Globe-The ultimate origins of this word are unclear, but it "seems" to go back to some form that likely meant "form or shape into a ball," or "to put parts together into a whole." Latin had "glaeba," meaning "clump or clod of soil/earth." This then produced Latin "globus," meaning "ball, sphere." French, a Latin-based language, inherited a form of the word as "globe," with the same general meaning. English borrowed the word in the 1500s, likely form the French form, but reinforced by the overall Latin word, by which time the term was coming to be used for "Earth," the planet.

"Draft Day"

Let's see ... "Draft Day," I'll have a brown ale. Oh, not that kind of draft day. Actually this movie, like "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," had many scenes filmed here in Cleveland and the Cleveland Browns are central to the story. It opens April 11, although there was a special preview Tuesday evening, April 8 in Cleveland, and likely some other locations. It was filmed last summer and stars Kevin Costner. For more info:

 http://draftdaythemovie.com/story

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" ("Captain America 2") is scheduled to be open Friday, April 4 in the U.S. (and, I believe, Canada). Much of the filming of the movie was done here in Cleveland, although the movie story line has it set in Washington, D.C. Native Clevelanders and those familiar with our city will likely recognize several of the buildings and streets, even though street signs and locations were given different names for the filming. The Marvel Studio's movie was directed by two Clevelanders, Anthony and Joe Russo. There was a special premier here the last couple of days for those Clevelanders who took part in the film. For more information:

http://marvel.com/captainamerica#/story

WORD HISTORY:
Captain-This word goes back to Indo European "kauput," which meant "head." This gave its Italic/Latin offspring "caput," with the same meaning. This then spawned an adjectival form, "capitaneus, which meant "prominent, large, main," then also used as a noun to mean "leader." This gave Old French, a Latin based language, "capitaine," with the same meaning. This was then borrowed into English from French in the 1300s. By the 1500s, it had developed the meaning of a military rank, often associated with navy rank for an officer who commanded a ship, but later also an officer rank in the army; that is, land forces. From the "commander of a ship" idea came the verb form, meaning "to command and lead a ship;" also the figurative use, as in, "The guide captained us through some rough terrain."

Pumpernickel Bread

There are a couple of general types of bread made and sold as "pumpernickel," but the original pumpernickel bread was developed in the Westphalia (German: Westfalen) region of Germany, at least by the 1400s, if not earlier. Some refer to it as "black bread," for the types with an especially dark color, but Germans have a couple of types of whole grain dark bread that are sometimes referred to by that name. Pumpernickel is made with very coarse rye meal (cracked whole rye), and it is then baked (see "Word History") for an incredibly long time (12 to like 20 hours) at a low temperature, which is what gives it its dark color, as there are no coloring additives that darken it in the original recipe type. The finished bread is crumbly and anywhere from dark brown to nearly black in color. Bakers eventually learned how to cut down on the time needed to produce pumpernickel, but still have it very much resemble and taste like the original recipe. They add some coloring agents, which allow the baking process to be considerably shortened. Whether this is also commonly used in Germany, I'm not certain, as many production traditions for various products remain strong in Germany. Pumpernickel is typically sold in packages with maybe 10 to 12 slices. You may find imported packages from Germany in your supermarket, but there are some of these "near genuine recipes" produced right in the U.S., including by one bakery in suburban Cleveland, called "Reinecker's Bakery." Their products are sold in some supermarkets in Greater Cleveland, besides at their own outlet.

Other pumpernickel in America is much softer and its dark color comes from additives like molasses or cocoa (I actually have a recipe which calls for both cocoa and coffee). You often see it in fairly large round loaves, or sometimes as pumpernickel (bread) rolls. It is not uncommon to see recipes that call for the round loaves to be hollowed out and used as "bowls" for various vegetable or chip dips. The softer pumpernickel, when sliced, is also easily used to make sandwiches, as opposed to the "original" or "near original," which are far too crumbly; at least in my opinion. I can't verify this, but I was told many years ago that the softer type of pumpernickel came to America with Jewish immigrants from Russia in the late 1800s or early 1900s.

When I grew up, pumpernickel was common place in my neighborhood, which had a strong German tradition dating to German immigrants arriving not long before the Civil War, clear up until just before World War One began. Ham, mettwurst or cheese were common accompaniments with pumpernickel, including a favorite of mine, Limburger cheese, although caraway studded rye bread was also frequently used for the strong smelling cheese that my older brother simply could not stand. 

 Photo of German-style pumpernickel bread, which tends toward being crumbly ...

 

 This has the soft type of pumpernickel with some pimento cheese and sliced tomato ...

WORD HISTORY: 

Bake-This word goes back to Indo European "bheg/bhog," which had the meaning "to bake or roast." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "bakanan," which meant "to bake." This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "bacan," which then became "baken," before the modern version. The noun form, as in "clambake," was simply derived from the verb, but seemingly not until the 1800s. The other Germanic languages have: German "backen" ('a' pronounced short as in 'father'), Low German "backen," Dutch "bakken," West Frisian "bakke," Icelandic and Swedish "baka," Danish "bage," and Norwegian "bake" (the "a" is like "ah," and the ending "e" is pronounced like "eh/ah").

