Sidelined

When you speak the rights you speak the rights. Sometimes that means you don’t enjoy it.

I got sidelined last night. At a high school football game of all things, I got sidelined last night.

For the past three college football seasons, I have been attending Indiana University Football nonconference games under the aegis of speaktherights.com. I write because I need to. Some guys play golf, and I wish I played that more. I feel the need to do this (write). When I go to the IU games to write, I sit in the press box and enjoy everything that goes along with that experience. I don’t feel out of place. I don’t feel like a normal fan there. There is more than a modicum of sense of duty that goes along with being afforded this opportunity. I look around the room and know there are just a scant few there who have seen more football in Memorial Stadium than I have. Maybe only two of them. It depends on if Max Skirvin or Bob Hammel make it out. Then there might be four.

After Indiana’s game against Charlotte, I sensed that good things were on the way. I wrote this may be one of “those teams”. “Those teams” as in the ones we watch on TV in bigger bowl games than we have seen since January 1968 when the 1967 Hoosiers played in The Rose Bowl. Well, I should say some of you saw it, if you are old enough; I got here in March of 1968. A shoutout to the kicker Dave Kornowa! He scored Indiana’s 3 points with a field goal and tackled O.J. Simpson of USC in that game playing defensive back. USC 14 IU 3.

Knowing there is an understanding that IU has been kind to me and my modest writing endeavors, after I wrote my story after the Charlotte game, I went to media credential portal and requested credentials for today’s game against Nebraska, the Washington game next week, and the Michigan game on November 9th. In less than 3 hours, I received a positive response.

Do you notice something that may be incorrect here?

Leading up to the games I attend in the press box, I always get two emails. I didn’t get those emails this week. After a couple of emails sent and a couple text messages back and forth, I was on the hill last night watching the North Harrison Cougars play the Providence Pioneers when my phone rang. It was a guy at IU telling me their “system” had been having some troubles. Honestly, I suspected this could be case, though I didn’t want to believe it. But if your notice the dates of the games in my confirmation email, you will see that the Washington Huskies game is listed ahead of today’s game. They are not in order.

Turns out I DID get the Washington game. I DID NOT get the Nebraska or Michigan games. I am not going to complain. Indiana Football is in a strange place right now. There are going to be glitches and times of what do we do now? Growing pains. In a crazy college athletic landscape that is more uneven than it has ever been, what do you expect? Nebraska will bring a huge contingent and press today. Michigan will bring a huge contingent and press. Washington, not so much. I get it. So, I will be there next week ready to write.

Disappointed? Yes. Very. But I get it. I didn’t give the IU guy a hard time. His voice sounded as though he was doing some tapdancing. I assured him it was just one of those things. Life is full of them. And I will tell you what I tell folks often when things have not exactly gone my way that day. If this is the worst thing that happens today, I have got it made.

Yes, I do have a ticket to today’s game. This is the biggest game in Memorial Stadium in my lifetime. I wanted to be there. I also wanted my dear wife, Carrie, to be there too. We’ll watch on TV, and I will be afforded the ability to yell at the ref. That is a no-no in the press box. Carrie and I will be able to sit together. She can’t come to the press box. I think I made out okay today.

I won’t lie. I woke up early this morning and shook my head in a little disgust. Then I did what I had to do. I poured a cup of strong black coffee, threw in Gregg Allman’s last album Southern Blood, and started writing and speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Go IU!

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