So I didn’t make it to the Jackson County Fair this year.  A couple things got in the way.  Plans to visit Topsail Island, NC and look at the Atlantic Ocean with my dear wife, Carrie, will always win out.  We did get home in time to perhaps make it up on Friday.  Too much to do and too blasted hot made this a no-go.  That makes me sad too.  There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING like THEE Jackson County Fair (my apologies to Ohio State aficionados, but only today).

I know the Paul Crockett Memorial at The Brownstown Speedway on the Jackson County Fairgrounds was held during the fair.  I get wistful each and every time I think about Paul Crockett.  I loved that man.

Twenty-five years ago I wrote a column that appeared in this very publication.  I made an allusion to my childhood growing up in Brownstown being somewhat like that I saw on television in the form of the fictional town of Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show.   As a child I lived on the last proper street on the East side of town.  That was Jackson Street.  And yes, the old Jackson County Jail was a two minute bike ride from my house.

It really was like Mayberry.  I know the town police officer, Russell Martin, was not anything like Barney Fife.  But I can tell you that Russell pulled me over on my bike once.  He thought I was going to hurt myself flying down Walnut Street as I was heading down the hill toward the Library and Town Hall.

That library was so important to me.  Miss Maude McMahan was the town librarian.  She was also my next door neighbor on Jackson Street across from, well, Cross Street.  Miss Maude broadened my literary horizons.  Though I was only ten, she led me to a book by George Plimpton called Paper Lion.  Plimpton was a participatory journalist.  He found a way into experiences like no else before or since.  In this case, he was invited to the Detroit Lions training camp.  He played quarterback, sort of.  Years later a film starring Alan Alda by the same name was made.  I have seen it too.  But you better know that I was thinking of Miss Maude, though she was no longer with us, when I met George Plimpton in 1987 some nine years after Maude turned me on to his work.  Plimpton gave me advice I carry to this day.  I wish Maude would have lived long enough to hear about it.

Just like Mayberry and Floyd’s Barbershop, I had my barbershop.  It was Paul Crockett’s Barbershop.

Paul Crockett, if you don’t know, was a dirt track racing legend.  I can’t begin to tell you all the tracks he raced or all the personalities he encountered in racing circles.  We don’t have enough time for that here.

What I can tell you is that as a child, when I was not getting my haircut in Crockett’s Barbershop, I was in Paul’s shop listening to the old men in the shop and the stories they told.  I’d get a bottle of pop out of the old chest soft-drink machine and sit and listen so intently that on some occasions my pop would be warm before I had even gotten to it.

But for me, the best part of those visits was when Paul Crockett would grab a rag and whip it about the seat of the “second” chair in the barbershop that was empty.  Only then, at Paul’s behest, would I beamingly take my place in it.  I never asked.  He invited me to sit there.  I sat there and listened intently to Paul’s stories about racing against Jim Curry, Russ Petro, Ira Bastin, and more.  It fills my soul today to know I was there.

I moved from Brownstown in 1979.  More than a decade later I was walking through town just looking around and reminiscing.  As I was walking through an alley that led toward Paul’s shop, I walked on toward the main drag.  A voice called out to me.  It was Paul.  “Hey John Henry!  Where have you been keeping yourself the last ten years?”

And one last time, I was in the presence of greatness that was Paul Crockett.

Marshall hosting Coastal Carolina last season on October 29th.

Thankfully, my attitude will change a bit when the toe hits the leather for the first time in the 2023 College Football Season.  The annual speaktherights.com College Football Preview is usually finished by now.  Truth is, I’ve had a hard time getting here.  Looking at what has happened to the PAC-12 Conference recently has made me a little uneasy.

This is what happens when you change The Rose Bowl.

I wish it were that simple.  Maybe it is.  I ordered the program from last year’s Rose Bowl.  It was the last one to feature the winner of Big Ten against the winner of The PAC-12.  This tradition had been in place since 1947.  On New Year’s Day I could always depend on The Granddaddy of Them All to take me back and hold me in the present at the same time.  That feeling was special.  No more USC vs. Michigan in the traditional Rose Bowl. The harsh reality of the last REAL Rose Bowl program was the teams it featured.   The game was played between Utah and Penn State.  Utah joined the PAC-12 in 2011.  Penn State started playing football in the Big Ten in 1993.  Not exactly two teams steeped in Rose Bowl lore.

Tradition.  That word has seemingly gone out the window and I am left looking even more intently at the past.  That is certainly something I can do without.  But I can’t help that.  It really makes me sad.  So many things that I loved about college football are or will be history and left to the memory and YouTube.  I feel for Washington State fans.  They lose their conference next year.  No more looking forward to seeing the likes of USC or UCLA in Pullman.  No  Washington to play against in the Apple Cup.  I doubt they can keep that game.

The good thing, I tell myself, is that when the season starts and it is their 11 against our 11 on the field and that is what it is all about.

You know I am a homer.  I will forever root for and never pick against the Indiana Hoosiers when I am making my weekly predictions here.  If I think the Hoosiers are in trouble, I’ll give them a pass that week and pick another of the weekly 14 games that focuses on winners and losers that week.  No.  No.  No.  And No.  I will not mention point spreads  or overs and under or anything that has to do with gambling.  I am doing everything I can to stay optimistic about this game.  The last thing I want to do, if my team is winning, is to worry about how many points they are winning by.  Winning is tough enough.

Shame on me.  I know.  It was a lightbulb moment and I could not turn it off.

The second game of the season was a portent of the season to come for the Hoosiers.  After winning the first three, including a conference tilt against Illinois in the opener, the Hoosiers spent most of the rest of the season rather wet.

Fortunately, I was nice and dry in the press box.

Writing all this does have its advantages, even if it is only for non-conference games (so far).

The Illinois game was exciting.  Those that made the excitement that night are mostly gone from Hoosierland.  Connor Bazelak is on his third team in as many years this season.  He moved over to play quarterback for the Bowling Green Falcons.  I’m not sure what that tells us?

Call me crazy.  I still believe that Tom Allen is going to lead the Hoosiers out of the tough times to find a better day again.  I truly do.  Coaching changes, including bringing in one of the best O-line coaches in America in Coach Bob Bostad.  Last season they fired the O-line coach six games into the season.  Not this year.  The O-line Whisperer is in Bloomington and it will make a great deal of difference.

Watching the Big Ten Network, when I truly have the patience to do so, I have seen a graphic that says “INDIANA only returns 46% of its Offensive productivity”.  You know what I say to that?  GOOD!  If Indiana was returning 95% of their offense, I would be worried sick.

On offense, I suspect Tayven Jackson will win the QB job.  Do you really transfer from Tennessee and not win the starting nod at Indiana.  Are you following me?  I’ve been wrong before.  So has Indiana.  The receivers on this team have me fired up too.  Providing they have been slinging the ball as much as I hope they have, timing has to be their friend.  That and, please, show us some imagination on offense.

Defensively, I love the play of Noah Pierre.  He is all over the field.  Anxious to see how Andre Carter does.  He comes to Bloomington by way of Western Michigan.  MACsters can play football too.

Aside from the Hoosiers staying healthy this season, two things stand out to me as keys to the season:

1.  Beat Louisville in Indianapolis on September 16th.  The Cardinal folk think this is an easy noon kick and a time to visit an NFL Stadium gift shop.                                                            

The last time the Hoosiers played at the Oil Drum, they ran out to this paltry crowd.  There must be more Hoosier fans there this year.  It will be a red place, my fear is the Cardinal Red will be dwarf the Crimson.  This game is important on many levels of this season.

2.  Get the ball to Jaylin Lucas.  As a freshman last year, he was a 1st Team All-American Return Man.  A friend of mine with close ties to the Hoosiers spoke to me on the condition of anonymity and said, “The Hoosiers have to get Lucas the ball.  He has to touch the ball 15-20 times a game.  And I am not talking about bubble screens that telegraph the defense and you wonder who will end up with the ball.  No.  We have to be more creative than that.  Use him everywhere to give the defense something to think about.  Backfield.  Direct snap.  Wide.  Get him the dang ball!”

I heard that pep talk and I was ready to find a helmet!

Pardon me, I was just daydreaming there.

So next year the Big Ten will have USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon.  There may be more.  I am delighted I was able to be on the field at The Rose Bowl five seasons ago to take this picture.  The paint job on this was not finished yet.  If you look closely at the field, there was still a great deal of paint to be spread on a Thursday before USC-UCLA.

One last rant.

Last year, leading up to the BCS National Championship game between Georgia and Texas Christian, a game the Bulldogs won 65-7, I saw this on television.  I came unglued.  It was the first time I had ever seen a college team referred to as a “franchise”.  I put this photo and following on “twitter”:

Reflections of light out the door and out the window, just like college football.  Schools are now deemed franchises?  Keith Jackson had it right talking to Fowler and Herbstreit the last time Keith saw a Rose Bowl and said “too much coverage…” of college football’s demise.

I tagged Herbstreit, Paul Finebaum, and couple others with my tweet.  ESPN left it alone.  Tim Brando retweeted it.  And I thank him for giving it legs.  It was heard.

When Max Duggan was stepping behind center on the game’s first play from scrimmage, ESPN color commentator Kirk Herbstreit said: “Duggan is the face of the fran…uh..of of the offense.”  Herbstreit fumbled.  I just smiled.

Keith Jackson was right, you know.  TV money rules and casts tradition aside.  Glad I have seen this game the last 50 years the way I have been able to.

PREDICTIONS?  Uh, yes, got those too.

SEC

East

1.  Georgia….I only wish Indiana had their schedule.  If they had Penn State, Michigan, and Ohio State year after year, the Bulldogs would be happy with BCS appearances right now.  Don’t talk to me about tough SEC schedules.
2.  Kentucky…Yes.  Watch that QB lead this team like Joe Namath.
3.  Tennessee…Rocky Top indeed.
4.  South Carolina…Younger Coach Beamer is a good one.
5.  Florida…Tom Petty still sounds great in The Swamp.
6.  Mizzou…SEC tradition!  Oh, never mind.
7.  Vandy…Hope they prove me wrong.

West

1.  Alabama…Two plays.  That’s it.  Nobody remembers.  A field goal that limped over against UT and a 2 point conversion made by LSU that would have been thwarted, had SOMEONE on the Bama sideline called timeout to focus against a team in a hurry to win.  Fear not, Brother Tim.  The Tide wins out again.  And we are reminded of why TCU had no business in the BCS Semi-final last year.
2.  LSU…Brian Kelly has done better than I ever dreamed in Baton Rouge…so far.
3. Ole Miss…  10-2 or 9-3, as long as Coach Kiffin doesn’t go sniffing around for another job.
4.  Texas A&M…Can Bobby Petrino and Jimbo make it through the season?
5.  Arkansas…They still wear those awful Hog-hats.
6.  Miss. State…Missing Mike Leach.  Good luck to this team.
7.  Auburn…Coach Freeze thaws out and gets back to the SEC.

WINNER: ALABAMA

NATIONAL CHAMPION: ALABAMA

The BIG TEN

Look, the Big Ten Conference et al has no respect for Indiana University Football.  Save the 2020 Covid season of only conference play, in the last 7 years Indiana has had to lead the season off with a conference opponent the most times and is the only one to play one conference opponent multiple times in this stretch to lead the season off.  Which team have they had to play twice?  Ohio State.  The Hoosiers begin this season with Ohio State calling on Memorial Stadium on September 2nd. Guess how many conference games Michigan has opened with during this time?  NONE.  Hate to go Phil Steele on you, but, you heard it here.

East

1.  Michigan…If Coach Khaki can keep it together.
2.  Ohio State…Hold my nose.
3.  Penn State…The Broken Record of college football divisions.
4.  Indiana…IF they beat Louisville.  I know.  I am a homer.
5.  Maryland…They have a great QB and great coach.
6.  Michigan State… Indiana beat them at home last year in Sparty snow.
7.  Rutgers… Sounds like something what clogs up your drain.

West

1. Iowa…I know.  I know.  Yes, I like the Hawkeyes.  Ferentz era ending soon?
2. Minnesota…Goldy is great.
3. Illinois…Coach Bielema is awesome.
4. Swissconsin…Can’t stand the team.  Really have disdain for their fans.
5. Nebraska…Matt Rhule to the rescue.
6. Purdue…Indiana has to beat this bunch.
7. Northwestern…Where do we even start?

WINNER:  MICHIGAN

Atlantic Coast Conference

I have not seen the Louisville Cardinals play in a long time.  I do know I saw their current head coach, Jeff Brohm, throw the ball around for Coach Howard Schnellenberger and that was a trip for sure thirty years ago.  No more Coastal and Atlantic Divisions in the ACC.

1.  Florida State
2.  Clemson
3.  North Carolina
4. Miami
5. Louisville…Glad Jeff Brohm is back home.  This might be the place where local boy CAN do well and stay around.
6. Pitt
7. Duke…They’re on to you.
8. NC State
9. Syracuse
10. Wake Forest
11. Georgia Tech
12. Boston College
13. Virginia Tech
14. Virginia

WINNER:  FLORIDA STATE

PAC-12   Winner:  USC…Still hope Washington’s Michael Penix, Jr. does well.

Big 12     Winner:  Texas…Parting shot as they head to the SEC.

AAC        Winner:  Tulane…What a great bowl win over USC last year.  A game like                                                        that is why I still enjoy college football so much.

CUSA      Winner:  Western Kentucky…Tyson Helton is a great Head Coach.

MAC       Winner:  Toledo…Soft spot for the Rockets thanks to old friend Coach Lauterbur.

Mt. West Winner:  Bose State…Who else?

Sun Belt  Winner:  Marshall… Duh! Got to go with THE HERD!  Go Herd or Go Home!

Next weekend College Football begins!

I am looking forward to next Saturday’s smattering of games before it all starts in earnest on September 2nd.

Enjoy.

Speaking the football prognosticating rights.

Danny Johnson

Coach Reed May heads into his 31st season as the Head Coach of the Brownstown Central High School Varsity Football Team.  Go Braves Go!  They have done so for the last thirty years.  I can’t foresee any reason to think this will not continue.

In 30 years, Coach May’s teams have accumulated an astounding 291-62 record.  We don’t have room for a book here.  That is for another day.  There’s not the time nor the room in this space to list all the great seasons or all the great players or all the great assistant coaches or any other of the many accolades this high school program has proudly produced. That, and I sure don’t want to leave anyone out. This glory road has been long.  I know all too well where the victories started.

On the night of September 10, 1993, after his team put up 20 second half points against a Corydon Central team that could not get out its own way, Coach May found victory number 1 of the 291 so far.  I was standing on the other side of the field sporting a Corydon Central Panther polo shirt.

My job that night was to make sure all the Special Teams for the Panthers clicked. In the first half they did.  One kicker made an extra-point kick true.  Another Panther leg-swinger connected on a 34 yard field goal.  Not to mention our punt return team was on the smiling side of an errant BCHS punt snap that handed Corydon Central a 2 point safety and a 12-0 halftime lead. I should have prayed for rain at halftime.

Whatever was said by Coach May at halftime, whether it was a butt chewing or prayer meeting, it worked. Coach May knew that the Panthers were winning while they were defeating themselves.  For the game, Corydon committed 11 penalties, lost three fumbles, and a young man in a Braves uniform by the name of Jeremy Foster picked off a Panther pass and ran 70 yards untouched until his teammates mobbed him in the endzone in the middle of the third quarter giving the Braves, after a 2 point conversion, a 14-12 lead.  Corydon Central shot itself in the foot so many times I am surprised Reed didn’t give the game ball to the Panther backfield.

The final score was Brownstown Central 20  Corydon Central 12.

After the game, I walked into the Corydon Central High School gymnasium to get caught up with a few of the Brownstown Central assistant coaches I knew at the time.  When I walked into the gym I noticed Coach May sitting on the floor propped up by a cool concrete wall.  No one was near him.  He just sat there silently with a wry sort of smile trying to find its way from his face.  He looked like a guy looking into the future.  I think it has worked out.

For me all this holds more meaning than what is at face-value.  My Dad, Larry Johnson, was the Braves head football coach for all of the 1970s save 1979.  Over the years, some of my Dad’s former players have stood along that Brownstown Central Football sideline in the last thirty years.  He too is most proud of their efforts.

Last season the Brownstown Central Braves had a record of 6-5.  Couple that with Coach May’s first season in 1993, when the team was 5-4, and that is as bad as it has been for thirty years for the Braves.  Who wouldn’t take that?  There have been many 10-plus winning seasons.  That is fantastic.  I have a feeling this year’s BC team will be one to reckon with.  Mid-Southern Conference, look out.

My coaching life did not last long.  I too am an educator.  I spent fifteen years as an English teacher and school counselor at Medora.  You don’t find yourself in the gridiron fray at Medora when you drive 54 miles to get there and 54 miles back home everyday.  That’s okay.  My time at Medora was something I would do all over again.

Coach Reed May is a 2023 Indiana Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee and it is well deserved.  I tip my visor to thee, Coach.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Being a Cincinnati Bengals fan has never been easy.  The NFL loved their stars in the 1970s even more than they do today.  The Raiders DOMINATED Monday Night Football, schedule-wise and result-wise in the 1970s.  If we saw the Bengals on MNF it was something to get nervous about all weekend.  That was a part of my childhood.

Honestly, I never expected the Hall of Fame voters to EVER be smart enough to vote Ken Riley in.  “The Rattler” was a Florida A&M Rattler quarterback in college.  When the Bengals drafted him in 1969, Coach Paul Brown, yes, that Paul Brown to those who know their NFL history, told him he was going to play cornerback.  Yes, Ken Riley was disappointed.  He was also a pro.  He wanted to play in the NFL.  He did so from 1969 to 1983.  Not many players in the NFL retire after a season that saw them earn ALL-PRO honors for their excellent prowess on the field.  That is what Ken Riley did.  He walked away from playing cornerback while he was the best.

Tough being a Bengal fan?   Yes.  Ken Riley is only the second Bengal to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  He joins ALL-WORLD tackle Anthony Munoz with that distinction.  Ken Anderson has been overlooked by the Hall of Fame for years.  The man  led the NFL in passing four times running for his life behind a suspect line until Anthony Munoz came along in 1980.  They made it to the Super Bowl after the 1981 season.

I remember Ken Riley well.  He was a nice guy.

This past week I saw video footage of Joe Burrow, before he was recently injured, signing autographs.  There was a modest barrier between him and the autograph seekers.  The kids screaming and the adults pushing their kids forward made Burrow pause and tell them to calm down.

In 1977 at Bengals Training Camp at Wilmington College, I caught up with as many Cincinnati Bengals players as I could as they were walking from the practice field to the locker room.  Ken Riley was one of them.  No one was yelling.  There were no boundaries.  We were civil.   “May I have your autograph?” was the question of the day.  It would take a minute for me to dig out Ken Riley’s autograph.  Trust me, I was there.

I was also in Clarksville one day when there was a RE-GRAND OPENING of the Kroger store on old 131 (now the Lewis and Clark Parkway).  I don’t even think it was the weekend.  At the time I was working across the street in the Greentree Mall.  I’ve looked for the date.  Can’t find it.

What I remember is Joe Klecko sitting at a table with a pile of these promo flats.  He looked like the loneliest man in Clarksville.  I went over and introduced myself.  He rose to his feet and returned the favor with a smile on his face.  And away we went.  I began talking football with Joe Klecko for nearly half of an hour.  He was affable and in no way pretentious.  He was just a guy glad to find someone to talk football with.  As fierce a pass rusher as he was and as much as I wanted to give him a knuckle sandwich for his Jets putting the Bengals out in the first round of the 1982 playoffs, he was just as much a good guy.

Like Ken Riley, Joe Klecko was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend.  One day I hope to see their busts in Canton.  I have driven through Canton many times on the way to Cleveland and parts North.  The day that place puts Ken Anderson in the Hall is the day I will stop.  Just like it was for me and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 2018.  The year The Moody Blues FINALLY made it I stopped in for the first time.

The Bengals got #13 in this year.  Hope it will be #14 next year.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson