Oh my.

Sometimes we just know.  Had a student walk up to my desk this morning.  His name is Sawyer.  He runs the ball for the North Harrison High School Football team.  He had a look that indicated he was looking to run for 300 yards tonight in the homecoming game against Eastern (Pekin).

A Good Homecoming Crowd

The Cougars shook off an early opening TD drive by Eastern and took control.

This extra point made it 43-12.

I just got home from the game a little while ago.  No.  Sawyer did not run for 300 yards.  He did run for a bunch.  The result of the game was golden for the North Harrison Cougars.

FINAL SCORE:  North Harrison Cougars  50            Eastern Musketeers  12

North needed a win.  It is always nice to get a “W” on homecoming night.  After starting the season 3-0, the next two games were rough.  We were defeated by a strong Charlestown team and lost one to a Brownstown Central team with far less talent on the field than North possesses.  It was just not North’s night.  I hate to complain about refs.  But when a North Harrison receiver gets pushed in the back in the endzone and a blind zebra to attend to nothing, you know it is going to be a long night.  I’d say it was the same blind zebra who called a touchdown pass incomplete.

Last week was a tough one to take.  Losing to Brownstown Central always turns my stomach.  We don’t have time to get into all of that.

On to this week’s College Football Picks.

The Herd let me down last week.  Beat the Irish at Notre Dame and lose to the Facon at Bowling Green.  I have been to Notre Dame Stadium.  It is imposing.  I have seen Bowling Green’s stadium along Interstate 75 travelling toward Toledo.  The place looks like high school stadium in comparison.  That’s why we watch this crazy game.  We just don’t know what is going to happen.

10-4.  That was the number last week.  For the season that makes 32 winners picked and 10 losers picked through the first three solid weeks of college football.

Let’s see how things play out this week.

Indiana beats Cincinnati…The Hoosiers find a way to score early for a change.

A Hoosier PAT against the UC Bearcats last year.

Mississippi State beats Bowling Green…State needs to light up the scoreboard.

Wake Forest beats Clemson…It is at Wake’s cracker box.  I just have a feeling.

Duke beats Kansas…I know.  Kansas is on a roll and the stadium is sold out.  It’s too good to be true if you are a Jayhawk fan.

Michigan beats Mayland…The Wolverines will throw for a mile.

Louisville beats South Florida…I hate to put a coach on the spot.  But this feels like the one we will look back when it comes to Coach Satterfield’s future at U of L.

UCLA beats Colorado…The Bruins will find a bigger crowd in Boulder than they are getting in The Rose Bowl in Pasadena.  I got an email from UCLA today advertising a ticket to the Washington game and a game T-shirt for just 24 bucks.  I’d give 50 bucks just to sit in The Rose Bowl for four hours.

Florida beats Tennessee…Can the Vols really be this good?  I don’t think so.

Ole Miss beats Tulsa…The Rebs are rolling.

Iowa beats Rutgers…The Hawkeyes need this one.  And they need to find their offensive playbook too.

Marshall beats Troy…A Sunbelt Conference game.  Marshall gets it done in their conference debut.

Kentucky beats Northern Illinois…The Cats play everybody.  Next week the head to Oxford to play the Rebs.  Looking forward to that one.

USC beats Oregon State…The Men of Troy have a nice offense.

Washington beats Stanford…The Michael Penix reboot is alive and well.  Good for him and the Huskies.

That is it.  Getting late at my house.  Hope all have a great and safe weekend.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

So we all know I am a Homer.  I will root for and write about the Indiana Hoosiers with a vigor that is reserved for them and very few others, be it The Moody Blues or Kevin Samons’ great B3Q Barbecue in Corydon, or the Ole Miss Rebels.  I chuckled to myself while I was sitting in Indiana’s Memorial Stadium press box listening to a public service announcement about the space being a neutral environment. Thou shalt not root outwardly for either team on the field.  Be like Switzerland or you will suffer the consequences.  I get it.  At least I learned to wear a neutral color.  The first time I did that when I was writing for a newspaper in 2006, I was wearing IU apparel.  On that day, Hoosier quarterback Kellen Lewis ran and passed all over the Michigan State Spartans making Coach John L. Smith’s seat hotter than most places.  Before the next Saturday, it was announced that Coach John L. was not being retained.  He took a whopping 1.5 million buyout!  Chuckles all around compared to 2022.  Still, he rode out the season like a man of his word. Unlike some after that game, whose major media market is Louisville where John L. coached before he moved on to Michigan State and they seemed glad to see him suffer, I attended the postgame press conference of Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner.  Coach Hep was a charismatic individual.  One still wonders and misses him.  Hep’s Rock is alive and well.

I digress.

What did this Homer see Saturday in Bloomington?  Fortunately, on the last play of the game, I saw this:

Charles Campbell boots a 51 yard field goal in overtime to defeat Western Kentucky 33-30.

All I have is  WOW.   That was a heck of a finish.

The game started similarly to the day’s first photo taken in Bloomington.  I was hoping this was not a portent of doom.

I am delighted this photo did not foreshadow the game’s end.

Coach Tom Allen, you have a good team.  The Hoosiers 3-0 record is due to an effort by a team that refuses to give up.  Were there lapses?  Sure there were.  If a Western Kentucky team can run for 216 yards on the Hoosiers and average 6 yards a carry doing it, there is an issue.  But what if I told you that if you take away two long runs (over 100 yards) the Toppers only gained 2.8 yards a carry on the rest of them.  Big plays.  Big plays.  Big plays.  Those things can be remedied in the team room.

Not putting kickoffs out of bounds only to give your opponent good field position is something that can be remedied.  Hint hint.

Look, this Indiana team is not unlike many other teams in college football finding their way.  The transfer portal is a chemistry factory.  Things aren’t always going to go like we want.  Witness Marshall beating Notre Dame or App. State beating Texas A & M.  2022 is a whole new ballgame.  NIL deals and free agency will do strange things to a college football team.  That is another reason why I like Indiana’s chances at success.  I think Indiana is a pretty stable place.  Coach Tom Allen has developed a culture that is easy to embrace for players.  These guys are having a good time.

And guess what?  These players are winners on the field too.

Eliminate these pesky slow starts and you have something.  The resilience and poise the team has shown to win three games in dramatic fashion is not Hoosier characteristic.  This is a nice indicator.

I will say it again.  Tom Allen, you have a good team.  They pulled it off when they needed to.   And good teams lose games too.  The 2022 Hoosiers are very capable of losing most of the games left on their schedule.  So there, this old homer is realistic too.

Look for the Indiana defense to show much more scheme-wise when they need it in further conference play.  I have no doubt there are a few aces up Coach Allen’s sleeve that he has not shown yet.

The O-line needs to give Connor Bazelak room to work and he will find one of a plethora of fine receivers when need be.  The running game is only getting better with Henderson and Shivers toting the mail.

While we are on the subject, I will tell you one thing I relish in when it comes to college football and that is participation.  Indiana’s Connor Bazelak completed passes to 12 different receivers.  Western’s Austin Reed completed passes to 10 different Hilltoppers.  That’s a bunch of mommas and daddies proud to see their boy haul one in.  Each QB completed 33 passes.  Amazing.

I have said it over and over again and I’d have to sit down and ask myself all the college football venues I have been fortunate enough to visit.  Memorial Stadium is the best place I know to watch a football game.  Put the place’s concave design and stadium incline together and you have some good looking to do.  As Andy Taylor would say, “It’s extra good.”

Last Saturday’s attendance was reported to be 48,952.  This reminded me of the great Georgia philosopher Lewis Grizzard’s line where he would say, “If there were 48,000 people there my butt’s a typewriter.  That’s all I’m saying.”   Attendance.  The root word being “attend”.

Still, this is the best looking horseshoe I’ve ever seen!

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Last week was a great time for College Football.    THe HERD beat the Irish.  I say the HERD beat the Irish.  App. State beat Texas A&M.  I say App. State beat Texas A&M.  We could stop there and be done with this.

The Indiana Hoosiers came to life in the second half of their rainwater fest against the Idaho Vandals.  The Hoosiers gave up a cheap touchdown at the end.  Still, they overcame an embarrassing 10-0 deficit at halftime to defeat the Tater Boys 35-22.

This week the Hoosiers entertain the boys from Bowling Green and that was a tussel last year down there at their place.

I think the Hoosier will be like that Rudyard Kipling story The Ship that Found Herself this week and they will end up rocking the Hilltoppers off the mound in large fashion.

After a 12-2 opening week, last week was 10-4 but worth a HERD bad pick.  Must say that Iowa disappointed last week in low scoring fashion.

This week’s picks…

Cincinnati beats Miami (OH)… this may be close.   EIther way, sets up a nice trip for IU to UC next weekend.

Georgia beats South Carolina…Dawgs will be hard to beat this year.

Oklahoma beats Nebraska…No more Frost on the Pumpkin for Nebraska.

Purdue beats Syracuse…Sure wish we could trade Syracuse for Rutgers.

Indiana beats Western Kentucky.…3-0 start after last year’s 2-10 disaster.

Kentucky beats Youngstown State…The Wildcats are for real.

UCLA beats South Alabama…The Bruins are losing the schedule wars but winning on the field.

Minnesota beats Colorado…Goldy should take care of Ralphie here.  This is a game I would watch.

Auburn beats Penn State…Even in the world of NIL and Cow Milking coaching salaries,  there still lives in the hearts and minds of many that good ole “it is our way of life against yours” feeling that spills over onto the football field.   Auburn and Penn State was made for this.  The game is at Auburn.

Ole Miss beats Georgia Tech…The Rebels will take care of the Wreck in high octane fashion.  Practice is over.  This is real and this will be fun.

Marshall beats Bowling Green…The Herd will not take a day off after beating the Irish in South Bend.  Just how good could this team be?

Mississippi State beats LSU…Welcome to the SEC, Coach Kelly.   Coach Mike Leach will dissect this team with a passing game that will take care of business.

Washington beats Michigan State… Give Sparty credit.  This is not a place most folks want to visit.  This is not a non-conference cupcake eating contest for either team.

USC beats Fresno State… We will get a good look at how the Offense of Lincoln Riley has progressed so far.  Fresno will be fired up to play the boys in the big town.

This will certainly be a great college football weekend.

Have a great time.  I think I may fire up the grill at some point this weekend.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

So much came together on this past Saturday.  The best thing to come together, for me, was meeting up with a couple guys that, on a hot  August day in 1979, sat down next to the new kid from Brownstown in Mrs. Lambert’s 6th grade classroom.

Yes, even as a 6th grader I knew a worthy artifact when I saw one. In 2015, when I came to work at North-the first time- I put this name plate back where I had artfully acquired it on the last day of school in 1980.

The door, the classroom, none of that remains.  The building is gone. The friendships forged in this room forty-three years ago are as strong as ever.  Experience and appreciation will do that to you.  To hang with these two for an afternoon and into the early morning was a cherished event.

I still marvel at the fact that these three, who met in 1979, would be playing on a high school football field together in 1985 and the guy in the blue shirt did the placekicking, the guy in the red shirt, Mick Rutherford, did the snapping, and the guy in the grey shirt, Kelly Samons, held the ball.  No NH battery has put one through the uprights as far we did.  Again, I fall back on the Van Zant line that “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”

So this was my vantage point from the press box at Memorial Stadium.  This is where I learned the 8 PM kickoff had been moved to 8:35 due to weather delay.

As the Marching Hundred played INDIANA FIGHT, it was pouring.  At this point, being glad to be in the press box took on a whole new meaning.

My spot.

The Hoosiers ran onto the field in the pregame and this was about as good as it would get for Indiana before the third quarter started.

Look, Indiana played terrible in the first half.  The visiting Idaho Vandals seemed to be much more delighted to be inside the stadium than the Hoosiers did.  Be it poor blocking up front in the early going.  Be it not finding receivers on pass plays in the early going.  Be it whatever it was.  Yes, the Hoosiers were a week and a day off a victory like that had not seen since 2020.  A conference win.  There were none of those last year.  A victory over Illinois last week in dramatic fashion lingered.  A storybook drive of 75 yards, as all but the last minute and a half were remaining in the game lingered.  It was like quarterback Connor Bazelak had found Joe Namath’s “Magic Bean” for those of you old enough to know that reference.

The Idaho Vandal radio team of Chris King and Trent Cowan were LOVING the first half.  And may I say they were fun to listen in on.  Idaho was leading the Indiana Hoosiers 10-0 at halftime.  These two teams played each other last year in Bloomington and IU put 56 on them. Lesson learned.  Come out flat and you probably won’t be leading at halftime, whether you are playing the Idaho Tater Tots or the Michigan State Spartans.  It won’t work out well.

The Hoosiers deserved that first half.  When you are a BIG TEN team playing an FCS opponent and are getting beat down, you should not act like you are running for public office when you make a great play on defense.  I saw that too many times.  You don’t see Indiana offensive politicans because the Hoosiers run their offense at a fast pace.  This elimates that nonsense.  Don’t get me wrong!  Go up 20 on Michigan and take a bow!   Don’t take a bow when you are losing to Idaho.  Terrible look.  Terrible look.

The Trophy commemorating the 1967 Indiana Hoosier’s lone Rose Bowl appearance never gets old.

To see these old representatives of The Big Ten that actually played in The Rose Bowl is awe-inspiring to me.  A couple years ago I featured Dave Kornowa on these pages.  A defensive back and kicker from Toledo, Dave scored the Hoosiers 3 points with a square-toed shoe.  Be still my beating heart.

In the second half, the Hoosiers got off the pot and played like a Big Ten Football Team.  They scored 23 unanswered points in the 3rd quarter.

This team is going to be fun to watch moving forward.  Shaun Shivers is a bowling ball at running back.  If he can find a crease, he can go.  The receiving corps is better than I expected.  AJ Barner is the real deal at tight end.  D.J. Matthews and Cam Camper on the outsides are special also.  Connor Bazelak is a welcome addition from Missouri at quarterback.  The o-line is large and will improve I think.  Luke Haggard, Mike Katic, Zach Carpenter, Tim Weaver, Parker Hanna.  They all push more than 3-bills.    I don’t want to mention Donaven McCulley.  Still, I must.  Secret weapon for sure is what McCulley is.

If the defense can keep Cam Jones upright, he’ll help them like no other.  This linebacker is all over the field.  Tiawan Mullen at corner, Noah Pierre at “Husky”.  The D has potential.  That means it has potential to give up a big play also (wink).

Look, football at Indiana University is in the best place it has been in a long time.  I thank former AD Fred Glass, current AD Scott Dolson, and Head Coach Tom Allen for bringing football back to Indiana.  Not since Ralph Floyd was Athletic Director and brought on Bill Mallory has Indiana been serious about football.   Times change.  Even in Indiana.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

First things first. 

Today as I walked, I felt an urge to listen to a tune by The Bee Gees.  No.   This is not a common urge. But there was one song that I felt I needed to listen to.  Had not heard it in years.  One of those things you don’t ask why you just do.  The song is titled For Whom the Bell Tolls.  This has been a tough week for some that have been or still are in my inner sanctum.  Loss is a tough thing to deal with.  Calendars turn to days of months we still can’t make sense of be it five or twenty-five years later.  It hurts.  And recently one of those realities happened again this week.  I don’t try to understand.  I never will.  Time is a mysterious thing for sure.  It creeps on days we wish it would fly.  Time flies on days we wish it would creep.  Time is a mystery.

On to this week’s picks.  

12-2 start last week and that included a defiant pick of Notre Dame over Ohio State.  Some folks out there in speaktherights land try to take my Ohio State and Swissconsin picks seriously.  I consider it a Cream and Crimson Badge of Courage each time I pick against Ohio State and Swissconsin, even out of pure spite and disdain for these nasty programs and the fans who follow them.  Nasty.  Nasty bunch.  The Louisville pick?  Never imagined they would turn the Carrier Dome into a Syracuse chicken coop laying one egg after another.  But, guess what?  I am giving them on more shot this week.

Louisville beats UCF…I don’t care if John Rhys Plumlee is quarterbacking the Knights.  I saw him in Tuscaloosa in 2019 and quickly snapped a photo of the scoreboard with the Rebs ahead.

Alabama beats Texas…Do we need to say more?  Roll Tide for Brother Tim!

Northwestern beats Duke…In the SAT/ACT Bowl!  Lord these kids are smart.

Notre Dame beats Marshall…If I were not going to be in the press box at Indiana tomorrow night I would be in South Bend.  If there was EVER a game I would hope I am wrong about THIS IS IT!!!

Pitt beats Tennessee…Pitt is good.  UT?  Not sure.  Johnny Majors Bowl for sure.  Some of you may need to look that up.

Iowa beat Iowa State….OFFENSE…OFFENSE…OFFENSE.  That was the Hawkeye battle cry in practice this week.  Iowa will come through.

Illinois beats Virginia…If for no other reason, they let the Indiana game slip through their fingers and I AM DELIGHTED THEY DID.

UCLA beats Alabama State…Who schedules this?

USC beats Stanford…Those wondering about the PAC-12 motivation toward USC and UCLA.

Ole Miss beats Central Arkansas…Practice game.

Mississippi State beats Arizona….Is there a better interview than Mike Leach?

Indiana beats Idaho…2-0 looks pretty good after 2-10.  Does it EVER.

UK beats Florida…I have sources telling me that the UK reason for holding out players for this game deals with NIL deals?  I don’t know.  I do know that Will Levis may be the best quarterback Florida faces and the interior lines for UK make the interior lines of the Gators opponents last week, Utah, look like shredded wheat.  If UK loses, it will be on them.

Wake Forest beats Vandy…Much like Northwestern vs. Duke, admissions counselors are proud of these teams!

Okay.  A North Harrison note. 

The Cougars are getting NO LOVE from the voters of the polls ranking the teams.  The North Harrison Cougars are not mentioned in the AP poll.  They are not mentioned in the Indiana Football Coaches Association Poll.  This, though they sport a 3-0 record and have scored 40 or more points in their first three games.  Corydon Central, while not a grand team record wise, had more success against teams with 2-1 records than they did against North Harrison.

There are a couple “phrases” I abhorred in recent years when referenced during football games on television and we rarely hear them today.  “In Space” was one of them.  Neil Armstrong would not approve.  “Statement Game” was the other.  Every game is a statement game.  But, tomorrow, as North lines up against Charlestown, a team that historically has had North’s number, a statement will be made.  I BELIEVE the Cougars will take care of business.

Speaking the RIghts…

Danny Johnson

Gads.

Not sure what to do?    Just enjoy it all I suppose.

The North Harrison Cougars Football team hit a serious milestone this week.  For the first time in school history, the team scored 40 points or more in the first three games of the season.  This is after a dismantling of Corydon Central in the 2022 Big Cat Classic by the score of 49-26.  These are good times to be a Cougar fan.  How good?  The Cougars are 3-0 for only the 8th time in school history.  We have Coach Williamson to thank for six of these.  Varsity football came to North Harrison in 1978.

So far the 2022 NH team’s point total in the first three games is 131.  This is also a school best.  The next two seasons that come remotely close to this number were in 2015 with 130 points and 1982 when the team scored 129 in the first three games.  So, yes, we are having a good time.  There is a sign in my classroom that says “WE ARE NOT HERE TO HAVE A BAD TIME”.

On Saturday morning I was able to hang out with many of the NH players at a team function in Depauw.  We ate a fine breakfast at Satterfields and a good time was had by all.  Good things are on the horizon for this team.  I know it.

Now and again I am asked how I know this historical stuff.  I was there.  I don’t know what else to say.  I was there.  And I just happened to keep up with it when others did not.  There is nothing precise about time and being there.  What we do is what we do. The photo above is from the Scottsburg game in week two.

On Saturday, the NH JV team took care of the Corydon Central Panthers at the Field with No Name in Ramsey.  24-6 was the final.  The game was abruptly halted in the fourth quarter.  A Corydon player was injured.  It took the wind out of the sail of the game.

On Friday night I was not at The Big Cat Classic.  I was at the first IU football game to kick off on a Friday night in the history of Memorial Stadium.  It was a good one.  The Hoosiers needed a win and they got one.

There was a great crowd that was quite lively.

Coming off a 2-10 season, this 23-20 win, with new QB Conner Bazelak at the helm, was more than enough.  To see nearly 45,000 there after a disaster of a season last year was great.  My dear wife, Carrie, and I were in Bowling Green for the last W of 2021 against Western Kentucky and I am delighted that we were there for the first of many wins in 2022.  Go Hoosiers! 

This Friday the North Harrison Cougars take on the Charlestown Pirates in a tilt that will go a long way in deciding the Champion of the Mid-Southern Conference.  And I have no doubt the Cougars can take care of business.

This Saturday the Indiana Hoosiers play host to the Idaho Vandals.  I have never seen Idaho.  I am looking forward to it.   It will be a speaktherights.com honor to be able to cover the game from the field and press box at Memorial Stadium next Saturday night and attend Coach Tom Allen’s post-game presser.  It will be another late night.  Kickoff is set for 8 PM against the Vandals.  They will be the 73rd FBS team I have had the pleasure to see play in person in this great football lifetime.  

At the heart of it all, the Cougars playing Charlestown means a little more than anything else that will play out this weekend.

Go Cougars!  I Believe you will take care of business.

Speaking the winning weekend rights…

Danny Johnson

Written while listening to this song that came out today on streaming services.  You can find it on youtube also.  Dreams still come true, regardless of what the horizon looks like.

Oh my, here we go!   The college football week on schedule is a good one.

Tennessee beats Ball State…Will UT they have those gawdy “smoky” jerseys on?  Either way the tuba player will have his fill of Rocky Top by the end of the second quarter.

Penn State beats Purdue…And I do hope I am wrong.  Just can’t imagine a “blackout” atmosphere at Ross-Ade to mean anything to the “whiteout” bunch from Happy Valley.

Pitt beats West Virginia…What a starter for these two?  This will be fun.

Michigan State  beats Western Michigan…Sparty looks to continue where he left off.

Indiana beats Illinois…My dear wife, Carrie, and I will be at this one.  Don’t like that it is on a Friday Night.  Be it friday, Saturday, or Tuesday, the Hoosiers need this one.

NC State beats East Carolina…Give the Pack credit.  Going to Greenville is a noble pursuit.

North Carolina beats App State…Give the Heels and Mack Brown credit.  Going to Boone and finding 100 flat yards in tough.  Respect for state schools on display here too.

UCLA beats Bowling Green…The Falcons playing in The Rose Bowl.  These kids will talk about this forever.  UCLA nonconf schedule is a joke from way back this year.  Go Bruins!

Arkansas beats Cincinnati…The Hogs will push the Bearcats all over the field.

Georgia beats Oregon…The Bulldogs start the season in Atlanta in a Made for TV extravaganza.

Ole Miss beats Troy…Rebs first game is a warm-up to what we will be a great season.

Notre Dame beats Ohio State…The Buckeye Windbag section has been blowing all week.  Brian Kelly bolts from ND for LSU and the Irish are out to prove a thing or three.

Louisville beats Syracuse…Playing the first two on the road will either be good for the Cards or otherewise.  I say they blow past the Orange in this one.

Kentucky beats Miami (OH)…The Cats, provided they stay healthy, will be fun to watch.

Good luck to the North Harrison Cougars in the BIG CAT CLASSIC  against the Corydon Central Panthers.  I sure hate to miss this one.  Many good memories in the this rivalry.  The Cougars make another one on Friday Night.

Have a safe Labor Day Weekend, y’all!

Speaking the Rights.

Danny Johnson

Oh my goodness.  And the best thing is the team won the game.

I suppose folks stop learning because they choose to.  Looking around, one doesn’t have to see that this is not a rare phenomena.  I was nearly run off of country roads in Harrison County this week on four occasions. Two of these incidents were repeat offenders.  Tunnell Hill Road certainly feels like it at times.  Someone’s villan is going to be someone’s hero too.  I have learned that.  Just wish this truth was not so blantant at times.

North Harrison High School’s Football Field with No Name was a great place to be last night if you are a Cougar fan.  I am.  But it would still be great if the place had a name.  Any name.  Well, not any name.  Cougar Field in the interim?  I mean when calling a game on the radio it was always great say, “Good evening everyone and welcome to the broadcast.  Gus and I are high atop Cook Field tonight as the Cougars from North Harrison take on the homestanding Paoli Rams.  It should be a good one.”

If North can’t name something on that campus after Keith Oppel, shame be.  The road leading behind the school to the athletic facilities.  Keith Oppel Way?

The Scottsburg Warriors learned a lesson in a hurry last night.  The North Harrison Cougars will runneth over you and soon.  Large chunks of yardage were to be had in between powering runs up the gut that were led by an offensive line that did another great job this week.  May the 50s, 60s, and 70s take a bow.  The eyes are not on you near enough.

Knees bent.  Shoulders moving forward.  Good contact.  Be still my beating heart.

As the sun went down on game two for the North Harrison Cougars and this old Cougar, I smiled knowing I learned something that I had been chewing on.  You can’t be two places at once.  That includes where you are standing.  Just do the best you can.  Last night the field with no name was just a nice place to be.

I won’t make it to all the games.  But everyday high school football Friday, I still get a little tug of attention and by 5 PM that has built into tension. No one will enjoy this North Harrison Cougar Football season more than I will, regardless of where I am standing.  That is something I have learned.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

There is no way I would have planned this.  I just wouldn’t.

I have said it many times on these pages, if you want to make God laugh tell him what your plans are.

Today I am taking my guitar to school.  This is always a good thing.  Yesterday my 9th grade English class collectively worked on a song.  We were studying poetry.  Add music and you have a song.  So we worked out two verses and a chorus.  The consensus was to write a Christmas themed song.  Why not? This is a great way to teach stanza form and rhyme scheme I can tell you.

There we were on my wedding day.  My dear friend, Malcolm Todd “Corner King” Lincoln, Sr and me.  Looking toward Hancock Chapel United Methodist Church where my dear wife, Carrie, and I would be married on February 10, 1996 on a sixty degree day.   It was wonderful.   I look at this picture every single day.  It is front of me on the wall as I type these words.

Corner King Lincoln has been gone twenty-five years today.  Without that happening, I don’t think kids write a song in my class.  I could be wrong.  But I doubt it.

August 26, 1997 changed me.  I went downhill in a hurry.  Corner King and I enjoyed listening to The Moody Blues on humongous JVC speakers pointed out of windows toward a long side yard where we would hit baseballs to each other and play burn-out in hopes of hitting each other where the “leather is the least” as we used to say.

When Todd died I lost the music, one of the most important facets of my life for as long as I can remember.  With apologies to Mannfred Mann, I heard a Roaring Silence for a while.

My dear Carrie knew it.  She bought me a guitar.  A month and a half after Todd died, I was playing it.  In less than ten months, I was playing and singing songs in church that I had written.  In the years since, I have made three CDs of original tunes.  I have been fotunate enough to play with guys who enjoyed my music and got it.  Tim Krekel, Jim Baugher, Rod Wurtele, Jeff Guernsey, John Burgard, Gene Wickliffe, Barry King, Jason Sturgill, John Hayes, Dan Trisko, Millard Dunn, Robbie Bartlett, Lynn Benson, Dan Goins, Laura Goins, Mike Alger, Janis Pruitt, and of course my partner in music, engineer, boardmaster, and great friend Jeff Carpenter.  That is some kind of talent to spend time in a room with.

This wonderful musical journey has taken me many places to play and share.  I was on a TV show singing once and have heard my tunes on two different radio stations.   I didn’t ask for it.  It was given, albeit late in life, as a wonderful and much needed gift.  And there are days I feel guilty for the price that got me here.

I tell kids today that had I found out at age 14, instead of age 30, that I can take a guitar and piece of paper into a room and come out a half an hour later with something that will be with me for the rest of my life I never would have looked at a football.  There would not have been time.  But that’s okay.  Had that happened, the Corner King and I would not have played pitch in the yard with The Moody Blues cranked up.  We would not have attended The Moodies concerts we went to, which, ironically, was the last thing we did together.

I still think of this music as something that just got here for me.  Still fresh.  Still waiting to be discovered again.  Still painful at times.  But when you can go into a classroom with the energy that I can find just opening up a guitar case you know something good is going to happen.  The ninth graders are excited.  Let it be.  Let it be.  Words of wisdom that I cherish.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Disclaimer:  This week I told my students about my desire to throw the nearest inanimate object I can find in disgust when I discover a typo on these pages.  I do not have a spell check mechanism on this page, by choice.  Just walked more than five miles and am in a hurry to write this.  I apologize if there is a blatant faux pas.  

Twenty-three years ago today, my dear wife, Carrie, and I had a dilema.  Well, I had a dilema.  And we settled on Merle.  You can tell by the purchase date on the tickets.

Imagine, on the same day, Merle Haggard is playing at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville and The Moody Blues are playing at Freedom Hall during the Kenucky State Fair.  We had tickets to see Merle when much later we learn of The Moodies’ Louisville date.

We decided on Merle.  Who can turn down Merle Haggard at The Ryman?  Maybe me.

Still, it was the right thing to do.  Carrie was really wanting to hear him and so was I.  Less than two weeks before the concert, we got word that Merle’s show had been cancelled.  Our money was refunded.  I did have a chance to eventually see Merle with my dear friend Kelly Samons at the Little Nashville Opry in Nashville, Indiana.  Merle was as great as I expected.  He’d turn around yell out a song title to his band, hit a chord on that Telecaster, and we were transcended to another place, another story, another dimension that only those rare legends can take you.

As fate would have it, when we purchased tickets for The Moody Blues’ show at Freedom Hall eleven days before it was scheduled, we found ourselves sitting on the fourth row at center stage.  Oh those good old state fair concerts that were $20 bucks.

The Moodies’ return to Freedom Hall was twenty-six years in the making.  They had last played there in 1973.  My friend Dan Goins was there.  I was not.  I was five.

The day of concert 1999, were from three days removed from the release of The Moody Blues’ new album Strange Times.  At the time, The Moodies were on a tour that featured them playing with orchestras at nearly all the venues they were to visit.  Not so for the Freedom Hall show.  There was no orchestra constraint that night.  They turned loose and rocked the house.

Though it is raining as I type these words, I did get in more than five miles on a hearty walk earlier today.

I am convinced there is a humidity on a lane between two soybean fields that can only be realized if you walking there.  There is a sensation that includes feeling like the back of one’s neck is being grabbed.  Something like that.

BIG SHOUT OUT TO THE NORTH HARRISON COUGAR FOOTBALL TEAM for defeating the Salem Lions last night 40-7.  When the rain subsides, I am heading over to show the game footage to my Dad.  He will love the way the offensive line of North pushed around the boys on Homer Street.

Next week the Cougars will be hosting Scottsburg.  It should be a good one.

I don’t usually quote someone withour permission.  I suppose Barry Hall, pictured with my Dad above on what was one of the last days old Blevins Memorial Stadium was standing at Brownstown Central, can chew me later.

Barry sent me text this morning.  I will paraphrase.  Barry was at a funeral home in Brownstown where Tom Weaver’s death arrangements were being handled.  Tom Weaver was a good guy.  Ironically, the last time my Dad and I saw him was at the funeral of Barry’s mother.  At the funeral home recently, Barry ran into another old player from the early to mid-seventies.  He name is Grant.  Grant told Barry stories about my Dad and his teammate, Tom.  Barry wanted me to know how Grant appreciated my Dad coaching him.  Barry said their is still a great deal of love and respect out there for my Dad.

Thank you, Barry Hall.  I know you guys had a good time at BC in those days.  I am just glad I was able to watch and learn as a youngster.  I watched you guys with great interest and admiration.  Never dreamed we would be here talking about it now.

Not a bad way or place to spend a childhood.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson