I don’t have what would be called a big “temper”.  Just ask my dear wife, Carrie.  Ask most of my friends.  I don’t raise my voice.  I don’t throw things.  I don’t say things I will regret later.  I am blessed with an even keeled personality that has been criticized at times.  Said one person close to me when asked why nothing seems to bother me: “He doesn’t care about anything!”  Not so.  Those of you reading these posts know better than that.

I screwed up.

Yesterday I was watching the end of a University of Kentucky basketball game.  Not a good choice of television viewing.  After the game John Calipari, the UK coach said something to the sideline reporter that I took EXTREME exception to.  It was terrible.  I am not going to revisit word for word what he said.  It was inexcusable.  It was arrogant.  It was mean.  It was pathetic.  It was made by John Calipari.  Need I say more?

Know this.  I am looking forward to the NCAA Tournament we call March Madness.  It will be then that I watch college basketball closely.  I have yet to watch any basketball game from tip-off to final buzzer this season.  I do, however, enjoy the NCAA Tourney.  It is known I can watch college football from noon to midnight.  I give my eyes a rest from February to the end of August.

Back to yesterday.  Upon hearing the guy they call “Coach Cal” make an ass of himself after the game to sideline reporter, I took to social media to deliver my utter disgust of his deplorable behavior that should not be accepted by a university trying to make educational progress.  This is where I screwed up.  Mind you… I did not say anything I would not say in Sunday School Class as I took to social media.  The responses heaped upon my comments…most in my favor…were not nice.  Bad words were used.  Aspersions were cast that insulted religions from other lands.  Gads..I thought.  I was just commenting on stupid remarks made by a coach and I have sparked a Holy War.  I went on record to say I was wrong to enter such a forum with my thoughts.   They were twisted by some folks out there that I doubt have entertained many original thoughts of their own in a long time.

I regret it.  That is what I get for entering a comment of a basketball game.

My motivation comes from past experience.  My Dad was a football coach.  He would have never talked to a media person the way John Calipari did and my Dad loathed speaking to the media.  I used to broadcast high school football and basketball games on the radio and I would have been upset with a coach that talked to me that way and I would not have used as much professional restraint as the reporter talking to “Calipari” did.  

Still I am guilty of caring less about the basketball broadcasting I did.  I remember and have spoken privately of the night I called a basketball game with my friend Gus Stephenson on high school radio.  Gus did the play by play and he was GREAT at it.  I just did the color commentary and I was not so good at it.  One night the high school team we were covering was playing a big game at a bigger school in a neighboring county.  It was a Saturday in January.  During our broadcast, I had a hand held TV and I was watching the Rams play the Eagles in a playoff game as we were calling the high school basketball game.  We went to commercial and the guy back at the control board did not “take us out”…we were still on the radio and I yelled to Gus “Touchdown Rams.”  I heard about it the next day at church.

One even better… We had a new coach at the high school we were covering and being that Gus did most of the talking as the play by play guy, I did the post game interviews with the coach.  This coach we had was an egotistical cuss.  We were in commercial…a three minute spot…and I had plenty of time to think of what I was going to ask this guy.  The problem for me was he was a basketball coach.  I heard a voice in my hear at the controls some thirty miles away that we would be out of commercial in twenty seconds.  The coach next to me had his headset on and was ready to talk to me.  I looked at him and a silent scream hit my mind.  What is this guy’s name?  I don’t have a clue!  I nonchalantly slid a game program toward me…and I read his name just as we were coming back from commercial and I was introducing him.  It was painful. What can I say?  I didn’t like the guy.

I will never take to social media to complain about a college basketball coach.  Not worth my time…and not worth the mindless replies I got both in support and against me.

Looking forward to the tournament.  I may actually watch a game from tip to final buzzer as I look forward to football season.

Now that is speaking the rights!

Danny Johnson