My dear wife, Carrie, and I were traveling South on Indiana Highway 446 heading to Highway 50.  We were just a few miles South of Monroe Reservoir.  As we hurtled down the road, I saw a car off the road to my left off the East side of the highway.  Carrie did not see the car.  I put on my brakes, looked at her, and told her I saw car back there in peril.  We went back to help.

We turned around and found a young man from Seymour who was coming home from work.  He had been run off the road by a careless driver passing another car.

When I went past the sight, I swallowed real hard.  I thought he was okay.  I didn’t know.  Twenty-seven years ago I stopped to help a motorist in peril.  That young man did not make it through the day.  It is something that came back to me today.  It was awful.

This young man today was okay.  Carrie and I waited until the authorities came by and took it from there.  The boy was from Jackson County and we have some familiar acquaintances.  That always helps.

While we were on 446 waiting for the police to come, it started snowing.  We thought it looked nice.  Little did we know we would have to drive home from Jackson County to Washington County to Harrison County in the worst road conditions we have seen all year.  It was awful!

But…we lived to tell the story.  I am glad the young man we helped today on 446 was okay.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Day 20 in a series as I move closer to age 50.

As I write this I am watching an Olympic event known on “Skeleton”.  It looks like Luge with the guy riding on his stomach facing the trip instead of lying on his back looking up at the trip.  Either way it looks impressive.

These fancy sleds go around these ice tracks at speeds I can’t imagine.  I just saw some guy crying over a great run that he didn’t see 2 seconds of.  Now that is something special.  Maybe it was grandpa who drove the kid to practice every day for ten years leading up to the kid’s moment in the sun…or on the ice.  Maybe gramps was crying because he is happy it is over and he can go home now and park the car.  I hope his boy wins.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I were also watching some pairs figure skating.  How any two of these folks can stay in step or toe or blade like they do so consistently is amazing to me.

The Olympics are the greatest thing left in sport.  I so enjoy the Winter games much more than the Summer games.  Skiing.  I love it.  I have never been on a pair of skis.  I never had to.  I had Franz Klammer from Austria.  What else did one need?  The bobsled?  I would get in one of those in heartbeat.  The four man one.  That looks like fun.  Ski jump?  Eddie the Eagle from Great Britain is a legend.  His movie was more Hollywood that Calgary…but I am glad the story got told.  Speed skating?  I am guilty of watching this like I watch the first six laps of NASCAR at Talladega.  I wait for a good crash.

I still think back to the 1980 USA Hockey team that beat the Russians.  I will revisit a column I wrote about it.  That game was played on February 22nd and I will live it over again a week from today.  That was truly a Dream Team.

All this great sport makes me shake my head at the news that FOX TV is joining the NFL Network and ESPN in broadcasting the NFL Draft. Now there is waste of time.  In the last twenty years there have been two NFL overall #1 draft picks to win a Super Bowl.  These two players have won four of them and they are brothers Peyton and Eli Manning.  The big reveal?  Whose #1?  Tim Couch was. JaMarcus Russell was. Andrew Luck was.  You wanna watch that?  Go ahead.

I would rather watch a baseball game on TV and fall asleep.  The NFL draft is in April.

In the meantime, I will watch folks fly down a hill, tear up a track of some kind, glide across the ice, and give it their all.  You never know when grandpa is going to cry.  But you do know they will give it their all every precious second they are there.

Speaking the Rights…

Danny Johnson

I was a school safety specialist for many years when I worked at Medora Schools in Medora, Indiana.

Last weekend I drove by the school and saw the numerals I affixed on each door some years ago when we were told, to help authorities with a schematic of the building, to make the entries to the building easier to keep up with.

Oh my.  Today, as the news came from Florida of the tragic school shooting, my mind went into safety specialist mode.  So many things went through my head as to wrap my brain around what happened.

It is going to be a long night.

I’m done.

Speaking the reluctant rights…

Danny Johnson

Peyton Manning changed the game of football in Indiana all by himself.  He just had to show up and the pigskin dominoes started to fall.  No, I am not going to discount his hard work.   If you know about his prep work with Coach Cut that has made a difference, you know Peyton Manning made football in Indiana.

Peyton Manning was the first round draft choice of the Indianapolis Colts in 1998.  My dear wife, Carrie, and I were watching his first preseason game in August of 1998 on Pine Street in New Salisbury.  I hand turned our TV antennae to the North to find a snowy picture on WTTV…Channel 4…the channel I watched Cowboy Bob on as a kid.

In that game, Peyton Manning hit Marvin Harrison for a 48 yard TD pass on Peyton’s first pass in an NFL game.  Never mind Marvin caught it and ran 43 of the 48 yards, it was still “a moment”.

Peyton’s first season in Indy was growing pain central.  He led the league in interceptions.  He also showed us rookie brillance.  I was at the Bengals-Colts game at the RCA Dome in 1998.  In earnest, the quarterback I was more delighted in seeing was the Bengals quarterback coach, Ken Anderson.  He was throwing passes in pregame warm-ups and I thought I was going to faint.  I did not think I’d see him throw another pass.

In that game, the Colts won 39-26, Peyton threw 3 touchdown passes.

In P’s second year, the Colts finished 13-3 and won the division.  It all got better from there.

I don’t have much Peyton memorabilia.  The bear is a 1998 model, Peyton’s rookie season.  The action flat is draft pick model, before he threw that pass.  The cup, I think it is 1999.  I have one with Peyton, one with Edge, and one with Marvin.  If you know the Colts you know those names.

I was fortunate to see Peyton play a number of games.  One that stands out in my mind is a 38-7 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in 2003.  I was sitting on the first row in front of the end zone pylon and watched Peyton throw 4 of his 5 td passes in that end zone.  But…the most amazing thing I saw that day was the footwork and horizontal movement of Michael Vick.  To this day I have never seen anyone move like that.  I’ve seen a great deal of football.

I was there the night Peyton and Marvin Harrison set the record for the most TDs between a quarterback and a receiver.  That was on Monday Night game against the Rams in 2005.

But know this…I was calling high school football games on radio in 2004-2009.  During that time an Indiana high school football renaissance was happening that still lives today on Friday nights at high schools all over the state of Indiana.  Folks show up to watch and they know what they are watching for a change.  Friday nights are a happening now.  Thank you, Peyton.  We owe you.

In 1978 I was at a high school football game in Mitchell, Indiana.  One of the opposing fans was yelling at the ref…calling him a “Homer”.  A lady sitting next to the man said,  “How do you know that Homer fella?”

I was ten.  I thought I would faint.

Peyton Manning changed all that.  He is the State of Indiana’s all time football ambassador.

Let’s not forget that.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Am writing this now in case I don’t get a chance to add to it this evening.

I won’t I am sure.

Duty calls.  Got some serious work to take home with me and I need to do some schedule rearranging.

So that is it.

Speaking the brief rights…

Danny Johnson

The 16th installment of my heading toward my 50th birthday.

I know a few days ago I referenced a wonderful circumstance of events that led me to find an old set of lyrics written by a special person who wanted me to score them.  I tell you again, like I said earlier, I was not ready to do that when the piece of paper was readily handed to me those 15, 16, 17 years ago.  Now…I am ready to do something with them.

It is time to call Jefferson.

Jeff Carpenter is one of greatest friends I have ever known.  For whatever reason, I wish I knew, I am not the most social person that ever walked the planet.  I delight in helping others.  As a school counselor, I can do that and enjoy the success that is in the works.  When I see a former student “make good” it only reaffirms what I saw before others did not.  That is all I need.

I met Jefferson, that is what I call him, in 1996.  He was, reluctantly I would say, at my wedding reception 22 years and 1 day ago.  At the time his wife and my VERY NEW BRIDE were working together.  I am sure Mary had to drag him there.

Three years later, after tragic circumstances, I was meeting up with Jeff Carpenter again.  This time to record a song I had written in honor of the Indianapolis Colts in 1999.  That Colts team, in Peyton Manning’s 2nd year, went from 3-13 in 1998 to 13-3 in 1999.  I was writing songs then.  I wrote one in honor of the Colts.  I wonder if my dear friend and Colt aficionado, Adam Disque, knows this?  I don’t remember playing it for him.

I was a nervous wreck the day I walked into Jeff Carpenter’s Alfresco Place Studio to “RECORD” for the first time in my life.  Funny…now when I am in his studio and recording a song I feel like I am back to my musical home.  There is a peace there between Jefferson and me that is pure magic, bliss, karma, whatever you want to call it.  When I am there I know I am where I need to be,  providing I have a lyric sheet with guitar chords written on it.

I have recorded properly with Jefferson on many occasion.  In 2001 we did my first CD Leap of Faith.  In 2004-2006 we did The Best Thing You Did Yesterday….and last year on my 49th birthday, he handed me the finished product of a 16 song project we had been working on.  I have not pressed it and given it a proper name.  In earnest I was waiting on this year…my 50th year…to perhaps record a couple more tunes and then pick out 14 of these latest to make a CD proper.  Jefferson and I would like that.

I owe him so much, Jefferson.  Business wise, I have tried to do him right.  When it comes to dollars and friendship, Jefferson and I have never had problems.  I am thankful for that.  I just wish I could pay him twice what I do.  Recording ain’t cheap.  Our friendship is priceless.  If I had a million bucks, his studio with a handful of songs would be my first stop.  I could write them.

Watching Rod Wurtele add keyboards.

Where the magic happens.

Rod, Jefferson, and me.

Rod is never there to have a bad time.

Barry King laying down some guitar.  He is awesome.

Jeff and me talking it over.

A session in 2016.  We look miserable, don’t we.

I don’t know what we were not thinking on this day in 2004.  To my left were Tim Krekel and Jim Baugher working on songs I had written.  This is still humbling to me.  I wish I could call these guys up and get them in to Jefferson’s place in two weeks.  I can’t.  They are not with us.  Why I did not get in a photo with these two makes me sad.  But…I’d rather have this shot.  Tim handed me that guitar during these session to clarify a few details.  He was nervous handing it over.  That is when you know you have a guy in love with his guitar.  I doubt many played it.

My love for music made sense thanks to Jeff Carpenter.  I owe him more than I can ever repay.  And now, thanks to Jackie Gayheart’s song, it is time to call Jefferson again.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

My dear wife of 22 years, Carrie, and I went to Columbus, Indiana today.  We walked around and shivered.  On the way to Columbus, we stopped in a few fields in Jackson County to look at our old friends the Sandhill Cranes that always stop off at the flat river bottoms in the area as they are heading North again.

These are awesome birds.

We stopped at the new Commons in Columbus.  It is new to me, anyway, remodeled in 2011, the work to redo the place was worked around this piece of kinetic art called Chaos I by Swiss artist Jean Tinguely.  It was paced here in 1974 and you better believe there was some confusion over this chaos.  What the heck is it?  Well, it is art.  Love it or leave it.  I like it.  It was there when I was six and it is still there.

Columbus is a cool town.  I was born here.

Looking up at the art.

The Courthouse next door.

Last night Carrie and I had a great time at the NH Cougars basketball game.  The team has won 6 in a row after a 10 point victory over the Crawford County Wolfpack.  I say keep up the good work!

And I will keep speaking the rights!

Danny Johnson

I did have brown hair once upon a time.

Tomorrow will our 22nd Wedding Anniversary.  Time waits for no one.  I always thought I got a great more intelligent the day I married my dear wife, Carrie.  I think that is true.  I am glad she said yes.

In a few minutes Carrie and I will be heading to the North Harrison High School gym to catch the Cougars as they take on the Crawford County Wolfpack.  I can see Crawford County from my back porch.  It is across the Blue River.  These two teams are always ready to play each other in basketball.  It is a good time and I think the Cougars will take care of business and run their record to 14-6 tonight…they have won 5 in a row.  Good times.

February 10, 1996 was a good day.  These two guys, Mickey Rutherford and Kelly Samons,  have probably not been adorned with greenery since that day 22 years ago.

Carrie and I got married in a one room church…Hancock Chapel.

It was 60 degrees that February Day.  Where we went to next day was even warmer.  We went to Las Vegas.  We saw Huey Lewis and the News at Caesars Palace. We rented a car and took a cruise.

It was 96 degrees in Death Valley that day and we went a long time without seeing another soul.  We stopped a few places and I have never heard nothing, literally,  like we did that day when I reluctantly turned the car off.  But…we lived to tell the story.

This story has been a great one!

Speaking the Rights…

Danny Johnson  (Go Cougars!)

Have always been fascinated by the Winter Olympics.

Franz Klammer the great skier is still my individual hero of the Winter Games. He was The Kaiser.  My apologies to Eric Heiden.

Team-worthy…I still give that to the 1980 USA Hockey Team.  I believe in miracles.  A team picture of this bunch is in my office at school.

I also believe I am heading to my TV to watch some 2018 Winter Olympics.  I cheated earlier this evening.  I recorded the ski jump today and watched it as I spent some time on the exercise bike and the elliptical.

I can hear the Olympic Theme Song now.  Where is Jim McKay when we need him?

Speaking the brief rights…

Danny Johnson