Are Public Sports Facilities Worth It? Part Two

I'm not sure if anyone can accurately calculate the overall financial impact of having professional sports teams in a community, as the whole thing is quite complicated, but if we lay out some of the benefits versus the negatives, I think we can make a pretty fair assumption. Teams bring people into communities* for games and other events associated with them, and those people spend money. They buy tickets, pop, beer, hotdogs, programs, and souvenirs at the facilities, plus they may pay to park, if they arrived by car, or they may stay at hotels where they pay for rooms, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and then they're apt to go shopping, take tours, visit the various sites in the area, etc. Airports and airlines benefit, since teams, as well as press people who cover the visiting teams, fly in and out, and of course, the same with the officials for the games, umpires and referees (these people all stay at hotels, too). All of this is money coming into the community from outside. Then sports teams provide entertainment for the locals, who spend money in their own community on many of the things I've mentioned above, although, naturally, they don't have to book hotel rooms or travel all that far to attend games, but that keeps the money in the community, and it helps public transportation for those who use it to get to games.** I'm not sure what the general criteria is today, but when I was much younger, a team's drawing area was generally seen as a 150 mile radius of its home, although obviously that definition is not always possible due to geography. Having sports teams also helps local promoters "sell" the community to outsiders as a good place to visit, or to live in, if relocation is under consideration.

Communities take in money from rent on the facilities,*** and they often collect parking fees from city owned lots or garages. Then there are employees, not only at the facilities, like ticket takers, ushers, and security personnel, but at all of the supporting businesses, like the suppliers of hotdogs, popcorn and beer, and even at the places where the tickets and programs are printed. Further still, there are the outside businesses that benefit, like hotels, restaurants, shops, and bars. The money generated by all of this brings in tax revenue from sales taxes, bed taxes (common for hotels), and beverage taxes, plus income taxes, if the community has such. In the latter case, the community benefits from a local income tax by also getting the tax on the large salaries of the players and owners  Teams that consistently draw well can help to provide communities with revenues to maintain, or perhaps even expand or improve, services.  

Lastly, while I think salaries and the whole pro-sports program has gotten out of hand, I've also said here in previous articles that I realize we all need a certain amount of entertainment in our lives, which is often supplied by professional sports. Trust me, I get it.

Now, what about the other side? Well naturally it all depends upon how teams draw and help contribute to all of those things I mentioned above (and probably some I forgot to include). If a team struggles at the gate, the more seasons they struggle, the greater the decline in the benefits they provide, especially since the expenses incurred tend to stay about the same; that is, the facilities have to be maintained, debts on facilities have to be paid, police have to direct traffic, ushers and security personnel (I would guess usually police, in most communities) have to be present for games. Without being able to really calculate an accurate figure on how teams help communities, it is also not entirely possible to say if, or at what point, they hurt communities, although in some cases where teams lose community support, and attendance plummets, that determination may not be able to be given an exact number, but it is still an obvious negative.  

So what about now? As earlier, I'll use Cleveland as something of an example, although I realize not every community has the same situation in every case. As I noted in "Part One," here in Cleveland the issue of putting a retractable roof on the football stadium was raised recently. It was a big story for a couple of days, although it has subsided somewhat now, and "apparently" there was no concerted effort to push such a proposal, although we'll have to see how all of this plays out in the coming weeks and months, now that the Browns have a new owner. Let's just say for the sake of argument, the Browns make it known they want a retractable roof on the stadium. The new owner has hired architects and engineers to look at the facility, but for a number of reasons, according to his statements. To put a dome on a stadium that large, a stadium that wasn't built to accommodate such a dome, as far as I know, would, I have to believe, be a major undertaking with a huge price tag. The other thing to consider is this; the upkeep of the football stadium, the ballpark and the basketball arena all were funded by a special tax on alcohol and tobacco, and the authority for that tax expires in a couple of years. Voters would have to approve a renewal of the tax, and that's "IF" the State of Ohio even permits such a tax again, as, according to "Crain's Cleveland Business" earlier this year, lobbyists for both the alcoholic beverage and tobacco industries were able to get language into a state law a few years ago that forbids such taxes.That could prove to be very interesting, especially regarding alcohol, because the beverage industry could end up cutting its own throat by hurting the teams that sell their products, as alcoholic beverages and sports have a close relationship.

Just another item you might think worthy of discussion. Pro spots teams and communities generally have had a private-public partnership, of sorts, as communities provide the publicly funded facilities. With all the talk of "free markets," should teams have to provide their own facilities? In the past I have heard the argument, and I can't say exactly from which owner or owners, that if team owners had to build their own facilities, they would have to charge too much. Hm, I thought free markets always worked and government "distorted" the markets. We always hate things given to others, until we want something, then we find ways to say, "Well... I didn't mean when it applies to me." We must also remember, the teams pay rent, so the facilities aren't free for them to use, but by using public facilities, the owners don't have to lay out large investments to have such facilities built. And remember too, the communities have built these facilities to make money in a variety of ways, many of which I recounted above, so these are really business deals, as professional sports is really nothing like a game, in spite of apologists who say fans get too emotional, "because it's just a game." BALONEY! Anything with such huge sums of money involved is NOT a game. Anyway, communities choose to pact with professional sports franchises, some of the owners of which are ruthless devils, and when you pact with the devil, sometimes you get burned. Yes, when owners have burned certain communities by moving teams to other locations, the public and the politicians all scream bloody murder, but you can't have it both ways, although in more recent times communities have tried to protect themselves with clauses in leases saying teams can only leave town after conditions x,y, and z are met, or with signed declarations by owners to never move the team.**** 

In the end, sports teams DO help communities overall, in my opinion. Whether they need fancy ballparks and stadiums, I'm not so sure, but don't look for it to change anytime soon. Too many people are hooked on pro sports, and both the owners and players know it. Until the public stays away in droves, you'll keep hearing about new or improved facilities you'll help pay for. If you don't want to pay, the moving van will probably pull up to load the team's equipment for transport to a place where the people will pay.
 
* I'm using "community" instead of just "city." A hundred years ago, most people in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, etc actually lived IN the cities, with areas outside these cities often being sparsely populated countryside. Gradually this changed as suburban areas began to develop, which really took off after World War Two, and today, many of the suburbs are really connected to the cities in an urban community, so, in my opinion, it is far more appropriate to use the term "community."

** New York naturally has the subway system, and other communities have mass transit of some type. Here in Cleveland, you can drive to a transit parking lot, park for free, get on the train (called "the Rapid"), or a bus, and go downtown, where you can then use a walkway to go right over to see an Indians' or Cavaliers' game; or if you are going to a Browns' game, you change to another train which takes you right to the stadium. Needless to say, many people here use the public transit system this way. Since I went over some history in "Part One," I should note that, before the train ran right to the stadium, you could take a train or bus and get off downtown, where there were shuttle buses waiting to take you the few blocks to old Municipal Stadium for Browns' games, and Indians' games with large advance ticket sales. It was like 25 or 50 cents, but that was in the 1980s.

*** The rent and certain fees may go to a specific local entity that manages the facilities, rather than going directly into community coffers, and the money is then used for upkeep and retirement of debt on the facilities.

**** If I remember correctly, in order to get final approval for his move of the Browns to Baltimore, Art Modell had to buy out the remaining years of his lease in Cleveland, which cost him something like 10-12 million. 

WORD HISTORY:
Ground-This is the noun as in, "the soil of the earth." It goes back to Indo European "ghrendh," which meant, "to rub, to rub together to break down a substance." There are no apparent relatives outside of Germanic with a similar meaning as in Germanic. Old Germanic had "grunduz," which had the notion of "bottom, deep area, foundation;" from the idea of "particles that form a basis or foundation." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "grund," which meant "base, bottom, surface of the earth." The word later took on the extended meaning "basis, reason." Common in the other Germanic languages: German and Low German have "Grund" (ground, reason), West Frisian has "grun" (land, ground), Dutch has "grond" (soil, ground, base), Danish has "grund(en)" (foundation, base, site), Norwegian has "grunn," and Swedish has "grund" (reason, foundation). I could not find a form in Icelandic, where the word seems to have been replaced by other terms, although it could be archaic.

Are Public Sports Facilities Worth It? Part One

Here is the question: Should taxpayers fund sports venues for super wealthy owners and athletes?

This will mix some history with the above question, since history and community commitments to professional sports teams are central to how many people answer that question. I haven't really spent any time researching this, so most is from memory, although the recent death of Art Modell has brought the issue of private sports franchises operating in publicly funded facilities back into view, at least to some people, and the recent news coverage has refreshed my memory somewhat. Modell's sweetheart deal to move a solid franchise like the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore for the 1996 season showed that no franchise in any sport was really safe, and that ruthless owners could exploit the fear of a community losing its team to gain new or extensively updated facilities, with the cost largely, or entirely, borne by taxpayers. Generally, as professional sports developed (more so baseball, at first), well over a hundred years ago, cities had facilities for the local team or teams to play their games. Generally these facilities were small by many of today's standards, although Fenway Park in Boston retains much of the odd configuration of  some of the old ballparks,* but of course, even there they added more seats in recent times, and there has been a trend to build new ballparks more like the the intimate facilities of the earlier 20th Century.

Here in Cleveland, the Cleveland Indians played at "League Park" on the near East Side (E. 66th Street). Famous Cleveland players like pitchers Cy Young and Bob Feller and outfielder Tris Speaker played many a game there, as well as non Cleveland players like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. Clevelanders approved funding for a new city owned multipurpose stadium in the late 1920s, the result being a new 80,000 seat colossus right off of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland.** The Indians played their first game there in 1932 in front of over 80,000 fans. Initially Cleveland Municipal Stadium did not have a fence, but the huge distance to most parts of the seats for a home run was prohibitive (fans like to see home runs), and a temporary fence was put up for baseball games (it could be taken down for football or other activities, and then reinstalled relatively quickly).*** The Indians continued to play at League Park, with occasional games moved to Municipal Stadium for big crowds. I believe League Park could only hold something like 25,000 people maximum, and that may well have included any standing room. The Indians permanently moved to Municipal Stadium after World War Two, and in 1948 the team drew an amazing (for those times) 2.6 million fans, a record which stood until more recent times, and that was when teams played 77 home games during the regular season, compared to 81 now (this started in the early 1960s).

Professional football was played at the new stadium in the 1930s, but it really took off in the post World War Two era with the Cleveland Browns, who regularly drew crowds of 80,000. Boxing matches, concerts and other events were also held at Municipal Stadium over the years. I have no idea how much the city of Cleveland charged for rent, but by the 1970s, tight budgets had the city turn the operation of the stadium over to Browns' owner Art Modell for a nominal annual leasing fee to the city (the city retained ownership of the property). Modell set up the "Stadium Corporation," with himself as head and majority owner, to run the aging facility, and he collected rent from the Indians and from the Browns (he was majority owner of the Browns, so he essentially paid rent to himself). He invested in new scoreboards (including smaller auxiliary scoreboards at various locations around the stadium) and he had a system of luxury loges, complete with bar service and televisions, built below the upper deck for corporate and wealthy fans, who paid an annual rent. The arrangement proved to be a good one for Modell, but not for the Indians, as they received none of the rental money. Over time, the Indians argued that with escalating payrolls, they needed all the income they could get to sign or retain quality players. That was years ago, it's far worse now! In the late 1970s, the Indians signed highly touted pitcher Wayne Garland for the sum of like $300,000. That was BIG money in sports back then; now you can't get a shortstop who bats .198 and makes two errors a game for that amount, which tells you how out of hand all of this nonsense is.

The loge rental money became a serious issue between the Indians' owners and Modell, who was their landlord. Since the Indians played 81 home games compared to the Browns 7 regular season games (back then) and one or two preseason games; the Indians were Modell's major tenant, but I don't recall how much they paid in rent or other fees, but I seem to remember they paid a base rent, and then some percentage based upon attendance. By the late 1980s, after much planning and arguing, a grand plan was developed to build a new sports complex on the southern edge of downtown, where the Indians would have a new ballpark and control their own revenue, the NBA Cavaliers would have a new arena, and the Browns would get a new stadium. Modell had been pushing for a dome on the existing stadium, but the plan did not have total community support, nor general support from the Indians, who wanted revenue from the increasingly popular (in other cities) luxury seating; something Modell did not want to share. Modell chose not to participate in the new complex, but to keep the Browns playing in the old stadium. Whether you like or hate Modell, he was NOT a stupid man, but undoubtedly his ego interfered with his judgment, a common problem for egomaniacs, as once a ballpark was open for the Indians, his stadium revenues had to fall.**** Modell's Browns were the kings of the town, but the new owners of the Indians (brothers Richard and David Jacobs) were smart business people. I just have to believe Modell could not bring himself to give up control of the old stadium, where he kept the Indians playing second fiddle to the Browns, and where he kept revenue for himself, and thus from their owners in a sports world gone nuts on big bucks.

So a few years later the Indians moved into their new ballpark, selling out the place for every game for several years. Meanwhile, the very first year the Indians were gone from old Municipal Stadium, Modell felt the pinch of his bad decision, as his revenue at the old stadium plummeted. Having missed an opportunity for a brand new stadium, still in a lease at the old stadium, ego bruised and undoubtedly envious of the success of the Indians (who were the talk of the town), and now seriously pressed for cash, Modell secretly negotiated with Baltimore and Maryland officials and moved the Browns to Baltimore, where he got a new stadium, revenue streams and public money to operate the franchise! There too he had to eventually take in a partner to supply money, which eventually brought him a Super Bowl win, but Modell's overall ego driven business sense left him in debt again, and the league eventually pressured him to sell the team, which he did.

With the Browns gone, the Cleveland community fought to get a new team with the promise of building a new football stadium, which took place at the same location as the old stadium. In 1999 a new Browns team started play in Cleveland. Now a new owner has just taken over in 2012, and just this last week or so the idea of putting a retractable dome on the football stadium has surfaced. The stadium is owned by the city and some people have wondered how to better utilize the large facility, which seats somewhere around 73,000, and to bring in more revenue. This is a major problem with football stadiums, since NFL teams only play 8 home games (in more recent times) and one or two preseason home games. What the hell do you do the rest of the 355 days? Like any building or home, just being in existence brings wear to such a facility, which then require repairs and updates, which all cost money. There has been criticism at times for placing the new stadium on the site of the old facility, right on the lakefront, where winds come whipping down from Canada, at times picking up moisture from Lake Erie and depositing it on land as either rain or snow. I'm not an architect or an engineer, but the critics have argued that this naturally takes a toll on the structure, which certainly makes sense, but whether having the football facility on the southern edge of downtown, along with the other facilities, would be all that better, is beyond me. Critics have also argued that the land on the lakefront could then have been better utilized for attractions to compliment the nearby Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Great  Lakes Science Center. Just to be clear, Browns Stadium is used for some college and maybe even some high school games or events, but not nearly anywhere enough to take a real chunk out of the 355 days when it is not used by the Browns, who don't even train there, but rather use a facility in the southwest part of town, in Berea, not far from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.   

Naturally every community's history with sports franchises varies, but this gives you an idea of what can go on. It should be noted that Baltimore suffered the loss of their NFL team, the Colts, in 1984. At that time Modell and many other owners spoke against such a move, as the Colt's owner, Robert Irsay, moved the team to Indianapolis without any announcement and in the middle of the night. In a show of extreme disconnect, many Baltimore fans cheered the arrival of the Browns and Modell, quickly forgetting their anger over the loss of the Colts, although many commentators and other fans noted their unease over those who cried and cursed the move of the Colts, but then wildly cheered the arrival of another community's team. In "Part Two" I'll try to put an answer to the initial question.    

* "Ballpark" was a common term in the past; and in fact, my father always used that term, never "stadium." The facilities themselves were usually called either "park" or "field," and some of the facilities were (some still are): League Park (Cleveland), Crosley Field (Cincinnati), Wrigley Field (Chicago-for the Cubs), Comiskey Park (Chicago-for the White Sox), Fenway Park (Boston, for the Red Sox), Braves Field (Boston-the Braves were originally in Boston), and Forbes Field (Pittsburgh), to name a few, but there were exceptions, notably Yankee Stadium in New York, but then New York also had Ebbets Field for the then Brooklyn Dodgers and the Polo Grounds for the then New York Giants (baseball, of course), and the New York Mets played there for the first couple of years of their existence in the early 1960s.

** Some city leaders hoped the new stadium would give Cleveland a shot at landing a future summer Olympics, and Municipal Stadium came complete with a great running track and plenty of room for other field events. The "official" number of seats for baseball varied over the years as adjustments were made, but when important games were held, the 80,000 figure was generally used, although that usually included standing room behind the fence. The biggest adjustment for baseball was for seating in the center field bleachers, where eventually seats in a number of sections were not for sale, and the seats were painted dark blue to provide a good background for batters. (Note: Similar happened in other cities too, as batters had complained about losing sight of the ball in white shirts worn by fans seated in the bleachers.) The temporary "baseball" fence that was put up around much of the outfield was a simple chain link type, and later (maybe mid to late 1960s, I just forget), blue padding was added to protect outfielders who crashed into the fence when chasing a fly ball. About 1980, I was at a game when the Yankees were in town, and, I guess by agreement with the Yankees (and maybe the American League?), attendants  took some of the padding down from the fence in right center field for standing room, and some fans were permitted to sit in the usually closed for baseball center field bleachers (they were not seated in direct center, but to the sides), as most or all of the regular seats had been sold.

*** The bleachers in dead center field were 480 feet from home plate, but then there was a fairly high wall, so a batter had to hit a ball over 500 feet to reach into that area of the bleachers, something that was never done in the more than 60 years of its existence. At some point (I believe in the late 1970s?), extra bleacher seats were erected below that wall for Cleveland Browns' games, but no one ever hit a ball on the fly into those seats either.

**** While I noted Modell wasn't stupid, his business judgment has oft been called into question, and he had frequent money problems, even with large cash infusions from other sources, until he left football. I use the term "egomaniac" for Modell, because winning a championship at ANY cost, no matter whose money or emotions were spent, became his life's goal, and that quest cost many people. That's what can happen when some people see themselves as the center of the universe and seem to say, "I'm important! I'm more important that you or anyone else." To me, they deserve a penalty flag.  

WORD HISTORY:
Stadium-This word traces back to the Indo European root "sta," which meant "stand." This gave its Greek offspring "stadios," which meant "something fixed in place." This then gave Greek "stadion," which meant "a running track of fixed size." Latin borrowed the word from Greek as "stadium," with the meaning "measured running track." English borrowed the word from Latin in the 1500s (some believe earlier), with the meaning "racetrack." When seating was added around such a track, the entire complex took on the meaning "stadium," which later often came to be applied to sports venues in general.  

What We Do In Life Matters

SPECIAL NOTE: I wrote this in September 2012. Since that time, LeBron James returned to his home area to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team won a championship in 2016, but more importantly, BY FAR, LeBron James learned from his mistake when he left town and he doubled down on his efforts to help this community, especially to help the children of this community. As I wrote back when I did this article in 2012, James continued to help the kids of this area when he played in Miami. LeBron James has money and fame, and he is often touted as the "greatest basketball player on the planet," but he has proven himself to be a far greater human being than a basketball player. This note added September 25, 2018


If you follow things here regularly, you know I recently did two articles with the theme, "Life Has Consequences." This article really ties in with that theme too, but not by design. As most of you are aware, Art Modell, the former owner of the Cleveland Browns, died this week at age 87. Modell came to Cleveland in 1961 when he purchased the Browns, a team which had won numerous national championships prior to his arrival. After Modell purchased the Browns, they won one national championship, in 1964. Regardless of the lack of championships, the franchise was one of America's best known and loved, regularly drawing crowds to fill, or nearly fill, the 80,000 seats of old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, even in years when the team struggled on the field. Modell became a solid part of the community and one of the top owners in the NFL. I'm not necessarily writing this to praise him or to condemn him to hell, as both sentiments have been expressed in so many comments by others since his death a few days ago. Nor will this be a recounting of Modell's life or of his complex business dealings here in Cleveland. No, I just want to point out a few things about how a much respected man made a choice in a moment of both hurt feelings and financial desperation that haunted him for the rest of his life, and now even in death. The powerful can have a huge impact on the lives of the many, even when it's only about football, just a game that has become big business, or perhaps more appropriately, BIG business. To be quite honest, the powerful love the accolades and the money it brings them, but some, perhaps too many in this day and age of excess, forget that such power also brings responsibility.

For those unaware, Art Modell made a decision in the fall of 1995 to move the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore for the next season. The initial process was done secretly and quickly. When the move became public, it devastated the huge fan base of devoted Browns fans, not only in Cleveland, but across the country. The reaction in Cleveland was one of outrage, and that is putting it mildly. Interestingly the town had been riding a bit of a high, as the Cleveland Indians had just appeared in a World Series for the first time in over 40 years, losing however, in six games, but they made it to the Series, and the team looked to be a continuing contender. At work, a guy (a contractor) was talking with a lady about the World Series, and she told him that she really wasn't much of a baseball fan, but she noted "how serious the players looked." Now, old Randy, once a diehard baseball fan, disgusted by how money had taken over all professional sports, couldn't help himself, and he cynically interjected, "Sure they're serious. They're wondering how they're going to spend all of that money. It's all about money now, it's not a game." The guy was just furious with me, but I wasn't mad, because I saw myself in him, until I parted ways with professional sports just a few years before. About a week later, Modell announced that the Browns were moving and a few days later, I saw the "angry guy" again. This time, he said, "You were right." I wasn't quite sure what he meant, but then he mentioned the above incident and then Modell's announcement, and he said, "It IS all about money." Nothing like reality to smack you upside the head and dispel your idealism. When you're growing up, you gradually come to realize there's no Santa Claus, but the reality of the Browns leaving Cleveland came in one gigantic smack, with no preparation.

Dick Feagler was a long time columnist in the local newspapers, mainly the Cleveland Press, which ceased operations in 1982, and the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, where he retired as a columnist about three years ago. He was also a reporter and commentator on local television news. He's had a discussion program on Cleveland PBS station WVIZ for many years, a show I very much enjoy. Friday evening, September 7, part of the show was about Modell's death and legacy. A Cleveland businessman and friend of Modell's was one of the participants. His name is unimportant, but he was obviously in Modell's corner (on the personal side), although he admitted Modell should have negotiated more before making any decision to leave Cleveland. The pro and con arguments about Modell are never ending, but one thing he said caught my attention. He mentioned that the reaction in Cleveland of intense hatred for Modell shocked him, which prompted Feagler, in an effort to say how devoted the fans were, to interject something to the effect, "Have you ever seen those fans in the "Dog Pound?"* The man went on to tell how Modell could never attend a game here again after his announcement for fear for his very life. Such decisions have consequences; enduring consequences.

Now, I've seen the man before, I believe different times on Feagler's show, and I want all to know, I don't know him. He might be the salt of the earth, a great guy, charitable and caring, but it was the underlying attitude that got me, fairly or unfairly. What he really seemed to be saying in my opinion was, "Business people can do ANYTHING and you just have to take it. You shouldn't hate us, no matter what." He and the other panelists went on to mention numerous things Modell did for the community, and they're all true. As I noted above, Modell became a solid member of the Cleveland community after he came here in the early 1960s, but then in just a matter of days, he wiped away ANY good he had done by abandoning this community and slinking away with one of its most cherished assets. Yes, a few years later a new Browns' team was formed, but it's never really been the same here.** Much the same astonishment seems to have inflicted LeBron James. He did much to help this community (and still does to some extent), but he too made a terrible self-centered decision which also devastated the community,*** only to be perplexed by the hostility shown to him thereafter. With both Modell and James it's like, "Gee, I just don't understand how people can hate me." And then the comments by supporters and apologists who say, "It's only a game." There's a serious disconnect folks. When the hatred comes, NOW it's only a game. They didn't act like it was "only a game" when they were raking it in and extracting every ounce of emotion from devoted fans.

My favorite book is John Steinbeck's "East of Eden." **** In Chapter 34, Steinbeck boils life down in his shortest chapter of the book. He talks about the death of a man, unnamed, but who is unmistakably John D. Rockefeller, the wealthiest man of his time. Rockefeller lived much of his life here in Cleveland, and then his death, as indeed he is buried here. Steinbeck talks about how Rockefeller's ruthless desire for wealth left him a hated man,***** even after he later gave huge sums to various causes, "to try to buy back the love he had forfeited." Steinbeck even thinks Rockefeller's good deeds may have outweighed the bad, but still, when Rockefeller died, many an American said, "Thank God that son of a bitch is dead." Like it or not, fairly or unfairly, that same sentiment has undoubtedly crossed many a mind here in Ohio in the last few days.

* For those unaware, the "Dog Pound" is the bleacher area where some of the most "rabid" Browns' fans sit for every Browns' home game; rain, sunshine, snow, blizzards, zero temperatures, freezing rain, 50 mile an hour winds, you just name it. They wear ferocious masks and bark and growl like dogs and my suggestion is, if you choose to sit there, hope and pray they've all had their rabies shots, and be sure to take along a full box of  "Meaty Bone" dog biscuits, just to keep them happy."Rrrrrrruf!"

** A few years ago I was waiting for a pizza at a local pizza shop when a man in a Browns' jersey came in. I took a moment to chat with him about the team and what had happened when Modell left town. He said he was still a devoted fan, but that it just wasn't the same, the real Browns had left town. I've heard it from others, too, although I suspect a truly competitive team would change some of the doom and gloom.

*** LeBron James was the leading player on the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association, until he chose to go to Miami to play with two other superstars in order to win a championship. To further humiliate the community, although I'm sure that wasn't the intention, the whole thing was done on a nationally televised broadcast with the expressed purpose of revealing "the decision," as he termed it. Talk about an ego run amok! At least Modell hid things, perhaps out of some "conscience," but LeBron James rubbed everyone's nose in it, PUBLICLY. 

**** Quotes here are from "The Works of John Steinbeck," Longmeadow Press, 1985. ISBN: 0-681-31923-2

***** Bob Hope, who grew up in Cleveland, often told the story of how, as a kid, he sold newspapers on an East Side corner, and how John D. Rockefeller would pull up in his chauffeur driven car and get a paper from him. Hope said Rockefeller would give him a nickle for the paper, which I believe cost three cents way back then, and he wanted his two cents change. Hope laughed about it, because Rockefeller's wealth was equivalent to tens of billions of dollars when Hope told the story later in his life.   
    
WORD HISTORY:
Dead-This word goes back to Indo European "dheu," which meant "to die," and which produced a participle form "dhautos," which meant "to have died, be dead." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "dauthaz/daudaz," with the same meaning. This produced Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "dead," with the "e" being long, and the "a" short. This later became "ded/deed," before the modern version, generally used as an adjective, but also as a noun, as in, "the dead are buried in the churchyard." Common throughout the other Germanic languages: German has "tot,"^ Low German Saxon has "doot," West Frisian has "dead," Dutch has "dood," Danish has. "død," Swedish has "död," Icelandic has "dauthur," and Norwegian has "død."
 
^ Standard modern German is much based upon Old High German, one of the characteristics of which often, but not always, became a change from a "d" sound to a "t" sound in many instances; thus, "dod" became "tot." The northern Germanic dialects were unaffected by this change and came to be called "Low German," and neither were the dialects that became English affected, as the Angles and many Saxons had already settled in Britain by that time.

Cleveland's West Side Market

The "West Side Market" is well known throughout the Greater Cleveland area. June begins a series of events marking the Cen...ah...Cenm...ah...the 100th Anniversary of the market. The Centennial (see, I know the woid) events and information (including a vendor list) about the market is available through its website (link below). I've always loved the West Side Martket, as it offers a wide variety of products not always easily found elsewhere, especially for foods and recipes of ethnic cultures. I'm not afraid of people of different ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, skin color, or religious beliefs, and PLEASE, don't you be afraid of such things either. And don't be afraid to try foods from different cultures, either. I've probably mentioned this little story in an article here before, but some 25+ years ago I was on a train from Wiesbaden to Frankfurt in Germany (then still West Germany). In the seats right across from me sat a middle-aged couple. It turned out they were from Seattle, Washington. They asked me some questions about getting around, and they asked for recommendations about where to eat in Frankfurt. I just don't remember what all I said, but the lady remarked, "I'm afraid I won't like German food and I think we'll just go to McDonald's, I hear they have them here in Germany." I was just astounded! Sometimes I can be too blunt, but the situation called for it, in my opinion, and I said, "So you came six thousand miles to get a hamburger you can get on any street corner in America?" Now it was her turn to be astounded! Why do I get the feeling she was a Republican? Don't be afraid to try things, folks! PLEASE! And don't be afraid of people from other cultures, PLEASE! You'll be missing so much.

http://www.westsidemarket.org/about.html

WORD HISTORY:
West-This word goes back to the Indo European root "wes," which had the notion of "where the sun goes down, evening, in the direction of the setting sun." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "westan," with the same meanings, which then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "west," as it has remained ever since. Common throughout the other Germanic languages: German "West(en)," Low German "West," Dutch "westen," Frisian "west(en)," Norwegian and Danish "vest," Swedish "väst(er)," and Icelandic "vestur."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Forty-Three

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/C
"Germany In World War Two" Part Two/E
"Greece & Yugoslavia Fall"

In late October 1940, Benito Mussolini launched an ill prepared and untimely (nearly winter) invasion of Greece from Albania, an Italian possession in those days. Greece has many rough and mountainous areas, where winter comes early, and the Greeks were no push overs, they were tough. Not only did they stop the Italian forces, they counterattacked, throwing the Italians back into Albania! Mussolini then sent more troops to help halt the Greek advance. The Greeks were halted by the Italians and winter weather, but once again Hitler prepared to step in to bolster his sagging ally. The British had sent some forces to help the Greeks, but this diminished their forces and supplies in North Africa, where they too had the Italians on the run at that time. With spring in the offing, the Germans had an invasion plan to overrun Greece.

Yugoslavia, another creation of post-World War One, had similar problems to Czechoslovakia; that is, it was a multi-ethnic nation governed by its largest ethnic group, the Serbs.* Other groups were not happy with the arrangement, especially the Croats, or Croatians, who wanted much more autonomy, with some more radical elements wanting an outright independent Croatia. Further, there were increasingly strong fascist-type groups throughout the country, including the much stronger Croatian group the "Ustaše," which maintained close ties to the fascist nations of Germany and Italy.

Yugoslavia was ruled by a regent, Prince Paul, until the king, Peter II, reached maturity. The Serb leaders, once committed more to the western powers of Britain and France, saw these powers as too weak after their behavior over Czechoslovakia, and they turned more and more to Italy and, especially Germany, for economic ties, and for protection against the Soviet Union. Hitler wanted the Yugoslav government to sign the alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan, as other eastern European countries were doing. Prince Paul reluctantly agreed, but the action was not popular with Serbian military leaders or with much of the non-Croatian population, especially the Serbs. Prince Paul was overthrown and King Peter II, by then 17, took power. In spite of assurances by the king and Serb leaders that the treaty with the Axis would be honored, Hitler had the German military draw up plans for the invasion of Yugoslavia, to be undertaken simultaneously with the invasion of Greece. Mussolini committed an Italian army to the invasion from northeastern Italy, where Italy had a common border with Yugoslavia. Bulgaria also participated on a limited basis, as did Hungary; both were signatories to the Axis alliance.

The invasions started in early April 1941, and the Yugoslav army, fractured by the Serb-Croatian split, was overwhelmed by the invaders. The Germans rolled through Greece also, and while there were periods of intense fighting in both Yugoslavia and Greece, the outcome was not in doubt, and both countries surrendered after a short time. The British forces, along with some Greek forces, evacuated to the Greek island of Crete. The Germans launched an assault on the island, led by a massive paratroop drop, the largest ever undertaken up to that time. German casualties were heavy, but again, the outcome was not long in doubt, and once again, the British evacuated many of their forces from the island. "Evacuation" was becoming a word all too familiar to the British.

The Germans, Italians and their allies now ruled Greece and Yugoslavia, at least on paper or maps. The terrain of both countries was rough and mountainous, ideal for insurgency groups to hide and launch attacks on the occupiers, and this happened with increasing frequency. You can see how Germany and her allies were stretching themselves thin, as they now had to garrison these countries with substantial forces to try to control the insurgency forces of both Greece and Yugoslavia. From a military viewpoint, they gained little for all of these efforts. Croatia was set up as an independent nation, but naturally tied to the Axis.

* There was a substantial German minority in Yugoslavia of about 700,000. Most of the Germans lived in areas that had been a part of Austria-Hungary until the end of World War One, with the largest group being the "Danube Swabians" ("Donauschwaben"), a general term for the German population living in or near the Danube River valley, although not just in Yugoslavia, but also in Hungary and in part of Rumania. Part of these "Danube Swabians" in Yugoslavia was the German population in a region called the "Banat," with the Germans there called "Banater Deutsche." Many of these Danube Swabians came to America after World War Two, with a fairly large number coming here to Cleveland. For many years there was a club called "The Banater Club," in Cleveland (West 140th Street, near Lorain Avenue), and then these Germans built a new, much more extensive club in the mid 1980s here, called "The Donauschwaben German-American Cultural Center," at Lenau Park on the suburban West Side.

WORD HISTORY:
Hit-The origin of "hit" is unknown. Old Germanic had "hitjanan," which meant "to come into contact with, come upon, meet." Apparently the word only endured in Old Norse, as "hitta." It wasn't until about 1100 that English borrowed the word as "hittan," and it still retained the meaning "to meet, to come into contact with." This later became "hitten," and it also extended the notion of "meet, come into contact with" to mean "strike." The native English word for "strike" was "slean," the forerunner of modern "slay," which in those times meant both "strike, hit," but also "kill." Gradually "hit" overtook "slay" in that meaning, leaving "slay" with the meaning "to kill." The original sense of "hit," however, is still around in the expression, "hit upon (something)." A noun version appeared in the late 1400s or early 1500s, derived from the verb. Forms of the word are still present in the North Germanic languages: Norwegian "hitte," which seems to now be archaic, Danish "hitte" and Swedish "hitta," both of which mean "find" (Get it? "Come upon, come into contact with"="find"), and Icelandic "hitta," which means "to meet."