These days I don’t watch too much network television.  It is not worth watching.  Too much violence.  Too much sexual innuendo.  Too much raunchiness.  Too many fools.

Talk shows these days.  Why is it people like to watch folks fighting and cussing at each other as they figure who was sleeping with whom and what the paternity test found out?  That is some sick stuff.

Why do people watch cop shows that show footage of people being exploited by television as they are being arrested?   I don’t think it is lowering the crime rate.  It is, however, raising the stupid viewer rate.

Do we really like to see folks that have it worse than we do to that degree?

I don’t get it.

A month or so ago I posted about television and how I miss and pine for days gone by.  I still do.

Thank the Good Lord football season is here.  I’d rather watch a pre-season football game between the Eagles and the Steelers (which I am watching now) than anything else on the 200 other sorry channels I have to choose from.

I miss Sanford and Son.

I miss Hill Street Blues.

I miss M*A*S*H.

I miss Monday Night Football, the way it was when I was a kid.

I miss Barnaby Jones.

I miss St. Elsewhere.

I miss Ed.

Ed was the last TV series I kept up with and the bowling alley lawyer called it quits in 2003.

I miss Chicago Hope.

I miss Mannix.

I miss the Midnight Special.

I even miss Fantasy Island.

What I really miss, especially this time of the year, are the great tones and wisdom of Keith Jackson.  Keith called college football on television for as long as I can remember up until 2006.

Keith was as down-home as they come.   He was the classic example of less is more.  Always succinct with his delivery, Keith was straight-forward and entertaining.

My favorite two Keith Jackson calls went something like this:

Calling an Ohio State-Michigan game in the 1970s, Keith was witness to an Ohio State offense that ran the ball and ran the ball and ran the ball some more.  They put a guy in motion to the left on some plays and to the right on others….and they never passed it to him.

Keith Jackson (late in the game):  Ohio State with the ball at the 48 of Michigan.  Schilchter under center as Williams goes in motion to the left…he’s run three miles today.

USC playing I do not remember…the team was punting to USC and Keith made a call that went something like….

Keith Jackson:  The punt is a high hanging effort…Smith is under it and calls fair catch…he’s got a crick in his neck from looking at it so long.

Wow.  That was Keith Jackson.  Man, I miss him.

I called high school football games on the radio for a number of years.  I could not tell you how many times I thought about Keith Jackson.  I borrowed his “Oh My Goodness“….  I unashamedly used his phrase when previewing a game…”It should be a good one.”

Ultimately my partner, Gus Stephenson, and I had a style of our own that was well-received.  I am thankful for that.  I miss calling games with him.

These days I still love to hear Mike Patrick call a game.  I hope he is still at it this year.

I also wish M*A*S*H was still on Sunday Nights in case the football game is a stinker and I could mash the remote….we call it a masher…to another station.

Just speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson