So I have been asked how my new teaching gig is going at North Harrison High School.

In earnest, I have not taught an English class since 2015.  I have not taught English full time in many more years than that. Guess what?  That old adage about riding a bike is true.  I hit my stride in no time at all.  And guess what, again?  This old dog is learning some new tricks!  I am using this thing called Google Classroom.  I am making video recordings that summarize the daily lessons and it is a great thing.   If a student is not present, he or she can still get caught up on what went on in class that day.

Room 104 is where I reside now.  It is so much bigger than an office I can tell you.

I feel so blessed to have the chance to build positive relationships with the students I see in class 6 periods a day.  It is a wonderful thing.

Every day we have a “Quote of the Day” on the board.  Yesterday, I just left this one up there and did not address it in any formal manner.  It was August 24, 1984 when Paul Haub said this on a team bus heading to Brownstown.  We defeated the Braves that night 59-0.  It is still the worst defeat for BCHS at Blevins Stadium and I am so glad I was a part of it.

Being in the classroom is great. Watching that “dink” of a lightbulb over a student’s head as he or she formulates some critical thinking and “gets it” is a thing of wonder.  It is why we are there.  I never tire seeing students make progress and I ache when they do not care.

We press onward.  That is one of my mantras.  That and this one that is on display in the room:

I sincerely believe this.

And yes, this old North Harrison Cougar is back in the fray of helping the football team along in a season that brings crowds and some normalcy back.  No, I never thought I would be here again in this capacity.  But I am.  I am so thankful.

Last Friday I saw this moon coming up over the trees and harkened back to a day so many years ago in October when I saw the same scene.  It was dark that night.  It was October and not August. The harvest moon was a bit larger.  Ronald Reagan was in the White House I am sure.  Still, this stirred a great deal in me when I saw it this past Friday.

I left North in March 2020 and went to work at another school.  I didn’t expect to be back.  I am.  And I am having a wonderful time helping students learn to use the English language to their benefit.  Like I tell them often, it is all about being better communicators.

Yes, we lost the first varsity game against Salem.  One game does not a season make.

This Friday the Cougars play at Scottsburg.  It should be a good one!

Speaking the thankful rights.

Danny Johnson

ARE YOU READY?

It is 9:30 AM EDT.  I am on the porch of our Southern Indiana home and the temperature is not getting any cooler with a single key I mash on this board.  The trees are stone still and the best I can get in the form of moving air is an ancient “floor fan” that looks like it could double as a foot stool.  How it keeps running I will never know.  It was here long before I was.

Here we are.  Looking forward, cautiously nonetheless, to full stadiums on college campuses.  We’ll make our way to TV sets and watch intently.  When opportunity presents itself, we will file into our favorite football cathedrals and hear the roar of the crowd unlike we have heard it before.   My apologies to the SEC.  This roar will mean more.

Look out.  This is going to be fun!

The last college football game I attended was Michigan at Indiana on November 23, 2019.  It seems like a decade ago.

There we were.  Me, the old guy, and my dear friend Adam Disque.

There was snow flying on occasion that night.   I can hear Keith Jackson now, “Looks like the Maize and Blue brought a little weather down with’em.”

I miss Keith Jackson just like I missed college football in all of its glory and pagentry and fellowship and you fill your own precious blanks.  So long 2020.  You did not live up to much vision at all.

THE STAGE IS SET

I make no apologies for being an Indiana University Football fan.  There are many old die-hard Hoosier fans thinking much like the old song I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.  Well, old Hoosier fans, you’re cool now!  It was worth the wait.

My turning of the back in 1996 when Indiana fired Bill Mallory is well documented on past pages here.  So is my peacemaking session with Cam Cameron.  Things didn’t get much better.  For me, the low point of Hoosier Football was when IU hosted a #24 ranked Minnesota team in October of 2004 on Homecoming.  Very few came home.  There were more than 30,000 empty seats for a Homecoming conference game.  So long Coach DiNardo.  Cue the entrance of Coach Terry Hoeppner in 2005.  Had his life not been taken from us due to brain cancer, he would have made believers of some folks.  He was well on his way.  Coach Bill Lynch took over and did not get the support he needed.  Next man up was Kevin Wilson.  I cringed when he was hired.  At Yankee Stadium’s  Pinstripe Bowl press conference alongside opposing coach, David Cutcliffe, when you need to act like you are glad to be there, Wilson made a remark about not being much of a baseball fan.  I don’t remember the exact quote.  I wish I could forget that game.  I am a Coach Cut fan too.  The outcome of the game did not hurt me.

When Indiana hired Coach Tom Allen, I knew things would get better and figured I would live to see it happen.  I had never felt this way about Indiana Football before.

I BELIEVE.  I believed long before most, I think.  That doesn’t matter.  That won’t make a tackle or knock down a pass.  Still, there is some satisfaction in seeing the success in the distance before it presented itself on the field.  Sometimes you just know.

Last season ended with a big Hoosier disrespectapalooza.  If you remember, the Big Ten changed its own rule on determining a team’s eligibility to play in the Big Ten Championship Game.  Let Ohio State play, even though they did not participate in as many games as we said they would need to qualify.  They have a chance to play for a National Championship and those dollars are more important than our rules.  What a wonderful message sent from The Big Ten (Fourteen).

To make matters worse, The Hoosiers, a one loss team during the regular season, were made to play a team with a losing record in the Outback Bowl.  That team was Ole Miss.  The Ole Miss Rebels had the Hoosiers’ number that day.

I hated every minute of it.  From the time the game was announced to the final horn.  Yes, I was certainly for INDIANA.  A few of my Mississippi kinfolk were disappointed in me.  Some were not.  I had rooted for Ole Miss each time they played and have attended many of their games over the years.  No fun at all.

Be it the first game of the season or the last game of the season, a loss brings  with it plenty to improve on.  I think these Hoosiers are much improved.

How much more?  Let’s just say I have hotel reservations in Indy for the Big Ten Championship game and hotel reservations in Pasadena for the Grandaddy of them all.

The Hoosiers must beat Iowa to get to Pasadena.  That is the first game of the season in Iowa City.  I plan on being there too.  I want to see the start of this run and then the end of it.

NATIONAL NOTES

It is still Alabama’s crown to lose, isn’t it?  It has to be that way.  There is a mindset that starts with Coach Nick Saban and ends with the most unrealistic and unreasonable demanding fans that I have ever seen or heard in Alabama.  If they can pull it off year after year, I tip my new Ole Miss cap to them.

Look, I witnessed this.

After a game in which Tua Tagovailoa threw a school record six touchdowns over Ole Miss, my dear wife, Carrie, and I were hanging out near a scorched grass parking lot near Bryant-Denny Stadium with Brother Tim and Michelle Petty and some other good Tide faithful.  Carrie and I were the Ole Miss loners.   I heard this exchange nearby:

“Tua threw six TDs today.”

Another fellow turned his head sideways and said, “Yeah, but there were some balls he left out there too.  He missed some throws for sure.”

Listening to this, I thought I was going to fall backwards out of my bag chair.  And I couldn’t help but to say to myself the Southern version of the question “What are you talking about?”  I said to myself, “Do what?”

It was just more football education that day.  And I was DELIGHTED to take a picture of the scoreboard when the Ole Miss Rebels were ahead of the Alabama Crimson Tide 10-7.

Clemson is there too.  To much cream in that orange soda to discount.  Hats off to Dabo Swinney.

Ohio State is going to be a task for any team.  They have one of the most favorable schedules in all of the Big Ten.  That does matter, like it or not.  It may help a team playing them too.  We’ve seen it before.  Remember when Purdue put a licking on them in 2018?  The Buckeyes were full of themselves heading into Ross-Ade Stadium and got more gold paint on their helmets by game’s end than they expected.  Purdue 49 Ohio State 20.

For some reason I keep circling one date on my calendar over and over again.  That would be October 23rd.

Georgia will be tough.

The Cincinnati Bearcats will be good.  They will sneak up on no one.  The Bearcats were 9-0 in the regular season last year and played Georgia tough as nails in the Peach Bowl.  I was for UC in that game.  Let’s us not forget that 7 of their 9 games before the Peach Bowl were at home and they struggled in a few of those.  Can’t wait to see this team and its Top Ten ranking come calling to Bloomington on September 18th.

I think Notre Dame will be a little down this year. They lost a ton offense, with potentially only two offensive starters returning.  ND gets the love nomatter what.  Some traditions hold on.

Looking forward to seeing Sam Howell play quarterback for the North Carolina Tarheels.  The boy can sling it.  I hope the Tarheels are strong this year.

THE BIG TEN

I look to the sky at the start of each Big Ten College Football season and am thankful that we are rid of the old names that were to distinct the two divisions of the conference.

The Leaders Division and The Legends Divison

Does it get anymore ostentatious than that?  No wonder folks in the SEC have such disdain for the Big Ten.  Who could blame them?

The Leaders and the Legends are no more.  We have an East and a West to comptemplate.

BIG TEN EAST

1.  Ohio State…They are still on top of the mountain.  Hope to see them fall sideways.  You can’t argue with this kind of success and how they have made Michigan men look not so much like Michigan men.

2.  INDIANA…This is a Hoosier team loaded like I have never seen in my lifetime.  It is as simple as that.  What Coach Tom Allen has stirred up in Bloomington is a secret sauce that IU fans have never wondered about before.  Look for USC transfer Stephen Carr to do good things in the backfield.  Just typing that a USC running back wants to come to Indiana should tell the college football world something.  Michael Penix at QB needs to stay healthy.  That has not been the case so far in his career.   Special teams look strong.  The defensive is as solid as ever. I thought Tiawan Mullen at cornerback was the best DB we have seen at IU since Mike Dumas.  Michah McFadden?  He’ll put a lick on you.  What impresses me most is team speed.  The defense looks like it can cover the field from sideline to sideline like it could not before.  Offensively, Hoosier teams of old looked like they had a protractor and a T-square in the huddle.  Those days are gone.  It was a matter of Coach Tom Allen’s special sauce, his LEO mantra, and players starting to BELIEVE.

Dave Kornowa, Indiana Rose Bowl participant.  1967 season.

3.  Penn State….The offense is loaded in Happy Valley.  Beaver Stadium will be ready for a White-Out and some bulbs on the scoreboard needing to be changed because they will be burning out against some teams. Nonconference against Villanova must have all the Nittany Lions fired up.  Everybody plays!  A home game against Auburn in week three looks to tell us something.

4.  Michigan….Michigan scares no one anymore.  The Hoosiers look to go there in November to bring home the first victory in Ann Arbor since the 1967 Rose Bowl team. Hope Michigan can upset the Buckeyes and get something started again.

5.  Maryland…They have recruited better and this team should be improved.  How things work out up front will help tell the tale.  That and stay away from injuries.

6.  Michigan State…Coach Tucker has his work cut out for him.  That was not a mean green defense last year.  My apologies to Mean Joe Green.  When you are 2-5 and one of those victories is against Michigan, that does not bode well for the state.  Sparty does expect many returning starters and that could move them up the list here.  But it also may be a case of what one old basketball coach told me.  “We have a graduation problem.  I wish this bunch of seniors had headed out the door with last year’s.”

7.  Rutgers…Rutgers indeed.  Hope the NY market is working for you, Big Fourteen.

BIG TEN WEST

1. Iowa…Coach Kirk Ferentz has dodged some stuff hasn’t he?  He is the longest tenured coach in the Big Ten.  The Hawkeyes should be a tough bunch again.  Am I the only one who enjoys seeing the quarterback line up under center?  I doubt it.  The Hawkeyes’ grinding, hard-working style is fun to watch.  Spencer Petras should do well at quarterback.  Looks like seven may potentially be back as defensive starters.  You can always count on a couple of Iowa conference games to look like two mules fighting over a turnip and it is a good time!

2.  Northwestern…Why not?  I don’t like Swissconsin.  Meaning I do not like Swissconsin or their annoying fans.  The job Coach Fitz has done in Evanston is remarkable.  QB transfer, Hillinski, we help a depleted offense.

3.  Minnesota…Goldy has to improve and this is the chance for Coach Fleck.  The boat sprang a leak last year.  A boat load of offense returns.  The defense should have a solid pass rush.

4.  Purdue…Boiler Pete needs a few wins.  He’ll still have a goofy look on his face nomatter what.  Kind of like Buddy Bat, the mascot of AAA Louisville Bats baseball team.  Buddy always has a smile on his face.  The Bats could be down 10 runs and he is still smiling.  Where is a Nuke LaLoosh pitch to the mascot when you need one?

5.  Nebraska…I am tempted to put Illinois here.  Nebraska reminds me of a photo negative of a good old fashion couching burning win in West Virginia.  Things are bad in Lincoln.  Bet those fans miss the old league.  Nevermind, the old league is breaking up yet again.

6.  Illinois…Bret…Bret…Bret…Coach Bret Bielema is back where he belongs.  After stubbing his toe as the Arkansas Razorback’s head coach, he spent three years in the NFL.  Now the former Iowa Hawkeye player and Wisconsin coach is back in the Big Ten coaching Illinois.  Welcome Back.

7.  Swissconsin…Well, a man can dream!

THE SEC

Always the most entertaining college football conference year in and year out, the SEC is going to be a good time again in 2021.  Talk about some loud stadiums.  If we can keep them packed, have mercy!  I’d hate to be on the ball side of 4th and 6 with the game on the line in Tiger Stadium.

We have already established that Alabama is the team to beat.  I will still be rooting for the Ole Miss Rebels.

SEC WEST

1.  Alabama…The Tide should win the National Championship.

2.  Texas A & M….Teams from the East on the schedule are not Georgia and Florida.  They are Mizzou and South Carolina.  That helps.

3.  Ole Miss…I know.  I’m a homer.  But the offense will be potent and how could the defense not improve a little?  Put 8 players out there, maybe.  But there will be 11 out there and they will throw up their fins above their helmets more often than they did last year, no matter how corny that gesture looks for a team closer to the delta than the coast.

4.  LSU…Toss-up here with Auburn for me.  Things in the Red Stick have not been going too well.

4b. Auburn…Looks like they will have ample starters returning and better QB play from Bo Nix will improve things.  We’ll see what Coach Harsin has in week three at Penn State.

6.  Mississippi State…Coach Mike Leach always has something entertaining going on.  In this case, given State’s position (stuck in the SEC West for now), most of the entertainment will coming from his press conferences.

7.  Arkansas…Plenty of starters coming back.  Problem is they were 3-7 last year.  Yes it was all SEC play.  And they did upset a lethargic Ole Miss team looking like it wished it had stayed in Oxford that weekend.  Can’t really fault them for that.   I hope Coach Pittman proves me wrong!

SEC EAST

1.  Georgia…Is there another logical choice?

2.  Florida…Should be a solid 2nd.  They will entertain, however, the non-conference schedule is not a good look for an SEC East team wanting to impress.

3.  Kentucky….The Wildcats are not mildcats.  I have a feeling the quarterback will be a bonafide leader.  Afterall, the old boy eats bananas without peeling them first.  That’s a man, now!  Coach Stoops’ work at Basketball State should not be lost on folks.  They have a strong fanbase, partly because there is not a great deal to do in Kentucky after the Derby is over.

4.  South Carolina…They too have a new coach in Shane Beamer.  Shane is the son of famed Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer.  Will we see Beamerball 2.0 in Columbia, with punts and placekicks being blocked by the score?

5.  Mizzou…I started to give them 4.  After a 5-5 season, they look to have plenty of guys back on both sides of the ball.

6.  Tennessee…Can’t believe I am putting UT here.  Feels awkward.  The SEC is better when UT is in the East hunt.  There is an energy in Knoxville that, when created and recreated, can move Rocky Top.

Nothing like getting your earwax melted by an overzealoused guy in an orange polo with a capital T on it.  They were playing Bama and I had the only Ole Miss shirt on in Neyland Stadium.

7.  Vandy…In the vernacular of Lewis Grizzard, “Bless their hearts.”  You know how Notre Dame is an ACC member in everything but football?  Could we give Vandy football that same grace and let them play as an independent in football?  Of course not!  They’d have to talk PBS into showing all their home games!  I love you, Nashville!

THE ACC

The local school, The University of Louisville, just a half hour’s drive to the East and over a bridge getting repaired right now opens the season against Ole Miss in Atlanta.  Who makes these schedules up any way?  Wish the Rebs were playing in Louisville.  I have either had to travel to Lexington or Nashville to do it all in one day.

I still like the hire of Coach Scott Satterfield at Louisville.  I think he is a good coach and a good guy.  Perhaps that Louisville is rather foreign to that combination in its 2 major men’s athletic teams is an uphill battle for him.  I hope it improves.  It’s amazing what a few interceptions and missed field goals can do to turn a season around.

Coach Bowden.  We recently lost Coach Bobby Bowden the aw-shucks, dadgum, you-know-it legend of a coach.  Florida State will be his team for many years to come.  The Seminoles are still trying to find their way since they decided Coach Bowden couldn’t do it anymore.  Had Florida State let Coach Bowden go out on his own terms, they would probably be ranked in the preseason Top 25 instead thinking about the 14 year run that saw the Seminoles, under Coach Bowden, finish in the Top 5.

ACC ATLANTIC

1. Clemson…Duh!

2.  Boston College…The boys in Chesnut Hill will shock some folk.

3.  NC State…The Wolfpack is steady and that is a win in Raleigh.

4.  Louisville… The Cards need to stay out of their own way and they will win some games.

5.  Wake Forest… I will be chided by some of my brethren in Winston-Salem for making this call.

6.  Florida State…Win one for anyone.

7.  Syracuse…The Orange will struggle.  Theme is consistent here.  1-10 last year and most of the team is back.

ACC COASTAL

1. North Carolina…Tarheels with Sam Howell making Coach Mack Brown look brilliant.  Remember Vince Young?

2.  Miami…If injuries don’t derail this team, they will be strong and will contend for the divison.

3.  Pitt…The Panthers were 6-5 last year and should have finished stronger.  They will right the ship.

4.  Georgia Tech…Look for the wreck to resemble one at times and then be back on the rails.  Hang on to the football!

5.  Virginia Tech…The Hokies may surprise me and make me seem foolish here.

6.  Duke…I would never call for a Coach David Cutcliffe team to finish last in a division.  Consider this similarly to my placement of Swissconsin in the Big Ten.

7.  Virginia…They won a few they should not have last year.  I suppose the uncertainty of last year makes most of these picks crapshoots moving forward.

THE PAC 12

Champ:  USC

THE BIG 12

Champ:  Oklahoma

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Champ: Cincinnati 

See ya September 18th!

MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE

Champ: Ball State

CONFERENCE USA

Champ:  Marshall

I must say that I regret that Coach Doc Holliday was given his walking papers after last season.  The politics of being are always at work in this game, for better or worse.  I still love The Herd.  A coach gets named Conference Coach of the Year and gets canned.  Wow.  What a shame.

MOUNTAIN WEST

Champ: Boise State

Who else?

SUN BELT

Champ: Louisiana

The Ragin’ Cajuns are holding steady.

Next weekend there will be a handful of college games including Nebraska vs. Illinois and Hawaii playing in the Rose Bowl against the UCLA Bruins.  Always nice to see Pasadena.  On Labor Day Weekend, the 2021 NCAA College Football season begins in earnest.

Let it begin.   Stay safe and enjoy it.

We’ll be back before Labor Day Weekend with the first installment of weekly speaktherights.com College Football Predictions.

Take care and speak the rights!

Danny Johnson

And so it begins.  The 2021 High School football season.  I am glad to be back around the game.  Thanks to Coach Williamson for saying, “Come on!”

I get to practice when I can.  I have no title.  I just want to help kids swing their legs when I can and be whatever sounding board I can be.  Other than that, I just keep my mouth shut and soak it all in.

Most of what can be done with kickers in mind is similar to the mentality of the free throw shooter.  It is called repitition.  And for a kicker the best time to work on that is in the summer on a lonely field with a bag of balls and a great deal of repetition.

I still get a shiver up the spine when we line up to kick a point or a field goal in practice. And I hope I can one night carry a North Harrison kicker off the field when he connects on a field goal that is longer than 38 yards.  I had the best view of that one in 1985.

No, I did not expect to be in this position.  I have said it before and I say it again, if you want to make God laugh, tell him what your plans are.  But it is a good time.  The days are a little long, especially when I come home and record a video lesson to be sent out to students that are quarantined due to this pesky Covid.  It is awful.

Games will be cancelled, I am afraid.  I know of some junior high games that have already been.  That is sad.

In the meantime, we will enjoy what we are given of Friday Night Lights.

Go Cougars!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Oh my, I guess I ahould be watching the NFL Hall of Fame inductions right now.  I’m not.  I am writing here.  No great piece of prose, just a few things rattling the cage.

Peyton Manning will give a speech tonight.  I heard him say it will be brief.  I don’t doubt that.  He was economical as a player.  Did his job.  Didn’t act like he was running for public office after he made a good throw.  He was looking for the next set of downs.  A first ballot Hall of Famer, Peyton’s Dad, Archie, is introducing him.

I have said it so many times.  Peyton made football in Indiana.  He changed it all.  Basketball is still King and that is fine.  But, things have changed.  When the head football coach at Indiana gets a competitive salary, you know things have changed.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I have many times driven by Canton, Ohio many times on the way to the Northeast.  Canton is the location of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  I have no desire to visit the place as long as my hero, Ken Anderson, former Bengals’ quaterback, is not in the Hall.  I was the same way with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.  When they FINALLY put The Moody Blues there, we were there to see their exhibit a few months later.  Canton and Cleveland are not far apart at all.

SO THIS OLD BOY IS BACK IN THE CLASSROOM

Oh my, again. We don’t have the time or the word count here to let you know how much I am glad to be back at North Harrison.

I have not taught full time for a few years.

I am reminded of the Van Zant Brothers song, I think it is, when they say “If you want to make God laugh, tell him what your plans are.”

Had kids in the class three days last week and they were great days.  Looking forward to seeing them tomorrow.  I was very impressed with their attention and overall comportment last week.  I think we are going to have a good time of it.  I am blessed to be in their presence.

Fortunately, I have found myself back on the football practice field.  Thanks to Coach Williamson for letting me be there to help the kickers and punters swing their legs and be whatever sounding board I can be.  That and I don’t mind hauling equipment when need be.  I am so proud of this school and this coaching staff.  I remember when the some of our worst opponents were in our midst.  Thankfully, those days are behind us.

I told Coach I could offer what I could.  I owe my dear wife, Carrie, a college football season and a fall break.  Outside that, I am all in.  I have never felt as comfortable on a practice field as I did last week.

OLE MISS REBELS!

Did I hear this right?  I was told Coach Lane Kiffin had all of his players vaccinated for Covid-19.  Wow!  I hope that is speaking the rights.  I hope that is true.

I try not to make facebook trouble.  I will not attack someone individually.  But, I could not help myself this evening.

I posted this….

It truly amazes me that some folks are more content buying 100 dollars worth of toilet paper and staying home vs. getting a free shot that will save lives.  Cue John Mellencamp…we have found those Pink Houses!

Speaking the rights,

Danny Johnson

Oh my, how times have changed.

Thirty years ago The Moody Blues released the album “Keys of the Kingdom.”

I am finally listening to this album today on vinyl.  I aquired it via Ebay for a great price.  Perhaps my last Moodies puzzle piece, I saw this album at the old Ear-X-Tacy store in 1991 for 14.99.  I didn’t have fifteen bucks that day.  Thankfully, today I do.  This copy came from Germany at a comparable price.

I so enjoyed this album.  At the time I was working at Sears in Clarksville, Indiana and attending class at Indiana University Southeast trying to find my way in the world.  In a couple months, when I met Dr. Millard Dunn for G208, my life would never be the same.  This was a good thing.

The Moodies always toured.  When I knew they would be playing at the Timberwolf Ampitheater at Kings Island on August 13, 1991, I knew I would be there.

I did not know that a moment for me would be greater than the concert ever was.  I took a young lady with me that day (this was my pre-Carrie love of my life days).  We rode all the rides and had a great time.  I admit it for the first time in nearly thirty years, that this young lady wanted to ride on the front car of the ride called the “VORTEX”.  I swallowed hard and told her it was great.  And it was.  Would not trade it for the world.

Neither would I trade the moment when we were at a booth where you could win  prize by throwing a football through a VERY small hoop.

Look.  Confidence with a football in my hands was never a problem.  My Dad coached football.  I never had a football far from arm’s reach my whole life!

I stepped up to that booth and its confines.  I laughed.  I look at the guy running the booth.  “This is too easy,” I said.

He told me to GO FOR IT.

I did.

I took a bonafide Ken Anderson five step drop and drilled that ball and all that ball hit was the back of the tent that held the game.  Folks around the game actually cheered.

The guy in charge of the game shook my hand.  He told me I could have any prize I wanted.   I looked to my lady friend and told her to pick one out.

All I remember is that it was HUGE and we had to take that pink bear back to the car before the Moodies’ concert.

Does she still have that bear?  I hope not.  Those things don’t have a great shelf life!

Had I not threaded the needle we would not be talking about this today.

The Moodies concert?  My lady friend looked at me and said, “These guys should be playing RIVERFRONT STADIUM instead of this this 10,000 seat venue.”

I knew then and I know now, she was a smart young lady.

Speaking the rights….

Danny Johnson

Written whilst listening to the Soundtrack of the 1980 movie Somewhere In Time.  No words.  Beautiful music.

Am I blue?

I am.  It has been a summer like no other.  I remember last summer.  Carrie and I were feeling bad because we were relagated to sitting in the front yard in lawn chairs reading good books wishing we could hit the road.  We couldn’t hit the road.  Covid saw to that.  What I would give to have that summer back.

In the space of 19 days, our boys, Jarrett and Cody lost their Dad, Barry Beckett, as he was diving in Key West on June 15 and then Jarrett’s long time girfriend, Sarah Danielle Hutchinson, was killed in a boating accident in West Virginia on the 4th of July soon after Jarrett told her and her old IU college buddies to have a good time.

Sarah was a shining light in our lives.  I miss that light.

This is a picture of Sarah playing soccer back in the day.  She was a determined young lady.  About to finish a second master’s degree and attain her status as a Physician’s Assistant, she was a driven young lady.  I have no doubt she kicked a few shins.

I have not posted anything original here since June 22.  I have not felt like it.  Not at all.

Life happens.

And as we keep moving forward, as we keep pressing onward, some good things happen too.

I am back at North Harrison High School.  No, I am not in this counseling office; I am across the hall in Room 104.  And I am so glad to be there.  I will once again be back where it all started for me.  Teaching English is a passion.  Helping students to manipulate the English language to their benefit for the rest of their lives is my ultimate goal as an English teacher.  We’re going to have a good time.

I wore this T shirt on the field at The Rose Bowl when I got to swing my leg there in 2018.  Each time I see that shirt on that field, it makes me smile.  Given I landed here in Northland during the Carter Administration, I know what it means.

My classroom is ready.  And I am so excited to meet my new students.

It is going to be a good time.  Lord knows we could all use it!

Speaking the rights,

Danny Johnson  Room 104

SO I WAS TRYING TO BRING SOMETHING OUT TO WRITE ABOUT.  IT HAS BEEN OVER A MONTH SINCE I POSTED ANYTHING.  WE HAVE HAD A ROUGH PATCH AND WE WILL PRESS ONWARD.  SO I DECIDED TO REACH BACK TO THE EARLIEST ARCHIVES.  This first ran on speaktherights.com on this date in 2014 the year we started this. 

One of the toughest things I have ever had to witness is watching my dear wife, Carrie,  have a tough time of it as she cared for her grandparents.  Both of them had Alzheimer or dementia or whatever you want to call it.

Her grandparents had outlived their own children, one son died of a heart ailment in 1982 and the other, Carrie’s father, died of a heart attack in 1999.

To this day I can remember the moment in time as I pulled into her grandparent’s driveway as I was about to head to Indianapolis to watch a minor league baseball game with a friend from Jackson County.  Carrie told me her grandmother had been acting strange.  Carrie’s demeanor told me something was bad wrong.  It was.  She never got her old grandma back again.  This was August 2003.

Slowly but surely things got worse… and worse.

Her grandma’s behavior became erratic and even hateful at times.

Looking back on what we call “the Missing Years”, I have no idea how we made it thorough that time had it not been for the grace of God to help us along the way.

For a period of years, Carrie and I…mostly she, stayed with her grandparents after we got home from work until it was time for them to go to bed.  We stayed with them on weekends also.  Her grandmother’s behavior and health got worse and worse as the years went on.

Eventually we had to employ a friend of the family to stay with them during the day until we got home to take over.  Again, looking back, I don’t know how we did it and kept our own sanity. Thanks be to God.

On December 18, 2006, we had no choice but to take Carrie’s grandmother to the hospital for treatment.  I remember it was a Monday and the Colts were playing the Bengals on Monday Night Football as I waited in a hospital waiting room.  Carrie’s good friend Michelle, who lived near Carrie’s grandparents, was at the hospital with us that night.

The worst of it was going back to tell her grandpa that his wife was not coming home.  That was my job.

Her grandfather did not handle it well.  He fell apart and soon he too was admitted to the hospital and like his wife, he was soon in a nursing home with her.

He died Easter Sunday, 2007.

His wife of many years died on Sunday, June 8, 2008.

When it was over, Carrie and I had to reintroduce ourselves to each other.  Sure, we got away now and again for a few days here and there…but our minds were never far from her grandparent’s kitchen table during this time.  Our hanging in there together only further galvanized an already solid steel union.

To this day I miss walking into her grandparents house to have her grandfather ask, “You want a cup of coffee?”  I didn’t drink the stuff at the time unless it was 5 degrees outside.

I also miss her grandmother asking me if I wanted a sandwich or a bowl of chili.  At her best, she always had something of a culinary nature at the ready.  I miss that.  I know Carrie does too.

We do what we do.  We press onward.

What prompted these words?

Well… I was looking at a picture I took of Carrie at a Bob Seger concert in 2011 at The Yum! Center in Louisville.  Though this was years after our sad ordeal with her grandparents was over, it still reminds me of the first time we saw Bob Seger… it was December 12, 2006 at Freedom Hall…just six days before we took her Grandma away from her home…the house she was born in.   Carrie and I so loved that concert.  Before that, seeing Bob Seger was just a dream of ours. We loved the respite it provided from one of the most turbulent times we have ever known.  The days that followed were even worse.

But…we pressed onward.  We lived to tell the story.  For Carrie and me, the story always includes music.

I was totally in awe of the the picture I took of Carrie at the Bob Seger concert in 2011.  It reminded me of Seger’s Live Bullet album cover from 1975.  I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.  It’s still pretty close.  To me it a perfect symbol of the hectic time we spent with her grandparents…yet there is still a smile to be had in there somewhere…down on Mainstreet…speaking the rights.

 Carrie at Seger in 2011.

Seger at Seger in 1975

MASS MoCA.

Sounds like a powerful coffee drink at first glance.  I am sure they had a cup that packed a punch at the snack bar.  That is just speculation.

In North Adams, Massachusetts, you can find MASS MoCA.

The Massachusettes Museum of Contemporay Art.

The last museum of modern art my dear wife, Carrie, and I visited was the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis many years ago.

Look, I am not purporting to be a great art critic by any means.  Heck, if it hadn’t been raining, we would have gone to look at flowers at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge.  As many times as we have meandered to the Berkshires, we have only threatend to go check out MASS MoCA.  This year we made it.

As much as I enjoy gazing at a Monet or put the pieces of a Picasso together, I too enjoy the imagery and light that I find in some modern art.  Look, as long a Edward Hopper’s “Nighthawks” is at home at the Art Institute of Chicago, that museum will never cease to be my mothership of art.

Still, taking in many of the pieces at MASS MoCA was a most pleasant experience.

I was able to take photos of many of the exhibits, though some were off limits.

Both ends of this piece.

There were many more but I did not photo them all.

What is it?

Now and again a vision out the window provided a bit of an impression too.

So too were some of the walkways from one building to another.

I am a sucker for light in my art taste.  Stems from how Hopper can brighten up and contrast a scene like no other for me.

The buildings across the way were great to look to.

We had plenty company.

My favorite picture of the day; I think it is.

Enjoyed looking here as well.

I will never be the art expert I would like to be.  But in the end its not about knowing so much as feeling when it comes to favoring an artistic exhibit.  Don’t get me wrong.  There were a few exhibits that were not my cup of porridge at MASS MoCA.  I walked on to enjoy what I wanted to next.  I did not waste time complaining about that which I can’t and have no right to control.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

The Marc Cohn song “Walking in Memphis” comes to mind as I write this post.

Earlier this month I took a walk in Indianapolis as my dear wife, Carrie, was on a Zoom Meeting call.

Monument Circle in Indy is impressive.  Seen it many times lit up during a Monday Night Football telecast that does not give this thing justice.

The Indiana State Capitol building.

The last time I was in this building I was with Brad McCammon picking up a 10,000 dollar check for Medora Schools from Tony Bennett.  The check looked like one you would get from Publisher’s Clearing House.  It was awkward, given Gov. Daniels seemed set on closing small schools.  Bennett gave his signature “three point” speech.

Indy’s Circle Center Mall.  Many a good burger was eaten here before a Colts game.

What a beautiful Catholic Church not far from Lucas Oil Stadium.  This church has been here a great deal longer, I can tell you.

It is lovely.  I sat in a pew and said a few prayers.  There is a different and better world in a church sancutary.

Exterior view of church getting some work.

Serious work.

Indy bragging of its college basketball legacy.  My brother-in-law swears I am the holder of the record of seeing the most Indiana University football games with having never seen a college basketball games.  He is probably right.  I have seen more than 70 FBS teams play in person all over the country and have seen well over a hundred IU football games in Bloomington.

The house that Peyton built.  I have said it before.  Peyton Manning has meant more to Indiana football than ANY other individual.  No contest.  Greatness will do that.  Though I have never seen a Colts game in this new barn, I saw many at the Hoosier (RCA) Dome.  I have seen a few college games here.

Banker’s Life Fieldhouse where the Indiana Pacers play.  I tell folks I have heard two people sing here.  Paul McCartney and me.  Paul sang 36 songs.  I sang the National Anthem.

My attempt at artsy photography.

The I-5.  No race better.

I attended a meeting in Indy while in town.  It was a great room and a positive experience.  Both are rare in education conferences.  It was all about making progress and not making hot air.  Again, this was refreshing.

A meeting with a real cup of coffee.  Can’t beat that at Kroger.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Once again our screened back porch takes on the position of aviary for another group of hatched Wrens.

They are something.  They get their flying chops is short time and it is always fun to see them flitter across the width of the porch and catch a piece of screen before they hit the deck.  Sometimes they hit the deck.  But they are resilient and tough little critters for sure.

They will sit for a while and wait for their next move.

Looking out to the bigger space that waits for them when they are ready.

These photos were taken yesterday and there has been no sign of them on the porch or on the nest at the edge of the southeast awning.

I feel like Opie watching Winkin, Blinkin, and Nod take off.  It was fun while it lasted and not a bit of bird poop on the chairs.  They are polite too.  Until next Spring, I suppose.  They’ll be back.

Beyond the hay and the trees in the background there are probably folks canoeing on the Blue River as I type these words.

I walked three miles yesterday on my path and only saw two vehicles go by.

It was very nice.  Mid-80s.  A little breeze.

I consider this my reward for surviving a five mile walk on New Hampshire’s Highway 101.  That was an adventure in crossing a bridge, dodging cars, walking on my tippy toes at times, and a great deal of my own resilience and the power of prayer.  Glad I lived to tell the story.

Hope all have a good weekend.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson