Stop the hour-glass.  Week 8 means we over halfway through the college football regular season for even most that had a bye week.  This makes me sad Paw.

When Goldie Hawn took over as coach of the Central Wildcats in the 1986 movie Wildcats and started winning games, the principal of the school played by Nipsey Russell said…            “I must be dreaming…”    I feel this way.  The football team at the high school I attended and played football for and my Dad coached at for seven years is undefeated and heading into the playoffs with a 9-0 record.  I must be dreaming.  The best thing is there is not a real knucklehead in the bunch.  I am quite proud of Coach Williamson and his squad.

Onto this week’s picks.  Well, first…I need to acknowledge my implosion of last week.  I picked 8 winners and 6 losers.  I did pick Michigan State and their miracle finish saved me from finishing .500 and eating it more. For the season we have 67 winners and 29 losers.  Should be better than that.

This week:

Auburn beats Arkansas…The Tigers need another victory.  The Razorbacks need one worse.  The pucker factor will hit the Hogs in a close one.

Clemson beats Miami…The Tigers from Clemson are having a great season.  The Canes won’t move them.

Northwestern beats Nebraska…Tough call.  This one is in Lincoln and the Cornfolk rarely lose there. The Wildcats still have hope for a great bowl game.  This game keeps them there.

Southern Miss beats Charlotte… Charlotte?  I didn’t even know they still had a team…(line from baseball movie Major League)

Louisville beats Boston College…A football game will be a welcome respite on campus this week.

Duke beats Virginia Tech… Last week was a good time to be idle for a Duke team that made it into the Top 25 and avoided a fart the following week.  Coach Cut will keep them together and they will find a way to beat the Hokies in a close one.

Michigan State beats Indiana…College Football’s little engine that could just can’t…sad to say.

Marshall beats North Texas…Homecoming at The Joan will be fun.

Penn State beats Maryland… Is this really a Big Ten game?

Alabama beats Tennessee…and I said it hear…The Tide will Roll through the last College Football Game if the season.  Yes, that is what I mean.

North Carolina beats Virginia…I wish it were the other way.

Swissconsin beats Illinois…pretty badly I would say.

Ole Miss beats Texas A&M….To save a great season, the Rebs need this home game.  The place will be wild for the evening kickoff.

LSU beats Western Kentucky….Too much defensive backfield for the pass happy Hilltoppers to deal with.

Mississippi State beats Kentucky…The Cowbell ringeth.

Utah beats USC…I have picked against them too much.  The Utes will win.

Have a great weekend and…

Speak the Rights!

Danny Johnson

Carrie, my dear wife, and I were in Wilmington, North Carolina last week.  Each and every time I venture to New Hanover County, I think of Millard Dunn.  That was just the first time I have ever referenced him as Millard in anything that measured more or less as casual discourse.  Heck…maybe ever.  Today, it just came out.

I owe my career in great part to Millard Dunn.  Dr. Millard Dunn, that is.

I don’t know what day Dr. Dunn was declared such.  I am sure there was a ceremony of sorts.  A commencement to celebrate the event was due.  I hope there was some sort of celebration that Millard had the chance to bask in.  I know I had my day in the sun when I graduated from college thanks to him.  I went through commencement that May day.  It was a special day.  When I was not thinking about myself and my family, I was thinking about Millard Dunn.  Last September I chronicled how and why he was and is so important to me.  I was back on campus for a meeting of a professional nature that day.  Again, I was thanking Millard Dunn for seeing me through college.  He made sense of what I was doing when many others on campus were not making any sense to me whatsoever.  That experience may be exactly what we all need.  Sure there are the chestnuts that roast about why on earth I am made to take another algebra class in college…especially when I did so poorly at it in high school and had not been asked about x over y plus seven since the last time I had last seen an algebra book. Still, know that I had that factoring thing down.  So much so that I had this conversation with Millard about it one day.  He said it like no one else ever could or ever has before:

Me:  I was hearing this conversation about factoring between some of my classmates and I actually knew what they were talking about more than they did.

Millard:  And what did you do about it.

Me:  Well, I went over and asked them what the problem was.

Millard:  That was a good start.  What else?  (Millard could forever pepper you with yet another question that was an end to means of accountability)

Me:  I looked at it.

Millard:  What did you do then?

Me:  I started to explain the process.

Millard:  Did that work out for you or them?

Me:  Well, give me a minute.  (I could forever give it back to him) What I did was grab a piece of chalk and I went to the board (the chalkboard age…Millard was an artist at the chalk board).  I wrote out the problem.  I felt like John Madden up there. Chalk flying as I made the point and helped them to realize the answer.  To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what I was doing there myself.  It was the darndest thing.  I don’t know what I was doing.

Millard:  (He said something I never thought I would hear.  They were words that gave me the confidence to do anything.)  I know what you were doing.  What you were doing was teaching algebra and it sounds to me as though you were doing it effectively.

You could have knocked me over with a feather.  I had arrived.  If I could teach algebra…anything was possible.  Anything is possible.

So I thought about Millard last week while Carrie and I were in Wilmington. Wilmington, NC  is where Millard went to high school.  He headed up I-40 on scholarship to finish (that is what they say in the south about one who graduates from the school…they “finish”) at Duke University.  He was declared my Dr. Dunn by way of Indiana University.

Millard is a gifted poet.  I hope one day the rest of the world knows what I know about his poetry.

His Chapbook Engraved On Air was a winner at the Kentucky Writers Conference in 1983.

I have a copy.

I also have a copy of Places We Could Never Find Alone from 2011.  I love this collection.  In it I can hear the Millard I knew…I know.  Find a copy if you can…thank me later.

And I have a copy of a book of poems he would later refer to as “vanity publishing”.  An ambitious Duke sophomore found a way to get a collection of his poems published and bound in a nice book.  This was 1960.  Nearly forty years later, Millard spoke of it with a wistful tone.  It was a tone of a poet knowing his voice had not been cultivated in 1960. He was seemingly apologetic.  Ever the teacher…he gave me a lesson to fulfill with regard to this work.  I have never stopped thanking him.

Foothills was published in 1960.

I want to believe that is a view down a corridor of Duke Chapel.  I have seen it.  It is beautiful.

The following are pictures of Millard.  One from the jacket of Foothills and the other from Places We Can Never Find Alone.

I am fortunate to say I feel like I know both of these guys.  I am a blessed man.

Speaking the Millard Rights…

Danny Johnson…oops…for Millard, I best say Dan Johnson.

This is post #200 on speaktherights.com.

It all started July 2014.  Carrie, my dear wife, said it would be a good thing for me to do.  She is usually right.  This time she was spot on.

I do enjoy writing.  I suppose it comes easier to me than most.  The thing is, and you may have noticed in our pictures, my head is much larger than Carrie’s or most others I come across. I have stuff in my head that just needs to get out!  My hat size in a comfortable 7 and 7/8.  I like to wear them a little loose.  In fact, I really don’t like wearing hats at all.  Not my style.  My Dad loves to wear hats.  If I get a hat, I pass it on to him.  I will say there are a few I have a penchant for wearing.  I won’t mention them, in fear I might hurt a feeling or two of ones that have bestowed upon me a hat thinking I would wear it.  I will say to my financial adviser, I LOVE the hat you gave me.

Post 200.  I must be dreaming.

What have we talked about?  Football.  Politics.  Social Issues.  Literature.  Music.  A great deal of music.  Family.  Faith.  Nature.  Travel.  Schools. Movies.  Influences.  History.  I suppose it is a case of whatever goes.

I don’t live a glamorous life.  I do, however, feel I live an interesting life.  I am fortunate to be able to share sights and written sounds of places I have been and things I have experienced.  I am blessed in that regard.  Rhode Island is the only State I have yet to visit east of the Mississippi River.  Maybe next summer.

Post 200.  How can it be?  What took you so long?  That is probably a question I know a few folks are asking.  They figured it would have been here a long time ago.  The truth is, when I started the wheels in motion of getting a new job last Spring, I cut back my speaktherights.com volume a great deal.  When I got my new job, I found myself engrossed with learning the ins and outs of it.  I didn’t have time to write as much as I once did.  I missed not posting more.  I enjoyed getting to know my new job even more.

I am blessed to know that there are some folks all over the map that look in on and follow speaktherights.com.  I have had fun with it.  I really have.  Never once did I sit down to write something out of obligation.  I wanted to write more on several occasions!

Let me convey to you a story right now.

I love my wedding band.  It was put on my finger on February 10, 1996 at Hancock Chapel Untied Methodist Church in Northwest Harrison County, Indiana.  This coming February it will have been placed there twenty years ago.  I cherish that.  I plan on it being there and having Carrie there along with it for many decades to come.

I thought I lost this ring on Saturday morning, October 17th.

Carrie and I spent the most wonderful week on Topsail Island. NC this past week.  The weather was perfect.  The food was great.  We did not run into a single knucklehead on our travels.  There was a group of three folks on Topsail Beach Point that were most likely from New Jersey.  They talked louder than anyone in North Carolina and they said nothing as they spoke.  We forgave them.  A lesson to learn here…when we travel up to the Northeast… New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont…folks fall in love with my southern accent.  Understand my parents are both originally from Mississippi and I, for whatever reason, have acquired a Southern tone of my one.  The folks up North tell me how lovely my accent is.  I am here to tell you…no one tells a Norther person how lovely their accent is.

Back to my lost ring.

Though we planned to stay until Saturday morning on the coast, I told Carrie it made plenty sense to me to head up to Raleigh on Friday evening and get a head start on the drive home. Look, we always hate to leave the coast.  That day was even tougher for some reason.  All we were going to do was go to sleep, get up, and make a long drive.  I proposed we make the drive shorter.  We did.

We spent the night near the RDU airport outside Raleigh.  Planes flew over our room and they were loud.  I loved it.  I watched football on the TV as I fell asleep.

Saturday morning we planned to drive to Cross Lanes, WV to stop for the night on the way home.

I opted not to get any coffee at the hotel we just left in hopes of finding a Starbucks up the road.  It was about 8 AM at this point.  We drove up the road about 12 miles and I indeed did find a Starbucks and it was BUSY.  It was much too busy for me to wait on a cup of coffee.  There must have been twenty people ahead of me.  I looked at Carrie and told her I was not going to wait that long for coffee.

As we were pulling out the parking lot to head back up the road, I noticed my wedding band was missing from my left hand and I went into implosion mode.  I opened the back hatch of the Ford Edge and looked through stuff I had put in the car when we loaded it at the hotel.  I walked over to our original parking spot at Starbucks.  I looked.  I found nothing.  I panicked.  I got in the car and raced back to the hotel to look.  We retraced every step.  We got a key to get back into our room.  We looked and literally turned the place upside down.  We were there for at least an hour.  We went up and down the stairwell we traveled.  We looked everywhere we had been.  Nothing.

We went back out into the parking lot and looked some more.  It was twenty minutes into this looking that I resigned myself to try to believe that I would never see my wedding band again.

Carrie and I drive in silence, the occasional tear rolling down my cheek, back to Starbucks a few miles up the road.  I made my way into the store to ask if anyone had found a ring.  Carrie went over to the spot where we had parked and was looking around the cars that were now parked there.  A nice lady came to Carrie and asked if she was looking for anything.  Carrie told her she was looking for my wedding band.  The lady held the ring up with two fingers and she too seemed overwhelmed that she had found the rightful owner of a ring of the obvious significance this one seemed to have.  If only she really knew.

Before I got into the store I noticed Carrie talking to these people and I thought I saw a ring in Carrie’s hand.  I walked toward them.  Not much was said.  I was numb.  It was my ring.  The couple had stayed to fight the line and get coffee and get something to eat.  They also did not want to leave the premises yet because they wanted to find the owner of the ring.  I’d say we showed up just in time.

The thing is, I was a bit larger when I got married.  I wear my college class ring on my right middle finger now and my wedding band, I have tried a couple of jewelry store aids, is very loose on my ring finger.  I assure you, I plan to get it sized now.

I am blessed again.  I would have been in a bad mood for month had I lost this ring.

I want to share a few more images of our trip to Topsail.

On Friday, we witnessed the release of a sea turtle that had been nursed to health by the folks at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital in Surf City, NC.  We have been friends of this place for a long time.  On Thursday we went to the turtle hospital to visit.  On Friday, we saw one of the patients go back home.

This was Bristol at the Turtle Hospital on Thursday.

This was Bristol about to be released into the Atlantic Ocean on Friday.  I think it was ready to go.

Have a good life, Bristol.

Speak the rights…

Danny Johnson

My dear wife, Carrie, and I have spent more days away from home at the location we are than any other place.  Today was the nicest day we have ever known here.  We are in North Carolina on a place called Topsail Island.

The day has been clear.  The temperature is great.  The humidity nonexistent.  You  can see for miles.  Not only that, it made for some nice pictures today too.

This is part of yesterday’s shell collection.

The sun rise this morning.

My heroes.  Men on a shrimp boat.

Carl enjoying some sun.

This helicopter from nearby Camp Lejeune.  Jarrett told me the model of this thing.  It is a CH-47 or something like that.  Sorry guys.

A boat dock on the sound side of the island where we ate lunch today.

Now on to the College Football Picks:

Marshall beats FAU…and continues CUSA dominance.

Iowa beat Northwestern…My Hawkeye love knows no limits.  This proves it.

Indiana beats Rutgers…The sore thumb of the Big Ten learns a lesson.

LSU beats Florida…the Tiger run game is too much.

Michigan State beats Michigan…the Harbaugh lovefest will lose a tire this weekend.

South Carolina beats Vandy…Win one for the Spurrier?  No…he is g-a-w-n…gone.

Ole Miss beats Memphis…and it might be a tussle.

Notre Dame beats USC…shouldn’t they be playing this one in November?

Kentucky beats Auburn…that is right UK over Auburn.  First Thursday game in Lexington since 1937.  Parking will be a mess.

UCLA beats Stanford…the Bruins need this one to stay in the PAC 12 race.

Swissconsin beats Purdue…ugly.

Florida State beats Louisville…the ‘Noles have the advantage here.

Penn State will beat Ohio State…a well-disciplined team will bring down the Buckeyes and we won’t be hearing much about them anymore after this Saturday.  The Nittany Lions were not as lucky in 1994 when Indiana played them close.  It cost them a national championship.

Arizona State beats Utah…call me crazy.

Virginia Tech beats Miami…With Spurrier gone, Beamer is the truest of elder statesman.  his team will respond this week.

Alabama beats Texas A&M…The Tide is still has all the marbles to play for.  Watch out for them.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Last night my dear wife, Carrie, and I witnessed one of the most beautiful skies we have ever seen anywhere.  Pictures do not do it justice.  I will share these anyway:

This is my favorite.

Like the fleeting gift it was, these colors lasted only a few minutes.  They will be etched in my mind beyond mere photographs for many years.

Then…the sun came up this morning.

What a beautiful sunrise it was.

Carl enjoyed it thoroughly.

I’ll tell you what I enjoyed thoroughly Sunday night…dinner.  Carrie cooked shrimp and onion rings and flounder.  And I won’t leave out the green beans, corn, and those tiny potatoes.  Those are okay too.  But I can buy those things in Corydon or Salem or New Albany.  The fresh shrimp and the fresh flounder.  Well, that is another story.  How do I know this stuff is fresh?  I will show you.  With a nod to Forrest Gump and Lieutenant Dan, I have seen a few shrimp boat captains right outside the deck of the place we are staying.

My hat is off to these guys.  They must be used to all the birds flying around.  I’d be firing off a cannon to get rid of those things.  I’ll give it to the birds though, they are smart.

I must say I was the true fortunate one in this equation.  I didn’t have to put up with birds and I still, thanks to a modest market trade, got my hands on these:

And they turned into these:

Notice the taters, corn, and green beans did not make this picture.

What a meal it was.

Today Carrie and I sat on the porch after the sun came up.  The mixture of sun and fierce wind was a good problem to have.  Nonetheless, we are worn out and feel beat up.  I hate to sound like a wimp but that is what one gets when one has not spent more than a few minutes at a time in the sun for a long time.  Save a golf game, or a long walk about campus, I have not spent much time out in the elements in a while.  Two weekends ago I did nearly freeze after all watching IU play Ohio State in Bloomington.

That leads us to football.

Editorial note…in context, know that I type this as the Cardinals are playing the Cubs in Wrigley Field, Chicago.  Chicago is ahead 5-4 in the 7th.  The Cubbies have never won a series at Wrigley.  History is knocking.

Back to football.

History knocked hard and heavy today.  The Old Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier, walked into the sunset during a noon press conference to announce his resignation as the head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks.  He coach South Carolina to the most wins in school history.  He won more games as the Florida Gators’ coach than any other.  He won the Heisman Trophy at Florida in 1966…I think it was.  He also coached the Duke Blue Devils with success in the late 80s.  Spurrier coached the Washington Redskins too.

As I watched the coverage and read print media yesterday and today of Coach Spurrier’s saying good bye to Carolina, I was upset that none of the reports mentioned his time as the head coach of USFL’s Tampa Bay Bandits.  This morning I sent out a Twitter post with those sentiments.  A media type retweeted it.  A few hours later I saw mention of Spurrier’s USFL stint rolling at the bottom of the screen on ESPN.  Did I do that?  No, I don’t think so.  I think it was neat timing.

I will miss Spurrier.  College Football will miss him.  It is bad enough this year not seeing and hearing Coach Lou Holtz speak, spit, and pontificate about the college football games.  I miss him and I will miss the Old Ball Coach.  He said what he meant and meant what he said.  He was not handcuffed by the police that is political correctness.

So…what did Coach Spurrier in?  I think it was losing to Kentucky two years in a row.  It was too much for him to take.  That is what I told my UK fan-father-in-law as the moments of that game were winding down.

Did he quit?  No.  He left on the terms he thought best.  A last and lasting life lesson in a sermon of many for the players and personnel fortunate enough to be within earshot for the last four decades.

Speaking the sandy rights.

Danny Johnson

My dear wife, Carrie, and I are at our old haunt in North Carolina this week.  We are beyond blessed to be able to travel to a few places now and again.  I suppose we could go to more places…but we love this place so much it is like a second home to us.

Pastor Duke Lackey was at Faith Harbor Church this morning.  He did not give the message, but it was great to see him and say hello.  I have gone back and forth via email with him on occasion and I think the world of him and his congregation.  We consider ourselves visiting members.

Our friend Carl is with us.  He has enjoyed his time thus far.  Though he gets a bit nauseated when traveling, he does fine once he gets here.

He seems to enjoy the sea air.

Right now Carrie is turning some roasted brussels sprouts and in a short time will be frying some onion rings and shrimp for me…and a piece of flounder for her.

As usual the folks in North Carolina are as nice as anywhere you will ever go.  I am proud to know them.

The beach is dealing with a great deal of erosion in the aftermath of the big storm that went through here recently.  We watch it on television and hoped we would find the place in one piece.  For the most part, we have.

Football Picks.  Picked 12 winners and 3 losers of this past Saturday’s college football picks.  That brings the season total to 59 winners and 23 losers.  I was shocked that Cal got beat by Utah.  Oh well…you can’t win them all.

I know I mentioned a few posts ago that I am ready to move forward with some new recording.  In the picture above, Tim Krekel on the left and Jim Baugher on the right were working with me one day in the studio in 2004.  Tim and Jim are no longer with us.  I look back on the sounds we made, the laughs we shared, and good times we had.  Thanks goes to my friend Jefferson Carpenter for not just hooking me up with great talent…he hooked me up with some great guys.  I miss these two.  I listen to what we created together and smile every time.

Speaking the coastal rights.

Danny Johnson

How can it be?  We are in week 6 of the college football season.  This has been a strange football season for me.  In some regards it has been the best of times.  My old high school, the place I work now, has not lost a game.  Seven wins no defeats.  Never happened before this year.  They should win tomorrow night.  I was either on the field or on the radio the other times North Harrison won seven games  in a season.  I hate that I will not be in attendance tomorrow night.  I will be there in spirit…and twitter.  Both of those can help one out. There is a twinge of sadness that comes with this football season also.  It is the first football season I have known when I did not get to hear my Granny yell “Get him!” from her spot on the couch or from her chair at her house.  I miss it.  More than I ever anticipated, I miss it.  I miss Granny.

Last weekend I attended a football game in Bloomington, Indiana, as the Indiana Hoosiers played the Ohio State Buckeyes.  The bad guys won.  There is little more irritating than an overbearing Ohio State fan.  I’ve never met one who wasn’t.  They are all nuts…they wear nuts around their necks.  Aren’t buckeyes poisonous?   Told you they were nuts. We had a good time, my brother in-law Stevarino and I did.  I was victim of the Hoosier possibility mystique.  I had myself convinced they had a chance…and they did.  They have come a long way.   I did not pick them.  I wanted to.

The flag is full anyway…

This week’s picks:

USC beats Washington…the Huskies will be aiming for USC in a mighty way.  Their old coach is the head man of Troy now.

Duke beats Army…Coach Cut is simply the best.  The practice against Georgia Tech will serve them well in stopping the running Army team.

Marshall beats Southern Miss…Go Herd.  Sorry Dad.  Hope your alma mater goes down!

Ole Miss beats New Mexico State…I hope the Aggies are getting a good pay day.  Their butts will be whipped by the Rebels after the Rebs farted against Florida.

Penn State beats Indiana…my dear wife, Carrie, and I were in State College for a night over the summer.  Just spending a few hours walking around campus and seeing Beaver Stadium made me come to a realization….the Hoosiers will never win at Penn State in my lifetime.

Georgia beats Tennessee…Sorry Bob and Davis.  Rocky Top goes down again.

LSU beat South Carolina…I gave the Gamecocks a great deal of love last year and they stunk it up.  This year…this game…means little as many of the boys from Columbia play a home game in Baton Rogue because of a catastrophe in their home state.  How can they be ready to play?  I hope LSU is respectful.

Minnesota beats Purdue…they better after the goose egg they laid against Northwestern last week.

Notre Dame beats Navy…Staubach won’t be playing qb for the middies.

Bama beats Arkansas…and they continue to Roll Tide!

BYU beats East Carolina…oh how I want to pick the Pirates over the boys from Provo.  Coach Ruffin has another good group.  I will be thinking of Ruffin next week when Carrie and I are eating at the Riverview Cafe in Snead’s Ferry not far from Greenville…a world away from Provo.

Iowa beats Illinois…beware of the Hawkeyes.  IU’s November 7th meeting against Iowa will go a long way in deciding the fate of their season…and post-season.

Michigan beats Rutgers…because they should and they better!

Cal beats Utah…but this might be the most entertaining game of the season.  I love the SEC and I have positive affection for the Big Ten and the ACC.  This still may be the king game of the season.  As Granny would say….”Might not.”

Florida State beats Miami… should not be very close.

How fortunate am I?  As I rattled off these games played by 30 teams, it dawned on me that over the years I have seen no less than 25 of them play in person.  Wow…I am one fortunate guy.  Thanks to my Dad, and my dear wife…for taking me and going with me.

And thanks to Granny.

She always spoke the rights.

Danny Johnson

It was over 80 degrees  when I left work today.  On Saturday around 11:45 in the morning in Bloomington I know I was hit by frozen precipitation that I watched melt on my sleeve. The windchill in Memorial Stadium was below 40 as we watched the Indiana Hoosiers put on a gallant effort against the most highly overrated #1 team in College Football History…the Ohio State Buckeyes.  The BYU team of 1984..they won a national championship…after they beat a 6-5 Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl, would beat these Buckeyes into a fine powder.  So would the 2015 TCU team.

With that said, it was nice to be in Bloomington when a football game really mattered.  It felt like that on Saturday.  I was actually hoping for a miracle.  The last time the Hoosiers beat the Buckeyes was in 1988.  I was there.  I was hoping to be there again.

I am hoping to be at a music concert in 2016.  The Moody Blues are going to be out and about again in the Spring of 2016.  I think I can make at least one of the shows.  If I do, it would mean I saw the Moodies in 1986, 1996, 2006, and 2016.  That is crazy!  As I told a friend today, it will work that way if The Moodies stay healthy.  I told him, heck, I hope I stay healthy!

The catastrophic rain in South Carolina is mind-boggling.  I have spent a little time in South Carolina the past year.  I am familiar with Hilton Head, Columbia, and Newberry.  To think about what they have lost and what they will never get back is sad.  My heart aches for them.

My College Football Predictions were okay this week.  7 winners and 3 losers.  The season total is 47 winners and 20 losers.  I was doing much better at this point last year.  I am just going to start leaving the Notre Dame Irish out of the equation.  When I pick them to lose, they win.  When I pick them to win, they lose.  They are an enigma.

I am delighted to see the Duke Blue Devils winning again.  

The Ole Miss Rebels cut one this weekend.  The Hoosiers played the #1 team close.  The Purdue Boilermakers played the #2 Michigan State team closer.  That left the #3 Ole Miss Rebels a door wide open that led them to a #1 ranking.  That is something I have never seen in my lifetime.  Well…the Rebels played like “washer women”.  I don’t know what that means…but my Granny used to say that.  I think she would have said that about the Rebels this past Friday night.

On my twitter account Friday, I complimented the North Harrison Cougars on the greatest moment of the high school football team’s history.  I know a little bit about the history.  The Cougars beat Silver Creek on the way to earning a tie for the conference championship.  They won’t stop there.  I have no doubt they will continue to win the conference outright.  They are a great bunch.  That is the best part.

Have a good week all….and…

Speak the Rights.

Danny Johnson

Wow.  Is it really October?  Seems like yesterday I tuned into my friend Robert Becker’s radio station in Seymour, Indiana on September 1st when….every year…he plays Green Day’s “September”.

Just got back from a visit with our friends from New Hampshire.  No, we did not go to Amherst Village.  The Amherst folks are in our neighborhood this weekend.  As always, it was delightful to see Bob and Michelle and the kids.  Makes me homesick for New Hampshire.  Carrie, my dear wife, and I enjoy that place.  Perhaps we will head back there for a visit next summer.  I can’t imagine otherwise.

On to the speaktherights.com  College Football Predictions for Week#5.

Ohio State beats Indiana…I will be in Bloomington for this one.  Oh how I hope I am so wrong.  I was there in 1988 the last time the Hoosiers beat the Buckeyes.  Should be a great atmosphere.

Iowa beats Swissconsin...my Iowa love knows no end.  Looking forward to their Novemebr visit to Bloomington.

Northwestern will beat Minnesota…my affection for Goldy goes so far.  Coach Fitz will have his Wildcats ready to go.

Michigan State beats Purdue…the question is…how bad?  Sorry Pete.

Michigan beats Maryland…They didn’t move the kickoff up because of rain.  They moved it up to get the misery over.

Alabama beats Georgia…Is this just for Brother Tim?  No.  Nick Saban will have his group playing inspired defense that will throttle Georgia enough to turn the Tide.

Duke beats Boston College…and David Cutcliffe continues to fly under the radar as one of the most impressive coaches this college game has ever seen.

Ole Miss will beat Florida…as long as they stay healthy…the sky is the limit with these Rebs.

Notre Dame beats Clemson…the rain will help the Irish.

UCLA beats Arizona State…the game of the week will be this one.  The PAC 12 is fun to watch when Oregon is not running roughshod over everyone.

Have a great weekend.  Next week we will tackle this political phenomena that is affecting high schools called “College-Career Readiness”.  Semantics my friends, semantics.

I must say I am looking forward to this football weekend.  My beloved North Harrison Cougars have a chance to go 7-0 with a win over Silver Creek.   I hope the Hoosiers play well against Ohio State.  I am going to the game with my brother-in-law, Stevarino.  He loves his Hoosiers.  This must be an important game.  I had tickets to watch the Marshall Thundering Herd this weekend and I am going to Bloomington instead.  These are truly strange times. To quote Verno from Stand By Me: “This is a really good time.”

Speaking the Rights…

Danny Johnson

Last September I put on the old kicking shoe and wrote a post about it.

After preaching today, my dear wife, Carrie, and I went up to the football field.  With a few balls, a tee, and a kicking shoe, I put those ingredients together for a few minutes and had a ball doing it.

This week will mark the 30th anniversary of the longest field goal I ever kicked in a high school game.  It measured 38 yards.  Not much of a kick.  Still, no one at my old high school, I work there now, has ever made one farther than that kick I made at Clarksville in 1985.  The statute of limitations on me wanting to hold the record has long gone.  I would be delighted to see a young Cougar break that record!  I would come to the field and shake his hand!  I would tell him I am proud of him and proud that I was there to see it!

Today, I equaled that 38 yard kick.  Carrie documented a bit of the action.

It was a lovely day to be swinging one’s leg. Though I don’t have the stamina I once had to kick for hours at a time, I do take a wee bit of satisfaction in knowing I can still throw on my kicking shoe at 47 years old and take two steps and kick a regulation football over a goal post that is ten feet high and forty yards away when I feel like doing it.

This is one I made from 40.

This forty-yarder, regardless of my coaxing, missed…barely.  Heck I was just glad to get it close.

I know I wrote a post recently that featured the positive season the North Harrison Cougars are having.  That makes coming out and swinging the old leg that much more fun.  I couldn’t tell you how many balls I have seen fly over these goal posts that I put into the air.  I loved doing it so much.  I still do.  I wish I had a little of the old pop in the leg that has found a way to leave me, but I am not complaining.  I’m just explaining.  Maybe after the season, when the field is a little bare, I will head out on occasion and kick a little more.  I will pace myself.  I know my Mother is reading this and shaking her head.  She will tell me I need to act my age.  I will answer her and I tell I did exactly that.  I kicked 24 balls and that was it.  I made most of them.  Including the ones that I came out there to make.  The ones from 38 and 40.

That is what rendered me this:

If I hadn’t made those kicks, the pleasant look on my face would have never been realized and I would be downstairs on the elliptical instead of enjoying writing this.  It may be me against me…but I still have a competitive streak.

Oh, by the way…my College picks this week included 9 winners and 3 losers.  The season total is 40 for and 17 against.

Oh-oh, The North Harrison Cougars beat the Eastern Musketeers Friday night by the score of 44-0.  The record is now 6 wins and 0 losses.  This is the best start in school history.  Good thing I got back here when I did.  I am having fun watching the Blue and White again.

Well…I was right…though I wrote this post over two hours ago, my Mother sent me the following email…I knew it…

Don’t want to hear about it when your 47 year old leg starts bothering you. ACT YOUR AGE!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson