A week before my old boss, I called him “Chief”, Jim Stewart, retired as principal and head basketball coach at Medora Jr-Sr High School in Medora, Indiana in 2003, he took two pieces of paper out of his wallet and put each one of them on the copier and handed me the copies.  One paper was a list of thirteen schools he had worked in from Northern Indiana to Southern Indiana.  The other was a unaccredited quote that was in Chief’s handwriting.  It said:

I need to do the things I have to do before I can do the things I want to do.

Jim did things his way.  He coached his way.  He did not compromise.  He moved on first, hence the list of thirteen schools he worked for.

For whatever reason, that quote struck me as I was watching and listening to Justin Hayward sing in Kent, Ohio this past Friday night.  It seemed I was witnessing that quote for some reason.

In context, I spent the school years of 1998-1999, 1999-2000, and 2002-2003 working with Jim Stewart.  Most of the things I got from him about his career were legendary stories.  In a short time Jim Stewart and I developed an understanding and a friendship that stayed firm until the day he died.  I miss all of it.

Today as my dear wife, Carrie, and I were driving by King’s Island amusement park north of Cincinnati, Ohio, I told Carrie I was at a Moody Blues’ concert there in July of 1988 and it was the first time The Moodies played the song “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere” in concert.   Later that year in November at the Louisville Gardens their sound man, Gary Kundra (I believe),  told me that was a less than memorable concert sound-wise.  I don’t remember it that way.  I was just glad to be there.

That is way it has turned out for me in attending concerts by The Moody Blues and Justin Hayward.  I’m just glad to be there. And over the years 1986 to 2018 I have seen one of these shows 58 times be it in my teens, my twenties, my thirties, my forties, and now I am 50.  How cool is that?

I make music too.  I write songs. I record them.  I have never tried to chase a sound that was not mine.  I learned that from folks like Tim Krekel, Jim Stewart and Justin Hayward, three guys who followed their hearts.

On the stage with Mike Dawes and Julie Ragins, Justin Hayward gives it his all and seems more content in this trio setting that has jelled and found a wonderful on-stage mold in five years of playing together.  I have never seen a show where three folks from such diverse places in time have a found the perfect balance in presentation and obvious joy in what they are doing.  It is a wonderful thing to witness, really.  Justin Hayward is 71.  Julie Ragins is 51.  Mike Dawes is a ripe old 28.  When they grab instruments and start playing and singing, none of that matters.  Music is what matters.

I have seen The Moody Blues at Red Rocks and in the big barns and arenas. Friday in a crappy old theater (I would visit again in a heartbeat) that holds 642 people, I saw Justin Hayward on the balls of his feet delivering vocals with everything he had to give.  I saw Justin Hayward graciously thank the guitar tech, Chris, when it was time to change out a guitar or when he handed Justin something to wet his whistle.

I get the feeling that Justin Hayward has found time to do what he wants to do, thanks to the fact that he did what he had to do.  He seems to be appreciating the moment. I hope so.

Last July Carrie and I walked out of The Ryman Auditorium and I told her that was the last Moody Blues concert I would attend.  They played Days of Future Passed in its entirety and it was at The Ryman!  As the last note of the encore song Ride My See-Saw was fading, we hit the door.  It was the perfect exit at the perfect place.

Now, I will be glad to see and hear Justin Hayward sing again.  He has an energy and an appreciation that is incredible to behold.

I think this traveling show is the one Justin Hayward sang about many years ago even though he didn’t know it at the time… “just what you want to be…you will be in the end.”  He followed his own advice…just like Jim Stewart did.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

What a nice way to start the football season out last night.  The North Harrison Cougars beat the Salem Lions 27-17 in Salem last night.  That is something that has not been done too many times.  The Cougars have won two in a row at Salem.  Before that?  Try 1 win and 17 loses.  The times they are a-changing.

On to College Football!

Two syllables.  BAM-AH.  You can’t deny it.  You can’t get away from it.  Or in the parlance of Keith Jackson AL-LAAAA-BAM-AH!  The Crimson Tide own college football.  I suppose they will as long a Nick Saban is the head coach there.  He apparently is that good.  Check out the Top Ten Standings in the last ten years at the end of the AP college football season.

The last Associated Press poll before the Bowl Championship Series is after conference championship games that are played usually the first weekend in December.  In the last ten years the Alabama Crimson Tide has been ranked in the top ten at the end of the season nine times.  That is college football domination.  No other team can boast such numbers.  In 2010 the Tide was a paltry 9 and 3. They were ranked number sixteen that “off” year.  I’ve been watching Indiana University football all my life.  Most of those as a fan but that is another story.  A 9-3 season for the Indiana Hoosier football would send calls to Hollywood for another movie.

I truly expect the Tide to keep rolling.  My apologies to my University of Louisville friends rooting  their beloved Cardinals on as those birds head to Orlando the first weekend in September to play Alabama in the season opener.  It’ll be more like a “can opener” than a season opener for the Cards, if you know what I mean.

Brother Tim Petty will be a happy man again this season.

WE LOST A LEGEND.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I were at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington for a good-bye and send off that featured players and coaches telling those in attendance what Coach Bill Mallory meant to Indiana University, the University of Colorado, Miami of Ohio, and Northern Illinois.  Coach Mallory died on May 25th this year.

Coach Mallory got to Indiana in 1984.  Before he had arrived in Bloomington, the Hoosiers had played in two bowl games in a hundred years.  It took Coach Mallory 10 years to take the Hoosiers to six bowls.  In 1994 it should have been a seventh.  The school’s administration denied the team a chance to play in the Motor City Bowl in 1994.  Too expensive.  This was during a time when you had to have a winning regular season to qualify for a bowl.   No 6-6 records heading into the post-season.  The Hoosiers being denied a bowl was the beginning of the end for Coach Mallory.  On Halloween day 1996 he was fired.  People were just as crazy twenty-two years ago as they are now.  I turned my back on Bloomington for a while after that.

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP AT INDIANA.

I am picking the Hoosiers to have a winning season this year.  Coach Tom Allen is the best coach Indiana has had since Coach Mallory.  There is also something in Bloomington that we haven’t always had and that is support from the administration.  Have you seen the place lately?  The best place in America to watch a football game somehow has gotten better.  Now let’s go win some games!  It will happen this year.  I believe.  I also believe that this faith needs a boost in week one.  The Hoosiers travel to Florida International for the season opener.  This is dangerous.  The Hoosiers have not fared well playing south of Bloomington.  The victory at Virginia last year helped.  It can be done. But Florida is a long way from Kirkwood Ave.  Whomever made this schedule needs to schedule their own eye doctor appointment.

In games played South of Bloomington since 1988,  the Hoosiers are 11-16-2.  Games included in Lexington, KY and Columbia, MO are not far south.  The biggest travel games for the Hoosiers during this time have been forays into North Carolina to play UNC, NC State, and Wake Forest.  In 2016 they opened at FIU and won handily.  One visit to North Texas did not go well.  I say now:  The Hoosiers need to win at FIU.  The palm trees and warm weather won’t help.  Plenty of ice in the water bucket and all players making curfew will help.

Go Hoosiers!

THE REBELS

No, I can’t forget the Rebels.  How could I?  They play at Vandy this year but we won’t be making it to that one. It does not look like a trip to Oxford will happen this year either.  Next year, I hope we can make it to Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium and catch up with my cousin Darrell.  He finished at Oxford and knows Ole Miss and the Rebels well.

The Rebs did the right thing when they made Matt Luke the head coach after the Hugh Freeze fallout.  That was butt-ugly last year.  2018 finds the Rebs playing for pride and each other and the Egg Bowl Trophy.  There will be no post-season.  If they win nine games that is where they will stand after the Egg Bowl against the State Bulldogs.  Speaking of State, they will be two degrees more difficult to despise this year since smarty pants Coach Dan Mullen got hired to coach the Florida Gators.  Guess when he retires he’ll have an alligator farm to show off to football fans from Columbus, Ohio wearing black socks over their calf muscles and below their Bermuda shorts.

The Rebs have some offense for sure. They will be trying to get the ball to A. J. Brown all they can.  He is a gifted receiver we will be talking about for a long time.

Speaking of long time, it boggles my mind to think it was fifteen years ago I was in Oxford with Aunt Barbara to watch Eli Manning play quarterback his senior year at Ole Miss against a Lou Holtz coached South Carolina team.  Glad we were playing quarters that day.  Ole Miss had a huge lead of 43-14 late in the third quarter only to see the Gamecocks come back to make it a 43-40 final.  Though the Rebs had just won the game to start 5-0 in SEC play for the first time since 1963, it felt more like a tie.  Eli had 391 yards passing.  The most he ever had in a victory for the Rebs.

GO HERD!

I am still following the HERD and they are going to have a good team.  Gone is QB Chase Litton.  When he was good he was very good.  When he took a five step drop you held your breath cause you hoped it would be good.  That was the Herd last year.  The team was 8-5 last year and beat Colorado State in the New Mexico Bowl.  That was great for them.  Chase Litton left school early and was not drafted.  He was too inconsistent.  I like the old boy.  I watched him sign autographs and yammer back and forth with little kids and he meant it.  I thought that was great.

The new Herd qb is graduate transfer Alex Thomson.  He is 6-5 225lbs.  He will be able to see over the line.

As it stands, Carrie and I are going to see the Herd play NC State in Huntington on September 22nd.  They play at South Carolina the week before that so we will know a few things before the Wolfpack makes its way into The Joan to chants of We Are Marshall!

PREDICTIONS

The Atlantic Coast Conference

Atlantic Division

1.  Clemson…Tigers continue to roll…but won’t roll over the Tide
2.  NC State…The Wolfpack is rising with Coach Doeren
3.  Louisville…I know…I know…but the king is gone and the team may be back
4. Florida State…Growing pains for Coach Taggart but it won’t take long…Clemson
5. Wake Forest…The Deacons are better and may be as high as three here in the end
6. Boston College…They aren’t bad either…gotta put’em somewhere
7. Syracuse…Must put them here

Coastal Division

1.  Miami…My they have really come on thanks to Coach Richt
2.  Virginia Tech…Learned my lesson last year when I had them 4th
3. Duke…They are going to be good and yes, Coach Cut is the best in the ACC
4.  Georgia Tech…I say it again.  Can’t go wrong with The Varsity across the street
5.  Pitt…Gave them too much love last year
6.  UNC…Not good days in Chapel Hill for football
7.  Virginia…Hoosiers hosts Wahoos September 8.  Hope to be there

Miami and Clemson should battle in the ACC Championship.  I think the U of L Cards will be okay.  Was eating an obscene plate of nachos (it was a half order) on Topsail Island while the Cards played Miss. State in bowl game with a dumb name.  As I looked at them (the Cards not the nachos)  I thought to myself…the Cards will be a better TEAM next year.  We’ll see if I know anything.

Now for Duke, they have a kid named Daniel Jones playing quarterback and he could do something special.  If the ball bounces the right way for Duke, things could be very interesting in Durham even though they are waiting on basketball season.  Progress is being made there nonetheless and I have no doubt the folks there leave Coach Cut alone and let him do his job the way he wants to do it.  He hasn’t left Duke, has he?  He could have.

The Big Ten

After attending the Rutgers game in Bloomington last season, which IU won 41-0 which was the halftime score, I have now seen all fourteen Big Ten teams play in person.  Rutgers in the Big Ten. I still have to say it now and again to remind myself. Rutgers is in the Big Ten. Notre Dollar started it with that exclusive TV contract with NBC and the door came down to the point of looking for markets first and schools second.  That is a mess in college sports.  Don’t get me started.  Let me talk about the Big Ten.

That empty end zone there now looks like this:

Memorial Stadium, as I said, is quite impressive these days.  That is one big TV.

This remains one of my favorite shots from Memorial Stadium.  It reminds me of the game I saw in 1988.  Still is the greatest college football game I ever witnessed in person.  Indiana 45 Iowa 34.  Iowa quarterback Hartlieb completed 44 passes and the game, being televised on ABC which was a big deal then, lasted over four hours.  October 29 was the date.  Anthony Thompson carried the ball like 47 times or something.  It was a great thing to witness.  Thank you, Coach Mallory.

Big Ten

East Division

1. Penn State…Trace McSorley can lead this team.  Lost some good D.  Timing is right
2. Michigan… Transfer Shea Patterson should start for Coach Blowhard
3. Michigan State…A bunch back on both sides of the ball.  Look out.
4. Ohio State…Want to put them last…should…that timing thing again.  Bad preseason.
5. Indiana…Looks like Ole Miss in the same division as Auburn, Alabama, LSU, etc.
6. Rutgers or Maryland
7. Maryland or Rutgers…I just don’t care.  Should be in Big Ten Money Division alone.

West Division…Can we realign?  I can make an argument with a map for Indiana here.

1.  Iowa…So I have a little bias for the Hawkeyes.  QB if tuff and road schedule is not.
2.  Northwestern…They ended on a huge win streak including bowl 8 in a row.
3. Wisconsin…Nothing good to say…so it must be bad.
4. Purdue…The Boilers could be higher here. D was respectable but lost a few keys
5. Nebraska…. Did I just put Purdue ahead of Nebraska?  New coach will get them back.
6. Minnesota…If Goldy needs to keep opponent out of end zone for a change.
7. Illinois…I hope I am wrong here.

The Southeastern Conference…THE SEC

Ron?  Ronnie?  Is that you?  I mean, President Reagan is that you?  I could of swore I just heard a phrase we have all heard but with just a slight different slant.

“Well, here we go again.”

The SEC is still the prime conference.  Look around.  Who are they chasing?  It is an SEC world and the rest of us in college football country are living in it.  This year, I think, will, well, be no different. And make sure you keep November 24th handy.  That is the Iron Bowl.  I plan on being in Bloomington that day to watch Indiana host Purdue and I hope it is a noon kickoff in Bloomington that goes quick so we can get to a place to eat wings and watch Bama host Auburn at 3:30 EDT.

East Division

1. Georgia…Looks like the Bulldogs are real again.
2. Florida…Coach Mullen walks into a team ready to compete
3. Kentucky…Yes Kentucky… it has to happen some time, doesn’t it?
4. South Carolina…Schedule may move them up the ranks here
5. UT…New coach in Knoxville usually takes time
6.  Mizzou…Finished with a flurry of Ws and folks will take note
7.  Vandy…What did Lewis Grizzard used to say? “Bless their hearts.”

West Division

1. Alabama..Nuff said.
2. Auburn…Cos the trees at Toomer’s Corner are growing again.
3. LSU….I still like Coach O…in Baton Rogue
4. Ole Miss…Even though they go nowhere after the Egg Bowl.
5. Texas A&M…Coach Fisher learns about the SEC
6. Arkansas…I don’t even know who the coach is there now.
7. Mississippi State…I’d make’em ninth if I could!  Hotty Toddy!

Other Champs…

PAC 12

USC…Washington is the favorite out there, I know.  USC is still the team.  Like it or not.

American Athletic Conference

Central Florida…Coach moved on but players still very good from 13-0 team last year.

THE MAC

Ohio…Coach Solich is still there and I am loyal.

SUN BELT

Troy…They have too many returning not to give them the nod.

BIG 12

Oklahoma…Why not.  Gave Baker the preseason props last year.  Here we go again.

CONFERENCE USA

MARSHALL…They were sandbaggers and lollygaggers last year.  New QB and new attitude.  Win one for Reggie Oliver!  See you in Huntington.

MOUNTAIN WEST

Wyoming…Cos I am tired of writing and hope they win!

Made it through without mentioning Notre Dame by their proper reference.  I am still glad I took my Dad to South Bend in November 2013 to see BYU.  He was fine.  I thought I was going to freeze to death.  I am also glad to see they too are playing a meaningful game late in the season.  Notre Dame plays USC  on November 24th.  The same day as the Old Oaken Bucket Game (that is Indiana vs. Purdue for the 80% of America wondering what that is.)  The Iron Bowl, we all know what that is, will be played the same day.  Thank God for recording devices.

The Notre Dame-USC game after Thanksgiving reminds me of my childhood.  Our family reunion in Mississippi was on Thanksgiving Day and we would stay through Saturday.  At Uncle Durwood and Aunt Barbara’s house in Jackson on Dubarry Lane not far from a big bucket of paint on display in front of a paint store, we would gather in a living room watching football, laughing, eating, and having a great time. I remember it well. USC-Notre Dame and Keith Jackson.

The weekend before all that football rivalry craziness goes on, I am taking my dear Carrie to see a rival game that had the good sense to be played a week before all the last game chaos.  We are going to The Rose Bowl to see USC play UCLA.  I took my Dad there two years ago.

It was a thrill.  I want Carrie to see the place.

And so it begins.  I will be making predictions every week.  We’ll see what happens.  Whatever happens, enjoy your time with your family and friends.  Make some good memories.  That is the best thing about this game.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Our son Jarrett is out of the country.

I don’t know how much I am allowed to type about this.  No, I am sure I am good.  I am joking.

As we speaktherights, Jarrett is a body guard for the United States Ambassador of Iraq.  Yes, this is a big deal.  I doubt that Harrison County, Indiana has produced many body guards for American diplomats.  That says it all.

While Jarrett is out of the country, my dear wife, Carrie, and I are occasionally called to take care of Jarrett’s dog, Hot Rod.

Hot Rod is a great dog.

He is a pain in the butt sometime.  If you are walking him on a lead he can nearly dislocate your arm if he takes off.  But a sweeter animal you will never find.

Part Russian Ridgeback and a part Karelian bear dog, Hot Rod is a spirited fella.  Is also VERY smart.

This is Hot Rod, after he moved to his chair,  when I caught him sitting on the couch he was not supposed to be sitting on.

Jarrett was in the Army and stationed in far west Texas when he and a buddy found Hot Rod in a New Mexico desert.  Hot Rod was not much more than a pup.  He had been shot and left for dead.  There is still some buckshot is his hind-parts.

This is a classic story of coming back from the dead.  Hot Rod would have perished in the desert had Jarrett not found him.  I think Hot Rod knows that.  A sweeter animal you will not find.  He is protective.  He is sassy.  But there was time when I was not in good physical condition with a back ailment and I was not moving very well.  Hot Rod knew it.  He was so kind to me.  He looked worried. The guy he played with was not moving well.  He was afraid something was wrong with me.

Though I doubt I will be there, I would give anything to see Hot Rod when Jarrett comes back home after his first stint at the Embassy in Iraq.  There is a bond between them that is palpable.  Jarrett and Hot Rod found each other.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

And so it begins.

The 2018 football season is here.  I type these words as I sit on the couch mashing the channels between the Bengals vs. the Bears and the Giants vs. the Browns.

The first pro football game I attended was a preseason game at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.  The Bengals were playing the Packers that night.  The Packers had a new coach, Bart Starr.  My Dad and I sat alone in wooden folding chairs on a concrete floor with a roof over our heads as we hung on the wall and looked over South goalpost. Don’t ask me how we got there.  I was seven years old. It was great.  I got to watch my hero, Ken Anderson, play for a while before giving way to John Reaves.

The Bengals.

I have been asked on occasion, over the years I have written speaktherights.com, questions like “Where did you come up with that?”

Now and again I do find an artifact.  In 1981 the Cincinnati Bengals changed their uniforms.  They had old  jersey’s with normal horizontal stripes.  Their old helmets said BENGALS on the sides.  That all changed in 1981.  They put Bengal Tiger stripes on the helmets and on the sleeves.  I was thirteen years old the day I looked in the Courier-Journal to see the report of the Bengals first preseason game of the season against the Tampa Bay Bucs.  This is what I saw:

It was my first glimpse at the Bengals new uniforms.  There was no twitter and no ESPN 2 or NFL Network.

I must admit I was not impressed.  Or was I?  I did cut the picture out after all.  I cut out many that season.  It was my favorite NFL season of all time.  It was the greatest season of all time.  I know I have written this before.  I will again.  Super Bowl XVI on January 24th  of 1982 was played between the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Francisco 49ers.  In the 1981 regular season the Bengals were 12-4 and the Niners were 13-3.  The year before they were both 6-10.  Never before had the NFL seen such a turnaround.  Hasn’t seen one since either.  It was a special season.  Glad I was there.

Today I told my friend and colleague, Hal Pearson, that I rarely feel old.  I told Hal I attribute that to a few things.  Attitude is important.  You know, that you’re only as old as you feel thing.  Another thing I have going for me, and I have said it before, I have easily held on the music of my youth.  I first saw Justin Hayward sing Nights in White Satin when I was eighteen years old.  Justin had just turned forty.  Later this month Carrie and I plan on hearing Justin sing that song again.  I am 50.  Justin will be 72 this year.

I admitted to Hal today that I felt old.  It seems like yesterday.  It was twenty years ago.  How?

Carrie and I were living in New Salisbury’s Briarwood subdivision between New Salisbury and Central Barren.  We didn’t have any fancy TV.  We had an antennae that sat inside a metal tube that was not on the house but on the ground and you could grab the antennae pole and turn it.  Twenty years ago I turned it to the North and prayed a picture would come in.  The Hail Mary was answered.  You had to sit back from the TV set a bit but the picture was there.

It was Peyton Manning’s first game with the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts were playing against the homestanding Seattle Seahawks.  His first pass was a touchdown.  I was watching that night and it just doesn’t seem like that long ago.  I was 30.  It was a long time ago.

Tonight the Colts are playing at Seattle.

Ken Anderson and Peyton Manning, the man who made football in Indiana,  may not be playing football anymore, but Justin Hayward sounds better than ever!

I’m still young.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

What’s new?

While I know the readership of this thing I write here is less than modest, I do get asked by a few folks when I am going to put something new on here.

What’s new?  Well, this morning this was new:

This was a great breakfast concoction that my dear wife, Carrie, put together.  I don’t even know what all was in it.  I know it was good for you.  I couldn’t taste any bacon so that was a healthy start.  When you have green and yellow and orange and white on the breakfast table you know you are eating right.  Add that healthy scone and a cup or three of leaded coffee and  you got it made.

I am a fortunate man.  I don’t fix anything to eat that I can’t spell.  Thank God Carrie has the gift.  The porch was cool this morning as I read the paper and drank my coffee and then was blessed with a fine culinary creation.  The heat caught up with us.  Off the porch til morning I would say.

Goodbye, Mr. Duffy.

When you spend your life around schools as I have, you meet a great many memorable characters.  Some you wish you could forget.  Some you hope to remember.  Some never go away.  I think the ones that never go away are the legends.  Mr. Darrel Duffy was one of those.  I wish I knew how many times I had heard my Dad or one around him ask, “You know what Duffy had to say about that?”, when the discussions of the day were flowing around.

Mr. Duffy died yesterday.  He was 85.

The last time I had speaks with Mr. Duffy they were good ones.  He asked about my Dad.  They worked together at Brownstown Central from 1967 to 1979.  Mr. Duffy retired from BC in 1993.  Looking at the bio in his obituary, I feel rather useless in comparison.  He was an exceptional man and a giver of his time and talent. The rest of us have some work to do.

He was a character, Mr. Duffy.  And more often than not, the laugh was at your expense.  But that was part of his charm.  You knew he was one of the good guys.

For a number of years I worked with one of his granddaughters, Bridget Disque, at Medora Schools.  I enjoyed it when she spoke of him.  He was loved and respected by all.

A new day is always on the way.

We might be here to see the new day and we might not.  But there is always hope that the next day will be better than today.  Sometimes that takes effort.  Sometimes it takes a deep breath and turning off the television and looking out the window to see that, if your yard is not burning,  God’s green earth (aka the environment) has plenty of beauty to behold (for now).

Where I work, North Harrison Community Schools, we welcome students into the building this coming Wednesday.  I say bring them on!  Youthful optimism abounds at the start of each school year and it is a great thing to be a part of.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

This past week was my first “official week” back to school to begin the 2018-2019 school year as a counselor at North Harrison High School.  It goes so quickly.  All of it.  The time working and the weeks off during the summer.  I am dumbfounded that I am beginning my 4th year at NH.  I am blessed to have a job that allows me to help kids out during such a challenging time of transition in their lives.  Young people are resilient.  They want to learn.  That is the beauty of education.  No matter what test is thrown at them, no matter how many political barriers are thrown in the path of their progress, kids still want to learn and understand the process of what they are doing.  I say God Bless them!

On Thursday my dear wife, Carrie, and I went back to The Jackson County Fair in Brownstown which is my old hometown.  The fairgrounds is a small corn field away from my childhood home on Jackson Street.  They have since added more than corn in that direction like a county highway garage and a new jail.  But between those two you can still see the midway rides from the old homestead.  That was a sight and the sounds that permeated the night sky in a house that had no air conditioning was wonderful back then.

I didn’t take too many pictures.  Carrie and I had a friend of ours with us, Steve Hanger.  Steve has wanted to go to the Jackson County Fair for years and this year we got it done.  I’d say he will want to go back next year.

The ducks going down the slide in the Young McDonald’s Farm building is always a sight to behold.  I would love to know how old that slide is.  I don’t think I have ever seen another one.

We ran into one of the greatest school leaders known to man.  In the yellow shirt is Dr. Robert Mahan.  He is why I am sitting on a screen porch between Frenchtown and Milltown at this very moment in 2018.  In 1979 he was the superintendent at North Harrison and he hired my Dad to teach social studies and coach football here.  Ten years ago I had the privilege of working for Dr. Mahan, as he was the interim superintendent at Medora schools for a year.  Oh, and get this, that same year we were both at the Ryman Auditorium with our wives to see a concert by The Moody Blues.  The man knows music also.  In earnest, I am truly honored to know him.

So I cheated, this photo is from last year’s fair midway.

Until today I had no idea this would be the last Jackson County Fair that I would get to see Andy Wayman in uniform.  He is retiring, I hear, after this year.  You are a classic, Andy.  I am honored to know you too. You have been a great asset to Jackson County for many years.  In the parlance of Andy Taylor, “We’ll see you, boys.”

The red shirt I have on in this picture is not a nod to Brownstown Central, in case some of you Cougar faithful are alarmed.  No.  It is a Celery Signs t-shirt.  Jerry Brown, aka Celery Brown, called me on Thursday and told me he would be in Corydon doing some business and he wanted to stop by the school to see me for a few minutes.  I told him to come on.  Even though Jerry is the art teacher at Brownstown Central and an assistant football coach, we gave him the royal welcoming treatment.

He appreciated it.  It was great to have speaks with Jerry. He is quite the artist on many levels.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I am sitting on the back porch tonight wishing there was a little more daylight.  I wish is was 4:44 PM instead of 8:44.

Oh well, I shouldn’t complain.

Wanted to pass on a big WAY TO GO to my brother, Darrel Lee Johnson.  We he was a little kid everyone in our immediate family had the middle name Lee.  Danny Lee Johnson, Sister Lee Johnson, Mommy Lee Johnson, and Daddy Lee Johnson.  What can I say.  It is as much fun now as it was then.  I was born in 1968.  Darrell was born in 1983.  My last three years of high school included responsibilities I am thankful for.  I always have been.  Even then when I was turning him upside down in his car seat as I fishtailed down a gravel road.

Darrell will be teaching 2nd grade at Grant Line Elementary School in New Albany.  As many times as I have driven down Grant Line Road, I don’t know where the road got its name?  I have a feeling I will find out.  Congratulations to my dear brother, Darrell Lee Johnson.

Those 2nd graders are going to learn a great deal!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

A well-respected Georgia newspaper columnist I love and admire, but rarely agree with even though I am certain he is a registered Republican as am I, is quick to point out the liberalism of colleges and universities.  That our students in Ivory Tower bastions of learning are being fed platitudes of socialism and far left acrimony.

No.  This is not true.  This attitude toward liberal education in this country is something this columnist falls back on because he can.  It is convenient.

If these liberal education hell-holes did exist as I have read they do, there would be protesting on college campuses in every state.  They would be protesting and demanding an American President that cared more about America and less about Russia. They would want a President that cared more about children and the environment.  They would storm the towers!  Something would be burning somewhere.  We didn’t start the fire.

It is not happening.  College campuses are docile as they await the fall semester.  There is no protesting en masse.  There is no protesting at all.  Where are all these kids that have been fed liberal propaganda from their tree-hugging professors?

They are not out there.  They don’t care that much.  They are waiting for this storm to pass and to do better for the future.  It won’t be difficult.

We learned, I suppose.  All that protesting and singing in the 60s.  You know, the music that went along with a good protest?  It didn’t matter.  Music, for all its significance, didn’t change the political world.  We only thought it did.  We only thought it would.  It won’t.  It didn’t.

Make America Great Again.  That was the mantra during the 2016 campaign.  How’s that working out for you?  I think America has gotten worse.

I know of a landscaping company in North Carolina that depends on H-2B Visas for seasonal workers from South of the American border to keep up the work and help to sustain the jobs of 150 Americans that work for the company.  It is all done through legal channels and has been good for all workers involved.  This particular company had to turn down a $400,000 contract because they did not have the seasonal workers needed thanks to restrictions placed on H-2B Visas.  I hope no Americans lose their jobs.

But you don’t hear about that do you?  God Bless America.

Yes, I am a Republican.  I have not switched my political party affiliation.  I am praying for better days.

This is where I will catch hell.  But, as the page suggests, I speak the rights.

In the parking lot of IUS in January of 1995, I listened as Newt Gingrich gave the speech of the 104th Congress when the Republicans gained a great many spots in the House.  I was all in.  I didn’t so much love Newt Gingrich as I was enamored with the party of Ronald Reagan.  That and, even more so, I was not a fan of whiny Democrats.

Let me put this in microcosm.

I did not like the Democrats back in the day because they seemed to be a whiny, we know better than you bunch and you have to be wrong and mean if you don’t agree with us.  I didn’t like that.

Today I am just as put off by the Republicans because of their “Holier than Thou” attitude.  I abhor that.

Our current President has it made it easy to root for the other side…and it is less painful than rooting for the Republicans.  I hope and pray the day that change comes around for me to witness.  It might take a while.

Has anyone out there heard of John Kasich?  Have you heard him lately, Republicans?  If yes, how do feel?

These are Strange Times.

We have a President that wants to play footsie with the Russia leader and denounce NATO allies.

I believe this country was much safer in the Cold War when the USA and the USSR  had bombs pointed at each other.

The guy doesn’t know enough about history to be President.  But he is.  He proves it daily by putting people down and deciding he didn’t mean what he said the day before.

You want to call that leadership?  Go ahead and keep fooling yourself.

One day things will be better for the Republican Party.  I just hope I live to see it.  I have a feeling I will see plenty of suffering due to trade wars gone bad and a guy who thinks being the President of the United States is another reality TV show.  And the kids at university won’t give him the time of day until they wise up and turn the tide.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I’d hate to know how much mileage I have gotten out of this picture.  I was on the Royals.  We were the Brownstown Little League Champs in 1979.  A couple weeks ago my old friend, Jerry Brown, he was not on my team, admired the trophy.

He lamented that he did not have one.  It was a less complicated time.  You win, you get the trophy.  You don’t win it all, you don’t get the trophy.

It was during the 1979 All Star game in Seattle, I was watching it with my grandparents in Shreveport, that my Dad called and told me we were moving from Brownstown to Ramsey.  Town to country.  It worked out great.  Have you met my wife?  I am the winner!

Carrie and were in Durham, NC a few days ago.  If the Bulls are in town, it is a natural stop for us.  When the Durham Bulls are playing in Louisville, we try to make one of those too.

Durham Bulls Athletic Park is a nice ballpark.

Hit the Bull in left field and win a steak.

Carl Yaz’ grandson was playing for the Norfolk Tides.  Looks mighty familiar to you old baseball fans, doesn’t he?

After the game and dinner, Carrie and I walked down to see another old Bulls ballpark.  Remember this one?

I do.  As we walked along I thought, man, I can’t believe it has been 20 years since the movie Bull Durham came out.  Then I stopped, did the math in my head…uh…make that 30 years.  Wow.

North Carolina Central uses this field now.  The last time we were here we walked down to the field and I sat in dugout.  It was a bit run down then. It looks much better now.  Looks like it ready for Nuke LaLoosh to take the mound again.

And a rain-out?  Well, Crash Davis would be proud.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

It was more than just a chicken pot pie.  It was a chicken pot pie I will remember for a great while, I think.

Above is a picture of the Ohio River near the deck of The Overlook Restaurant in Leavenworth, Indiana…that is.  This is where I sat down with my old friend Jerry Brown for lunch today.

When we did the math, we were last classmates at Brownstown Central Elementary School thirty-nine years ago.  We were on opposing high school football teams thirty-three years ago.  He has been married to his wife, Tammy, for twenty-six years.  I have been married to my dear wife, Carrie, for twenty-two years.

Jerry and I were in each other’s weddings.  It was a good time both times.

We spent a little over four hours together this morning into the afternoon.  We were due.

We just talked.  We asked a few questions.  We talked about the past.  We talked a little about the future.  We talked of hopes and aspirations.  We spoke of some past disappointments.  We did not get stuck, or low, or bogged down in any pile of mud.  We walked over the worst things or just plain walked around them.  We never have a need to work to manufacture something interesting for the other to talk about.  We are connected beyond friendship in the traditional sense.

That is the “it” factor Jerry and I have in common.  As I always say, we are not here to have a bad time.  Jerry and I saw each other today for the first time since we both turned fifty years old earlier this year.  That never came up during our speaks today.  But, that too is characteristic of the unspoken feeling between us “it” factor we are blessed with.  When we see each other we just take up where we left off.

Jerry and I have seen some of our best days and our worst days…together.  I was there when Jerry’s Dad, Tom, passed away in 1991.  Jerry and I were twenty-two and shocked and hurt. Jerry handled it all with a graciousness any father would be proud of.  A year later Jerry was married.  Tom was a huge influence on my life.  I wish I could have seen the look on his face when I graduated from college.  And I know what he would have said.

“I knew you could do it.  You just had to get your ass in gear.”

I think Tom would have been pleased with the two guys having lunch today.

I know I was proud to be there.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson