A month ago I wrote on these pages that I hoped Tom Allen and Indiana University would hammer out a treaty to end his tenure.  Guess what?  They did that today.  Coach Allen, the class act he is, leaves with a settlement that is less than what he was ultimately owed.

I hate it.  I hate it all.  No one wanted Tom Allen to succeed more than I did.  I so like the man.

We move on.  And I mean move on.

I have made no secret of my disdain for all the conference realignment.  Stanford and Cal members of the Atlantic Coast Conference?  Please.  USC and UCLA in The Big Ten? Pardon me while I throw up.

“You can’t pass through life without becoming acquainted with tradition, with legacy, and with a feeling of history, and The Rose Bowl does all of that.”                    – Keith Jackson

Keith Jackson was not talking about a stadium.  He was talking about their way of life against ours.  He was talking about USC v. Ohio State.  He was talking about UCLA v. Michigan.  He was talking about relying on a New Year’s Day tradition of The Big Ten versus the PAC-8/ PAC-10/PAC-12.  That was the tradition.  That has been ruined.

When I took this picture at The Rose Bowl in 2018 it was because I appreciated the history of the stadium and The PAC-12.  I never imagined it would one day be changed to The Big 10.  I don’t like it.  Makes no practical sense.  Money is not practical.

Where do I go from here?

I think I am heading North.  I was always partial to the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League.  They have since been rebranded as the Edmonton Elks.  There are players in the Canadian Football League that make less money than I do.  One guy on a CFL team is a firefighter during the week and a kicker on game day.  I appreciate that.

When a college football player makes more money than a physics professor, I draw a line.

I’ve been to more college stadiums and seen more college teams and more college games than anyone I know.

I watched the UCLA-Cal game in The Rose Bowl last night on ESPN.  It was the last PAC-12 game.  I sat there in stunned silence.  There was no regard for the respect of the history of the college game when UCLA and USC and Washington and Oregon headed to The Big Ten.  Didn’t they have enough money?  Did they need that much more?  Will the other sports of PAC-12 teams flying all over the place agree?   I doubt it.  Geography was once the cornerstone of rivalry.  That goes by the wayside when you sign a TV contract with FOX at noon, CBS at 3:30, and NBC in primetime.

I told my dear wife, Carrie, the most fun I had watching football this year was the CFL.  Montreal upset Winnipeg in the 110th Grey Cup last weekend. I watched every play.

One last Indiana Football note.  Jason Candle at Toledo.  If they can talk him into coming to Bloomington, they need to sign him in a hurry.  I don’t know that I will be paying as close attention as I have.  My current focus is more on Toledo Rockets of days gone by than today.  What does that mean?  We’ll see.  I have an idea or two.

Coach Tom Allen, I will always be a fan.  Forrest Gump said it best, “Sometimes there are just not enough rocks.”

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

This is the last week of the 2023 College Football regular season.  If you are an Indiana fan, you might be very thankful this Thanksgiving weekend.  This painful season is almost over.

Last week I experienced two Indiana Hoosier firsts for me.  It all started on Thursday, November 16th.  My dear wife, Carrie, and I made our way to Bloomington to watch the Indiana Hoosiers take on the Wright State Raiders in…wait for it…a men’s basketball game in Assembly Hall.  This was the first men’s college basketball game I have ever been to.  We had a great time.  Indiana won 89-80.

This looked like a circus during a timeout.  It was good.

I think the basketball Hoosiers have some great ingredients.  If they get the recipe right, look out.

Two days later, my brother, Darrell, and I took in the last home game of the Indiana Football season (thankfully).  Michigan State beat Indiana 24-21 in another game that just plain got away.  The one that got away is no longer a theme with Hoosier Football; it is the norm.  My optimism and my hope for Hoosier football has waned.  Looking out on the horizon of today’s wild wild east and west of college football, I don’t see things getting better for many teams.  Indiana is in that number.

Being there with my brother was awesome.  The last college game we saw together was the 1993 Independence Bowl when the Hoosiers were bested by the Virginia Tech Hokies in Shreveport. He was ten years old then.  The crowd for the game last week was pitiful.  Those stands behind us were during the second half of game that stayed close until the end.

This photo was taken in the first half.

The Hoosiers play for the Old Oaken Bucket at Purdue today.  Have you seen what that trophy looks like?  It looks like it belongs in Bloomington.

Last week’s picks were not good.

8 winners  6 losers.  I picked IU, Kentucky, Duke, and a few others who let me down.

Season total:  123 winners  45 losers

Today we see the last Saturday of the regular season for  2023 college football.  Man did it go fast.

Here goes…

Indiana beats Purdue…  I have to.

Louisville beats Kentucky… UK will give them something.  But I see U of L still kicking themselves over the loss to Pitt and being sky high at home working toward the ACC Title Game with Florida State.  Now that is exciting!

Ohio State beats Michigan… Marvin Harrison, Jr.  Say no more.  Can Michigan really keep this up in another episode of As the Wolverine Turns?  I don’t think so.

Duke beats Pitt… Will bring Duke to 7-5.  We’d take 7-5 at a basketball school.

LSU beats Texas A&M… Daniels at QB for LSU is the most fun to watch since Johnny Manziel was looking like a computer game at Kyle Field.

Troy beats Southern Miss… Southern is at home.  Troy is better.

Alabama beats Auburn… I picked the Tide to win it all this year.  They are still in the hunt.  The problem is that Bama has been so good for so long that no other program is penalized more by one loss than the Tide.

Maryland beats Rutgers…Look for the Terps to put up some points.

Illinois beats Northwestern… Illini are at home and these teams are pretty even.

Minnesota beats Wisconsin… Goldy is at home and he needs this one for bowl contention.

Washington beats Washington State…The Apple Cup no longer runneth over.  It is running dry.  Another rivalry in jeopardy due to conference migration.  While the Huskies count their money, the Cougars will remember when.

Florida State beats Florida… Could the Gators really pull this off with the Seminoles playing a second-string quarterback?  Nah, I don’t think so either.

Georgia beats Georgia Tech…The Engineers will ask for a running clock in the 3rd quarter.

UCLA beats Cal… Late kick in The Rose Bowl.  Kind of appropriate as this one is where the sun will go down on the PAC-12.  I will watch this until the end.

Lastly, being there for a friend is an important thing.  I wish I could have done a better job of that last week.  Adam Disque’s dad passed away after a lengthy illness and I was not able to make it up to Jackson County early in the week.  Going to see Indiana play a basketball game two days later didn’t make me question my priorities.  It did hold some regret that I was tied up on Tuesday a little too tight than I wish I had been.  I haven’t had the courage to tell Adam about my visit to Assembly Hall. That’s life.

I am looking out on this college football day with melancholy.  I don’t want to see the PAC-12 end.  I don’t want to see the SEC with Texas and Oklahoma.  Lewis Grizzard once said he was glad his father didn’t live long to see him get his hair cut in a beauty parlor.  I feel the same way when I think about the greatest voice in college football history Keith Jackson.  He predicted this nonsense on January 1, 2017, when he said the problem with college football was “oversaturation, meaning too much coverage.”  Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit were standing on each side of Keith in The Rose Bowl’s Keith Jackson Broadcast Center that day.  Chris and Kirk looked sheepish standing next to The Voice.

Today is the day the music dies for college football as we knew it.

On a good note, UCLA beat USC last week.  Now it is time for me to hit publish and go put my UCLA jersey on for this college football Saturday which is the last of its kind.

Speaking the Rights.

Danny Johnson

Indiana at Illinois on this date in 1989.  It was a cold day in Champaign.  The game was telecasted by ABC.  Gary Bender and Dick Vermeil were on the call.  I watched it again when I got home that night or morning or whatever it was.  Indiana lost.  Jeff George threw Illini darts.  Anthony Thompson scored his last touchdown.

I am picking the Hoosiers to win today.

Last week 10 winners and 4 four losers.

Season total  115 winners  39 losers

Indiana beats Michigan State… Let’s end this on a positive note at home.

Ole Miss beats Louisiana Monroe…Practice before the Egg Bowl.

Louisville beats Miami…This game means more to the Cards.  Ask their coach.

Michigan beats Maryland…Another episode of As the Wolverine Turns.

Duke beats Virginia… Mike Elko will have a new address next season.

Illinois beats Iowa… Something has to give points-wise with this Iowa D some day.  That is today.

Georgia beats Tennessee… I hope the VOLS win.

UNC beat Clemson… Coach Mack says he is back for next year.

UCLA beats USC… Tommy Trojan QB Caleb Williams has two towels at the ready.  One to dry his hands.  The other for crying.

Ohio State beats Minnesota…. Come on Goldy!

Auburn beats New Mexico State…. Most of the work in the coaching box will be tape of Bama for next week.

Kentucky beats South Carolina...The Cats are ready to break out with offense.

Washington beats Oregon State… Penix Jr still has Heisman shot.

Wisconsin beats Nebraska at home…I suspect.

Today is special.  Today I attend a college football game with my brother for the first time in 30 years.  The last college game we saw together was the 1993 Independence Bowl in Shreveport.  Indiana lost to Virginia Tech in that one.  We’re due.

Speak the rights.

Danny Johnson

Last week I failed to put my picks on.  There was a great deal going on.  Wearing a heart monitor for 24 hours will change your attitude in a hurry.  Fortunately, all is well after a little attention getting.

The picks last week were the worst of the season.

8 winners and 6 losers.

The week before 11 winners and 3 losers.

Notre Dame, Nebraska, Oklahoma, UCLA…they all let me down.

Guess who didn’t let me down after I had given up on them?  INDIANA!

Anyone whose read many of these football words over the years knows I abhor the Wisconsin Badgers.  

Last week there were more folks at Memorial Stadium in the 4th quarter than we have seen in a while.

This was the celebratory crowd as the Hoosiers celebrated the first home win against Bucky in over 20 years.

This one was special.  I was so glad for Coach Tom Allen.

The season total:

105 winners and 35 losers after picking 140 games in 10 weeks.

On to this week’s picks.

Alabama beats Kentucky… I picked the Tide to win it all.  I still believe that.

Clemson beats Georgia Tech… The Tigers are at home.

Michigan beats Penn State… Michigan is living on borrowed time.  Look for them to make Drew Allar eat turf.

NC State beats Wake Forest…The Raleigh boys have found something.

Minnesota beats Purdue… I want to pick Purdue.  But Goldy is fired up after losing last week.

Pitt beats Syracuse… I just don’t see the Orange pulling this one out outdoors.

Iowa beats Rutgers… The Hawkeyes are 7-2 and they fire their OC.  Something smells funny in Iowa City.

Tennessee beats Mizzou… I know it is at Mizzou.  They are fired up.  Maybe too much.  They have been in the SEC since lunch.

Washington beats Utah…In Husky Stadium.  Look for Penix, Jr. to throw for more than 400.

Marshall beats Georgia Southern… The Herd plays well in The Joan.

Ole Miss beats Georgia… The Bulldogs can’t keep this up.  Why not the Rebs?

Oklahoma beats West Virginia… The Sooners are not a happy bunch and the boys from Morgantown are going to know it.

LSU beats Florida… Is this the beginning of the middle of the end for Coach Billy Napier at Florida.  I hope not.  Give the guy another year, at least.

Oregon beats USC… The Ducks muddy the water even more for the CFP standings.

Enjoy the weekend and watch the sun go down early.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Talking to Mom on the phone this evening, my location or destination was never mentioned.  She didn’t ask.  I didn’t divulge.  She would have chewed me.  It would have gone something like this: “Danny Johnson, you are not a teenager anymore.  Quit trying to act like one.  You’re going to hurt yourself!”

She’s partly right.  I will hurt in the morning.  Fortunately, I made it home and all is well.

I emptied the ball bag tonight.  Sure, I had to air them up the night before.  We had not seen each other in a while.  How and why these balls all got turned with no laces to be seen I will never know.  They fell that way.  I took the picture.  There was nothing rehearsed.  When I sit here and look at this picture now, I see these balls telling me goodbye.  I don’t kick the laces.

Yes.  Tonight I went over to Crawford County High School and kicked on a field that resembles the one I used to kick on at North Harrison.  Crawford has not graduated to the likes of a nice Bermuda grass field.  This field is just plain grass.   The kind I kicked on 38 and 39 years ago on high school fields from Brownstown to Clarksville to North Daviess.

This field felt like home.  Though I wanted to make one from 38 yards, the best I could do was 33 yards.  It was amazing how far away that goalpost looked from 38 yards.  There was time I looked at the 50 yard line feeling I was almost safe kicking it 60 yards.  When I was a kid at North my longest on that field was from the opposite 48.  62 yards.  This was just me, a ball, a tee, and a goalpost.  With the help of a breeze and a sweet kick, I watched one fly over from 70 in Shreve Stadium in Shreveport in the summer of 1986.  That alone tells me this was a good time to turn in my shoe.

I hit the last three I attempted from 25 yards away.

Truly amazing how much pop the leg can loose in eight years.

I was nailing 40 yarders that day in 2015.

Today I didn’t smile so much.  Today was the end for this old kicker.

All this was really brought on recently when a friend of mine at another school asked if I was coaching football.  I told him I was not.  He asked if I wanted to.  I told him the situation would have to be right.  He told me their staff was re-tooling and I was the first person he thought of.  He said the route trees I was drawing up in 1985 looked like what he was looking at on Saturdays and Sundays in 2023.  He told me he figured long ago that I would have the kids at North Harrison averaging 500 yards of passing a game.  I told him that was not to be.  But it sure was nice to hear that.  I told him I interviewed for the head coaching job at North Harrison on two occasions.  I was turned away both times. That is news to many.  I never made a thing of it.  Both of those instances happened a long time ago.  That is just the way it goes.

My friend got my football wheels turning again.  I decided to end that tonight.

Look, when you get to kick in The Rose Bowl and you don’t miss, what’s left?

That’s why these balls were turned the way they were today.

More than anything, I will miss staring down a goalpost.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Don’t worry so much, I tell myself.  What they don’t know they won’t miss.

Still, I struggle with something I know that the kids I teach in English class don’t know.  Literary and grammar pursuits notwithstanding, there are days when I am frustrated with the plight of thoughtful journalism.  Translation:  I miss the paper.  I miss the  newspaper I once knew.

Over the weekend I was ruminating over the state of many forms of media in 2023.  There are some I just don’t recognize all that well anymore.  Listening to some of the bombastic comments on ESPN’s Gameday before the noon kickoffs of college football, I began wondering if Keith Jackson would have a seat at the table if he were alive today.  Unfortunately, I doubt it.  Sure doesn’t feel like it.

For me, though, it all goes back to the paper.  I have written about this before and it is still the greatest example of ‘what was’ for me.  In 1979, a sportswriter by the name of Jim Plump was covering the Holiday Bowl between Indiana and BYU.  This was no early kickoff in the eastern time zone.  My mother was working a 3 PM to 11 PM shift as an RN at Floyd Memorial Hospital in New Albany and then drove 23 miles home.  When she made it home that night, the Hoosiers were still playing.  Indiana won the game 38-37.  Plump was covering the game for The Columbus Republic.  His account of the game made it into the next morning’s paper front and center with a photo.

Today The Columbus Republic only prints on a bi-weekly schedule.  And they sure as heck would not fly a sportswriter to San Diego to cover a college football bowl game.

At the heart of my angst is knowing kids at North Harrison and their grandparents don’t get to see their names in stories and in box scores like the ones that used to run in Louisville’s Courier-Journal for every game played in Southern Indiana.

Your old Uncle Dan can remember two of those being printed.  The Courier-Journal was the morning paper and The Louisville Times was the afternoon paper.  I have articles from both with my name in both in old scrapbooks.

My thoughts about all this soon drifted to a great high school sportswriter I had the pleasure to sit next to in a few press boxes as he was writing about the football game and I was talking about it.  He was Dave Koerner, writing for the Courier-Journal.  I was calling the North Harrison football games on WKLO with my partner Gus Stephenson.  Each time I met up with Dave Koerner it was a pleasant experience.  We always had a chat.

Dave Koerner was a nice guy.  His writing was firm and flowing.  He took his craft serious.  Maybe there was one unpleasant experience between us.  Maybe, nothing.  There was and it was all my fault.  After a game in Corydon, when we had finished up the coach’s post-game interview and sign-off, I was playing kick the field goal with a empty plastic pop bottle and a trash can.  I did this as Dave was writing up his story.  He’d had enough of my noise.  “Would you please stop that?!”  It sounded more like a command than a question.  I begged forgiveness.

Before a Perry Central-North Harrison game in Ramsey, I made a comment that went something like.. “to the west there is a peach colored sky”.  He said he liked that.  He asked if he could borrow it.  He may have used it, had that sky not quickly turned into a thunderstorm delaying the game’s start and then a deluge of rain until the 4th quarter.  That was August 26, 2005.

More than a year earlier, at my behest, Dave was delighted to write a story about the Medora Lady Hornets Basketball Team winning their first-ever sectional game.  That was fun.  Dave told me he enjoyed that story.  For a guy who did more writing than talking, I was delighted that the Medora story meant something to him.  My dear friend Brad McCammon, the girls’ coach, appreciated Dave’s treatment too. I love the headline.

The ending is sad.  After more than 30 years of writing for the Courier-Journal, taking a buy-out of course, Dave Koerner settled down in Blue Ridge, Georgia and wrote locally there for The News Observer.  A little more than a year after I was sharing a press box with him, Dave Koerner died in that paper’s newsroom sitting at his desk.  He had a massive heart attack.  He was 57.  And just like the paper, Dave Koerner is missed.

Speaking the Rights.

Danny Johnson

Last week I flippantly referred to this picture, taken nine minutes before the kickoff at Memorial Stadium for the Indiana-Rutgers game.

I called Memorial Stadium in Bloomington the SAFEST PLACE IN AMERICA!

The Indiana Hoosiers were beaten by Rutgers 31-14.  When the Rutgers quarterback runs for an 81 yard touchdown and the Rutgers offense only has 39 yards passing you know the game was much worse than the score indicated.

Rutgers kicking an extra point.

Thankfully it was a nice day.  This was taken at the beginning of the 4th quarter.  The score at that point was 24-14.  It felt like 44-14.

The Dream is Over.  No one has supported Coach Tom Allen with more vigor than I have.  I believe that.  I believed he was going to turn things around.  I no longer believe that.  And it hurts.  I attended Saturday’s game alone.  I sat there and listened to Ohio State vs. Penn State while I was watching the Hoosiers.  Why?  I wanted something in my ears to take me away from the disgruntled Hoosier fans casting aspersion on Coach Allen.  I hate that part.  I don’t handle it well.  It makes me sad.  This Saturday the Indiana Hoosiers travel to Penn State.  That will make me sad.  I was happy when I found out the next home game, against Swissconsin, will kick off at 12 noon.  Not exactly a Big Noon Kickoff.  I was glad because it means I can come home and watch LSU-Alabama that night.

There is a time to move on.  I hope Indiana and Tom Allen can hammer out a treaty at the end of the season that allows him to ride off quietly.  It will save us from seeing even worse crowds next year and a root canal of a season that sees Washington, Oregon, USC, and UCLA join the Big Ten (18).  Big Ten?  That is oxymoronic.  And just plain moronic.

I can’t believe I am writing these words.  The Dream is Over.  I speak the rights.

The season, however, goes on.  On to this week’s picks.

Last week was another 9 winners and 5 losers dose like last week.

Season Total  86 winners and 26 losers.  I’ll take it.

Here we go again…

Florida State beats Wake Forest… The Seminoles may win it all.

Maryland beats Northwestern… Is there a better story in college football than the way the resilient Wildcats have comported themselves at Northwestern?

Oklahoma beats Kansas…The Sooners roll like it is 1982.

Clemson beats North Carolina State…Clemson has too much speed for the boys in Raleigh.

Texas beats BYU… At Texas.  Enough said.

Louisville beats Duke… Jeff Brohm still has to fix the malady of beating a giant one week and losing to a peon the next week.  Ask the folks in West Lafayette about that.

Georgia beats Florida…  How cool would it be if Florida shows up and gets the breaks?

Minnesota beats Michigan State… Goldy comes off a big one against Iowa.  Sparty comes off a big disaster against Michigan.

Notre Dame beats Pitt…  And bad.  Making U of L’s loss to Pitt worse.

Kentucky beats Tennessee… Yes, I know. That QB for UK can throw better than anything Bama threw last week.  5 TD passes for the Wildcats.

Washington beats Stanford… Michael Penix, Jr. puts on a show.

UCLA beats Colorado… Game of the Day!

Ohio State beats Swissconsin… And Bucky will be mad as heck going to Indiana next week.

Ole Miss beats Vanderbilt… The Rebs roll at home.  Big offensive numbers.

And so it goes.

Last Friday night I saw Justin Hayward playing a Gibson 335 for the first time since 2018. That alone was worth driving to Columbus, Ohio for.  And this concert was a whole lot better than any college football game I have attended this year.  Thank you, Jus.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

How can this be?  Week 8 of the College Football Season is here already?  November is coming close to knock on the door.  Unreal.

Last week I had 9 winners and 5 losers.  The evening games certainly let me down.  I certainly thought Louisville would beat Pitt.  I was sure UK would beat Mizzou.  Both teams should have won.  Both teams played uninspired football.

The season tally:  77 winners  21 losers.  

I am a little anxious to see what kind of attendance we have in Bloomington on Saturday.  Rutgers comes calling.  Not the greatest Big Ten attraction, Rutgers.  Neither are the Hoosiers. I certainly hope things take a turn for the best for Indiana this week.  What has transpired this season is extremely disappointing. The last thing I want to do is show up and listen to folks give Coach Allen a hard time.  When your Dad was a coach, that is never an easy thing to deal with.

The Ole Miss Rebels are back in action this week after being idle last week.  Do they still say that?  Idle?  There was a time when not all teams took a week off.  Yes, I know.  No one cares about leather helmet days now.  I just hope the Rebs give a better offensive showing against Auburn.  Hugh Freeze coaching against his old team is a story line for sure.  Coach Freeze will surely have his team ready for this one.

On to this week’s picks.

Penn State beats Ohio State…This is a noon home game in Columbus.  What makes me think the Nittany Lions will be more prepared for this one?

Arkansas beats Mississippi State…The Hogs are the best 2-5 team in the history of college football.  Look at their scores if you get a chance.

Oklahoma beats UCF…The Sooners are rolling.

Iowa beats Minnesota… Iowa the last of what football used to look like.

Nebraska beats Northwestern…The Huskers give the Wildcats a hard time.

Alabama beats Tennessee… It’s Sweet Home Alabama vs. Rock Top.  Roll Tide.

North Carolina beats Virginia…Funny how no one mentions UNC as a playoff candidate.

Ole Miss beats Auburn…The Rebs run wild in a night game.

Florida State beats Duke…The Seminoles all the way.

Michigan beats Michigan State…The Wolverines take care of Sparty with ease.

Clemson beats Miami… A couple teams on the brink of something.

USC beats Utah…I say this because it is in The Coliseum.

Washington beats Arizona State… The Penix, Jr. Heisman Tour continues.

UCLA beats Stanford…Stanford is still tired from their game against the Buffs.

Enjoy the games this weekend.

Speaking the Rights…

Danny Johnson

Wow.  It is Saturday morning.  We are a little more than an hour from the Big Noon Kickoff in the eastern time zone.

Speaking of east, my dear wife, Carrie, and I had a great time of it in New England this past week?  Do people still say that outside of speaking of the Patriots Football Team?  New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire we drove across three of those and made The Berkshires in Western Mass. home base.  The Boston papers are ready to gut the New England team including Coach Belichik.  Mac Jones is frying like a hot hamburger right now.  Anyway.  Driving through western New York is a treat.  Bills fans may be the best in the NFL for my money.  The area itself is so far removed from anything you have been conditioned to think when you hear the words New York.  There is little urban about it.  Little towns are dotted with Bills flags.  Two high schools had Go Bills! featured on their electronic signs.  I doubt I will get there, but I would love to attend a game in the old Orchard Park Stadium before the new one is built.  We pass the exit for the place each time we go through there.  At that point, we still 291 miles from Albany.  That and one more hour will get us to Hancock, Mass.

That is where I find newspaper heaven still exists.  

You can go into a grocery store in these parts and decide which or all of no less than seven newspapers you want to read.  AND THEY ARE STILL WORTH READING. 

We didn’t come here for a newspaper dissertation.  On to the FOOTBALL!

Last week        12 winners      2 losers

Season total      68 winners   16 losers

I will say it again.  As good as this is, I will make up for it during the bowl season when you really don’t know what kind of team will show up.

I know.  This is not a college football picture.  Last night I looked at two high school football games in person.  One was North Harrison at Providence.  That was a disaster.  North lost 35-0 in a game that was called to injury at halftime.  That was a first for me.  So I moseyed over to Clarksville and watched Crawford County and the Clarksville Generals.  Both teams were 0-8 coming in.  I was worn out, having driving east of Cleveland to Depauw earlier in the day.  I left at halftime of that one.  Clarksville won 48-34.

The photo?  I just miss kickers.

Alabama beats Arkansas…The Tide Rolls at home.

Georgia beats Vandy… The Bulldogs should score 40 before the half.

Rutgers beats Michigan State… It is in Piscataway.  A place named perfectly.

Florida beats South Carolina…This may be a stretch in Columbia.

Maryland beats Illinois…The Terps rebound this week after the loss in Columbus.

Washington beats Oregon…And the Michael Penix, Jr. legend continues.  Get  that grip ready for the Heisman, Michael.  You’ll be the first Hoosier to ever win it.

Tennessee beats Texas A&M…in Knoxville and those Vols are FIRED UP!

Iowa beats Swissconsin… I will take a loss before I pick the Bucky Badgers.

Louisville beats Pitt… At Pitt.  Doesn’t matter.  Not this year.  The magic of college football is still real.

LSU beats Auburn… I think it was in this game in the late 80s when Tommy Hodson threw a TD pass for the Bayou Bengals and the ruckus in Death Valley set off the seismographs in the LSU Geology Department.  Look it up.

Marshall beats Georgia State…Go Herd!

North Carolina beats Miami…The Tar Heels are working on a dream.

Kentucky beats Mizzou…Playing at UK.  Mark Stoops gets grilled for speaking the rights this week.  And Paul Finebaum in turn started talking like it was 1975 and Bo, Bear, and Woody were still here.  In the Southern Parlance, “Do What, Paul?”

USC beats Notre Dame… A game that lives in lore that I make every effort to watch each year.

Enjoy the games and take care of each other.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Editorial Note:  Written in Fairport Harbor, Ohio about 30 miles east of Cleveland.

Two days.  Two great times.  From here on, when I think about attending Justin Hayward concerts, I can reference the one about going to Walden Pond the next day.  That’s what happens when you are in Nashua, New Hampshire for a concert and Walden Pond just happens to be about 30 miles down the road outside Concord, Massachusetts.  There’s no way my dear wife, Carrie, and I are not going to walk the 1.7 mile trail around that hallowed pond if we are in the neighborhood.

Henry David Thoreau is a long time favorite of mine.  For my money, Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson were the first hippies.  When I read a line about one of them nodding to a tree and the tree nodding back, I am sold on that.  Save your breath.

This was the fifth time I have visited Walden Pond.  The last time was June of 2022.  On that day I wrote some words that I included in a 190,000 word work that is still looking for a home.  I am always going to want to come back to this place.

Long before there was a concert scheduled, Carrie and I booked a stay in a place we frequent in The Berkshires during our school’s fall break.  The ride to Nashua was one we had made many times visiting friends living there.  Riding through Vermont and New Hampshire in October is not a difficult thing to do.

The store I go to in the mornings to pick up five newspapers that are not owned by Gannett (they’re good).  

So what about the concert?  Yeah, that Justin Hayward fellow.  Well, believe it or not, every time I hear this guy sing something or someone interesting happens.  Before the show in the newly minted Nashua Center for the Arts, a lady behind my asked someone she was attending the show with, “Is this Haywood fellow local?  Is it Haywood or Hayward?  Is he local?  Is he from Boston or somewhere?”

I just sat there and grinned.  Lady, I thought, you are in for a treat and you need it.

In earnest, the place is new and the locals are trying to support it.  The place was sold out.  Now, understand, MOST in attendance knew it was HAYWARD.  And yes, they knew what they were in for.  That is exactly why they, and, well, Carrie and I were there.  Justin Hayward just flat puts on a great performance with a consistency that is envious of any performer of any genre of entertainment.

I tell my students in order to be successful it certainly helps to surround yourself with good people.  Justin Hayward understands this.  The ladies and gentleman on stage with him could not be any better.  They complement each other with musical knowhow and an obvious dedication to the songs.  My old musical mentor, Tim Krekel, always said you have to do what is right by the song.  I’ve seen this bunch play a few times.  Julie Ragins on vocals and keyboards and kitchen sink.  She can do it all.  Karmen Gould playing flute, percussion, and backing vocals is a talented player.  Mike Dawes.  Between you and me, Mike Dawes is the best guitar player I have ever seen.  The dude obviously enjoys playing these songs.  He could certainly have other options with the talent he has.  Personally, I appreciate the fact that he is there and he knows a good gig when he has it.

And Justin Hayward?  Well, to me Justin is more affable on stage than he has ever been.  There is a graciousness about him that tells us in no uncertain terms that he is glad to be there.  He handles everyone on stage with a respect and dignity that is rare in someone of such stature.  He’s the lead singer.  They are his songs.  He still plays in the band.

Sunday night when I was witnessing Justin’s kind treatment of his guitar tech he called “Josh”, I thought about a night in Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in October of 2005.  There were some bluegrass pickers and singers paying tribute to The Moody Blues in a Moody Bluegrass Concert.  With an all-star “house band”,  different lead vocalists would come on and sing a different Moodies tune.  Harley Allen, John Cowan, Tim O’Brien and others. There, standing off stage right waiting in the wings as it were, was Justin Hayward greeting every performer with a handshake or a pat on the back as they were exiting the stage.  I remember thinking to myself, Justin is hearing this stuff for the first time.  It’s very different from playing.  I got that.  I also appreciated a kind gesture that some of those guys and gals are talking or thinking about every time they hear Justin’s voice singing.

Indulge me.  I have heard Justin Hayward alluding to, as he did Sunday night,  hanging on to the music of one’s youth.  You who’ve read these lines have heard it before and I will reiterate:  I picked the right music or the right music picked me.  Either way, I hang on to it dearly.

No, when I began making music I didn’t sound anything like Justin Hayward or anyone else (though John Mellencamp and I spent our childhood ten miles from each other…so…).  When they’re your songs, it is your sound.  If I told you Justin Hayward has influenced my songwriting I would be telling a lie.  When I pull that guitar strap over my head and I demo a song it is all me.  When the dust of a session or a writing binge goes away, I reach for Forever Autumn or The Western Sky or more recently Hayward’s newest song Living for Love.  That tune had my students in a trance.  I didn’t see that coming.  But I sure enjoyed their reaction.  There’s that youth thing again. Yes, it matters.

When I was a high school senior the song Your Wildest Dreams made me look pretty smart.  I heard this question many times:  Isn’t that the group you listen to?   Yes.  And I still do.  The music of my youth means more than ever to me.

Lighting can do some strange things.  These photos, taken Sunday night, are reminiscent of A-HA’s Take On Me video in my eyes.  I took them straight “photo” with a cell phone that is old by industry standards.  I think they are cool.  How could they not be?

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson