Speaking of Sports.

Three simple words I can’t get out of my system.  For well over twenty years I have listened in to 96.3 WJAA in Seymour, Indiana on Mondays and Fridays to hear Jim Plump and Robert Becker bring us the preview of the sporting world weekend to come on Friday and then the recap of what happened over the weekend on Monday.

Jim Plump I have been acquainted with for most of my life.  He was an excellent sportswriter for the Seymour Daily Tribune, it was called then, and then the Columbus Republic.  My Dad was the Brownstown Central High School football coach for all but one year in the 1970s and Jim covered many of Dad’s games.  I remember Jim coming to the house to interview Dad.  Jim told Dad that if Dad didn’t give Jim a hard time about the length of his hair, Jim would not give him a hard time about his Southern accent.  I still remember that, as I was on the floor watching and listening to all that was unfolding.  I will say it again, as I have an archive newspaper account and have read much of his work,  Jim Plump was as good a sports writer as I have read.  He’s right up there with Caulton Tudor, Jerry Byrd, and Rick Cleveland.

Ah, newspapers.  When my Mom and Dad lived in Brownstown they “took” (as my great-grandmother Ivy Nowling used to say) The Brownstown Banner, The Seymour Daily Tribune, The Courier-Journal, The Louisville Times, and The Indianapolis Star.  So don’t ask me where my affinity for newspapers came from.  I have shared this photo here before, as I have a standing order in The Berkshires…I hope we get back there one day.

Robert Becker.

I still remember the day in the early 1990s when I was visiting my friend Jerry Brown of Celery Signs fame, as Jackson County has become his canvas, and out of the speakers in his sign shop The Moody Blues were singing The Story in Your Eyes.  I looked at Brown.  I asked what station he was listening to.  New station in Seymour is what he told me.  That is all it took.  On that day I knew Robert Becker had good sense.

In the late 1990s my path would officially cross with Robert Becker’s.  I was working at Medora Schools as an English teacher and I was charged with helping the students with the school newspaper, The Medorian.  At this same time Robert Becker had a segment called the Jackson County High School Report.  Students from all four of the county high schools, Trinity Lutheran was not there yet, called into the station and gave a report of what was going on around campus that week.  As a young educator, I appreciated what Robert was doing for our students.  It was a big deal when we would gather around the radio to hear one of our students hold forth on what was happening in Medora.  It made us feel good to know we were in the game.  Thank you, Robert.

My friendship with Robert, we have not seen much of each other in person, has certainly materialized thanks to the music of The Moody Blues.  That is our most common ground.  Robert likes The Moodies.  He has never failed to play me a Moodies tune when I called in to ask to hear one.  He is a smart man.

But along the way, in recent years, I have tried to let Robert know how important he has been to Jackson County, Indiana, my old home-place. I grew up in Brownstown as a kid.  Many old friends are still there.

I featured Robert on these pages in January 2018.  And now, here we are again.

Robert Becker hung up his microphone on Friday, August 28th.  He sold 96.3 WJAA to Brent and Becky Schepman earlier in the year.

I got wistful as I listened to Jim Plump and Robert Becker do their last transmission of Speaking of Sports.  At 7:50 every Monday and Friday (Plump did a heavier schedule at one time…just so he knows I remember) these two would give us the lowdown, my apologies to Boz Scaggs, about the world of sports.  It was great for Jim to be able to keep a toe in some water that felt good to him.  I know he enjoys sports. I doubt he remembers, but in 2006 I was a guest on the show.  There was a big match-up that  Friday night between the Brownstown Central Braves and the North Harrison Cougars.  I was calling the Cougars games on WKLO at the time.  A horrendous storm just before kickoff sent the Cougars back to Ramsey.  The game was not made up.

While Jim was into sports, Robert, well, maybe not so much.  Robert Becker could butcher the names of athletes like no one else.  Whether he was talking about Davis Love III and calling him Davis Love Jr. the Third, or referencing David Ortiz as Big Pappy, it was always fun cos you never knew what Robert was going to say.

But you know Robert enjoys his baseball.  Having grown up on the south side of Chicago, he knows a thing or two about baseball.  Robert knows the joy of attending a baseball game with all of its sights and sounds and the relaxation that only comes with settling into a seat you know you can melt into for 54 outs if you wish to hang around that long.

The last episode of 96.3 WJAA Speaking of Sports, August 28, 2020.

Thank you, gentleman.  I will miss you so much.  

And so we turn the page.  Doesn’t mean I have to like it.  When 890 WLS the Rock of Chicago went to a talk radio format in 1989 I was feeling a little like I feel now.  I was a night time devotee to the likes of Chuck Britton, Fred Winston, John Landecker and Larry Lujack and Tommy Edwards in the morning before the sun came up to take the signal away until night again.

I’ll have to find something else to listen to tomorrow morning.  No offense, Becky.  I just can’t do it.  You don’t need me anyway.  I don’t shop in Brownstown or Seymour.

I told Plump and Becker both this week it will probably be Moodies in the morning for me as I drive to Paoli where I work as a high school school counselor.

Speaking of sports…

I was behind that larger open window at the top left of this picture on Friday night working with Bert Pedigo calling the game for 95.3 WUME in Paoli.  Bert did the play by play and I just threw my two cents in every now and again.  The Rams were bested by the Corydon Central Panthers.  The record is 1-1 with the county rival Springs Valley Blackhawks hosting the Rams in the Orange (County) Bowl.  Should be good times.

One parting shot for Robert Becker. 

I listened to a 12-inch single of The Moody Blues 1986 Top Ten hit Your Wildest Dreams today.  Robert, never in my wildest dreams could I enjoy a radio station more than I have enjoyed listening to you on 96.3.  Justin Hayward knows what I am talking about!

Best wishes from both of us!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

August 26, 1997.  I heard a lonely sort of hum.

My world is so much about sound.  As I sit here typing these words I am listening to The Moody Blues with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra at their landmark September 1992 25th Anniversary concert and the first time they ever performed with an orchestra.

I have listened to these sounds thousands of times and they still make sense to me.  I feel better hearing this in the room.  If I did not hear this right now, I would hear a lonely sort of hum.

My mother does the word jumble in the Courier Journal (or what is left of it) each day.  On Monday she read the letters of a word she could not decipher.  I heard them.  I put them together to form the word rather quickly.

On August 25, 1997, I heard the voice of my friend Corner King Lincoln for the last time.  We were wrapping up a phone conversation.  He from his home across the street from the church at Hancock Chapel where this photo was taken on my wedding day in 1996, and me with one foot on the living room carpet and one foot on the kitchen linoleum of our house in New Salisbury.  Our sign-off of a phone call was standard.

Corner King: “Later on, brother!”

Me: “Later on now!”

That was it.  The next day I got a phone call from the Harrison County Hospital.  It was a cousin of my dear wife, Carrie.  She was in the ER that day as a nurse.  She called, as she knew my relationship with Malcolm Todd “Corner King” Lincoln, Sr and his family.  She called and told me how it did not look good.  She promised to call me with any update.

No more than fifteen minutes later I had this conversation:

Me:  “Yes?”

Tammy:  “Danny.”

Me:  “How is he?”

Tammy: “He didn’t make it.  I am so sorry.”

Me:  “Okay, thanks for letting me know, Tammy.”

I threw the phone down on the chair next to window in front of the bathroom door and went to pieces.

I remember very audibly every thing I heard.  I can still hear it today clear as all get out in my head.

This season never comes around when I don’t tell the story.

When Todd died I was a mess of a human being.  A month and a half later, to get me moving in a better direction, my dear wife, Carrie, got me a guitar and some informal lessons.

In less than a year I was singing and performing songs I had written.  I wrote a song for Corner King, as it was the impetus that led me to record my first CD.  I was determined to record this song.  It was first recorded in 2001 on my Leap of Faith CD.  In 2016 we recorded it again and included it on my Take Me There CD released in 2019.

Don’t Miss The Last Dance

There were so many things that I wanted to say                                                                There so many time we had to go our separate ways                                                       And one day the phone was ringing, I picked it up and you’d gone away

Did you ever leave a party without dancing the last dance                                              Did you ever stare at the ceiling at night when you knew you had a chance at romance

There’s a force of nature that science can’t explain                                                           And the Lord leaves us to wonder why some go and some remain

But we’ve got our memories and believe it or not they help to pull us through             And we’ve got our hopes and dreams where there’s still a little piece of me and you

Did you ever leave a party without dancing the last dance                                              Take the hand of someone you love tonight while you still have a chance

And Don’t Miss the Last Dance

Music and the audible side of it has been good to me.  But I have never forgotten why I threw a guitar strap over my head the first time.  Thank God for Carrie.  So many sounds inside of me needed to come out and I did not have a clue.  It took grief and a smart wife to forge them out of me.  And now, we I need it, I grab my guitar and something always comes out.

I told someone recently that there are things we never get over, we just try to make it through.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Friday night was a bit of a surreal experience.  I never dreamed I would walk into a high school football stadium where folks were wearing face-coverings in every direction I looked.  Alas, that is where we are.  I thought back to news footage of folks in China wearing masks because of the poor air quality.  I felt so bad for those folks.  These days I don’t feel empathy so much as I feel fear.  But guess what?  For a brief moment in time with what I had to do and say in that football stadium, things seemed right again.

I got a call from Dave Dedrick, the Hall of Famer and voice of WUME 95.3 in Paoli.  He said his broadcasting partner of many years could not make the first game of the season.  The Paoli Rams took to half of highway 56 across the State of Indiana to drive from Paoli to Madison to take on the Madison Cubs.  It about an hour and a half drive. I told Dave I would be honored.  I was.

The booth was equipped with safe-guarding wipes provided by Madison.

It was the first time since October 2009 that I had called a high school football game on radio.  It showed.  Though I was delighted to be there, my performance was lackluster by my standards.  That and I had never called a game without Gus Stephenson by my side and he and I could finish each other’s sentences.  I spoke over the top of Dave a few times and he certainly did not deserve that.  Still, it was a good time.  And best of all…

THE RAMS WON 28-27.  A blocked extra point saved the bacon in a very exciting and entertaining game.  The players put on a determined and well-played performance.

It was a beautiful evening for football on a warm and then comfortable August night.

The Rams, led by Coach Neil Dittmer and his staff did a great job of getting the best of the Cubs.  This was a well-coached ballgame by the Rams staff.  When I showed up and saw the Cubs in pre-game I knew this would be a tussle.  But I never lost faith in the Rams.

It was my intent to not be in the press box as this game started.  I planned to be on the field.  As my responsibilities as the sole guidance counselor in a 7-12 building, Paoli Jr-Sr High, mounted in the world of virtual school offering along with quasi-traditional school in the building, my time suddenly was less my time.  I had to convey to the team that I was not going to be able to join them.

If I walk out for practice with twenty minutes to go, what the heck am I doing?  At that point it is best to leave well enough alone.  Coach Dittmer knows what he is doing. I have witnessed his acumen first hand on the field and gladly and thankfully from the broadcast booth.

I should have brought a bottle of Windex.

I don’t know how many games the Rams are going to play this season.  I know one thing.  My opening comments at the outset of the game were emotionally charged.  I indicated in no uncertain terms that I was so glad for the seniors on the field that they got this moment, first under the sun and then under the lights.

Go Rams!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

This is the big one, Elizabeth!

Annually the longest post of the year takes place on this back porch on this calendar weekend with the speaktherights.com College Football Preview. I’ve sat back here for hours putting it all together.  There is a feeling of optimism in the anticipation of the upcoming season that makes those writing hours melt away swiftly.  Then the wait is on for the games to begin.  It is a nice dance.

I think the photo says it all.  College Football ain’t gonna fly I am afraid.  I will be shocked if it does. Should lightning strike and the games play on, I will be doing my weekly predictions.

I hope I am bad wrong.

No Egg Bowl?  No Oaken Bucket?  No Iron Bowl?  No Paul Bunyan’s Ax?

No USC-UCLA?  No MICH-OHIO STATE?  No Notre Dame-USC?  No third Saturday in October?

No having speaks with Aunt Barbara about Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach?  Folks in Mississippi have been waiting for this much fun.  I have too.  No going back and forth with Brother Tim about how the Tide needs to improve after they just beat someone 70 to 0.  No Hoosier optimism with Adam Disque.  No getting together with Adam and Evertts at Memorial Stadium for one game?  No going over to watch a game with my Dad and listening to him complain that the offense is holding on every down.  No getting down the road with my dear wife, Carrie, to see a game in Huntington.

In the big picture, I suppose I need to just hush my mouth and be thankful I can still sit here and care about football the way I do.  I know many folks out there are struggling a great deal more than I can comprehend.  That hurts.  Prayers to them and their families.

In case we don’t go down this college football prediction road again, know I have enjoyed it a great deal and that it is truly….

Speaking the rights!

Danny Johnson

I trust God.

I trust many folks I know.  They have let me down on few if any occasions.  I love them all and they know, whether if they are at arm’s length or a phone call or a text away that I will be there for them.  No questions asked.  I am blessed that way.  I pray you are too.

Today I came across a rock.  Lord knows we all could use more solid rocks.  The rock I found was the most solid rock I know.

I was hired as a school counselor at Paoli Jr-Sr High School on March 13.  Only the last two weeks have I been in the building in an official capacity. We know why.  Know also that I appreciate all my colleagues and truly believe I am where I need to be to help a school and everyone in it.  Be it students, teachers, administrators, assistants, cooks, custodial staff, coaches, parents, I have tried to indicate I am there to help.  That is why I walked into the building.

Normally I walk into a different entrance than I walked into today.  But I walked into what is called the main entrance, I suppose.  It is marked as entrance 1.  After football practice, which I was able to attend today, I headed to my office to try to make some head way on the daunting task that is rolling out a new school year in the age of Covid-19.  Never been there and never done that before this year.  Hope we never have to do it again.

But I walked into this entrance.

In the left hand corner of the door facing you can see an  aqua colored object.  It is a rock.  It is a solid rock.  It has this on it:

Such words were never so needed walking into a school building.

I know these words well.

This scripture has been in my guitar case for more than twenty years on this very note card.  When I first started playing and singing, I was a nervous wreck ready to walk out the door if I could.  I didn’t.  I leaned and rested and was held up by this solid rock.  Thanks be to God.

I didn’t think I would ever need the same rock so much again.

As an educator, I turn my head sideways at plans I hear to open schools.

I get it.  The show must go on.  Folks need to work.  I know that.  I do.

I also know that restaurants are being held to limitations.  The Indy 500 is being held with little or no attendance.  Baseball games are played OUTDOORS with no fans.  Beaches have been cleared.  But here we go.  Fill the schools.  This is why I recently made a last will and testament out.

I wish I had the answer.  If I did, no one would listen.  Common sense is hard to come by these days, especially in the political realm.

I commented earlier this week that I am afraid the current presidential administration is gambling with an over/under number when it comes to deaths they can give and still find re-election in November.  I hope I am wrong.  Any one who has paid any attention to how this country has handled this pandemic would certainly have a license to argue that.  Turning off the TV and washing your hands can only get you so far, as has been suggested.

For those keeping score, I am a frustrated Republican who remembers when the other side did most of the whining.  Apologies to my liberal friends I never thought I would find so much common ground with.

But in spite of all of that, we press onward.  We do what we think is best for our kids, family, and friends.  I just hope we all live to tell the story.  The story is bound to get better.  It has to, doesn’t it?

Thankfully there is a solid rock that is greater than any pillar of sand trying to stand up on earth.

Thanks be to God.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson