It has been a while.  Nearly a month has gone by since I put anything on these pages.  I did not expect to be here today writing this.  But, this is a warm-up I suppose of what is to come tomorrow.  

Tomorrow I will gather with Gus Stephenson, Kelly (Samonhead) Samons, and Mick (Pete) Rutherford to play the 20th annual Corner King Classic in memory of our old friend Corner King Lincoln.  He’s been gone twenty-two years now.  There are days I can’t believe that.  There are other days when it seems like a hundred years.  All days I still miss him and the fun we had together.  I could write about it over and over and over again.  It still would never be enough.

Last year.

So let us get caught up a little.

I have been to a couple football games.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I saw Western Kentucky play at Marshall.  The Herd won 26-23 on a 53 yard field goal on the last play of the game.

The Kick

The Celebration

Carrie and I saw Justin Hayward sing at the City Winery in Nashville.  Justin sang many Moody Blues tunes and some great solo material.  It was amazing.  He is better than ever.  I did not expect this to happen and am thankful it has worked out this way.  I tell the story that in 1986 I saw my first Moody Blues concert and Justin was 40, the youngest in the band, and drummer Graeme Edge was 45 and the oldest.  I thought then I was glad I got to see them before they retire…these rock and roll dinosaurs.  I was eighteen and thought like I was eighteen knowing these guys started in the 60s their numbers had to be up. I knew nothing! Now I am fifty-one and still loving it more than ever.  And I have faith we will get to hear Justin sing again.

It was great to visit with Julie Ragins before the show.  She and Mike Dawes compliment Justin to perfection.  If you have heard the three of them you know.  If you haven’t, there’s bound to be a youtube video out there for you.

Last weekend the first November night game in Indiana University Football history was played.  I was there with dear friends Adam Disque and his son Jaden, and Andrew and Susan Evertts and my brother-in-law Stevarino sporting the beret here. Way to go, Pierre.  It was cold.

The Football Hoosiers are for real.  I believe in this team for sure.  I did long before most did.  Go back and read my college football preview.

Very nice.

Night game in November.  The Hoosiers have arrived.

The IU defense played great.

I looked at this little corner of my office and thought about my Uncle Roger recently.  Top row left in the picture is Uncle Roger.  Second row third from the right is my mother.  The others are my aunts and uncles and maternal grandparents front and center.  This photo was taken in 1959.  Brownstown and North Harrison math tells me that was 60 years ago.  I don’t know if I have ever seen a picture of a happier bunch than this one. Top right is a black and white enlargement of me and Uncle Stanley.  He married my mom’s sister Reat.  He was a good guy and I miss him for sure.

I sent this corner scene to Uncle Roger and he was glad I did.  Some days are better than others.

On to College Football Picks…

Boston College beats Florida State…in Boston with an FSU team in turmoil.

Ohio State beats Maryland…But a man can hope.

Penn State beats Minnesota…This is my hope I am wrong pick.  Go Goldy!

Northwestern beats Purdue…The Wildcats will find something and some way to rebound.

Michigan State beats Illinois….but you never know.

Louisville beats Miami, FL….I know I know it is in Florida.

Alabama beats LSU…If this was a night game in Death Valley I would pick the Tigers.

Arizona State beats USC…At ASU and they are looking for respect.

Iowa beats Swissconsin….Two mules fighting over a turnip for sure.

Ole Miss beats New Mexico State…At least they can beat these Aggies.

Georgia beats Mizzou…The odd appendage in the SEC.

Clemson beats NC State….Will be a blowout by halftime.

Kentucky beats Tennessee…Stick that Rocky Top song up…well…you get it don’t ya?

Oklahoma beats Iowa State….They are still OK.

This place will be a powder keg on Saturday.  Good luck, Brother Tim.

Speaking the Rights again…

Danny Johnson

This is post number 542 on speaktherights.com.

This past week’s college football picks saw 10 winners and 4 losers.  I thought I would do better.  Season record is 68 winners and 30 losers.  Not very good at all.

This beautiful fall evening the sun is going down to the slightest of breezes.  No leaves falling right now.  Many have already fallen.

I have long enjoyed the fall.  Football season?  That may have something to do with it.  Really I love everything about the fall.  The weather.  Knowing that winter is on the way and how you enjoy a beautiful day that comes along that you don’t really expect.  Seeing a change in the trees and how the environment changes drastically around us as the leaves fall and the time changes and the sun goes down earlier and earlier as December approaches.  Kids enjoying Halloween as they dress up in trick or treat.  I loved that as a kid.  It was fun.  We all had a chance to be something else for a few minutes.  I remember a time or two, when the weather was not so kind at Halloween, being ready for November 1st to get here cos my mask was warm and made me sweat.  That is what happens where you are full of hot air, someone once told me.  They looked like they meant it.

On these speaktherights.com pages I have enjoyed sharing tales and spinning yarns and holding forth on things that matter to me.  Family, faith, music, laughs, wonderful friends and memories, travelling to here and there, and just sounding off a little bit.  I have enjoyed it all.

But there comes a time when it is time to interject a caesura.  A pause from speaktherights.com is needed right now.  No, I didn’t see it coming.  But, as my dear wife, Carrie, and I spent a little time on Topsail Island last week I saw a few things a little bit clearer I think.  I asked what it would feel like to give speaktherights.com a little time off and a silly little smile came to my face I think.

And guess what?  Tomorrow may bring a new day and I will be bringing another tale to these very pages.  I don’t feel that way tonight.  I don’t expect that to change either.

There is a bit of responsibility that goes along with doing this.  I started in July 2014.  My catalog of pictures on this webpage is mind boggling.  I have been blessed and I have been to and seen so many wonderful places. The best were when my dear wife, Carrie, was within arm’s length.  I am blessed that way.  I don’t know why.

Talk about irony that is in place right now.  As I type these words I am listening to John Lodge’s just released greatest hits CD that features some new work as well.  Yes, that is Roger Dean artwork on the cover.

I shook John’s hand in Huntsville, Alabama in 1994.  We actually had a conversation during a pre-show meet-up.  Thanks to Ivy Stewart, he knew I was coaching football at the time and players called me Coach Moody.  It was all too cool.

Of course I was standing next to him in 2012 when Carrie and I had our picture taken with The Moodies.

The irony here is that I feature John Lodge on this post.  Y’all know my affinity for the music of his fellow Moody Blue, Justin Hayward.  Double irony.  Justin’s 73rd birthday is today.  In sixteen days Carrie and I will be seeing and hearing Justin in Nashville.  The last time we saw him was last August in Kent, Ohio.  I am 51 years-old.  The first time I saw Justin and The Moodies in 1986 I was 18.  Like I have said time and again, I was blessed to pick the right group. What a great story.

So I need to leave you with some great pictures that were taken this past week.

I wrote about it before…but it was in a patch of rocks and shells like this that I looked down last week and found this…

This stone will go everywhere with me.

Wanna talk about a beautiful sun rise?

Wanna talk about being blessed?  Taken before the early service at Faith Harbor UMC.

The guys at Thomas’ Market.  The best place to buy fresh seafood on the planet.

Be still my flounder eating heart!

Carrie and I met Pat Conroy in 2013.  He is gone but not forgotten.  Too many great words to live on and remind us of who we are and who we need to be.  He was so kind to me.  I think in audible terms.  It is the songwriter in me.  When Pat Conroy introduced himself to me I thought I needed to turn around.  Who me?  Yes. Me.  He loved educators.  I told him he never stopped teaching.

On Saturday I paid a solo visit to The Joan.  Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, WV.  Home of the Marshall Thundering Herd.  The Herd won over Old Dominion.  They needed a victory.

Kickoff, of course.

It was a beautiful day for college football.  But, aren’t they all?

So that is that.

Regrets?   Not really.

My mother knows nothing of this.  Each day she fires up her computer and looks to see if I have posted something.  That may qualify as a regret.  I don’t want to disappoint her.  She won’t be.  She will tell me she understands.  She may not like it but she will understand.  That comes with her trusting my judgement.  I am blessed that way too.

At the Moody Blues concert in 2016 at the Louisville Palace.  After the show, my Dad said “That was the best show I have ever seen.”  He has seen some concerts over the years for sure.

I have to wrap this up.

Am I melancholy? Not at all.  I think I am relieved.

I have some other literary pursuits to tend to.  I am not writing songs actively.  I am just listening and trying to write what I need to.

I could be back here next week.  I doubt it.  If you have been here with any regularity I thank you.  I plan on being back.  After all, there will always be a need for someone to …

Speak the rights!

Danny Johnson

There was a shrimp boat hauling in a catch this morning off Topsail Island.  The shrimp are there to be found.  So is the flounder.  How do I know?

We had a fish fry two nights ago, Carrie, me, and my sister did.  It was something to behold.  Flounder, shrimp, hush puppies, and brussel sprouts.  Amazing.  Thanks to the folks at Thomas’ Fish Market for never letting us down.  Thanks to Carrie for preparing the vittles like only she can.

A helicopter from Camp Lejeune gets in some hours.  There were many air craft to be seen flying up and down the coast.  There is a secure feeling there for sure.

As I type these words I am listening to Harv Brown and Richard Berry call the Brownstown Central-Silver Creek game.  Both teams are 7-0.  The game is on 96.3 WJAA, the empire of one Robert Becker.  He is the best radio man alive. No score yet.

We move on to the 7th week of College Football.  After a sluggish couple of weeks, I picked 11 winners and 3 losers last week.  58-26 is the record so far this year.  Not very good at all.

Tomorrow I will be in the Joan C. Edwards Stadium to watch the Marshall Thundering Herd take on Old Dominion.  I have never seen ODU.  Add another one to the list.

Who wins this week?

Memphis beats Temple…The Tigers should win this and it will be entertaining.

Michigan beats Illinois…The Wolverines are not having a banner year.

Oklahoma beats Texas…What a classic contest.

Indiana beats Rutgers…The Hooisers needed a week off.  Let’s hope they don’t need two.

Duke beats Georgia Tech…The Dukies let one slip by against Pitt last week.

Marshall beats Old Dominion…The Herd has struggled a bit this year.   Look for a big offensive show for the boys in green.

Clemson beats Florida State…Tigers will score and score and score.

Ole Miss beats Mizzou…And yes, I am a Rebel homer.

Kentucky beats Arkansas…The Hogs are making Porky sad.  Cats need this one.

Louisville beats Wake Forest…Why not?  This is an upset but one of those games a pesky Louisville team can win with a turnover or two.

Iowa beats Penn State…Hawkeyes are at home and this will be fun.

Notre Dame beats USC…Shouldn’t we be playing this one in late November?

LSU beats Florida…A night game at LSU!

Washington beats Arizona…Gotta pick a west coast game too.

Score update Brownstown Central 14 Silver Creek 7 close to halftime.

My sincere regrets that the North Harrison Cougars are not playing a game tonight.  Crawford County did not have enough players to participate.  I am quite certain this is a first for North, having to win via forfeit due to the other team not showing up.  I hate it.  The players deserve to play games.  Good luck to Crawford on getting things straightened out and taken care of.

That is that.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Any person who doubts God’s existence has led a bland life for sure.  I feel sorry for them and I hope and pray they eventually see what Hank Williams eventually saw…”The Light”.

As I type these words I hear a natural symphony that comes to a crashing crescendo  whilst being filled with tempered music that waits on yet the next crash of might and power and grace.

If I had a stiff wind behind me right now and enough solid saliva with which to project, I am quite certain I could spit in the ocean.  High tide is in front of us.  Where my dear wife, Carrie, and I sit right now is on the barrier island that got so much attention last October as Hurricane Florence was working the place over: Topsail Island, NC.

We found this place by accident many years ago.  I have told that story over and over again.  Thank you, Tim Krekel.

Getting back to God’s existence for a minute.  I will grant you that things seem pretty mixed up right now if you are an American and a Christian.  I suppose that old adage about we all get to the cross our own way has never been so truly played out than the last few years.  Things have to get better, don’t they?  Of course they do, if we are going to prosper.  Seems so many nuggets of truth I learned in Sunday School are not so fashionable these days in the politics of our nation.  I still believe in goodness, grace, helping others, and trying to bring people together and not relishing in dividing the people of the land we live in.  There’s always been enough division.  No need in creating more, unless that is your strategy. If it is, shame on you.

There are more shells and stones and pebbles and grains of sand on this beach than there are people in my native home state of Indiana and our adopted home state of North Carolina.  If you have been fortunate enough to stroll a beach anywhere in the world, you know what I mean.  The little pieces of creation, whipping along the shore in and out as the tide rises and the tide falls know no mathematical equation.  It is the random act of nature and its splendor.  I think God sees to that.  Who else put this together?  Good luck with that, if you don’t believe.

Psalm 143 :8

Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you.

Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.

I try to put a few steps in each morning.  I walk and listen to music and pray and listen for God’s voice when I am calm enough and obedient enough to do it.  I have heard some things I rejoiced in.  I have heard some things I wanted to turn from.  I have heard laughter.  I have been directed on occasion.  Things always turn out for the best when I have listened and said yes.

Among the millions, if not billions of individual pieces of earth on this beach in North Carolina, I found this stone this morning as I was walking and listening and one with the water.  There was a message on this stone in front of my feet.

I have picked up thousands of shells and stones out here.  Only today did I find one that told me to go and check out Psalm 143 : 8.

Thanks be to God.

Danny Johnson

This is what happens.  You so look forward to a college football season and you look the thermometer in Southern Indiana and it has read 90 degrees or more all week this week.  It is October for goodness sake!  This is nuts.I sweat as I type these words on an October 3rd evening.  I am sad that we are in Week 6 of the college football season already.

Last weekend in Tuscaloosa I had the time of my life.  It was 100 degrees.  Had it been 75 degrees I would probably still be there trying to get into the next game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.  To say we will be back is an understatement. That slogan the SEC used about it “Means more in the SEC” is all too true.  It may mean too much.

True story.  The first thing I hear from Bama fans after their team just won 59-31 and their quarterback just threw a school record 6 touchdown passes is that Tua (the QB) left a few yards on the field and missed some receivers that will cost them during LSU.  I had a silent scream on my face.  Did y’all just watch the same game I did?  No wonder Nick Saban look constipated all the time.  It is a different world in Tuscaloosa.  But it is a good one.  And…Lord help these folks when Saban turns in his key.  It will be Bear is gone all over again.  And only then will they truly appreciate what I saw on Saturday.  I said it before and I will say it again to Brother Tim Petty, thank you for delivering Carrie and me to T-Town in style.  You’re a good man.

In earnest, I have had a very busy week.  I couldn’t tell you who plays college football this weekend.  So…let me take a time-out.  And pick a few games.

After starting the season 31-11 after three weeks, I have stunk it it up the last two week.  8-6 and 8-6 the last two weeks.  Easily the poorest showing for two consecutive weeks on speaktherights.com.  I hang my head.

Let’s see how things shake out this week.  I have picked a challengers for sure along with a couple cupcakes.  The good thing is Indiana does not play this week and I don’t have to pick against them!  Bless their hearts.  That Michigan State debacle was something.  You would be hard pressed to find the Elias Bureau to come up with stats that said a quarterback who complete 20 straight passes, as IU’s Michael Penix did last week, played for the team that lost the game.  I can’t imagine.

On to the picks:

Duke beats Pitt…Coach Cut just wins.

Ohio State beats Michigan State…Mad that Sparty beat IU last week.

Washington beats Stanford…Will be a fun game to watch.

Iowa beats Michigan…Big one for the Hawkeyes.  I root for Iowa too.

Oklahoma beats Kansas….And everyone else till they play Alabama.

Penn State beats Purdue…Purdue…aka MASH Unit.

Louisville beats Boston College…I saw these two play in 1990 the year U of L whipped Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl.  I was in the press box at Louisville for that one and got to talk to Gerard Phelan, the guy who caught THE PASS from Doug Flutie that beat Miami on the last play of the game. He was the color commentator for NESN (New England Sports Network) I shook the hand that caught THE PASS.  In my football life, nothing impressed me more until I kicked footballs in The Rose Bowl.

LSU beats Utah State…Play the freshman!

Florida beats Auburn…Hope I get to see a little of this one after a little travel on Saturday.

Notre Dame beats Bowling Green…And the Bowling Green players will get to tell their grandchildren they played at Notre Dame Stadium.

Northwestern beats Nebraska…I have been called foolish for this pick.

Georgia beats Tennessee…And folks on both sides lament the fact that this game is supposed to mean some thing.

Ole Miss beats Vandy…Hotty Toddy!

SMU beats Tulsa…The Mustangs are finally back.  They deserve some love.

Have a good weekend.  Take care of one another.

And when you can….speak the rights.

Danny Johnson

If I am going to see my beloved Ole Miss Rebels go down in defeat, it is easier to take against the best team in college football.

Thanks to Clemson’s fart against North Carolina and Tua’s 6 TD passes against a suspect Ole Miss secondary, the Tide is now the number one team in the country.  I doubt they will be supplanted, even in January.  This is a great team.

I have been to some great college football venues.  But Saturday was different.  Walking into Bryant-Denny Stadium on the campus of the University of Alabama, there was a nervous tension inside me that I was not expecting.  I knew it would be special.  I did not expect to be as overwhelmed as I was.  Maybe it was seeing the Crimson Tide in their Crimson jerseys for the first time.  I had seen the Tide play two times before in their whites.  I thought is was cool to see the Tide in the past.  Saturday was different.  It meant something.  Is it because I am older?  Is it because I never thought I would get to Bryant-Denny Stadium before Saturday?  I truly do not know.  But I sure thank my friend Tim Petty, the Roll Tide aficionado, for making it all it was.  Tailgating with with specter of the Stadium to the west.  It was all so special.  It reminded me of a line from a movie I first saw in 1988.  One character looked at another and ask, “What do you do when real life exceeds your dreams?”  The other character answered, “You keep it to yourself.”

I can’t do that.  Yes, the Rebs got beat 59-31.  Yes, it was hottest I have ever been in my life.  Yes, Carrie and I did not stay for all the game.  Yes, it was more than I ever dreamed it would be.

The following photos chronicle what I speak the rights about:

I would be remiss if I did not include the Cracker Barrel gang.  Carrie and me with Tim and Michelle Petty and Mr. and Mrs. Petty.  They are such a joy to hang with.  Great stories and just wonderful folk.  I am proud to know them.

Two weeks ago I got my picture taken with one football legend at Indiana, Anthony Thompson and this weekend outside the Bear Bryant Museum I got my picture take with Brother Tim Petty.  I must be living right.

Tailgating in style.

Carrie and I with Tim and Michelle and David and Jessica.  The two on the right brought a little culture to campus, even though our team got beat.

Denny Chimes on game day.  Wow.

Carrie and me outside the stadium.  Yes, it was hot.  Mom said the heat index was 101 at kickoff.  I thought it was more.

What a sight.  This was wonderful.  Sitting in the Ole Miss section, of course.

The Rebels before the game.

Bama about to score.

You didn’t think I could post about this game and not include a picture of the kicker did you?

I made a second trip to The Rose Bowl Stadium last year and saw a game at Bama this year.  Both made me appreciate and thank what this game has meant to me over the years.  It is amazing how I feel at home at these iconic stadiums.  That’s when you know it is right.  This past Saturday was one of those.  I am a blessed man.  I will keep saying that.  Thank you, Bother Tim.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Oh my.  What a day.

Thank you, Tim Petty.  You got me here, literally.

Tomorrow I will witness a football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium on the campus of the University of Alabama.  The Crimson Tide will be the home team.  My beloved Ole Miss Rebels will be the visiting team.

I don’t think the Rebs will win.  I hate to pick against them.  Hopefully I will be the jinx.  I doubt it.

Today we walked into the Bear Bryant Museum.  I saw my life flash before my eyes.  I knew it was going to be a good time.  I didn’t know it would be a great time that would remind me of so many great moments.

I was humbled as I looked at this knowing I have stood on that field and kicked a couple footballs.

Coach Bryant’s office. Enough said.

One of many displays that need few words.

In 1985 Van Tiffin kicked a 52 yard field goal to beat Auburn.  I was a senior in high school and this was the shoe that made that kick true.  I was so impressed with this display.

Just to appreciate.

The tackle that won the Sugar Bowl and the National Championship in 1979.

Coach Bryant’s last game was the Liberty Bowl December 29, 1982.

And now the picks for the games this week with little commentary:

Michigan beats Rutgers…If not, Harbaugh rents a UHaul.

Oklahoma beats Texas Tech…Hurts looks good.

Clemson beats UNC…Hurts me.

Purdue beats Minnesota…Cos it is a home game.

Notre Dame beats Virginia…Might be a good one.

South Carolina beats Kentucky…Hurts me again.

UCLA beats Arizona…UCLA was the ship that found itself last week.

Iowa beats Middle Tennessee…Go Hawkeyes!

Boston College beats Wake Forest…I think.

Auburn beats Miss. State…War Eagle!

Indiana beats Michigan State...I still believe and I am a homer.

Georgia Tech beats Temple...Tech needs this one.

Southern Cal beats Washington…And many think I am crazy.

Bama beats Ole Miss…Hope I am bad wrong.

Have a good weekend all.  Enjoy the games and when you can…

Speak the Rights.

Danny Johnson

Am on the porch listening to the North Harrison Cougars take on the Brownstown Central Braves.  The game is being brought to us online from WJAA 96.3 in Seymour, Indiana.  This is my favorite radio station.  Robert Becker runs the station and he is the best.  When I ask him to play The Moody Blues he never lets me down.

Harv Brown and Jake Brown are bringing us the game and doing a fine job.

Harv in his Brownstown Central playing days.

Jake was a good quarterback.

Last week I attended the Indiana Hoosiers game against Ohio State.  I thought the Hoosiers would beat the Buckeyes.  I really did.  It was not to be.

Last week I picked 10 winners and 4 losers.  31-11 is the record so far.  I have to break out with a better week.  What can I say?  I’m greedy.

Y’all know I am a homer.  And the first game I pick is a Homer of a call.

Ole Miss beats California…Cal is ranked.  Ole Miss is at home and have the Tide next week in Tuscaloosa and I will be there.  Hotty Toddy!

LSU beats Vandy….in Nashville with a third of the folks they play in front of in Baton Rouge.

Michigan beats Swissconsin…Don’t like the Wolverines.  Hope the Badgers lose every game they play.

Alabama beats Southern Miss…Sorry Dad.  Your Eagles won’t fly in this one.

Indiana beats UConn…Cos they need this one badly.  My 8 win prediction needs this one.

Northwestern beats Michigan State…Was not impressed with Sparty’s effort against Arizona State.

North Carolina beats App State…Tar Heels rebound this week.

Florida State beats Louisville…The Cards are better than we expected.  But not ready to go to Tallahassee yet.

UCF beats Pitt…And this one may blow up on me.  Will be a very entertaining game.

Washington beats BYU…The Huskies go into Provo and take one back to Seattle.

NC State beats Ball State…Wolfpack should roll here.

Georgia beats Notre Dame…Game of the Week for sure.  This one could be fun.

Nebraska beats Illinois…The corn fed beef up front will push Illinois around all night.

Washington State beats UCLA…Love Coach Leach.  Will always roof for UCLA and things are tough all over in Pasadena.

Never give up.  Keep working at it.  Believe in yourself.  Have faith you can do better and prove it to yourself.

These are things I say often to those who need to hear it.  It is part of what I do.

My affinity for Indiana Hoosier Football has been a strange romance.

I grew up watching The Lee Corso Show on Channel 4.  He’d mark up a chalk board with plays and declare “THIS IS HOW IT WORKS!”  Coach Corso’s last year at IU was 1982.  Having moved from Brownstown to North Harrison in 1979, we lost a great deal of our Indiana-based news influence.  The local Louisville televison stations did not carry the Lee Corso Show.  In fact, by 1982, the University of Louisville football program was in doubt playing in antiquated old Cardinal Stadium.  The announced attendance of a U of L upset over Oklahoma State on September 25, 1982 was 21,202.  I doubt that many were there.

A guy name Howard Schnellenberger changed all that and he is the one to thank for Louisville being in the ACC these days, along with the former Pizza Shop they play in.

Geography and media shifts could not sway my affection for the Hoosiers.  After Coach Corso left Indiana, Sam Wyche came in for one year.  Indiana was 3-8 that season.  He bolted to return to the NFL where he did quite well.

Enter Coach Bill Mallory.  From 1984 to 1996 Coach Mallory lifted Hoosier football to new heights.  Six winning seasons seasons and six bowl games.  He was amazing.

Everything changed on Halloween Day 1996.  Indiana fired Coach Mallory. The school has had one winning season since.  For me it was the day Hoosier Football died.  I never wished ill on the players.  But I will report to you like I told Bill Mallory’s successor one day when we were standing face to face pulling up the ground, I had enough.  No offense, coach, but I am done.  Coach Cameron said he understood.  Our conversation led to a form of commiseration.  We found out we both had Dad’s who were high school coaches that were asked to turn in their keys to the stadium at some point in their careers.  It wasn’t enough.

Coaches came and coaches went.  We lost one to brain cancer.  Coach Hep gave me some hope. He was quite a presence in a room with media types.  I liked Bill Lynch.  I expected Coach Kevin Wilson would be a disaster.  And along comes Coach Tom Allen.  He’s the first Hoosier head football coach who is younger than I am.  But I still have faith.  I still believe he will continue to do good things at Indiana.

I won’t apologize for picking the Hoosiers to beat the Buckeyes this past Saturday.  I will say I expected more effort.  I will say a no call on a pass interference along the Hoosier sideline deflated some air too.  It was butt-ugly all around.

Before the game I ran into Mr. Hoosier Football, Anthony Thompson.

I asked if he had any eligibility left, and he said no.  He also said he didn’t want any.  After that game I think I know why!

I am not giving up on this team.  I think they will be playing in a bowl game.

I BELIEVE!

The best part of football season for me is this.  My dear wife, Carrie, loves going to football games with me.  I am a blessed man.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

So I have been asked about photo of a ball game ticket I put on social media recently.

I quit collecting baseball cards and football cards decades ago.  They aren’t important to me anymore.  I don’t follow the players anymore.  I will sheepishly admit I don’t have an Eli Manning football card and he has been my favorite football player since I saw him on the Ole Miss Rebels Team Walk into Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium on a cool autumn night in Oxford, Mississppi in 1999 when Eli was a red shirt freshman before a close 20-17 loss to Georgia.  I was there Aunt Barbara and Jarrett.  We had a ball.

But I have kept my ticket stubs.  When I order still want a good old fashion ticket, even if I have to pay a few extra bucks to get.  No getting into the game with a cell phone for this old boy.  Forget about it.

I have the ticket stub from when I saw Ken Anderson’s last start in Riverfront Stadium in 1985.  $15.50 and they were very good green seats, for those of you who remember those.

I have ticket stubs from every Moody Blues concert I attended from 1986 to 2017 and there are over fifty of them.  As they fade a little I notice the faded ones have much lower prices.  I wrote all about that a few posts ago, and I was not giving The Moodies the business.  I was giving the business the business.

I have ticket stubs the say Rose Bowl Stadium on them.  Taking my Dad there was more than a bucket list item.  Together we got to see our dreams before us.  That is what it was like.

I have been so many places.  The Rose Bowl Stadium was my favorite before I got to stand inside the middle of it and breathe in and out with my dear wife, Carrie.  That was almost more than I could handle.

I hope to see the Indiana Hoosiers playing there one day.  I believe I will.

So I was asked about that old Indiana Hoosiers football ticket that was on display earlier.  Well, it was more special to me than any Moody Blues concert ticket stub.  That is saying something.

In 1988 the Indiana Hooisers defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes 41-7.  The great Keith Jackson was calling the game on ABC television.  That was validation before the game started.  It ended with emphatic validation.  And over the years I looked at that ticket stub and smiled.  It was important.  And I think it may have had a life of its own and continues to hang in there.

What would possess me to go to my ticket stub diary and pluck this out for good measure, as Carrie and I were heading out the door to attend Coach Bill Mallory’s Celebration of Life Service at Memorial Stadium on June 2, 2018?  I didn’t know.  It just felt like the right thing to do.

During the memorial service one of Coach Mallory’s players, Mark Hagen, got up and said a few words about his coach.  Hagen is a defensive coach at Indiana University right now.  Mark Hagen was in uniform when the Hoosiers beat the Buckeyes that day and he spoke from the heart.  And as he spoke I looked at that ticket stub and rubbed it a little bit.  It felt like the right thing to do.

After the service Carrie and I were heading to our exit tunnel out of the stadium.  At that point I spotted Mark Hagen’s wife and family.  There was a lump in my throat when I spoke up and offered that ticket stub to Mark Hagen’s wife.  “This belongs to someone else.  I know it will be in good hands, please take it.”  Mrs. Hagen was obviously touched.  She asked my name.  I told it did not matter and that my first name is Danny.  “Thank you, Danny” she said.  It felt like the right thing to do.

That is not why I believe the Indiana Hoosiers will beat the Ohio State Buckeyes.  I think the Hooisers are that good.  I do.  Depth, turnovers, missed tackles, missed assignments, all of that matters. I know.  But I also know that when the time is right, those things will work out.  IU has been close many times.  I was hopeful.  I was not optimistic.  This time, however, I BELIEVE.

Week # 3 College Football Predictions   Season records 21 good 7 bad.

Indiana beats Ohio State…and I will do my best Keith Jackson when they march into the end zone again and I will say the Marching Hundred is going to be tuckered out this after this one from playing the school song so much.

Washington State beats Houston…Battle of the Cougars.  And some fun football to watch.

Georgia beats Arkansas State…Silver Britches and Lewis Grizzard.  Make me want to get on all fours and bark a little.

Tennessee beats Chattanooga…They dern well better.

NC State beats West Virginia…Trip to Morgantown may be tough.  I’d stay in Raleigh.

North Carolina beats Wake Forest…At Wake?  But Coach Mack is on a roll.

Penn State beats Pitt…The back yard brawl is back as it should be.  Classic matchup.

Alabama beats South Carolina…Why do I even put this here?

Northwestern beats UNLV…I am rooting for the Rebels.

Ole Miss beats Southeastern Louisiana…Rebs need another victory after beating the Hogs.

Clemson beats Syracuse…See the Alabama comment.

Marshall beats Ohio…Great rival game here too.  Herd is not bad.  Ohio always pesky.

Purdue beats TCU…Defensive woes for PU may stink the place up?

Oklahoma beats UCLA…Struggling at UCLA.  Hate to see that.

Stay cool if you can.  This unseasonable heat is not good for football.

Celebrate and we’ll be back with picks next week as we…

Speak the rights.

Danny Johnson