It has been over a week since I put something here.  That is too long.

If I am not writing here it means I am writing something else.  I can’t be two places at once.

Music has taken my evenings of late to a degree.  I have been writing a few new songs and this weekend I will go into the studio to demo these songs with my friend Jerry Brown in the house.  Jerry is an artist.  I asked if he would design the cover of my new CD that is a work in progress.  I certainly hope we get there.

I saw Jerry and his brother, Harv, and his son, Clay, last week at the Brownstown Central- North Harrison Lady Cat basketball game at BC.

The Brown boys were wrapping up the radio broadcast.  On the right is another dear old friend, Barry Hall.

North Harrison’s Lady Cats went into The Pit at BCHS and dominated the Lady Braves.  It was a great win for NH.

It is always good to enjoy the long drive home.

Before the game I walked out on Brownstown Central’s new turf field for the first time.  The goal posts I kicked on as a kid and teenager were not there, replace by nice new yellow ones.  It was all kind of surreal.  I was out there alone and it was a good thing.  I was kind of speechless.  Between the new stadium going in and now a new field, my boyhood field of dreams is a memory.  North Harrison didn’t beat Brownstown Central 59-0 on that field when I was a junior in high school.  We beat BC on that “space”.  Oh well.  That’s progress for you.

Looking forward to coming back in September to watch the Cougars take on the Braves.

Gulity pleasure.  I wrote this post listening to 1977’s Barry Manilow Live.  I had the LP when I was a kid. Now I have the CD.  Sans the scratches a nine year old kid puts on a record album, this stuff sounds better than ever.  I was all about Weekend in New England over forty years ago and I still love it and I am proud of it!

Now that is truly Speaking the Rights!

Danny Johnson

Jim Mora.  We will never forget him uttering “Playoffs?!” to a media person while he was the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

Today the NFC and AFC Champs will be crowned.  Those winners will play in the Super Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia providing there is not a political move to postpone it.  You just never know these days.

In the first game today, the New Orleans Saints host the Los Angeles Rams.  I am for the Rams.  My Granny would not have approved.  I hold a grudge when it comes to NFL and College football.  The Saints beat the Colts in the Super Bowl.  I can’t root for them.

When I was a kid the 49ers beat the Bengals in Super Bowl XVI.  Have hoped for SF to get beat every time since.

If the Saints play the Patriots in two weeks, I might as well watch a marathon of Fraiser.

You can surmise that I hope the Kansas City Chiefs beat the New England Patriots in the second game this evening.  You would be right.  If you know anything of the Indianapolis rivalry against New England in the Peyton Manning administration, you know I will never root for the Patriots.

How cool is it that the two Super Bowls the Giants won with Eli Manning behind center were both against the Patriots.  It is awesome stuff for sure.

Late in the season, I was hoping that if the Colts did not get there, that we would see the Rams play the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.  I will be for the Rams if they get there I think.

Let’s see how things play out.

I am not as avid in my following of the NFL as I once was.  No, it has nothing to do with the National Anthem.  The game has changed and I don’t like it as much as I did.  I remember an article in a magazine in 1979 that led with this: “It’s Bombs Away in the new NFL”.  The reference here was a nod to the Air Coryell offense of the San Diego Chargers.  In 1978 the Chargers quarterback, Dan Fouts, threw for over 4000 yards in the first sixteen game season.  Joe Namath threw for 4007 in 14 games in 1967.

Still, the forward pass was gaining momentum.  Roger Staubach pulled out the shot-gun offense when they needed a big play.  These days most quarterbacks don’t even know what their center’s backside is about.  Maybe that is a good thing.  And, a QB throwing for 5000 yards is no one’s front page news now.

I suppose my heroes are gone.  I root for Eli Manning now.  He won’t play much longer.

At least we have some good games to look at today.  I am going to enjoy them.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnsojn

This was not the plan.

This is better.

Isn’t it nice when things turn out that way.  Reminds me of the song lyric that says “If you want to make God laugh, tell him what your plans are.”

This is post # 500 of speaktherights.com.  That is what I have tried to do.  I just want to speak the rights.  I had big plans to take a chunk of this weekend and put together some “best of” material with excerpts and a collection of favorite photos.  You know, some kind of celebratory milestone post.

In earnest, I have been giving serious thought about making post # 500 the last one.  I was talked out of it.  Our mothers can be persuasive that way.

But as is the case, I write when the spirit moves me.  I was moved tonight.

It has been years since I have been to a wrestling match.  I think I went with my Dad to a college wrestling meet when I was a kid.  One of his former football players was into wrestling and we went to watch him.

Tonight was Senior Night for the wrestling team at North Harrison High School.  From my perch in the Northeast corner of the gymnasium, I took in a sport that comports itself with more class and dignity than any game going.  Don’t get me wrong, I like celebrations.  I really do.  What I don’t like, is for an athlete to make a great play and then show out like he wants to run for public office and bring as much attention as possible to himself.  This posturing drives me even more crazy when the attention seeker’s team is losing a game by a large margin.

What I witnessed tonight, as North hosted a visiting Scottsburg team, was true sportsmanship and appreciation for each other’s efforts.

The wrestlers meet the referee on the mat and conducted themselves with class before and after they tried to pin each.  There was no dirty pool.  Well, not that I could tell.  The sportsmanship was what was impressive.

Also impressive was the talk given by NH coach Dusty Rhodes as he acknowledged the seniors and imparted a few words of wisdom to them.  It was heart-felt and sincere.  I was very proud to be there.

A match begins.

A young man from Scottsburg won this match.

One of the things I delighted in was how the wrestlers would interact with the coaches of the other team.

I get it.  This is a different sport.  It is not a match of team work.  It is you and the opponent and the mat.  I talked about it with senior wrestler Coleman Biddle today.  There was a conviction and a drive in his voice as he talked about it.  The sense, and I have seen my share of sport, I had was that this was an “it is all on me” thing.  The accountability factor is multiplied many times over with this attitude and this realization.  Still, there is a great deal of team spirit as mates cheer one another on and encourage them.

And coaches of the other team encourage opposing wrestlers.

It was a special thing to behold.

No.  This is not what I planned on for my 500th post of speaktherights.com.

This was better.

Thank you to the North Harrison Athletic department, the coaches, the wrestlers, and their parents.  None of this gets done without hard work.  That was certainly gracefully displayed tonight.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

It is January 5, 2019 and I am already sick of the political tone in this country.

What happened?  No No No…not a rendition from a “base” (ironic term) or a pundit or talking head on television.

What happened?

I doubt I live long enough to find out, and I am just glad I can sit here in and listen to an ELO cd and think about it all.  I am not wondering where my next pay check is coming from or, gads, even worse, when it is coming.

I feel sorry for the Government workers whose livelihood is in jeopardy.

I am sorry we have a president whom I doubt knows much about paying bills.

I am sorry a freshman congresswoman shot her mouth off with a vulgar term whilst speaking of her desire to see the current sitting president impeached.  That was not necessary.  Regardless of her convictions, there are higher roads for sure.

Just because the president talks like a potty mouth that should not give the rest a license to do the foolish same.

I am sorry the political party I grew up left me.  Alex P. Keaton would be sad too.

So I am back to my question?  What happened?  Was it the computer?  I doubt it.  Was it social media?  I don’t think so.

News channels taking sides in blatant ways that require no brain cells to sift information?  We may be on to something here.

One day a great scholar will hold forth on this place in time and he or she will have plenty of answers and they will be looking to this place in time as a place that was oxymoronic for sure.

A president that knows more than all of us about everything (according to him).

Two political parties that are good with letting their own suffer and live in fear of what to do next without funds.

Two political parties fighting over a border issue that is not as bad as it has been (pending on who you talk to).

Cold War enemies are playing sweethearts now.

So, we are stuck with what is best for the country?  You remember, the USA.  That place that folks used to look up to much more than they do now.  Boats of immigrants made this country the place it is.  I am not afraid of folks wanting a great life in this country.  I am more afraid of politicians trying to kill the American dream.

That was evident when the president was laughed at during an appearance at the United Nations.  What a country!

I wish politicians were as interested in the drug problems that are killing our young people as they are in arguing over walls, slats, fencing, and other ways to posture their separate causes.

I have said it before and I still believe it.  The generation of current thirtysomethings are paying attention.  They are the first “bunch” to live first hand with a new information age.  Not as much is new to them.  My toys are not their toys.  My toys are their way of life and things have changed greatly.  If Twitter is still around, they will know what to do with it.  I do hope I see that day.

Oh yes, Roll Tide!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I am sitting on the couch watching college football as I type these words.  The bowl game picks have gone well so far.  22 winners and 8 losers so far, though it looks like my pick of Mizzou over Oklahoma State is not going to work out.  But, there is still time.

I hope and pray that 2019 is good to you and your loved ones.

We are in the middle of some strange times.  That is for sure.  God help us.

Last week I found something I had never seen before.  My dear wife, Carrie, and I were in Indianapolis.

Peyton Manning’s statue outside Lucas Oil Stadium, a.k.a The House That Peyton Built.

I have said it before.  Peyton Manning made football in Indiana.  The sport gained popularity exponentially while he was behind Jeff Saturday.

Peyton will always stand tall here.

I must say I am delighted that the current Colts are in the playoffs after starting the season 1-5.  Only the third team to do that.

Happy New Year and keep speaking the rights!

Danny Johnson