Week 7 of the College Football season?  No way.  Yes, I suppose so.  Everything is moving around with an awkward sensibility in this Covid age.  I hate it.  How crazy is it?  Next weekend the PAC 12 kicks off their season with USC hosting Arizona at 9 AM local time.  I don’t think I have ever seen a noon kickoff in the Eastern time zone for a game in LA.  Awkward indeed.

The past 10 days I participated in a facebook challege.  Jon Robison, an old friend from Brownstown, challenged me to post pictures of mu favorite 10 athletes of all time.

I posted the following:

Day 1

Jim Brown, Brownstown Central HS  1975  Jim was a workhorse at each and every athletic endeavor he put his mind to.  His piercing look of determination.  His determination defined him for me.  Had others had his “look” Lord only knows what they could have done.  They ain’t on this page.  Jim is.

Day 2

My favorite Red.  Saw him plant on in the Red seats one night along with George Jackson, Tim Thompson, Gregg Greathouse, and a few others.  Jon Reinbold was there, I think.  We went to see the Bengals practice at Wilmington and stopped at Riverfront on the way home.  It was a simpler time.

Day 3

Sweetness.  When watching NFL footage, no one makes me more wistful or gets my attention faster than this guy from Jackson State.

Day 4

My kicking hero.  Mark Moseley.  No need to say more.  Just look at the shoe.

Day 5

Ronald Reagan. Hero.  Hard to imagine some folks blocking or tackling their shadow.

Day 6

\

Not me.  The guy on the left.  Anthony Thompson.  Can’t imagine how much he was grinning Saturday as the Indiana Hoosiers got a W over a Top Ten team for the first time since he was toting the mail.  Two 1986 High School grads in this picture.  I remember seeing his and Jeff George’s names in the state stats back in the day.  Thank you, AT.  You were the best.

Day 7

Ken Anderson.  My favorite football player of all time.  I never followed a player closer than I did Ken Anderson.  He is a Hall of Famer in my book and in many books I respect.  Ahead of his time. The rest never caught up.  That was his problem…and theirs.

Day 8

This guy made football in Indiana.  He defined the sport in Indiana.  He made high school football more popular because he was popular.  Folks wanted to see the game Peyton plays.  He meant and still means that much.  Thank you, Peyton.

Day 9

I was fortunate enough to see Eli Manning in Oxford in 1999 as a red shirt freshman, in 2000 entering the game against Vandy and playing in the Music City Bowl later that year, playing at Kentucky in 2001, and playing against Vandy in Nashville and South Carolina in Oxford his senior year in 2003.  I was with Aunt Barbara and son Jarrett at Oxford in 1999.  Aunt Barbara came up to the Kentucky game in 2001, and she and I went to 2003 game in Oxford.  We knew what we were doing.  Eli was as cool as the other side of the pillow. I miss watching him play.  The NFL is not much fun this year for me.  I will say it again.  College ball, I root for the team.  Pro ball, I root for the player.  Eli was my favorite player.  I hope another favorite player comes along.

Day 10

Mike Eruzione.  USA Olympic Hockey Gold Medal Winner.  I could have put ten members of that team on this list and been satisfied.  That was the greatest team in sports history.  All the Super Bowls, World Series, College Games, nothing compares to USA!  USA! USA! in Lake Placid in 1980.  I am glad I was alive and proud to say I stood, just Carrie and me,  in the arena where they won it a few summers ago.  That 4-3 win over the USSR was the greatest moment in American sports.

On to this week’s College Football Picks!  I was 8-4 last week.  Let’s see how we can do this week.

Clemson beats Boston College…Softball pick.  I need to pad my stats too!

Georgia beats Kentucky…UGA disappointed me against BAMA.  Look out Wildcats.  But know I hope UK wins!

Michigan State beats Michigan…Not padding stats here.  There will be a nutty one and this will be it.

Purdue beats Illinois…Hope Coach Jeff  Brohm is gaining ground!

Wake Forest beats Syracuse…I have made fun of Wake for the last time this season.

Indiana beats Rutgers…Look for the Hoosiers O to be unstoppable.  They still have something to prove.  I BELIEVE in this team.

Ole Miss beats Vandy…Wish I was in Nashville this weekend.  Hotty Toddy!

Louisville beats Virginia Tech…The Cards found the secret sauce and the bottle is still full!

Duke beats Charlotte…Charlotte’s Web?  Might as well be.  Don’t let me down, Dukies!

Alabama beats Mississippi State…Hard to believe I am for the Tide here, but I am.

North Carolina beats UVA…This should be a tussle. Looking forward to this one.

Penn State beats Ohio State…In Happy Valley?  After the IU upset?  Looks like a recipe for some good ice cream at the Penn State Creamery.  Been there.  Quite the place.

Marshall’s game at FIU on Friday was postponed this week.  Doubtful it will be made up.

It has been that kind of a season.  But still a good season to speak the rights!

Lastly, a note of good luck to the Paoli Rams taking on Triton Central in the second round of the sectional this Friday!  Go Rams!

Danny Johnson

It was a simpler time.

I was a junior in high school when I best got to know Mr. Harvey Trowbridge.  He was one of the most informed, intelligent guys I ever met.  His soft demeanor and kind word was a comfort to those who knew him.  It was a particularly good thing for students in his classes that were rather intimidating, given the subject matter.

He demanded work.  But he was never unreasonable about it.

I’m ahead of myself.  When I write about this kind of subject matter, I have a difficult time reigning myself in.

Let’s start here.  I learned this past week that Mr. T died.  I heard he had a heart attack.  My heart ached when I heard this news.  The last time I saw him was at the pharmacy in New Salisbury pre-mask this year.  We greeted each other with reminiscent vigor.

When my Dad was coaching football at North Harrison, Mr. Trowbridge filmed the games.  It was 8 mm or 16 mm film.  All I know was Mr. T would film the games and Ron Synder, one of the coaches, would take what Mr. T filmed that Friday night and take it to someone in Louisville to process it.  My Dad and I would pick it up on Sunday afternoon on Virginia Avenue in Louisville.  That is what I remember.  I wish I still had some of those reels.  We didn’t think like that back then.  Pictures were few.  Video was not yet.  I can still very vividly, though 38 years ago, remember some of the film of football games Mr. Trowbridge produced.  I’m sure whatever he was being paid to do the filming barely covered his gas to get to an away game.  He was glad to do it, as he was the one who could better than anyone else.

In 1984 I was in Mr. T’s first period Computer Programming class.  In that classroom was a bunch of unwieldy large Radio Shack computers that took floppy disks the size of a medium pizza box and the computers made grunting sounds we had never knew existed before then, and those sounds are around no longer.  The room looked like a training ground for NASA scientists compared to what we type words on today.

It was a simpler time.

Mr. T was a whiz with those things compared to the rest of us.  Where he got that kind of training I don’t know.  It was quite specialized then and North Harrison was very fortunate to have him around.  He worked at North for a long time and retired from there.

Mr. T and I had a few moments of disagreement for sure.  But we always got over it and found a better common ground.

As I said, he filmed our games.  By 1984 we had graduated to video.  Of course Mr. Trowbridge was there with tripod in hand ready to record our games with no trip to Louisville to process film needed.

We were playing Mitchell and I kicked an extra point that solidly hit the cross bar and seemingly was return fire toward the line of scrimmage and about 18 players from both teams hit the ground trying to be spared from this scorching pigskin that was making a return trip West toward me.  Needless to say, there was never so much laughter before or since in the stands at a North Harrison High School football game.

This, from the yearbook, shows a ball on a mighty low trajectory and this might of been the one.

We beat Mitchell 33-0.  I missed two extra points.

Now, when I walked into Mr. T’s classroom on Monday morning he was ready.

“Well, if it isn’t the old cross bar kid!” he exclaimed, with a large grin on his face.

I failed to grasp as much humor as he did.  I walked up to his desk and said something I won’t repeat here.  It was not very nice.  I thought he was going to choke on his tie.  He didn’t.  Nor did he send me to the office.  He could have.  But, we had an understanding.  That is what I so liked about Mr. T.  He could dish it out.  He could also take it.  And he knew me well enough to know when I was being serious and not.  Whatever mutual respect we had for each other before that day, well, it grew as great deal.

I suppose that is why a few months later that year, in December, it was my turn.

The night before I had gone coon huntin’, remember that “coon huntin'”, with Mick Rutherford and Marc Gayheart.  It was December.  Gets dark early.  Figured we’d be back home before 10 PM.  Marc had a new dog, Dan.  He was eager to see if Dan would tree.  Dan’s treeing ability did not show itself that night.  His ability to run off to the point where we had “lost” him did show.  Long story short.  My head hit the pillow about 3 AM and I was going to walk into Mr. Trowbridge’s room in a few short hours.

I walked in, I sat right in front of him on the first row, and plopped down in my desk chair.  Wearing my traditional blue flannel shirt, this time a button was uneven and I looked a tired part.

“My, don’t we look rather disheveled this morning,” he said.

“Yeah, me and Mick and Marc went coon huntin’ last night.  We lost a dog and it was early this morning before I got to sleep.”

I can still hear it….

“Your parents allowed you to go coon hunTING on a school night!?”

I looked at him and said not exactly.  “We didn’t go coon hunTING, Mr. Trowbridge.  No one we know goes coon hunTING.  We don’t plan on going coon hunTING.  I said….we went coon huntin’ last night.”

He just looked at me and laughed and said, “Danny, as early as it is, that was a good one.”

I smiled and told him thank you.

It was a simpler time.  Want proof?

Another yearbook picture. One might go to jail for this now on school property.  So much for SKOAL Bandits.

Thank you for being you, Mr. T.  You were one of the good guys.  I won’t forget you.  How could I?

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Look, if I have found out anything this fall so far it is that I can’t pick ballgames correctly I can walk and take decent pictures.

Makes me want to pick SMU.

These three were very cooperative.

Go RAMS!  Worst pic on the post, but someone asked if I was really taking these.

What I would have given if this was an Eagle and not a buzzard.  Not offense, Great Brittan, AKA Uwe, old dear and kind friend.  Do you remember me calling you Buzzard?

I never planned on knowing this trail so well.  It has become an old friend during these crazy times.

I was 3 winners and 7 losers last week.  Yes, it has to get better.  Since the Big Ten is coming on this weekend, I am going to pick 12 games.  When the PAC 12 gets here, it will be back to the old fashioned baker’s dozen.  SO what gives for this week?  You think I know?  Let’s give it a try.

Auburn beats Ole Miss…If I do this, Ole Miss may win.  Worth a shot.

Louisville beats Florida State…Held Notre Dame to 12 points last week did the Cards.

Ohio State beats Nebraska…And so it goes.  My disdain for the Buckeyes knows no end.

North Carolina beats NC State…The Heels cut one last game.  Need this one.

Michigan State beats Rutgers….I know I know.  But I need to pick a few winners, right?

Clemson beats Syracuse…Same as the last game.

Marshall beats Florida Atlantic…In Huntington?  Herd is not going to lose this one.

Liberty beats Southern Miss…After the game, Hugh Freeze looks for property in Hattiesburg.

Alabama beats Tennessee…Think the UK game was bead Rocky Top?

Iowa beats Purdue…No team is looking more forward to the field than the Hawkeyes.

Penn State beats Indiana...The Hoosiers are better.  The will still find a way to lose this one.  Hope I am BAD wrong.

Kentucky beats Mizzou…Go Cats.  Wildcats, that is.

Have a good weekend, and if you haven’t yet, get out and vote!  Need to get this settled as soon as possible!

Regardless, we can keep speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

First things first.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I were through Seymour a couple days ago.  I had yet to see this and thought it was a good time to stop by and give it a look.

So I can’t help but look at details. Johnny Cougar.  John Cougar.  John Cougar Mellencamp.  John Mellencamp.  No wonder he paints.  That it took The Moody Blues ten years longer to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is proof of Jan Wenner’s politics of music machine.  Not saying John What’s His Name isn’t worthy.  The music business is more business than it is music.  Always was and is now more than ever.  Fortunately nuggets of inspiration have always found a way to push through speakers against all odds.

I was a senior in high school when John Cougar Mellencamp scored with the album Scarecrow.  The song Minutes to Memories was then and remains my favorite song of his.  I never tire of listening to it.

Having found an unlikely musical journey of my own, I have on occasion been told I sound like John Mellencamp.  I tell them maybe we played under the same power lines as kids.  I was never a great fan and certainly never set out to sound like him.  It’s geography.  Speaking of which, I told Carrie recently that I found it odd that the lead singers from three sturdy groups that formed in the 70s in Illinois all had lead singers whose voices, while recognizable and formidable for sure, are not the most husky, manly voices in the world like .38 Special or Lynyrd Skynyrd of another geographic region.  Dennis DeYoung of Styx, Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon, and Robin Zander of Cheap Trick.  They all have a high range that most rock singers won’t find.  Good singers, mind you.  Geography.

Okay, enough of the musical history lesson.  Let’s pick some football games.

Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise too high, the Indiana Hoosiers will be playing Penn State next week.

Last week was a slight improvement.  6 winners and 4 losers.

Auburn beats South Carolina…It’s at Columbia.  Columbia, SC that is.  I told you having Missouri in the SEC was confusing.

Tennessee beats Kentucky…The Wildcats have not won in Knoxville since 1984, that was before John Cougar Mellencamp’s Scarecrow came out.  Go Cats!

Notre Dame beats Louisville…Can the Cards pull it off?  I think they can and I am tempted.  Coach Satterfield is a good coach and we might get some of that today.  If a Card fan sneaks in a haughty capital D with something that looks like a picket fence to hold up next to it, I will faint.  That is way too much Papa John’s Cardinal Pool Hall for the cathedral that is Notre Dame Stadium.

Duke beats NC State…I go a week without picking Duke to win and they do it.  Well, here I go again.

Ole Miss beats Arkansas…So the Hogs stymied the State Bulldogs a couple weeks ago.  The Rebs will be too much on offense for Pig-Sooooie this time.

Virginia beats Wake Forest…At the Wake BB&T Field where you can have a conversation with someone on the other side of the field when the place is reasonably full.

Texas A&M beats Miss. State…Where have you gone Dave Marler?

Marshall beats Louisiana Tech…Sorry, Virg.  I know you plan on being in Ruston to cheer the Bulldogs on.  Give Ruston my best.

North Carolina beats Florida State…UNC is good.  Coach Mack Brown finally gets that elusive victory over The Noles.  He’s 0-6 so far.

Georgia beats Alabama…I have said it before.  UGA is the best dog in the fight this year.  The Bama defense is still trying to catch it’s breath after giving up nearly 700 yards to Ole Miss.  Sorry, Brother Tim.  If your D does that against the Rebs you got troubles.

We got some good ones today!

Take care of each other and cheer on your team and if you need to, speak the rights!

Danny Johnson

October 15, 2020

The scene looking out the back porch this afternoon looks somber.

I am feeling anything but somber.

I didn’t have a head of white hair thirty-eight years ago, as I was trolling up and down the visitor’s sidelines at James T. Blevins Stadium at Brownstown Central High School on a cool October night in 1982.

Today I did.

This was the story thirty-eight years ago.  A least it is a good part of it.

I was a freshman.  We had a good team.  Being there was enough for me.  I had been there before, Brownstown, that is.

For North Harrison, it was our finest hour.  Brownstown Central…they get out of joint if you don’t put Central in there mind you…was coming in with an 18 game winning streak.  North, a fledgling program five years in the making was there to take care of business that night.  We did.

The Cougars featured a potent wishbone offense the likes I don’t know if we have seen since in the Mid Southern Conference.  Yes there are variations of a Wing-T floating around and that’s nice.  But this was different.  This was Thomas Lott and Billy Sims and David Overstreet and Kenny King in the form of QB Kevin Samons, FB Mark Smith, RB Anthony Sieg and RB Jeff Brown showing up from Ramsey to run the Braves over and that is what they did.  Thanks in large part to Rick Gunter, Pat Prince, Tony Lawson, Jeff Rudolph, Randy Kilgore, Ted Smith and Brian Henrich with David Hood and Jim Titus running in the plays. No one saw this coming.  A victory over the Braves?  Yes, that was on the table.  A butt-whipping that was 21 to 0 at the half?  No.  But we were glad to take it to them.  Coming into the game, Brownie, A. Sieg, and Burger King (Mark Smith) were three of the top four leading scorers in the conference.

Kevin Samons and my Dad.

In earnest, I stopped by the BCHS football field today because of the sky.  As my dear wife, Carrie, and I were driving home from Columbus this morning, I told her I wanted to stop at BC and look at the field.  I wanted to take this picture…

It was on this space that I remember kicking a football over a goal post for the first time as a child.  I went on to tell Carrie that there is not a better day to kick than one that is cool and overcast.   The ball looks different under a grey cloudy sky.  I like that look better.

As I turned away, it hit me.  “Carrie, today is October 15th.  Thirty-eight years ago today we had some fun on this field.”  In fact, there were fire trucks waiting for us in Palmyra to escort us back to Ramsey.  It was a nice night.

In 1984 this was also the first space I ever kicked an extra point in a game.  Two years after THE GAME we would be back at Brownstown Central to defeat the Braves 59-0.  I told Carrie it still means a great deal to me that on the two occasions I came to the field I grew up on as a child, I walked off with the winning team.

My Dad coached the Braves from 1970-1978 and the Cougars from 1979-1985.  To say I was there, would be an understatement.  I lived it.

I must say this.  As I looked at that same North goal post, some 70 yards away, it was the first time I ever felt a little age on a football field.  How did I ever take two steps and kick a ball over a goal post from here, I asked myself?  60 was kind of routine at one point.  But with a kind wind behind me one day in Shreveport, LA in 1986, I two-stepped one in Caddo Stadium, now Lee Hedges Stadium from 70 with room to spare.

I had to take a picture of the kicking net.  I have had some fun kicking a football around.  Whether it was splitting the uprights in The Rose Bowl, or putting North up 3-0 in the first ever sectional game in school history (we won 17-12) or having Matt Stover hold for me as I nailed one from 55 and he told me it was a nice kick, or swinging legs with my dear friend Jerry Brown in the summer time kicking balls over an electric line at Medora Junction.

But for this field and these two teams, I think I might enjoy this kick the most…

(Photo by Brian Smith)

Ben Waynescott was true on the last  play of the game in 2017.

NH 17  BCHS 14.

Walking on the new artificial surface at Blevins Stadium was like walking into a place I felt like I was familiar with but couldn’t quite place.  It was not home.  I know there are merits to artificial grass.  I’m just glad I was there when I was.

It was a great game.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

I don’t fancy myself as much of a photographer.  When the light is right most anything can happen I have found.  Be it a photo on a bridge over a train track in the morning at JUST the right time in Harrison County or as a pink hue is falling over the water on the sound side of Topsail Island and some of that light manages to find a few of those clouds adrift at our urging over the ocean shore, the light makes it for me.  Edward Hopper is testament to that.

On a walk yesterday I found the light to be quite nice for taking a few shots.

I know how fleeting this fall season can be.  These beautiful trees and the colors they radiate will be a legion of twigs in a few short weeks.

For now, I will just enjoy it.

My dear wife, Carrie, joined me as I was on the way back to the house from the regular walking trail.  We decided to head to the corn field behind the house and then a little farther down to a nice place to photograph on the Blue River.

This corn has to come down soon.  I am a bit corn-shocked that it has lasted this long really.

I thought of Pete Rutherford when I took this one.  We used to “ground corn!” on the road.  It dealt with a sudden sturdy application of a car’s brake pedal atop field corn kernels that accumulated on the road near a field.  How can I articulate this goofy act into sophisticated verbiage?  Well, I just tried. I feel unsuccessful at it.

For Pete, GROUND CORN!

Of course the deer around here outnumber the people largely.  Carrie and I had a couple of them grunting at us last week.  We were in their space and they wanted us to clear out.  We acquiesced in time.

Blue River is down.  But very lovely nonetheless.  Looking South.

Looking North.

Mark Twain said that golf is a good walk spoiled, didn’t he?

This walk was not spoiled for us.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

First things first.  A photo looking up the road East of Mailbox (my apologies to Gordon Lightfoot) taken this Saturday morning.

Fall.  Forever Autumn.  Whatever you want to call it.  I look around this time of year and I see football season.  In all its glory, heartache, or celebration.  Many a good day I have had on or around a football field.  I’ve seen a few games I can tell you.  Watching from the couch this year, I have looked back on many of those times with a little extra thanksgiving in the old heart.  I have been blessed.

This weekend last year, my dear wife, Carrie, and I stopped in Huntington on the way home from Topsail Island.  This time she said, “You go ahead.”  I walked the 1.6 miles from downtown up 5th Avenue to Joan C. Edwards Stadium.  I’d been sitting all day in the car.  I was ready to stretch my legs.

Old Dominion.  That is who the Herd was playing that day.  It marked the 71st FBS team I have seen play a game.  Albeit the Hawaii game was a Spring Game Scrimmage in 1991.

Oh, that trip to Topsail last year.  Carl is missing the beach this year.  He loves that place.  So do I.

It was a year ago that I found this pebble among a million shells and rocks and sand all together getting along quite nicely.  I carried it around for a while.  The ink started to fade.  Now it sits on my book shelf in the home office.

On to this week’s picks!

You know how I said it had to get better last week?  It didn’t.  Five winners and five losers again.  Pitiful!

I am leaving my affection for Coach Cut and the Dukies on the sideline this week.  And how about Ole Miss last week?  Should I pick them to beat BAMA?  Naaaa.

The State Bulldogs should have saved some of those passing yards against LSU for the Hogs last week.  That was a shock.

So, here goes nothing…

LSU beats Mizzou…Moved this on to avoid Hurrican Delta.  Tigers will win!  Uh, the LSU Tigers that is.

Texas beats Oklahoma…You’re old Uncle Dan can remember the day before ESPN when we got a couple of college games on TV a week and you knew this was going to be one of them.  The Texas State Fair and the game played at the Cotton Bowl.  It was special.  It still is.  Texas needs this game.  So does Oklahoma.  Texas by 4.

North Carolina beats Virginia Tech…Yes, I do love love my North Carolina teams.  Good to see the Heels.

Georgia beats Tennessee…They get after it don’t they, these two?  Another classic match-up.  Until Georgia plays Alabama, we won’t know who is number one.  I still lean toward the Bulldogs.  Silver Britches are playing well.

Auburn beats Arkansas…The Hogs can’t win two in row can they?

Pitt beats Boston College…Let’s hope Pitt comes out in the yellow helmets and the blue trim that resembles the Days of Tony Dorsett and Danny Marino instead of those hideous dark blue things they wear.  I have fashion sense!

Bama beats Ole Miss…I can’t do it.  I was going to.  Aunt Barbara talked me out of it yesterday afternoon as I was picking up to-go vittles.  It would be nice to see the Tide take it on the chin in Oxford.  Ole Miss is living Life in the Fast Lane Kiffin…sorry Chris Berman.  I had to.

Marshall beats Western Kentucky…The Herd hasn’t played a game in awhile.  This should be a good contest.

Mississippi State beats Kentucky…Coach Mike Leach does not go to Lexington and get beat.  It would like Indiana beating Ohio State which is against the natural order of things.

Notre Dame beats Florida State…Another 7:30 PM EDT game….which there are troo many tonight!!!

Have a good weekend y’all.  Hope I have spoken the football predicting rights.

Danny Johnson

So I can’t pick football games.

I was 5 winners and 5 losers yesterday with my college football picks.  Same result as last week.  Worst efforts ever.  But alas, I will try again next week.

I was delighted to Ole Miss beat Kentucky.  One point is all it takes to win.  And by the way, Georgia looks like number one to me.  My apologies to Brother Tim Petty and his Bama crew.  Clemson would be third or fourth place in the SEC.  I don’t usually purport such a thing.  But then again, what the heck do I know?  I picked UK to beat Ole Miss.

So I can’t pick football games.  I can walk.  And that I did today.  6.21 miles worth.

I needed it and it felt good.  Just hope it feels as good in the morning.

This was part of the path.

Last year, on October 2nd, as I was pulling out of the school parking lot it was this hot in Ramsey, Indiana…

As I sit here this evening before the sun has gone down on October 4th, it is an autumn like 56 degrees.  As the photos indicate, it has been cloudy today.

I have walked around Walden Pond on three occasions.  Today, I focused on the nature around me and took a few extra deep breaths and it wasn’t Walden Pond but it was pretty nice.

New mown hay is an Indiana tradition.  You’ve heard the song before the Indy 500, haven’t you?

The old bailed hay.

Rest assured I know how fortunate I am to be able to walk this path in seclusion and anonymity.  I think I saw five cars pass during my walk.

I have not sat down to watch pro football.  I might catch the end of the Colts game here in a minute.  They are playing the Bears in Chicago.

No, I am not one of those who won’t watch football for political reasons.  If that were the case, I would have stopped watching long ago.  Capitalism is a byproduct of politics I suppose.  It sure costs a great deal of geat to go to a game these days.  Same with concert tickets.  Don’t get me started.  I don’t blame a game for the way people feel.  I still enjoy watching sports. If you want to turn off the games, do it.  Just don’t blow off about it on social media.  No, I guess that is asking too much.  I forget sometimes.

As I walked I thought of a great many folk.  I thought about Uncle Roger and how it has been too long since he heard from me or I have heard from him.  He is a writer for sure.

I thought about Bart Bigham and how he too appreciates Henry David Thoreau.  The time I got to spend in Bart Bigham’s classroom, whether it was shooting the breeze, solving the world’s problems, talking about music, or having literary speaks, it was an honor to be in the room with him.  I am humbled that he gave me the chance to hold forth with his students on occasion, as he knows I still enjoy talking to students about writing and writers.

For the most part I just walked and took it all in.  When a six mile walk goes by too quickly you know for sure you have had a blessed day.

Not unlike on this day 35 years ago when I kicked a 38 yard field goal against Clarksville.  Revisionist history may not let you know about it.  I don’t mind.  I was there.

I have said it before and I will say it again.  Take care of each other.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

First, let us hope and pray that Donald Trump and his family get well.  I don’t wish illness on a single soul.  Strange days and tough times.

A line at the end of a Tim Krekel song comes to mind this morning.

“At the end of the tunnel you can see a light.  Well if that ain’t a train, you made it through the night…”

“The mist is lifting slowly, I can see the way ahead…”  Justin Hayward.

Took this one on the walking course this week.  I’ll soon have three seasons of walking course pictures during this pandemic.  Looking forward to some nice colors on the leaves soon.  I so enjoy the sights of autumn. They are here and gone like no other time.

And this fall is like no other for sure.  My dear wife, Carrie, and I have no plans to attend a college football game this year.  I know that.  It is still hard to believe.  I know its out there and I know they are playing.  As my Granny used to say, it’s “weirdo”.

Last week I gladly reported that my picks from the previous week were 8-2.  Last week’s picks were 5-5.  I must do better this week.

It was a glorious sight to get the SEC back on the field last week.  How about that passing game from Mike Leach in Starkville?  Long a passing game fan, and Mike Leach enthusiast, I love how he wrote in his book about telling the quarterback to in part determine a defense based on how many defenders were on each side of the center’s butt crack.  He’s awesome!  That and the story of how, while a student at BYU he was called on the carpet for letting his hair grow to the point it was reaching his collared shirt and was told to get it cut.  He then asked the higher-ups about that statue of Brigham Young out there in the courtyard with his hair hanging below his shoulders.  Mike Leach makes me laugh.

This week’s picks:

Baylor beats West Virginia…Things aren’t the same in Morgantown.  I feel for them.  So many natural rivals gone and playing far reaching conference teams.  It’s a bad look, feel, and the Mountaineers aren’t going to celebrate with much couch burning this year.

Tennessee beats Mizzou…Will there be a band at Neyland?  I hope not.  I can’t stand that song.

Pitt beats NC State…Pitt is not bad.  They have not hurt themselves.  Some teams can’t get out of their own way.  I’ve watched the Indiana Hoosiers play football for nigh over 50 year and I know what I am talking about.

UNC beats Boston College…Coach Brown and the Heels will ruin a nice day at Chestnut Hill where the games are a sight to see this time of year.

Alabama beats Texas A&M…I debated with Aunt Barbara yesterday.  I said a school won’t fire a coach this year will they?  That’s cold.  Her answer:  They will in the SEC if they don’t win enough.  And we ain’t talking about Saint Nick here.

Kentucky beats Ole Miss…let me say this first…Hotty Toddy!  I am for the Rebels.  UK has a running game that will flatten the Rebs and hold the ball.  The Rebs are fun to watch on offense.  Defense wins championships?  That is an old adage that reminds me of the Steel Curtain.  You gotta have both.

Duke beats Virginia Tech…Yes, I know, my appreciation for Coach Cut knows no end.  But the boys from my adopted home state have to come around some time, even if they are from Duke.

Mississippi State beats Arkansas…Get that popcorn ready.  This will be fun.

Georgia beats Auburn…In what may be the game of the day in “slobber-knocker” parlance, if you can still say that.  It doesn’t mean you are leading with the crown of your helmet, it just means this will be a physical game with a great many “good sticks”.

LSU beats Vandy...The Tigers need this one.  They will be ready to tee off on Commodore Perry.

Oh how I miss going to college football games.  I am blessed to be able to watch them on television and I know that.  It is more than enough for this selfish heart.  And I am also fortunate that I have the chance to…speak the rights.

Danny Johnson