I have fielded a few emails, texts, and phone calls in the past few days wondering where my new post for speaktherights was.  Well…you are reading it.

I know I have not made mention since Christmas Day and I don’t apologize.  I was giving you a break!

My dear wife, Carrie, and I were sitting around the table with my sister, Lynn, last night.  We were talking about New Year’s traditions including watching the ball drop in Times Square at midnight…these days I wake Carrie up as she is sleeping on the couch to make sure she doesn’t miss it…we are not party animals.  I must say we will have a new perspective as we watch this year, having visited Times Square for the first time this past summer.

We also discussed eating my Granny’s party mix.  There will be none of that this year, sadly.  We spent many a New Year’s Eve in Shreveport at my grandparent’s house when I was a kid.  I can still see my Granny walking over to take me by the hand to do some kind of waltz to the sounds of the Guy Lombardo Orchestra coming out of the television that looked like a large piece of furniture.  Though I rolled my eyes and reluctantly acquiesced to Granny’s dance routine, I would give anything to cut a rug with her again.

We talked about watching football…three TVs going in my parent’s family room as we watch three games at once.  There will be none of that this year either.  Carrie and I are coming back home after the J-1 bowl games.

As I type these words I am sitting in a nice vacationing spot in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  This is the first time Carrie and I have ever been to Hilton Head.  We did not know we would be here until Christmas Eve.  No, it was not a proper Christmas present that given to us.  It was, however, a gift.  I will spare you the boring details.  Just know that we did not expect to be here.  Every now and then the unexpected takes a turn for the best and we do enjoy it.  It is a good accident opposed to a dreadful accident.  It was an accident nonetheless.  So we take the time to be thankful for it.  It was needed.  My sister and her daughter, Katie, just left a few minutes ago to drive back home.  They spent the past four nights with us.  We all had a great time.  Lynn was in the need of seeing a beach again.  She was able to be there when her 9th grade daughter looked upon the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.  I was there too.  I too enjoyed seeing the Ocean again with my dear Carrie.

So…here we are.

Three hours away from watching the Ole Miss Rebels take on the TCU Horned Frogs in the Peach Bowl.  Hotty Toddy and Go Rebels!

By the way, I stand at 17 winners and 7 losers in the speaktherights.com 2014 Bowl picks.

I must say I will miss watching three TVs with my folks as each one of us is imparting on what just happened on a different game than what the other ones were watching at the moment.  It is wonderful gridiron chaos.  Fortunately it only goes on during the first games of the day…the Noon/1 PM kicks before it is whittled down to one game, The Rose Bowl.

I will specifically miss my Dad’s lines of football parlance that follow:

“He’s got the corner!”

“First Man!”

“Up the Gut!”

“They are holding on every play!”

“I hate these damn commercials!”

“Mama, get that telephone!”

“I think I’ll have a little more party mix!”

Precious memories.

There was another precious memory made yesterday.

While I don’t make a habit of endorsing much of anything on here…cos that is not what this site is about, I can tell that years will come and go for the four of us sitting around a restaurant table and we will still be talking about how wonderful our dining experience was yesterday.

My sister, her daughter, Kate, my dear wife, Carrie, and I took a day trip over to Charleston yesterday.  We took in the sites of a most majestic and uniquely Southern place.  We also ate at what I think is the best restaurant in the world.

I am a fortunate man.  I have been to many places and have seen many things.  Along the way, I have stopped to eat…too much on occasion…dissatisfied with the product on others.

Yesterday we sat down at a table in an establishment that has NEVER disappointed.  Hyman’s Seafood on Meeting Street in Charleston, SC is the place.  Eli Hyman is one of the owners.  He came to our table again yesterday like he has in seemingly every other visit we have made there.  He wants you to enjoy your food and your experience.  The guy cares.  He need not worry.  The food is unbelievable. Our service was good too.  It was obvious, however, that we were being waited on by a rookie that had to come back to the table to double check a few things about our order…better to do that than get it wrong…I kind of felt bad for her because she seemed a bit frustrated with herself.  She should have felt better about things after we left.  The meal…the experience of eating at Hyman’s… if it came down to one word that word would be: WOW!

Speaking the New Year’s/Football/Culinary Rights!

Happy New Year to ALL!

Danny Johnson

LAST CHRISTMAS WITH MY GRANNY…

I raise a cup of coffee and toast the day.  I hope and pray all reading this are well and have a blessed day.

Carrie’s folks, Shirley and Michael, joined us for Christmas breakfast.  We ate some things that were really healthy…and a few things that were not.  This is always a very relaxing day for us.

My day has been lovely thus far and my dear wife, Carrie, is, with me in mind I add, preparing some freshly peeled potatoes to be mashed for my consumption later in the day.  Amen.

We are blessed as the house is starting to fill up a little more.  Our youngest son, Cody, just showed up with Hot Rod the dog.  They know how to enliven a place.  We needed the extra push to the pulse they brought through our front door.

Jarrett, our oldest, is out of town.  He is not in Afghanistan or Iraq.  We did that and thank God that is over.  I was delighted to see his name on a prayer list of servicemen and women at a church we visited recently.  Though he is no longer an active duty military person, he still has the stern heart of a great servant…as does his firefighting brother.   We are most proud.

We, his mother and I, are also missing him terribly this Christmas Day.  Alas, I do not blame him.  He is visiting the family of his lovely sweetheart, Hilary.  She is a fine young lady.  She lives in New Mexico.  Christmas dinner for Jarrett will be spent with her folks.  Merry Christmas to them.  Enjoy your gift from Indiana via the rest of the world.

Carrie’s brother, Steven, will be here shortly.  I have a present for him I know he will enjoy.

Last night we ate dinner at my parents’ house.  We had a great time.  My brother, Darrell, and his wife Emily were there.  So was my sister, Lynn, and her husband, Scott, and their two young’uns Katie and Matt.  I was there.  Carrie was there.  Michael and Shirley were there.  Steven was there.  Cody was there.  We laughed and played a game and ate too much and laughed some more.  We also had a few poignant moments.

My Granny, of course, wasn’t there.  She died a little more than a month ago.  While the life of the party was absent…others of us took up the slack and amped up our games, I think.  As I said, we did have a great time.  I wasn’t kidding.  But I am not going to kid myself either.  I miss my Granny.  I’m supposed to aren’t I?  Of course I am.

Well…Steven just rolled in and I need to go tackle him. CRASH>>CRUNCH>>>KAPOWW…just like the old Batman.  I tackled Steven.

Merry Christmas EVERYONE!  God Bless Us EVERYONE!

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

The holiday season is a joyful time.  It is supposed to be.  If you are like me and have not been lost on the fact that the reason we celebrate this time of year is because it is the holy holiday that signifies the birth of Baby Jesus, I am glad.  Amen indeed.  Santa Claus is not the reason to celebrate Christmas, by the way.  The birth of the Christ-child is why there is a Christmas.  In case you haven’t thought about it…look at the spelling…and then congratulate yourself.

Am I joking?  No.  Life is full of “duh” moments we lose track and significance of.

Why do folks get melancholy as they get contemplative and entertain thoughts about how they should be treating other people better…or realizing they need to tell someone how important they are to them…or…of all things…that they love that person.  DUH!

If you are in need of a “duh” moment, I hope it is not lost on you.  I hope it finds you.  I hope you recognize it.  I hope you embrace it.  It may not always be easy.  It may not always be fun.  No matter…it won’t make things worse.  “Duh” moments never make things worse.

Enjoy your Christmas.  It may not be what you had planned.  You may be missing someone and that may make yo sad.  “Duh”.  I know.

God Bless Us Everyone.

Speaking the Rights.

Danny Johnson

Oh Dear Lord…help me with this post.

I am under the weather.  But…I always say better to be under the weather than under the ground.

I came home early from work today.  I just glanced at the clock on my computer and it says 7:41…and I am worn out and ready to go to bed.

I was traumatized this afternoon.  I made the mistake of parking my hindparts on the couch and mash through the bazillion channels I have on my DirectTV that mean absolutely nothing given they are worthless.

Every time I wonder how the financial terms are of this country I think about the bazillion worthless television channels I pay to watch that have ample worthless commercials on.  Believe me…there are plenty commercials on.  The enterprise of making money for someone is alive and well.  That and all the worthless channels I pay for.  I watch ESPN.  I watch INSP.  I watch Hallmark.  I watch ESPN’s other networks.  I watch the locals on occasion.  Carrie, my dear wife, and I watch the Food Network and the Cooking Channel.

MTV stinks these days.  I miss it.  I remember when The Moody Blues were featured with videos on MTV… never mind…that was in the late 1980s.  VH1 Classic is okay every 14th show.

While I was scanning the channels today I saw some sights I never thought I would ever…or would hope to never see.

I was dumbfounded when I came across one channel.   I decline to indicate the channel or the network.  I do not decline the memory I had as I watched the program.

Lewis Grizzard, the late newspaper columnist, once said he was glad his father died before he saw his son, Lewis himself, getting his hair cut at a beauty parlor.

I must say I am glad Lewis died, he passed in 1994, before he had the chance to see what I saw on television today.  One subject of his humor and derision has made a rebound.  He was on TV today.  I saw him as I was channel surfing.  I thought i was going to faint.  What I saw was unimaginable.

The television evangelist Jim Bakker is still alive.  He was on TV today making a fool of himself.  He was quoting scripture and hocking junk, including meals in totes to supply on for the next seven years for near 3000 dollars.  The big deal was a $91 dollar special in honor of a 91 year old lady that recently passed away.  91 bucks for jewelry or throat lozenges…or water bottles…or…it was surreal…for 91 bucks.  I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.

I am glad Lewis Grizzard didn’t live long enough to see Jim Bakker on TV today.

And to think…this is what I am in danger of as I wait to watch football on ESPN.

Speaking the Rights.

Danny Johnson

Well…as the old saying goes…it has to get better.

Last week my College Football Picks were woeful at best and pathetic at worst.  I am guilty. Upon further review, I admit to making a few picks with my heart instead of my head.  I abhor Ohio State.  In a big game like last week’s I just can’t bring myself to pick them…so I didn’t.  They won BIG.  I didn’t.

I didn’t want to pick Florida State to beat Georgia Tech.  I followed my heart.  I picked “the Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech”.

I picked five winners and five losers last week.  That is not good.  For the season I have picked 110 winner and 40 losers.  I’m not disappointed.  It could have been much much worse.  It could have been much better.

Regardless…it was a good time.  That is what counts when making picks on college football games.  I reiterate from previous posts: I don’t bet on football.  I love the game too much to ever do that.  The day I am relegated to looking at point spreads instead of the atmosphere that makes college football special you might as well grab a shovel.

So this is it.  The last college football picks of the year.  Perhaps I will take a long hard look at the NFL playoffs and have some fun with them as well.  To do that, however, I will have to discover something for the pro game that has really evaded me thus far in 2014: a great deal of interest.

Louisiana Lafayette beats Nevada in the New Orleans Bowl.  ULL is the recent resident of this bowl having played in it often of late.

Know this…these bowl, well most all of  them, have corporate sponsors that unless it is absolutely necessary I will not mention.  I don’t advertise…at least not yet.  I have no reason to bore you even more by announcing every corporate syllable like: The Cousin Willie’s-Orville Redenbaker-Buttery Flavored Pop Corn Bowl brought to you in part by Pennzoil.  There is no such a game.  Perhaps it will join the fray next year joining one of this years entries: Popeyes Bahamas Bowl.  This is going to be played in Nassau.

Utah State beats UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl.

Colorado State beats Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Air Force beats Western Michigan in the Potato Bowl….where is Hayden Fox when you need him?

South Alabama beats Bowling green in the Camellia Bowl…man they need to do something about this bowl’s name.  That is just plain sad.  I know…if I were on a college football team and I had another chance to play a game I would not care if it was called the Sewage Bowl…it has nearly come to that.  That…and I am in favor of many bowls.  Whomever says there are too many bowls doesn’t appreciate the effort put in to playing and coaching the game.

BYU will beat Memphis in the Miami Beach Bowl…God Bless Memphis!  They won 9 games this year.  Their coach deserves a statue!  BYU will  get them.

Marshall will beat Northern Illinois in the Boca Raton Bowl…The Herd has a chance to be 13-1.  They had their shot at the big time.  They wasted it.  But….given their schedule and their accomplishments, lets not be too greedy.  I am proud of this team.  They get to play in a bowl and they get home for Christmas.  Oh…Go Herd!

Navy will beat San Diego State in the Poinsettia Bowl…Navy discipline will find away against a bigger team.

Western Kentucky will beat Central Michigan in the Bahamas Bowl…Congrats to Coach Jeff Brohm leading his team to big win at Marshall in the season finale and taking them to a bowl game. 8-5 will sound good one of these days when he has the time to look back.

Rice beats Fresno State in the Hawaii Bowl…There may be a sparse crowd…but they will have a blast.  I have been to Aloha Stadium…my Granny took me there.

Louisiana Tech will beat Illinois in the Dallas Bowl…La. Tech has too much imagination for the Illini.

North Carolina will beat Rutgers in the Quick Lane Bowl…thus saving Coach Larry Fedora from more embarrassment.

Central Florida will beat NC State in the St. Petersburg Bowl….UCF will take a short bus ride and Coach O’Leary has a habit of coming through when he needs to.

Virginia Tech will beat Cincinnati in the Military Bowl…VTU was almost shut out of a bowl with a string of appearances going back to the 1993 Independence Bowl.  I was there.  They beat Indiana 45-20.  Coach Beamer will get the best of Riverboat Gambler, Coach Tommy (the will have to carry me out of Oxford in a pine box) Tuberville.

Arizona State will beat Duke in the Sun Bowl…and it hurts me.

South Carolina will beat Miami in the Independence Bowl…Coach Spurrier has to lead them to the victory.  I called them the champs at the beginning of the season.  Yes…I am that crazy.

Boston College will beat Penn State in the Pinstripe Bowl…I remember watching this bowl in 2010 while Carrie, my dear wife, and I were in a Chicago hotel room.  I thought then as I think now, playing football in Yankee Stadium is like looking at a golf ball in a punch bowl.  Not right.

USC will beat Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl…This game, like the Alamo Bowl usually features two good programs.  Tommy of Troy will get the Coach in waiting Cornhuskers.

Texas A&M will beat West Virginia in the Liberty Bowl…I was hoping the Marshall Hers would play in this game.  Translation:  Go Aggies!  Please!

Clemson will beat Oklahoma in the Russell Athletic Bowl….Gads it hurts to type that name for a bowl.

Arkansas will beat Texas in the Texas Bowl…Pig Sooooie is on a roll.

LSU will beat Notre Dame in the Music City Bowl…what a coup for Nashville to get these two storied programs.  ^I think this happened in Shreveport once before in the Independence Bowl before we had so many bowl games.

Georgia will beat Louisville in the Belk Bowl…and I am delighted!

Stanford will beat Maryland in the Foster Farms Bowl?  I don’t know what that means.

Ole Miss will beat TCU in the Peach Bowl…Hotty Toddy and thank God they brought back the name Peach Bowl!  Go Rebels!

Arizona will beat Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.  RichRod has done good in Tuscon.

Mississippi State will beat Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl…The Cowbellers have had a great season.  They will be too much on D for GTU.

Auburn will beat Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl…Speed usually wins…like this bowl.

Baylor will beat Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl…Baylor will take playoff snub out on Sparty…no let down here.

Minnesota will beat Mizzou in the Citrus Bowl…Mizzou got beat by Indiana…how can I pick them?

Pitt will beat Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl…Thank God for the Armed Forces…many match-ups like this would be a detriment to the country.

Iowa will beat Tennessee in the Tax Slayer Bowl…Who wants a T-Shirt that says Tax Slayer Bowl?  Lame bowl name in the extremist!  Iowa…please don’t let me down again.

UCLA will beat Kansas State in the Alamo Bowl…this may be the best game of the entire bowl season.  Don’t miss this one!

Washington will beat Oklahoma State in the Cactus Bowl…Sounds like a bowl for Hayden Fox and Luther Van Dam.

East Carolina will beat Florida  in the Birmingham Bowl…the Gators will be looking for a coach and Pirates will be looking to give Coach Ruffin…a speaktherights favorite…a 9th win.  Go Pirates!

Arkansas State will beat Toledo in the GoDaddy Bowl…it hurt to type that lame name too.

Florida State will beat Oregon in the Rose Bowl….an abomination of the Rose Bowl as we are devoid of a PAC- 10 (12) v. Big Ten match-up as was meant to be before dollars got int he way.  FSU is like a cockroach in a A-bomb storm….the make it through…sad to say.

Alabama will beat Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl….The Tide will be resting players in the second half of this one.  Brutus may be roasted on Bourbon Street before this one is over.

The National Championship?

Roll Tide.  Alabama beats Florida State as Winston finally implodes on his teammates and himself.  Kind of like Johnny Manziel’s performance against the Bengals today in his first NFL start.  Well…maybe not that bad!

Roll Tide!  My friend, brother Tim, should be happy.

Speaking the college football rights for the last time in 2014!

Danny Johnson

Today I pulled a collection of songs that I recorded nearly a decade ago and put the finishing touches on two years later.  My recording of these songs was a dream come true.  My dear friend Jeff Carpenter was at the controls engineering away as we filled his studio with the best sounds we could come up with…I have no doubt they were exactly that.  As I was listening today I was more than pleased once again and the memories of those recording sessions just came flowing back.

Our sessions were the work of somewhat of a three-headed music monster.  I wrote the songs…words and music.  As cool as that sounds, it seems hollow without thinking about how these songs were shaped by Jeff Carpenter and Tim Krekel.  Jeff called the shots and made suggestions via his ear for the right sound.  Tim called the shots and led the instrumental charge with his guitar and his remarkable ear.  Though I wrote the songs and sang them, I still felt a bit like Minnie Pearl.  I was just proud to be there.  Jeff had recorded with Tim for years.  Tim was a gifted player.  If you have ever heard Jimmy Buffett’s song off the cd Son of a Son of a Sailor called Livingston Saturday Night…before the guitar solo Buffett calls out a variation of Tim’s first name.

I snickered to myself today as I listened to one of the songs we had recorded.

Traffic on the Back Alley is the name of the song.

This song is somewhat of a lamenting love song…the chorus goes like this:

There’s a side street in my memory that’s more than just a lane                                             Where things I never talk about come back to life again                                                         A place that’s all about the wrong and right                                                                             There’s still traffic on the back alley of my life

I had that chorus and a preceding verse that made up the original tune…that was all I had.

You see, when the recording process begins we cut what we call demos first.  That is when you run through potential songs to record.  It is a simple process.  Jeff Carpenter on one side of the glass and me and a guitar and a microphone going through songs and making simple recordings along the way to build on as we move along.

We must of went through seventeen songs.  I was pooped.  I was tired of singing.  My fingers were tired from strumming and finger-picking the rhythms out as I sang on for nearly two hours.  I was about to pack up for the day when Jefferson asked me about that “Traffic on the alley song”.  I had played him that one verse and that one chorus some weeks, if not months, earlier.  He remembered the tune.  That in itself was a bit flattering.  I then sheepishly told him all I had was that verse and that chorus.  That was it.  Then I looked at Jefferson and told him to hang on a minute.

I grabbed a pen and a piece paper and wrote out that verse and that chorus.  I studied it.  I looked at it for a few minutes.  Then I let happen what just was meant to happen.  I wrote out some of the most meaningless sappy lyrics I have ever written.  They just flowed out.  They made sense.  They worked.  I am just glad Jefferson asked about them.  It really isn’t a bad song.  In fact, I have had friends ask me about whom I was referring to in the song.  I have had a good time being glib about the answer.  The truth is so meaningless…but not without interest.

All the lyrics?

Traffic on the Back Alley

A Blue-eyed brunette from Pittsburgh/ A high school football game

Things that are forever gone that never left me the same

A Mustang I still yearn for/ An empty bottle of Jack

Things I’m not too proud of I wish I could take back…

There’s a side street in my memory that’s more than just a lane                                             Where things I never talk about come back to life again                                                         A place that’s all about the wrong and right                                                                             There’s still traffic on the back alley of my life

A girl I thought that loved me/ The things I did for her

The sacrifices that I made…why does it still hurt

I ran into her yesterday/ She smiled and said hello

And I thought there’s still so much she needs to know…

There’s a side street in my memory that’s more than just a lane                                             Where things I never talk about come back to life again                                                         A place that’s all about the wrong and right                                                                             There’s still traffic on the back alley of my life

Songwriting is a great mystery.  What wasn’t there ten minutes ago can become a part of your life.  Awesome.

Singing the Rights.

Danny Johnson

In front of me as I type these words is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  I never miss it.  It has been playing on CBS as long as I can remember.   I never tire of watching it.  There are so many elements of Rudolph we can relate to.  Misfits…we know them.  Some of us are them.  Friends…we know them.  Some of us are them.  Heroes…we know them.  We are all a hero to some one at some time.  I believe that.  Weather…we all know it.  Some of us love snow and some of us don’t.

Every year for many years and in some cases, recently, there are a few other Christmas shows I try to get around to looking at when they come through my living room.

Frosty the Snowman is my second favorite.  The fastest thirty minutes on television.  I still get upset when Frosty melts in the hot-house.  That is just plain sad…pitiful…not right.   Thank God he comes back to life in good time.  Had he not come back the first time I saw it I would have needed therapy I am sure.  I took my babysitter killing over on me when I was five better than watching Frosty melt!

The Little Drummer Boy is another show I try to watch every year.

In recent years there is a movie my family and I have been watching on the Hallmark Channel when it shows up.  The Christmas Card is a movie about an Army fellow that gets a card in the mail while he is deployed to the Middle East.  He takes his card and tracks down its origins and we are entertained by the twists and turns of a predictable story that is still pretty cool…not unlike Rudolph and Frosty.

We can’t forget A Christmas Carol.  I like the Reginald Owen 1938 version the best.  I have a copy of it.  I try to find it on TV.  God Bless Us…Everyone.

There are others….many others.

Along with television there are songs.  I enjoy listening to the Christmas Songs on the radio.  One station in Louisville plays them constantly right now.  I tune for a while every day.

Carrie, my dear wife,  and I have a simple wooden Nativity…a great manger scene… on display in our living room 365 days a year.  I never tire of looking at that either…especially that.  God Bless Us…Everyone.

Songs…one of my favorite seasonal tunes is The Christmas Song…you know…the one that talks about chestnuts roasting on an open fire and all.

I sang that song as a 5th grader at Brownstown Central Elementary School and as a 6th grader at North Harrison Elementary School.  The song sounded much different in year’s time and 50 miles south from one school to another.  In Jackson County the vowel is much tighter and defined than it is in Harrison County where the vowel is much looser and more country sounding.

The difference is kind of like this:

Jackson Co.:  And every mother’s child is going to spy to see if reindeer really know how to fly.

Harrison County:  And ever-ry mother’s chiiiild is gonna spyyyy…to see if reindeer really know how to flyyyyyy.

Me….I have a hybrid accent that can take on any place any time.  That is what I get for being a child of Mississippi born parents who was born in Columbus, Indiana.  South meets North.

Most folks think I have a southern accent.  I have no problem with that.

It came in handy one day in 2011.  I was getting gas in the Village of Amherst, New Hampshire.  The gas station attendant asked me a question.  I answered.  He declared I was not “from around here (Amherst, NH)”.  He asked where I was from.  I told him I was from Indiana.  I can still hear him in his northeastern accent: “Indiana? I coulda swore you were from South Carolina.”  I was most appreciative.  I love South Carolina.

Speaking of Southern Accents…who in their right mind would cast Dan Akroyd as an Atlanta resident…witness Driving Miss Daisy.  This Canadian actor sounded about as Southern as a Walleye Sandwich.  Pitiful.  I still like the movie though.

Enjoy the holiday season.  Tell someone why you love them. God Bless Us…Everyone.

Speaking the Rights.

Danny Johnson

How many deer did you dodge today?

I thought I was going to buy it…a new car that is…on more than one occasion this morning.  With the time change and the winter solstice on the horizon, it is not uncommon for me to drive to work in the dark and drive home in the dark. This translates, given my commute is of a rural persuasion, into my chances of hitting a deer going up.  I know many posts ago I mentioned that I alone had hit no less than 5 of Bambi’s cousins myself over the years.  Good luck and God bless us all trying not to hit the deer!

College Football Picks Week # 15 for my Possum friend named Carl.

Conference championships will shake out this weekend, as will the decision to choose those to play in the mythical four team playoff for the so-called national championship.

Here goes:

Northern Illinois beats Bowling Green…MAC Football is quality football.  The Huskies will take care of business.

Oregon beats Arizona…I think.  They game is in Eugene and the Ducks have a regular season score to settle with the Tuscon boys.  Mariotta should wrap up the Heisman with this game giving the Pacific Northwest its first Heisman winner since 1962 when Oregon State’s Terry Baker took the statue in 1962.

Marshall beats Louisiana Tech…The Herd better be ready to play defense after the meltdown that was an embarrassment to the Herd last week.  They lost their shot at a BIG TIME BOWL …but not all is lost.  Go Herd.

Cincinnati will beat Houston…The weather alone will help the Bearcats win this one.

Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State…The call this game Bedlam.  It will be a tough one.  Always is.

Tulane will beat Temple….The Green Wave beats the Owls…in case you care.

Kansas State beats Baylor…Most folks will turn their heads like a hound listening to a goofy sound when they see this one.  This thing is…some media types are already calling for K-State to play Louisville in the Russell Athletic Bowl…based on the fact K-State will lose this game.  Hogwash.  How soon we forget Bill Snyder is coaching the Wildcats AGAIN.

Georgia Tech beats Florida State…Maybe this will get the Seminoles out of the championship race and satisfy 99.8% of college football fans in the process.  FSU has been a joke and a black eye for a great game.

Wisconsin beats Ohio State…I don’t have it in me to pick OSU to move on to the final four. Besides…Swissconsin has cheese-fed and grain-fed beef up front that will cause December woes for the Buckeyes.  Too bad this game is played indoors.  Not very Big Ten like.  Even Minnesota is playing outdoors these days.  Putting a Big Ten Football Championship indoors is like putting perfume on a hog.

Boise State beats Fresno State…The Blue turf at Boise is enough to make anyone want to go back to California.

105 winners  35 losers and counting…next up is the bowl season and the call for the champs.

Have a great weekend.

Carl the Possum is doing well.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

What follows is a column I wrote in 2006.  It saw the light of day in another publication.

Thanks goes out to all the prayers and well-wishes my family has received following the death of my grandmother.  Personally, I am still having a hard time being convinced she is gone.   I half expect her to come waddling around the corner propped up on her ‘Hurry Cane’.  But…I know…that is not going to happen.

I read this piece again tonight for the first time in YEARS!  At the time, Carrie and I were taking care of her grandparents.

Yes…football fans…I know…I was 6 good picks and 4 bad picks this past college football weekend.  Here is what I am going to do.  I will pick the conference championship games this weekend….and the Army-Navy game….and maybe a few FCS games to get ten games picked out of the deal.  Then, when all the bowl games are matched up, including the mythical 4 team playoff, I will pick all the bowl games at once for good measure.  This is a risk.  We don’t know who is going to get hurt, or stabbed, or decide to join a monastery between now and bowl season time.  So be it.  I will be a man about it and stick by my picks!  So far this season I have 105 winners and 35 losers.  I am not disappointed.

I hope you enjoy the following:

It Pays to Hold Hands

Carrie, my dear wife, and I were sitting at a table in an urban eatery recently.  We had placed our order and were waiting patiently.  We can do that, Carrie and I; we can easily wait patiently because it’s not about the wait.  It’s about spending time together.  That may sound like an audition for a greeting card commercial, but it’s true.  Circumstances called our life have rendered us, Carrie and me, precious little time together in the last few years.  Caring for folks whom can no longer care for themselves will do that to you.

So there we were, quietly enjoying each other’s company when the manager of the restaurant came bounding over to our table.  He was a tall man with a neatly trimmed mustache.

“Here’s a coupon for five dollars off your meal because I caught to the two of you holding hands” he said.

“Thanks” is what I said back to him.  Then I thought, I wonder if the old boy would give me a ten-dollar coupon if I gave her a kiss on the mouth.  Alas, I decided not to press my luck or my lips.  The five-dollar coupon was a kind gesture.  I really appreciated it.

Carrie made mention that holding hands is a very involuntary thing between the two of us.  Without thinking about it, I agreed.

Hand-holding is a time-honored tradition.  When I was a kid handholding was the second public sign that you were sweet on a girl.  The first sign was standing closer to a girl than normal while being seen with each other more than absolutely necessary.  After this, hand-holding was sure to come later.  Next was pushing a girl on a swing on the playground.  Speaking of which, not long ago I crossed paths with the first girl I ever kissed on the playground.  I started to speak to her, knowing she graduated high school with friends I had kept up with over the years.  I spoke authoritatively about Jerry Brown, a dear friend and Mike Warren, another old crony and Mark “Great” Brittain.  Inquisitively, she looked at me and asked, “Do I know you?”

There’s just something about feeling the pulse of another hand in yours.  Plus, it’s convenient.  Hands were made to join.  But more than that, there is a great deal of significance in dealing with the hand.  The hand is what feeds us.  The hand is how we express ourselves non-verbally.  Those love notes have to be written somehow.  And it just feels good.

I enjoy shaking the hands of old friends when we see each other for the first time in a long time.  That’s special.

Playing music at church is good times and so are the times when we gather hands and pray.  Hands brought together in prayer are strong hands.  I always think it’s cool when the prayer is over and the one who is holding my hand gives it an extra squeeze at the end to punctuate the amen just delivered. Amen.

Last night I was totally taken aback by a hand-holding ceremony.  I was visiting the home of a ten-year-old boy who is the son of a friend of mine’s cousin.  The boy had surgery today.  Last night I was asked to lead a prayer for the boy.  His chemotherapy-deprived hair could not diminish the smile attached to his face or eyes that danced in time with each of us in the room.  So, so special.

We gathered around the boy’s bed and before I began to offer prayer, out from under his covers came the boy’s two arms extending his hands to those on his immediate right and left.  We all joined hands.  I prayed.  Today that boy had a large portion of one lung removed.  I’m still praying.  And I’m still seeing the smile on a face that has more trust and strength and hope than any other ten guys I know.

You could say, yes, but the boy doesn’t know any better.

I say he does.  I say we just think we know more.

Remember the old Beatles song I Want to Hold Your Hand?  It really is “such a feeling”…

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson