I suppose we were still being fascinated by the possibilities of what computers would do some day back in 1992.

It hasn’t worked out too well, I can tell you.  My first impulse is to point out kids in school during down time in the building staring at their phones instead of having a good old fashioned conversation with their friends.  Oh, sure, there is still plenty of that too.  I suppose I am guilty here of what I heard a guy talking about social media wise.  He said folks are quick to complain and slow to compliment on social media.  I get that.

I just wish folks wouldn’t look at their phones while they are driving and I sometimes wish a kid three feet from another kid would stick their phone in their pocket and talk to their classmate.

I digress…back to 1992.

One thing about not feeling so well is I have a chance to sit on the couch to recuperate and mash through the TV channels.  I had an uncle in Shreveport who called the TV remote a “masher” as in mash the button to the next channel.  My uncle was confined to a wheelchair most of the time.  He needed a masher.

So I sit here and mash a bit.  I find ten minutes of this interesting and four seconds of that interesting and I keep mashing.  I came across a movie by Robert Redford called “Sneakers”.  We don’t have enough time to discuss all the intricacies of the plot here.  Bottom line is Redford and his merry men and one lady were trying to artfully acquire some computer info from the bad guy Ben Kingsley played.  Redford’s character and Kingsley’s character had been college pals who got into some trouble earlier in life.

Of course Redford gets the “black box” of info, just like he always gets the girl.

But what struck me was the final verbal back and forth between these two characters as Redford was trying to get away and Kingsley was trying to stop him.  This movie was made in 1992 and these folks were 26 years ahead of their time.  The exchange went like this as they were going back and forth over the device with Kingsley thinking he still possessed it :

Kingsley: “There’s a war out there old friend, a world war. And it’s not about whose got the most bullets.It’s about who controls the information. What we see.  What we hear.  How we work.  How we think.  It’s all about the information.” 

Redford: “If I were you I’d destroy that thing.”

I always liked Robert Redford.  He played a great Bob Woodward.  He played a Great Gatsby.

It was entertainment in 1992.  Well, we’re here now.

President Twitter.

CNN looking for every chance to pounce.

FOX NEWS sounding like the empowered “Pravda” of the United States for their President pal.

Russian meddling via the internet bots…whatever those things are.

The result is the finger pointing capitol of the world, wonder when all that started?

Press onward, I say.  And do it without so much tweeting.  We need to be better than that.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Stomach Bug 1  speaktherights  0

That is all.

Danny Johnson

I am embarrassed to say that when I got off the elliptical after 32 minutes and then hopped on the stationary bike for a mile, my feet felt great.  It has not worked out like that since last November 19th.  That is when I bought a new pair of athletic shoes that I wear both casually and to exercise in.  I have a few pairs of them I can put to use.  Or, should I say, I had.  I am going to have to start collecting again.

The old foot has gotten wider.  Is that what happens when you turn 50?  I felt like a fool while I did my exercising pain free in the foot today.  I am stubborn I suppose.  But, most of us are.

I went to my trusty Brooks dealer, Joe Kellum.  He sent my shoes back and I ordered another pair.  They are in.  They will be picked up and the difference will be paid for, as I ordered a “step up”, and then I will hand them off to my son Jarrett and tell him to run like wind in comfort.  They will fit him.

I had my foot measured on Friday.  I have gone from a standard D with to a EE.  Why can’t they just say E?  It is different and doesn’t make my foot sound so wide.  Oh well.  I don’t care.

In the photo above you will see my new Brooks shoe and an old one.  It is an old kicking shoe that I have held on to.  It is a Spot-bilt football kicking shoe.  This shoe kicked a football farther than any other shoe I have.  One day in Shreveport LA, I admit there was a slight breeze behind me, I was kicking at Captain Shreve Stadium, a large high school stadium…well I just looked it up.  It seats 12,000.  It is now called Lee Hedges Stadium.  Coach Hedges is a Shreveport Football Coaching Icon.  He was Terry Bradshaw’s high school coach at Woodlawn High School.  Coach Hedges coached at Captain Shreve for 18 years before he retired.  Well, he kind of retired.  In 1986 when I was regularly swinging my legs toward the uprights that summer, I ran into Coach Hedges.  He was coaching 9th graders.  I asked for some time with him.  He took me into the coach’s office and there we just talked football.  I told him I had a cousin that had played on a State Championship team at Woodlawn.  He was familiar with the name.  He was gracious, he was blunt and honest.  He was great.  His 217 victories in the Shreveport area are still tops in the region.  It is a place where you win or you pack.  I digress.

So on that Lee Hedges Stadium field in 1986 I kicked a football through the uprights farther than I ever had before.  I put the ball on the near forty yard line and took two steps.  I approached the ball and I gave it my all.  I am a straight-on kicker.  We are dinosaurs now.  On this day in August of 1986, I kicked a football over the goal post in two steps from 70 yards away.  I still remember what it felt like…and I still wish someone would have been out there with me to witness it.  Dewayne Clayton and Jimmy Martin were guys I kicked with now and again.  They were good guys.  They were not there this day, however.

I still look at that old Spot-bilt shoe and smile.

A shoe similar to it was used to kick a field goal against Clarksville in 1985 when I played for North Harrison that is still the longest one made in school history…all of 38 yards.  I will be 50 years old this football season and that record still stands.  I live for the night I see a North Harrison Cougar kick one 39, 40, or more.  It is time.  Mick Rutherford snapped that kick.  Kelly Samons held that kick.  We all hope it is bested.  It is time.

But on that night in Clarksville in 1985 and that afternoon at Lee Hedges Stadium in 1986 and this afternoon in 2018 as I made it flawlessly and painlessly through my cardio workout, well…the shoe fit.  I am so glad it did.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

My dear wife, Carrie, and I were traveling South on Indiana Highway 446 heading to Highway 50.  We were just a few miles South of Monroe Reservoir.  As we hurtled down the road, I saw a car off the road to my left off the East side of the highway.  Carrie did not see the car.  I put on my brakes, looked at her, and told her I saw car back there in peril.  We went back to help.

We turned around and found a young man from Seymour who was coming home from work.  He had been run off the road by a careless driver passing another car.

When I went past the sight, I swallowed real hard.  I thought he was okay.  I didn’t know.  Twenty-seven years ago I stopped to help a motorist in peril.  That young man did not make it through the day.  It is something that came back to me today.  It was awful.

This young man today was okay.  Carrie and I waited until the authorities came by and took it from there.  The boy was from Jackson County and we have some familiar acquaintances.  That always helps.

While we were on 446 waiting for the police to come, it started snowing.  We thought it looked nice.  Little did we know we would have to drive home from Jackson County to Washington County to Harrison County in the worst road conditions we have seen all year.  It was awful!

But…we lived to tell the story.  I am glad the young man we helped today on 446 was okay.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Day 20 in a series as I move closer to age 50.

As I write this I am watching an Olympic event known on “Skeleton”.  It looks like Luge with the guy riding on his stomach facing the trip instead of lying on his back looking up at the trip.  Either way it looks impressive.

These fancy sleds go around these ice tracks at speeds I can’t imagine.  I just saw some guy crying over a great run that he didn’t see 2 seconds of.  Now that is something special.  Maybe it was grandpa who drove the kid to practice every day for ten years leading up to the kid’s moment in the sun…or on the ice.  Maybe gramps was crying because he is happy it is over and he can go home now and park the car.  I hope his boy wins.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I were also watching some pairs figure skating.  How any two of these folks can stay in step or toe or blade like they do so consistently is amazing to me.

The Olympics are the greatest thing left in sport.  I so enjoy the Winter games much more than the Summer games.  Skiing.  I love it.  I have never been on a pair of skis.  I never had to.  I had Franz Klammer from Austria.  What else did one need?  The bobsled?  I would get in one of those in heartbeat.  The four man one.  That looks like fun.  Ski jump?  Eddie the Eagle from Great Britain is a legend.  His movie was more Hollywood that Calgary…but I am glad the story got told.  Speed skating?  I am guilty of watching this like I watch the first six laps of NASCAR at Talladega.  I wait for a good crash.

I still think back to the 1980 USA Hockey team that beat the Russians.  I will revisit a column I wrote about it.  That game was played on February 22nd and I will live it over again a week from today.  That was truly a Dream Team.

All this great sport makes me shake my head at the news that FOX TV is joining the NFL Network and ESPN in broadcasting the NFL Draft. Now there is waste of time.  In the last twenty years there have been two NFL overall #1 draft picks to win a Super Bowl.  These two players have won four of them and they are brothers Peyton and Eli Manning.  The big reveal?  Whose #1?  Tim Couch was. JaMarcus Russell was. Andrew Luck was.  You wanna watch that?  Go ahead.

I would rather watch a baseball game on TV and fall asleep.  The NFL draft is in April.

In the meantime, I will watch folks fly down a hill, tear up a track of some kind, glide across the ice, and give it their all.  You never know when grandpa is going to cry.  But you do know they will give it their all every precious second they are there.

Speaking the Rights…

Danny Johnson

I was a school safety specialist for many years when I worked at Medora Schools in Medora, Indiana.

Last weekend I drove by the school and saw the numerals I affixed on each door some years ago when we were told, to help authorities with a schematic of the building, to make the entries to the building easier to keep up with.

Oh my.  Today, as the news came from Florida of the tragic school shooting, my mind went into safety specialist mode.  So many things went through my head as to wrap my brain around what happened.

It is going to be a long night.

I’m done.

Speaking the reluctant rights…

Danny Johnson

Peyton Manning changed the game of football in Indiana all by himself.  He just had to show up and the pigskin dominoes started to fall.  No, I am not going to discount his hard work.   If you know about his prep work with Coach Cut that has made a difference, you know Peyton Manning made football in Indiana.

Peyton Manning was the first round draft choice of the Indianapolis Colts in 1998.  My dear wife, Carrie, and I were watching his first preseason game in August of 1998 on Pine Street in New Salisbury.  I hand turned our TV antennae to the North to find a snowy picture on WTTV…Channel 4…the channel I watched Cowboy Bob on as a kid.

In that game, Peyton Manning hit Marvin Harrison for a 48 yard TD pass on Peyton’s first pass in an NFL game.  Never mind Marvin caught it and ran 43 of the 48 yards, it was still “a moment”.

Peyton’s first season in Indy was growing pain central.  He led the league in interceptions.  He also showed us rookie brillance.  I was at the Bengals-Colts game at the RCA Dome in 1998.  In earnest, the quarterback I was more delighted in seeing was the Bengals quarterback coach, Ken Anderson.  He was throwing passes in pregame warm-ups and I thought I was going to faint.  I did not think I’d see him throw another pass.

In that game, the Colts won 39-26, Peyton threw 3 touchdown passes.

In P’s second year, the Colts finished 13-3 and won the division.  It all got better from there.

I don’t have much Peyton memorabilia.  The bear is a 1998 model, Peyton’s rookie season.  The action flat is draft pick model, before he threw that pass.  The cup, I think it is 1999.  I have one with Peyton, one with Edge, and one with Marvin.  If you know the Colts you know those names.

I was fortunate to see Peyton play a number of games.  One that stands out in my mind is a 38-7 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in 2003.  I was sitting on the first row in front of the end zone pylon and watched Peyton throw 4 of his 5 td passes in that end zone.  But…the most amazing thing I saw that day was the footwork and horizontal movement of Michael Vick.  To this day I have never seen anyone move like that.  I’ve seen a great deal of football.

I was there the night Peyton and Marvin Harrison set the record for the most TDs between a quarterback and a receiver.  That was on Monday Night game against the Rams in 2005.

But know this…I was calling high school football games on radio in 2004-2009.  During that time an Indiana high school football renaissance was happening that still lives today on Friday nights at high schools all over the state of Indiana.  Folks show up to watch and they know what they are watching for a change.  Friday nights are a happening now.  Thank you, Peyton.  We owe you.

In 1978 I was at a high school football game in Mitchell, Indiana.  One of the opposing fans was yelling at the ref…calling him a “Homer”.  A lady sitting next to the man said,  “How do you know that Homer fella?”

I was ten.  I thought I would faint.

Peyton Manning changed all that.  He is the State of Indiana’s all time football ambassador.

Let’s not forget that.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Am writing this now in case I don’t get a chance to add to it this evening.

I won’t I am sure.

Duty calls.  Got some serious work to take home with me and I need to do some schedule rearranging.

So that is it.

Speaking the brief rights…

Danny Johnson

The 16th installment of my heading toward my 50th birthday.

I know a few days ago I referenced a wonderful circumstance of events that led me to find an old set of lyrics written by a special person who wanted me to score them.  I tell you again, like I said earlier, I was not ready to do that when the piece of paper was readily handed to me those 15, 16, 17 years ago.  Now…I am ready to do something with them.

It is time to call Jefferson.

Jeff Carpenter is one of greatest friends I have ever known.  For whatever reason, I wish I knew, I am not the most social person that ever walked the planet.  I delight in helping others.  As a school counselor, I can do that and enjoy the success that is in the works.  When I see a former student “make good” it only reaffirms what I saw before others did not.  That is all I need.

I met Jefferson, that is what I call him, in 1996.  He was, reluctantly I would say, at my wedding reception 22 years and 1 day ago.  At the time his wife and my VERY NEW BRIDE were working together.  I am sure Mary had to drag him there.

Three years later, after tragic circumstances, I was meeting up with Jeff Carpenter again.  This time to record a song I had written in honor of the Indianapolis Colts in 1999.  That Colts team, in Peyton Manning’s 2nd year, went from 3-13 in 1998 to 13-3 in 1999.  I was writing songs then.  I wrote one in honor of the Colts.  I wonder if my dear friend and Colt aficionado, Adam Disque, knows this?  I don’t remember playing it for him.

I was a nervous wreck the day I walked into Jeff Carpenter’s Alfresco Place Studio to “RECORD” for the first time in my life.  Funny…now when I am in his studio and recording a song I feel like I am back to my musical home.  There is a peace there between Jefferson and me that is pure magic, bliss, karma, whatever you want to call it.  When I am there I know I am where I need to be,  providing I have a lyric sheet with guitar chords written on it.

I have recorded properly with Jefferson on many occasion.  In 2001 we did my first CD Leap of Faith.  In 2004-2006 we did The Best Thing You Did Yesterday….and last year on my 49th birthday, he handed me the finished product of a 16 song project we had been working on.  I have not pressed it and given it a proper name.  In earnest I was waiting on this year…my 50th year…to perhaps record a couple more tunes and then pick out 14 of these latest to make a CD proper.  Jefferson and I would like that.

I owe him so much, Jefferson.  Business wise, I have tried to do him right.  When it comes to dollars and friendship, Jefferson and I have never had problems.  I am thankful for that.  I just wish I could pay him twice what I do.  Recording ain’t cheap.  Our friendship is priceless.  If I had a million bucks, his studio with a handful of songs would be my first stop.  I could write them.

Watching Rod Wurtele add keyboards.

Where the magic happens.

Rod, Jefferson, and me.

Rod is never there to have a bad time.

Barry King laying down some guitar.  He is awesome.

Jeff and me talking it over.

A session in 2016.  We look miserable, don’t we.

I don’t know what we were not thinking on this day in 2004.  To my left were Tim Krekel and Jim Baugher working on songs I had written.  This is still humbling to me.  I wish I could call these guys up and get them in to Jefferson’s place in two weeks.  I can’t.  They are not with us.  Why I did not get in a photo with these two makes me sad.  But…I’d rather have this shot.  Tim handed me that guitar during these session to clarify a few details.  He was nervous handing it over.  That is when you know you have a guy in love with his guitar.  I doubt many played it.

My love for music made sense thanks to Jeff Carpenter.  I owe him more than I can ever repay.  And now, thanks to Jackie Gayheart’s song, it is time to call Jefferson again.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson