DISCLAIMER:  You may not want to look at college football picks made by anyone who pays as little attention to pro basketball, if that is something you take joy and invest time in.  This morning in the local metro daily, I saw a story in the sports page with a headline that read “James, Barkley, and Shaq…”  I looked at it sideways and thought, okay, I know two of those guys.  James who?  I thought to myself.  Later I came to realize it was LeBron James. Had the headline used LeBron like Shaq I probably would have connected the dots.  I understand there was not room for “Round Mound of Rebound” in the headline.  Most of my affinity for pro basketball left when Julius “Dr. J Erving” hung up his Converse Dr. Js.  I did enjoy watching Bird and Magic.  Two one-namers for sure.  You’re old Uncle Dan even remembers watching the Buffalo Braves coached by Jack Ramsay on CBS on Sunday afternoons on what looked like a very dimly lit floor compared to today’s arenas.

Oh well.  It ain’t just basketball.  The NFL, yes, I am still watching, all you political experts. Poor leadership was never a game’s fault, regardless of lens or angle or slant you prefer.

My problem is there are no Mannings out there for the the first time since 1997.  I feel like I did in 1986 when Ken Anderson retired. I have said it before.  With pro ball I root for the player.  College ball I root for the team.  I must say when Lamar Jackson is on TV I am probably watching just to see what happens.  His play is quite compelling to me.

It is football season.  This shot was taken this morning back from the paper box.  Walk 3 miles down this road and you will find Milltown.

The Indiana State Sycamore is in the backyard behind the hoop.  Tribute to Larry Bird.

College Football Picks.  Ten games.  That’s it.  Last week’s picks were 8-2.  I followed my heart.  Wanted Duke to beat Pitt and I thought they would.  Wanted Louisville to beat Miami…hoped they would.  This week I am going to touch a couple and not follow my heart.  Maybe it will backfire?  I would be delighted.

A year ago this weekend we were in Tuscaloosa.  Here I am with Brother Tim Petty.  It was a good time, even with an Alabama fan.

This week’s picks…

Florida beats Ole Miss…Hope the Gator get whipped.  Soory, Aunt Barbara.  Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss. Imagine that.  We don’t have too now.

Auburn beats Kentucky….Hope Auburn gets whipped and the Cats might pull this off.  The whole Covid season is a new season to all.  There will be some head scratchers this weekend and this may be one of them.

Louisville beats Pitt…The Cards improve over last week’s inability to keep up with the Hurricanes in the Schnellenberger Bowl.

LSU beats Mississippi State…Rootin’ against ole State got tougher for me the day they hired Mike Leach.  When one of his players ain’t being sent to the shed, things usually work out.  I wanted Indiana to hire him.  He’d be a great fit there one day.  No offense, Coach Allen.  I am DELIGHTED we have you at IU.

Duke beats Virginia…Duke can’t sputter that bad two weeks in a row can they?

Georgia beats Arkansas…UGA will be yawning mightily in third quarter.

Alabama beats Mizzou…They still callin’ this an SEC game?

Florida State beats Miami…We will find out just how good Florida State is in this one.  This could be my cheese-squezzer.  I just look for FSU to play sound on both sides.

Tennessee beats South Carolina…Good ole Rocky Top.

Southern Miss beats Tulane…That one point loss to La. Tech has to have the Golden Eagles ready to fly.

Before we go, a big shout out to the Paoli Rams for defeating Indianapolis Shortridge 48-8.  Thanks to the team from the North for heading down Highway 37 to play last night!

Have a good weekend and take care of each other!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

“Change is a constant feature”, so said Mr. Larry Martin in my 7th grade World Geography class around fall time of 1980.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein brought down President Richard Nixon.  You know the story, or at least you should.  All the Presidents Men.  This was even made into a movie so you wouldn’t have to actually read about it.  Anyone worth their political savvy salt any age older than I am should have some idea of what talking to Bob Woodward could mean.

But, low and behold we now have a sequel.  Bob Woodward’s new book Rage.

Had I been in charge of the title it would have read All the President’s Wind.  History has never shown us such a blow-hard and that may be part of the problem.

The problem, whatever it is, certainly manifested itself early in the Bob Woodward-Donald Trump interviewing process.  You’ve seen the pictures.  There in the Oval Office.  Bob Woodward sitting in front of Donald Trump with the vice-president, a guy from Indiana for goodness sake, he even had  a radio talk show in Indianapolis at one time.  You’d think he would have more political and streetwise media wherewithal than to be in that picture.  Along with Mike Pence, there were other presidential administrative folk as well.  For me it was certainly the most bewildering image I have seen of Donald Trump yet.  And that is a befuddling catalog.  I didn’t think he could outdo that surreal image of himself holding a Bible in front of a church after folks were cleared out for him to say “cheese” and he didn’t even smile.

I can’t get away from all those folks around the president in the picture with Bob Woodward.  This is all too indicative that even the vice-president can’t give the president a piece of advice to follow.  This is the picture of a portent of being hoisted with his own petard.  You don’t outfox Bob Woodward.  That desk doesn’t care who you are.  Even it knows there is always going to be a next man or woman up.

But I sure hope it is not Donald Trump again.  He is not conservative enough for me.

The guy has single-handedly destroyed so much conservatism I don’t know where to start.

Presidents used to not blatantly lie like this guy does.  While sad, we can recover one day from this.

Presidents should not make fun of journalists who get injured doing their jobs.  So much for the old conservative value that “we are better than this…”

Presidents don’t have any business tweeting like a twelve year-old saying nothing that can be actually taken seriously.  So much for common sense.

Presidents should never say anything as dumb as telling folks he likes war heroes that did not get captured.  As a Republican, I weep for the party and pray for those who still support this guy.  They need help.

I guess I am just too conservative.  I liked it better when I looked at the Democrats and thought, dang, at least I don’t act like that.  But.  Republicans are not better than this.

How the Republican religious base, I cringe at the thought of using the word Christianity because of the regard I have for my faith, bought into Donald Trump being a good choice for president will haunt me forever.

I know. I know.  There are pro-life overtones and Supreme Courts to uphold and I get all that.  I do.  But if we are going to uphold something, lets do it right.  Let’s be as interested in taking care of the folks that are here as much as we are the ones who have not been born yet.  Maybe I am just too conservative.

If you get me started on the whole Covid-19 Pandemic, and the lives at stake there for the sake of one, be it for a lack of responsible behavior or packing folks in like mask-less lemmings who may or may not make it over the cliff.  I know, I know, they have a choice to be there.  I guess I am just too conservative.

My faith in this president was originally lost in my own conservative world.  I work in a school.  In schools there is a defined good old-fashioned decorum that we are charged to live up to.  Behavior and language that would get you sent to the office for disciplinary reasons did me in a long long time ago with this fella.  I guess I am too conservative.

Let me also say I am too tired of hearing that the Covid-19 Pandemic will be gone when the election is over.  It won’t be.  And those 200,000 plus folks dead and dying won’t be coming back.

I feel a little like lamenting similarly to what Coach Herb Brooks said at the end of the movie about his 1980 US Hockey team beating the Russians when he (his character) commented that when the Olympics started allowing professionals, Dream Teams, to play, there was less to dream about.

I used to enjoy being a conservative Republican.  But now, since this president has been enabled and allowed by other Republicans to thrown those values aside for Donald Trump’s gain, there is little left to hold up as being truly conservative.

Thank God we have elections.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

So the Big Ten is back in the fray.  If they are, so am I.

I did not think we would get here.  A year ago my dear wife, Carrie and I were had sweat rolling everywhere in a scorching Memorial Stadium as the Indiana Hoosiers got pummeled by the Buckeyes from that state to the East.

I did run into Anthony Thompson that day and that was a highlight.  In this photo I was asking him if he had any eligibility left.  He told me no and he was glad.  He was right!

So, here we are  and the Big Ten is supposed to kick off on October 23rd.  Why not?

So much has been made of the politics of this decision.  I don’t care about that.  The players don’t care about that.  The coaches don’t care about that.  Fans or no fans, folks are hurting for a sense of NORMALCY in this country.  Don’t look to Washington, DC for it either, if you are looking for normalcy.  You will find lunacy.  Enough of that and this disgruntled old Republican’s opinion.

So with a nod to my old friend Keith Jackson,

Whoaa, Nelly… lets make some college football picks!

Duke beats Boston College…The Dukies were not bad in South Bend. Durham will be kind.

Western Kentuck beats Liberty…Is Hugh Freeze still coaching this team or is he making plans to be at Southern Miss?

Pitt beats Syracuse…The Panthers play better at home.  Don’t they all?

Notre Dame beats South Florida…The Irish could be a team to look out for and they could lose this one.

Marshall beats App State…You know I ain’t pickin’ against the Herd at The Joan.

UCF beats Georgia Tech…The Varsity across the street from Bobby Dodd Stadium will be serving more chili dogs after halftime than interest in this one by then.

Clemson beats The Citadel…Pat Conroy went to The Citadel.  That is the most interesting point of this game.

Louisiana Tech beats Southern Miss…Southern is bad, or did they just need a new coarch?

Louisville beats Miami…The Cards look good at times and Miami is a question mark.  Am I the only one who calls this the Howard Schnellenberger Bowl?

NC State beats Wake Forest…The boys in Raleigh are ready for a win.

Next week things will really get fun when the SEC joins in.  Looking forward to seeing Ole Miss beat Florida.  My Aunt Barbara is a real fan of Dan Mullen…well, not really.

Usually one to attend many college football games in a season, I will be holding down the couch as I watch the season unfold.  Just grateful for that opportunity.

Have a good weekend and take care of each other.

Speaking the college football picking rights…

Danny Johnson

It was not until my dear wife, Carrie, and I found a nice after school vacation spot in The Berkshires in western Massachusetts did we realize that visiting New York City was actually something we could pull off.

There was a matter of getting to Poughkeepsie Station in Poughkeepsie, NY where we would catch a train and ride a couple of hours into Grand Central Station.

The first time we went to New York City we saw a taping of The David Letterman Show in the Ed Sullivan Theatre.

Two summers ago we went back to New York once again.

This time it was not so much fun.  We did not take selfies. One of the places we visited that day was the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.

Some things never leave us.  I walked into Bobby Russell’s room on September 11, 2001 one morning to ask him a question.  He, a Social Studies teacher, and me, an English teacher, at South Central Jr-Sr High School in Elizabeth, Indiana.

Bobby:  Dan, you’re not going to believe this, but a plane just flew into one of the World Trade Centers in New York.

Me:  Huh?

It was on a television screen hanging from one of his classroom walls.  As I peered at the screen, it was not long before I saw an image of a plane flying through the second tower.  I will never forget it.

Nor will I forget images I have seen where it happened.

The image of this young lady rubbing a name of one who perished that day will stay with me, forever.

I typed these words as I listened to The Concert for New York City, the songs The Who played.

Carrie and I saw The Who at Deer Creek in 2018, and I could not help but to think about 9/11.  It was an honor to hear those songs. I shed a few tears and breathed harder than I ever have at concert before.

Our house, some 40 miles from the Louisville airport, gets the westbound landing pattern traffic.  I remember how the skies were so quiet over our house that night.  I still remember meandering out to look up.  It was a silence that I have never heard.

The Pandemic of late slowed things down for a while for sure…but don’t get this embarrassed Republican started on that.  The Honor 9/11 does not deserve to be diminished.

I know I will never forget.  If I don’t hurt for what all I know about this, I am not worth the powder to blow me up (I paraphrase my dear late Granny).

Take care of each other.  Lord knows we could use more of that!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

George Harrison sang it.  All Things Must Pass.

I was taken aback on a walk a little more than a week ago.  I came across a spicebush swallowtail butterfly in waiting.  He looked like this:

This little guy looked like a fish crawling on the pavement.

In earnest, I don’t recall seeing one of these little guys before.  He looked at me like he had good sense.

Even when I startled him on purpose, he rared back and looked startled.

I’d like to think I came across this little guy two days ago as I was walking on my regular South St. Louis Rd course.

I asked if he was the one I came upon recently.  I swear he looked at me and acknowledged…

I then told him that I have read up on his short lifespan which is 6 to 14 days.

If this is not him, I am sure it is a close relative.

All Things Must Pass…

Justin Hayward made the announcement a  few days ago.  All 2020 concerts are cancelled.  No great newsflash there.

Rescheduling for 2021 is in the process I have heard, providing we make it to 2021 in one piece.

On a phone call with Aunt Barbara this past Friday I told her this will be the first year Carrie and I had not heard Justin sing, either as a solo artist or as a member of The Moody Blues since November 12, 2003.  I went on to tell Aunt Barbara, as a point of perspective, that this was eleven days after she and I watched the Ole Miss Rebels beat South Carolina in Oxford when senior quarterback Eli Manning threw for his most yards in an Ole Miss win.

At the time I was taking a graduate statistics class taught by a big shot professor at the University of Louisville.  One of those profs you don’t speak to until spoken to.  He was a stickler for attendance.  So imagine my angst when I actually stopped him in the hall before our Monday class to tell him I was not going to be there on Wednesday.

Me:  Dr. Cunningham, I know you have a strict attendance policy.  But I want you to know          I will not be here on Wednesday for our next test.

Him:  Why not?

Me:  My wife and I are going to Indianapolis to see The Moody Blues at the Murat Theatre.

Him:  That’s the best excuse I have heard in three years.  I wish I could be there.  Go                   have a good time.  We’ll get the test made up.

A few years later, after I had met Tim Krekel and made some music with him and made a point to go to listen to him around town wherever he was playing, more times than not Dr. Cunningham would be there enjoying Tim’s music.  We nodded at each other a few times.  He knew the face.  He didn’t know my name.

Our 17 year run of hearing Nights in White Satin is over for Carrie and me.  It sure has been fun.  I hope we get there again.  And I hope when that day comes that Julie Ragins is still playing with Justin.  It is always a delight to visit with her.  She and I went back and forth via email a couple days ago.  If you are a member of AARP go vote for her on the AARP Superstar Contest:

https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/music/superstar-2020/.

If you are not, become one!  It doesn’t cost a thing.  Voting goes until September 11th.  You can vote once a day.

One day I will get Julie and her husband Curtis Brengle into a studio to make some music together with Jefferson Carpenter.  That is a personal goal.

From Indianapolis to Denver to Newberry, South Carolina to Chicago to Wilmington, NC to Louisville to Durham to Elizabeth, Indiana in our own Harrison County.

Crowds of 10,000 at Red Rocks

to less than 300 at the City Winery in Nashville below.

Murat 2016 Indianapolis

The “quaint” Kent Stage 2018

Murat 2016

The last Moodies concert we saw at The Ryman  in 2017.

Lexington Opera House with Mom and Dad joining Carrie and me in 2017.

2019 Nashville with Julie

2018 Kent, Ohio

2017 Nashville in the alley between The Ryman and Tootsies.

Murat 2012

It has been a great run.  Live music is kind to my soul.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson