Last night my dear wife, Carrie, and I witnessed one of the most beautiful skies we have ever seen anywhere.  Pictures do not do it justice.  I will share these anyway:

This is my favorite.

Like the fleeting gift it was, these colors lasted only a few minutes.  They will be etched in my mind beyond mere photographs for many years.

Then…the sun came up this morning.

What a beautiful sunrise it was.

Carl enjoyed it thoroughly.

I’ll tell you what I enjoyed thoroughly Sunday night…dinner.  Carrie cooked shrimp and onion rings and flounder.  And I won’t leave out the green beans, corn, and those tiny potatoes.  Those are okay too.  But I can buy those things in Corydon or Salem or New Albany.  The fresh shrimp and the fresh flounder.  Well, that is another story.  How do I know this stuff is fresh?  I will show you.  With a nod to Forrest Gump and Lieutenant Dan, I have seen a few shrimp boat captains right outside the deck of the place we are staying.

My hat is off to these guys.  They must be used to all the birds flying around.  I’d be firing off a cannon to get rid of those things.  I’ll give it to the birds though, they are smart.

I must say I was the true fortunate one in this equation.  I didn’t have to put up with birds and I still, thanks to a modest market trade, got my hands on these:

And they turned into these:

Notice the taters, corn, and green beans did not make this picture.

What a meal it was.

Today Carrie and I sat on the porch after the sun came up.  The mixture of sun and fierce wind was a good problem to have.  Nonetheless, we are worn out and feel beat up.  I hate to sound like a wimp but that is what one gets when one has not spent more than a few minutes at a time in the sun for a long time.  Save a golf game, or a long walk about campus, I have not spent much time out in the elements in a while.  Two weekends ago I did nearly freeze after all watching IU play Ohio State in Bloomington.

That leads us to football.

Editorial note…in context, know that I type this as the Cardinals are playing the Cubs in Wrigley Field, Chicago.  Chicago is ahead 5-4 in the 7th.  The Cubbies have never won a series at Wrigley.  History is knocking.

Back to football.

History knocked hard and heavy today.  The Old Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier, walked into the sunset during a noon press conference to announce his resignation as the head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks.  He coach South Carolina to the most wins in school history.  He won more games as the Florida Gators’ coach than any other.  He won the Heisman Trophy at Florida in 1966…I think it was.  He also coached the Duke Blue Devils with success in the late 80s.  Spurrier coached the Washington Redskins too.

As I watched the coverage and read print media yesterday and today of Coach Spurrier’s saying good bye to Carolina, I was upset that none of the reports mentioned his time as the head coach of USFL’s Tampa Bay Bandits.  This morning I sent out a Twitter post with those sentiments.  A media type retweeted it.  A few hours later I saw mention of Spurrier’s USFL stint rolling at the bottom of the screen on ESPN.  Did I do that?  No, I don’t think so.  I think it was neat timing.

I will miss Spurrier.  College Football will miss him.  It is bad enough this year not seeing and hearing Coach Lou Holtz speak, spit, and pontificate about the college football games.  I miss him and I will miss the Old Ball Coach.  He said what he meant and meant what he said.  He was not handcuffed by the police that is political correctness.

So…what did Coach Spurrier in?  I think it was losing to Kentucky two years in a row.  It was too much for him to take.  That is what I told my UK fan-father-in-law as the moments of that game were winding down.

Did he quit?  No.  He left on the terms he thought best.  A last and lasting life lesson in a sermon of many for the players and personnel fortunate enough to be within earshot for the last four decades.

Speaking the sandy rights.

Danny Johnson