Like most of us, I have a pesky “news feed” on my phone. This invention is forever annoying. My phone knows what I am about. Plenty of updates on music about the heroes I adhere to. I won’t turn off a George Strait song on the radio. Rarely would I be listening to a station where you would find George Strait. When George sings about saying goodbye in Marina del Ray, I listen up. Being a man prone to writing about football, I get a great deal of that coming my way. The sound bites and press conference clips are GREAT. For every one of those, however, someone is imparting a “list” on me. How many times can I see a list ranking the stadiums of the SEC? A list ranking the coaches of the Big Ten. A list ranking the bathroom facilities of the stadiums in the ACC. No, I have not seen that one. But I will say the facilities at Wake Forest are first rate.

So, I sit down to write a meaningful list about football. I’d be delighted to read more lists like this one. I don’t need to see a list telling me the most annoying fan base in the Big Ten. I already know that is a tie between Ohio State and Wisconsin.

This list reads like the titles from the old TV show The Waltons. Simple. Simple. and Simple.

The Bus Ride

On a perfect autumn night in 1982, I was one of the North Harrison Cougars riding home from Brownstown Central. That night the 6-1 Cougars beat a 7-0 Braves team on their home turf by a score of 27-14. Never before or since have I heard such laughter, team-love, and accomplishment on the bus ride home.

The grass at Brownstown gave way to artificial turf some years ago. That old stadium is gone. And the goalpost shown that I would split two years later is now on a practice field. Pat Prince, a senior guard, would get us started on the bus. “We’re the Cougar Football Team (we’d repeat it back), “We’re lean and tough and mighty mean…” A variety of incantations followed. The one on the way home from Brownstown that October night in 1982 was special.

The Hoosiers

There is so much talk about Indiana Hoosiers Football these days; I feel I am living in an alternate universe at times. My distinct memories of Indiana Football go back 50 years. In 1975, the Utah Utes came to Bloomington. This was my first tangible proof that Utah existed on anything other than a map. Frank Stavroff, the Indiana kicker, put one through the uprights from 52 yards away. Amazing.

My love affair with Indiana has been on again and off again. The day they fired Coach Bill Mallory in 1996, Halloween to be exact, I was furious. Cam Cameron and Gerry DiNardo came and went.

Like so many others, I thought Coach Terry Hoeppner was going to lead Indiana out of the bowels or lethargy, my apologies to Jack Dundee. Coach Hep gave us two great seasons. He didn’t live to see a third. He didn’t see Austin Starr kick that 49 yarder against Purdue the following season that made the Hoosiers 7-5 and heading to a bowl for the first time since 1993.

A great picture of me and my mother, Tressie Johnson. We were about to pile into that van and head to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport in 1993. This is town my dad went to high school at St. John’s.

I know Memorial Stadium in Bloomington better than I know most places. When I look out before a game, I can still see the likes of Mike Harkrader, Duane Gunn, Van Waiters, Tim Clifford, Pete Stoyanovich, Chuck Razmic, Courtney Snyder, Joe Norman, Mark Hagen, Tim Wilbur, Alex Smith, Chris Dittoe, Thomas Lewis, and so many more. We don’t have time. But we do need to mention Anthony Thompson. The 1989 Maxwell Award winner and runner-up for The Heisman Trophy, AT is the only Hoosier in ANY sport to have his number retired. And for good reason.

FAST FOWARD…Thanks to Coach Curt Cignetti, Indiana has come a long way in a short time. Don’t be shocked if they keep shocking and making the SEC faithful cuss. Paul Finebaum beware.

How much have things changed at IU?

In 2019, I sent this photo to a cousin in Mississippi. I told him we were three hours away from hosting Ohio State and things here in Bloomington are abuzz!

Last year Indiana hosted College Football Gameday. This picture was taken shortly after 6 AM. The place really WAS abuzz.

That’s not to say IU didn’t have a few growing pains associated with unprecedented success. The Coach Cig towels placed on each seat on GAMEDAY Saturday were a little windblown.

The Sectional

In 1985, Indiana High Schools began postseason Sectional play. Similar to basketball, every team has a chance in the postseason now. The first sectional game in North Harrison High School history was October 25, 1985, against the homestanding Mitchell Bluejackets. I was a senior on this team. I was playing center that night. I kicked a field goal and an extra point to give us a 10-0 lead. Mitchell came back and led 12-10 late in the fourth quarter. During a time-out, with fourth down and goal from the 2, I told my coach-my dad that we had the two-hole. We went for it. Jason French ran along my right butt-cheek. Touchdown. We beat Mitchell 17-12. We had done something no NH team had done before. We won a playoff game. Yes, that ride home was pretty good too.

This is my brother, Darrell, and me taken not long before that Mitchell game was played.

The Friendships

Football can bring guys together for life. There are chaps I know that I don’t see very often. When we meet up, we have a bond that only going through two-day practices can give. There is something very special about it.

I ran across this photo; taken by my friend Jim Plump 50 years ago. I am also partial to it because the guy on the left, Jim Brown, is a dear friend who is more like family. These guys were playing for my dad’s Brownstown Central team in 1975. This captures a great deal of what this game can give.

The Voices

Never once do I turn a college football game on and fail to think about Keith Jackson. He was the greatest college football announcer we ever knew.

This was Keith Jackson’s last television appearance at a college football game. This was the 2017 Rose Bowl. He schooled these two that night. I have it recorded, and I never tire listening to it.

Keith Jackson was the soundtrack of College Football. He died in January 2018.

I wish I was not such a traditionalist at times. When it comes to football announcers I don’t have much patience. I can’t watch College Football Gameday. Too much noise. I tune in to see the last segment when they give the big picks of the day and to watch Lee Corso. That too is almost over.

A guy from Shreveport is my go-to announcer these days. Tim Brando is the best. What I would give to hear him call the Championship game. It would be so much more enjoyable. Tim is knowledgeable and knows when to get out of the way like Keith Jackson did. We have spent our lives hearing the adage sometimes less is more. There really is something to that.

Tim called the Indiana-Purdue game in Bloomington. IU won 66-0. TB was having a bit of problem with his voice. He was a gamer! He got through it. He is a winner.

The Herd

My dear wife, Carrie, and I have a soft spot for Marshall University. We have seen more games at The Joan (Joan C. Edwards Stadium) than I can recall. We had season tickets in 2010. Remember that UNREAL catch by WR Aaron Dobson, the one where he caught it with his hand turned backwards, against East Carolina in 2011? I saw it. That was the most amazing thing I have seen on a college football field.

The first time we saw a game at Purdue was against Marshall. We saw both games of a home and home series. The home team won both times.

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Watching the Rebels

My Mississippi roots run deep. My mother and father were both born in Mississippi. Over the years I have seen the Rebels play in Lexington, Nashville (Vandy and Music City Bowl), Jackson, Winston-Salem, and Oxford. I live in Indiana.

The last game I saw at Oxford was in 2003 when Eli Manning was a senior. This was a 43-40 win over Lou Holtz and South Carolina. In earnest, Carolina came back furiously after Ole Miss had a large lead. We all left exhaling and glad they played quarters and not fifths.

Being there and listening to Hotty Toddy is a thing to behold. I loved every minute of it. My Aunt Barbara Hines was my Ole Miss buddy. I miss her.

The Bengals

This was the first glimpse I ever saw of the Bengals new striped uniforms in 1981 after a preseason game. I was fan long before that happened. The Bengals were my team. Growing up Ken Anderson was my football hero. He played for the Bengals from 1971 to 1986.

This 1982 Monday Night Football shoot-out between the Bengals saw Anderson throw for 416 yards and Dan Fouts of the Chargers throw for 425 yards.

I am not a great fan of pro football these days. Once upon a time, I never missed a game. Don’t get me wrong. On Sunday night at 8:30, I will be tuned in to NBC, after I have sampled the other Sunday games.

Thanks to Peyton

Peyton Manning made football in Indiana.

I saw the interest in high school football for twenty years before Peyton Manning was drafted and played for the Indianapolis Colts.

I saw the interest in the Indianapolis Colts the fourteen years before Peyton Manning made his way to Colts in 1998.

Peyton Manning made football in Indiana. Thank you, Peyton.

The Last Word

My little brother had to pee. We walked to the restroom figuring the game was over. Walking down the ramp of old Cardinal Stadium toward the john, we heard a collective and loud gasp from the homestanding Louisville Cardinal faithful. It was 1989. Louisville was playing Southern Miss. The USM quarterback, some guy named Brett Favre, threw a last second pass that bounced off the helmet of a Card DB and landed in the hands of Golden Eagle receiver who ran the rest of the 79 yards for six! Did I see it? No. My brother Darrell had to pee. Still a good story all these years on. When Darrell’s son Brennan is old enough, I will tell him that one!

Have a great college football season. For all of college athletics’ problems, the games are still the games. Your 11 against our 11. Game on. That is our saving grace these days. College APR stats are jokes now. It insults my intelligence that this stat is even brought up in this era of college free agency. I hope some of these college kids are socking their money away. Some will never see any payday like of the sorts again in their lives.

Enjoy the season. My calendar has one circle. September 20. Illinois comes calling to Indiana. The Illini are media darlings and Hoosiers are still an enigma. Of course they are.