Two days in and the Indiana Hoosiers are still playing football.

Happy New Year, Everyone.  Let’s hope 2020 is as clear as it name suggests!

The Indiana Hoosiers play the UT Vols tonight in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL.  It should be a good one and I BELIEVE the Hoosiers will win the game and their season will end with nine wins against four defeats.  Know that I have never seen a Hoosier football team win 9 games in my lifetime and I got here in 1968.

If the Hoosiers win, I think they will have a chance to be in the final 2019 Top 25 for the first time since Anthony Thompson was a junior in 1988.

I think he could still play myself.

It has been a great season and I certainly appreciate the efforts of Coach Tom Allen and his staff.  Thanks also goes to Athletic Director Fred Glass for helping the football program gain some ground.  It is amazing what can happen when a school administration gives a program the support and resources it needs to be successful, be it on a high school level or the college level.  No one can do it alone.

This year I was fortunate to attend some great college games.  Got to see five Indiana games, three Marshall games, and attended the hottest game of the year when Ole Miss played at Tuscaloosa against BAMA in late September.

I won’t be holding down the couch tonight watching the Hoosiers.  I will be pacing the floor I would say.  I have not done that since the last Eli Manning/New York Giants Super Bowl.

It is going to be fun.  We don’t want to listen to Rocky Top all night, I assure you.  Been there and done that in Neyland Stadium watching the Rebs get their Hotty Toddies handed to them.

Go IU!

Speaking the rights,

Danny Johnson

Indiana…Maybe a tie here with Sparty.  Don’t want to go too crazy.  8-4 before the bowl.  Never seen 9 wins in my lifetime. I don’t rule it out.  Coach Allen will get us there.      I BELIEVE!

I wrote the above in the speaktherights.com College Football Preview back in August.  Obviously I was expecting more from Michigan State.

The Hoosiers had a special season and I never doubted they would.

I must say it was a dream come true to share a little Hoosier magic with this guy, Adam Disque.  Though a loss, the Michigan game was good times.  We also saw the Northwestern game together, along with Andrew and Susan Evertts and my brother-in-law Stevarino.

Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls!

I took a hiatus after week 7 of the College Football season.  But I can’t let the bowl games get away from us.

The Bowl Games, let’s pick’em.

Bahamas Bowl:  Charlotte beats Buffalo.  Did I just type Charlotte and Buffalo about a football game?  Gads, maybe there really are too many bowls.  Go 49ers!

Frisco Bowl:  Utah State beats Kent State.  I will be for the boys from Kent.

New Mexico Bowl:  San Diego State beats Central Michigan in a close one.

Cure Bowl:  Liberty beats Georgia Southern.  No cure for this bowl.

Boca Bowl:  SMU beats Florida Atlantic in their backyard.  Boca Burger, any one?

Cameillia Bowl:  FIU beats Arkansas State.

Las Vegas Bowl:  Boise State beats Washington.  Oh how the mighty have fallen.  At least they’ll stay at a cool place.

New Orleans Bowl:  The curfew bowl of the east. App State beats UAB.

Gasparilia Bowl:  Marshall beats UCF.  Can’t pick against the Herd!

Hawaii Bowl:  Hawaii beats BYU and they all go surfing on the North Shore later.

Independence Bowl:  LA Tech beats Miami.  The boys from Ruston are 70 miles away on I-20 and want some respect.

Quick Lane Bowl:  Free oil change for one lucky section.   Pitt beats Eastern Michigan.  But how refreshing that Eastern Michigan doesn’t have ten losses!

Military Bowl:  North Carolina beats Temple.  Mack Brown is back home.

Pinstripe Bowl:  Hopefully neither coach blows off about not being a baseball fan.  Wake bests Michigan State.

Texas Bowl:  OK State beats Texas A&M cos Mike Gundy is a man!  He’s 50!

Holiday Bowl:  USC beats Iowa.  Glad USC is holding on to Coach Helton.  Great Bowl game.  Hope Iowa wins.

Cheez-it Bowl:  Air Force beats Washington State.  Sword is kind of rusty this year.

Camping World Bowl: Notre Dame beats Iowa State.  Irish tickets advertised on facebook this year was the worst thing I saw in football with the exception of Mason Rudolph cheating death on a couple occasions.

Cotton Bowl:  Memphis beats Penn State.  Want to see a fired up bunch!  Tigers will be and will back it up.  Never seen Memphis on such a large stage.

Peach Bowl CFP:  LSU beats Oklahoma.  Geaux Tigers!

Fiesta Bowl CFP:  Clemson beats Ohio State.  Trevor Lawrence will carve this bunch up and make it look easy.

SERVPRO Bowl:  WKU beats Western Michigan.  The Hilltoppers have had a good season.

Music City Bowl:  Louisville beats Mississippi State.  Cards finish their own dream season.

Red Box Bowl:  Cal beats Illinois.  Red Box Bowl…otherwise known as bowl working on its tenth name change.

Orange Bowl:  Florida beats UVA.  The SEC is too much.

Belk Bowl:  Hope no one gets caught shoplifting this year during the shopping spree.  Virginia Tech beats Kentucky.  Bud Foster will finally contain the UK QB and Coach Foster rides off in the sunset.

Sun Bowl:  Arizona State beats Florida State.

Liberty Bowl:  Kansas State beats Navy.  Though I will be for the Middies.

Arizona Bowl:  Wyoming beats Georgia State.  Wow.  What a match up!

Alamo Bowl:  Utah beats Texas.  How much burnt orange there after a sub-par season?

Citrus Bowl:  Bama beats Michigan.  The Tide could line Tim Petty behind center and win this game if he had any eligibility.  Shea Patterson relives what it felt like to get hit by Tide safety.

Outback Bowl:  Auburn beats Minnesota.  Minnesota is gonna be Minnie Pearl, just proud to be there.  Auburn just won the Iron Bowl and may be unstoppable.

Rose Bowl:  Oregon beats Swissconsin.  The last team I want to see on that beautiful field is the Badgers. Go Ducks Go!  Quack on!

Sugar Bowl:  Georgia beats Baylor.  No I don’t have that much SEC love in me.  I just think Jake Fromm will have a monster game.

Birmingham Bowl:  Cincinnati beats Boston College.

Gator Bowl:  Indiana beats Tennessee.  Ironic.  If memory serves, and it usually does, Indiana’s Peach Bowl loss to the Vols was on January 2, 1988.  These two meet up again on January 2, 2020.  We don’t have AT or Ernie Jones or Van Waiters.  Feed Stevie!

Idaho Potato Bowl:  Nevada beats Ohio.

Armed Forces Bowl:  Southern Miss beats Tulane.  Good times for the Golden Eagles.

Lending Tree Bowl:  Miami Ohio over Louisiana Lafayette.  Did I just type that?  Lending Tree or Leaning Tree?

CFP Champ: Clemson  beats LSU.  Not sure what made me type that.  Never thought it before right now.  Clemson is well rested.  They didn’t have much resistance in the ACC this year.  They didn’t show up to play Carolina.  Clemson Tigers beat the LSU Tigers.

Enjoy the bowl games everyone.  I hope your team wins, unless you root for the Badgers.

Lets get the clever photo out of the way.

Yes.  I am serious this time.

I don’t get too serious often.  Ask those who know me.  Laid back?  Oh they know that guy well.  This, however, has been brewing since I was eight years old in 1976.

Working On A Dream.  That is my Bruce Springsteen induced theme for tomorrow.  If I am going to sit through cold, damp conditions at age 51, it better be worth it.

In 1976 my Dad and I sat and watched the #1 ranked Michigan Wolverines shove around the Indiana Hoosiers.  Final Score:  Maize and Blue 35  Cream and Crimson 0.  I still remember that day.  I hated it.  I was glad to be watching a game with my Dad.  We’ve seen many together.  I hated the result.

In 1999 I witnessed the Indiana Hoosiers almost pull off a miracle finish against the Michigan Wolverines. An Indiana receiver had a chance to haul in a pass that would have won it.  I have no doubt he is still haunted.  I can commiserate.  I missed a 44 yard field goal wide left in the first game of my senior high school season.  Had plenty on it.  The score was 0-0 after that missed kick in the 4th quarter.  We lost 7-0.  It will haunt me forever.

That 1999 season Michigan finished 10-2 and Indiana finished 4-7.

After that IU loss, it was tough to take I can tell you, I have avoided games in Bloomington when Michigan has come calling.

The Indiana Hoosiers have beaten the Michigan Wolverines one time in my lifetime.  I got here in 1968.  A 14-10 victory in the rain in 1987 was the last time the Hoosiers beat Michigan.  That’s it so far.  Until tomorrow.

I was a believer in this Indiana Football team from the beginning.  My faith stems from the hiring of Coach Tom Allen.  Thank you, Fred Glass.

In my prediction post in August I said these guys would win at least 8 games.  I meant it.

Want some perspective?

In the Associated Press era, the Michigan Wolverines have been ranked in the polls a total of 862 weeks.  Indiana?  56 weeks.   Sixteen and half years to a year and four weeks.  That is what we have before us tomorrow.

And it is time.  I think the Hoosiers will win tomorrow and get that elusive 8th win.  The last time Indiana won 8 games was 1993.  I watched that team in the Independence Bowl.

It is time.  I BELIEVE.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Last Saturday I got together with my friends Gus Stephenson and Mick Rutherford and Kelly Samons to play the 20th Annual Corner King Classic.

In honor of our old friend, Malcolm “Corner King” Lincoln Sr., this was a good day of good laughs and bad golf.  None of us had played since last year’s Corner King Classic.

We played at Lucas Oil Golf Course in English.  We just call it the English Golf Course, no offense to the lubricators.  I still think the Colts play in the Hoosier Dome until I have to think about it.

Gus and Samonhead tied for 1st.  I was two shots behind.  Mick was 5 shots behind.  It was the most competitive leader board in the history of the tournament.  I suppose we will play as long as we can.

Gus Tees Off

Samonhead admiring a great tee shot.

Porter teeing off

Watching Gus tee off.

When we got back to the house, Carrie was ready for us old duffers.

Last night Carrie and I were at The Joan C. Edwards Stadium as Marshall defeated Louisiana Tech 31-10.  It was a cold night.  The Herd started slow but gained momentum.  Not unlike the football program did many years ago.

This is a special game.  They call it the 75 Game in honor of the 75 who perished on the Southern Airlines flight returning from a game against East Carolina in 1970 on November 14th.

The team does not run out on the field for this game.  They lock arms and walk across the field in silence.  The number 75 was one side of the helmet and the Young Thundering Herd logo was on the other side of the helmet.

The Herd started the season 2-3.  They are now 7-3 and should play for the C-USA Championship on December 7th.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I had a great time.

I am not going to pick college games this week.  After taking many weeks off I was awful last week in a return to predictions that were laughable.

We will be keeping our eyes on several televised games today including:

IU v. Penn State

Alabama v. Miss. State

Minnesota v. Iowa

LSU v. Ole Miss

I talked to Aunt Barbara yesterday for the first time in a long time and she told me some kooky things are being said in SEC country.  Ole Miss fans hoping they lose so they get a new coach and State fans hoping to lose so they can get a new coach?  Good grief.

But we are talking the SEC.  In September I watched Tua throw 6 TDs for Bama and heard Tide fans complain about “leaving some yards out there they should of had…”  I thought I was going to faint.

Go Hoosiers!  Go Tide!  Go Hawkeyes!  Go Rebels!

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

It has been a while.  Nearly a month has gone by since I put anything on these pages.  I did not expect to be here today writing this.  But, this is a warm-up I suppose of what is to come tomorrow.  

Tomorrow I will gather with Gus Stephenson, Kelly (Samonhead) Samons, and Mick (Pete) Rutherford to play the 20th annual Corner King Classic in memory of our old friend Corner King Lincoln.  He’s been gone twenty-two years now.  There are days I can’t believe that.  There are other days when it seems like a hundred years.  All days I still miss him and the fun we had together.  I could write about it over and over and over again.  It still would never be enough.

Last year.

So let us get caught up a little.

I have been to a couple football games.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I saw Western Kentucky play at Marshall.  The Herd won 26-23 on a 53 yard field goal on the last play of the game.

The Kick

The Celebration

Carrie and I saw Justin Hayward sing at the City Winery in Nashville.  Justin sang many Moody Blues tunes and some great solo material.  It was amazing.  He is better than ever.  I did not expect this to happen and am thankful it has worked out this way.  I tell the story that in 1986 I saw my first Moody Blues concert and Justin was 40, the youngest in the band, and drummer Graeme Edge was 45 and the oldest.  I thought then I was glad I got to see them before they retire…these rock and roll dinosaurs.  I was eighteen and thought like I was eighteen knowing these guys started in the 60s their numbers had to be up. I knew nothing! Now I am fifty-one and still loving it more than ever.  And I have faith we will get to hear Justin sing again.

It was great to visit with Julie Ragins before the show.  She and Mike Dawes compliment Justin to perfection.  If you have heard the three of them you know.  If you haven’t, there’s bound to be a youtube video out there for you.

Last weekend the first November night game in Indiana University Football history was played.  I was there with dear friends Adam Disque and his son Jaden, and Andrew and Susan Evertts and my brother-in-law Stevarino sporting the beret here. Way to go, Pierre.  It was cold.

The Football Hoosiers are for real.  I believe in this team for sure.  I did long before most did.  Go back and read my college football preview.

Very nice.

Night game in November.  The Hoosiers have arrived.

The IU defense played great.

I looked at this little corner of my office and thought about my Uncle Roger recently.  Top row left in the picture is Uncle Roger.  Second row third from the right is my mother.  The others are my aunts and uncles and maternal grandparents front and center.  This photo was taken in 1959.  Brownstown and North Harrison math tells me that was 60 years ago.  I don’t know if I have ever seen a picture of a happier bunch than this one. Top right is a black and white enlargement of me and Uncle Stanley.  He married my mom’s sister Reat.  He was a good guy and I miss him for sure.

I sent this corner scene to Uncle Roger and he was glad I did.  Some days are better than others.

On to College Football Picks…

Boston College beats Florida State…in Boston with an FSU team in turmoil.

Ohio State beats Maryland…But a man can hope.

Penn State beats Minnesota…This is my hope I am wrong pick.  Go Goldy!

Northwestern beats Purdue…The Wildcats will find something and some way to rebound.

Michigan State beats Illinois….but you never know.

Louisville beats Miami, FL….I know I know it is in Florida.

Alabama beats LSU…If this was a night game in Death Valley I would pick the Tigers.

Arizona State beats USC…At ASU and they are looking for respect.

Iowa beats Swissconsin….Two mules fighting over a turnip for sure.

Ole Miss beats New Mexico State…At least they can beat these Aggies.

Georgia beats Mizzou…The odd appendage in the SEC.

Clemson beats NC State….Will be a blowout by halftime.

Kentucky beats Tennessee…Stick that Rocky Top song up…well…you get it don’t ya?

Oklahoma beats Iowa State….They are still OK.

This place will be a powder keg on Saturday.  Good luck, Brother Tim.

Speaking the Rights again…

Danny Johnson

This is post number 542 on speaktherights.com.

This past week’s college football picks saw 10 winners and 4 losers.  I thought I would do better.  Season record is 68 winners and 30 losers.  Not very good at all.

This beautiful fall evening the sun is going down to the slightest of breezes.  No leaves falling right now.  Many have already fallen.

I have long enjoyed the fall.  Football season?  That may have something to do with it.  Really I love everything about the fall.  The weather.  Knowing that winter is on the way and how you enjoy a beautiful day that comes along that you don’t really expect.  Seeing a change in the trees and how the environment changes drastically around us as the leaves fall and the time changes and the sun goes down earlier and earlier as December approaches.  Kids enjoying Halloween as they dress up in trick or treat.  I loved that as a kid.  It was fun.  We all had a chance to be something else for a few minutes.  I remember a time or two, when the weather was not so kind at Halloween, being ready for November 1st to get here cos my mask was warm and made me sweat.  That is what happens where you are full of hot air, someone once told me.  They looked like they meant it.

On these speaktherights.com pages I have enjoyed sharing tales and spinning yarns and holding forth on things that matter to me.  Family, faith, music, laughs, wonderful friends and memories, travelling to here and there, and just sounding off a little bit.  I have enjoyed it all.

But there comes a time when it is time to interject a caesura.  A pause from speaktherights.com is needed right now.  No, I didn’t see it coming.  But, as my dear wife, Carrie, and I spent a little time on Topsail Island last week I saw a few things a little bit clearer I think.  I asked what it would feel like to give speaktherights.com a little time off and a silly little smile came to my face I think.

And guess what?  Tomorrow may bring a new day and I will be bringing another tale to these very pages.  I don’t feel that way tonight.  I don’t expect that to change either.

There is a bit of responsibility that goes along with doing this.  I started in July 2014.  My catalog of pictures on this webpage is mind boggling.  I have been blessed and I have been to and seen so many wonderful places. The best were when my dear wife, Carrie, was within arm’s length.  I am blessed that way.  I don’t know why.

Talk about irony that is in place right now.  As I type these words I am listening to John Lodge’s just released greatest hits CD that features some new work as well.  Yes, that is Roger Dean artwork on the cover.

I shook John’s hand in Huntsville, Alabama in 1994.  We actually had a conversation during a pre-show meet-up.  Thanks to Ivy Stewart, he knew I was coaching football at the time and players called me Coach Moody.  It was all too cool.

Of course I was standing next to him in 2012 when Carrie and I had our picture taken with The Moodies.

The irony here is that I feature John Lodge on this post.  Y’all know my affinity for the music of his fellow Moody Blue, Justin Hayward.  Double irony.  Justin’s 73rd birthday is today.  In sixteen days Carrie and I will be seeing and hearing Justin in Nashville.  The last time we saw him was last August in Kent, Ohio.  I am 51 years-old.  The first time I saw Justin and The Moodies in 1986 I was 18.  Like I have said time and again, I was blessed to pick the right group. What a great story.

So I need to leave you with some great pictures that were taken this past week.

I wrote about it before…but it was in a patch of rocks and shells like this that I looked down last week and found this…

This stone will go everywhere with me.

Wanna talk about a beautiful sun rise?

Wanna talk about being blessed?  Taken before the early service at Faith Harbor UMC.

The guys at Thomas’ Market.  The best place to buy fresh seafood on the planet.

Be still my flounder eating heart!

Carrie and I met Pat Conroy in 2013.  He is gone but not forgotten.  Too many great words to live on and remind us of who we are and who we need to be.  He was so kind to me.  I think in audible terms.  It is the songwriter in me.  When Pat Conroy introduced himself to me I thought I needed to turn around.  Who me?  Yes. Me.  He loved educators.  I told him he never stopped teaching.

On Saturday I paid a solo visit to The Joan.  Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, WV.  Home of the Marshall Thundering Herd.  The Herd won over Old Dominion.  They needed a victory.

Kickoff, of course.

It was a beautiful day for college football.  But, aren’t they all?

So that is that.

Regrets?   Not really.

My mother knows nothing of this.  Each day she fires up her computer and looks to see if I have posted something.  That may qualify as a regret.  I don’t want to disappoint her.  She won’t be.  She will tell me she understands.  She may not like it but she will understand.  That comes with her trusting my judgement.  I am blessed that way too.

At the Moody Blues concert in 2016 at the Louisville Palace.  After the show, my Dad said “That was the best show I have ever seen.”  He has seen some concerts over the years for sure.

I have to wrap this up.

Am I melancholy? Not at all.  I think I am relieved.

I have some other literary pursuits to tend to.  I am not writing songs actively.  I am just listening and trying to write what I need to.

I could be back here next week.  I doubt it.  If you have been here with any regularity I thank you.  I plan on being back.  After all, there will always be a need for someone to …

Speak the rights!

Danny Johnson

There was a shrimp boat hauling in a catch this morning off Topsail Island.  The shrimp are there to be found.  So is the flounder.  How do I know?

We had a fish fry two nights ago, Carrie, me, and my sister did.  It was something to behold.  Flounder, shrimp, hush puppies, and brussel sprouts.  Amazing.  Thanks to the folks at Thomas’ Fish Market for never letting us down.  Thanks to Carrie for preparing the vittles like only she can.

A helicopter from Camp Lejeune gets in some hours.  There were many air craft to be seen flying up and down the coast.  There is a secure feeling there for sure.

As I type these words I am listening to Harv Brown and Richard Berry call the Brownstown Central-Silver Creek game.  Both teams are 7-0.  The game is on 96.3 WJAA, the empire of one Robert Becker.  He is the best radio man alive. No score yet.

We move on to the 7th week of College Football.  After a sluggish couple of weeks, I picked 11 winners and 3 losers last week.  58-26 is the record so far this year.  Not very good at all.

Tomorrow I will be in the Joan C. Edwards Stadium to watch the Marshall Thundering Herd take on Old Dominion.  I have never seen ODU.  Add another one to the list.

Who wins this week?

Memphis beats Temple…The Tigers should win this and it will be entertaining.

Michigan beats Illinois…The Wolverines are not having a banner year.

Oklahoma beats Texas…What a classic contest.

Indiana beats Rutgers…The Hooisers needed a week off.  Let’s hope they don’t need two.

Duke beats Georgia Tech…The Dukies let one slip by against Pitt last week.

Marshall beats Old Dominion…The Herd has struggled a bit this year.   Look for a big offensive show for the boys in green.

Clemson beats Florida State…Tigers will score and score and score.

Ole Miss beats Mizzou…And yes, I am a Rebel homer.

Kentucky beats Arkansas…The Hogs are making Porky sad.  Cats need this one.

Louisville beats Wake Forest…Why not?  This is an upset but one of those games a pesky Louisville team can win with a turnover or two.

Iowa beats Penn State…Hawkeyes are at home and this will be fun.

Notre Dame beats USC…Shouldn’t we be playing this one in late November?

LSU beats Florida…A night game at LSU!

Washington beats Arizona…Gotta pick a west coast game too.

Score update Brownstown Central 14 Silver Creek 7 close to halftime.

My sincere regrets that the North Harrison Cougars are not playing a game tonight.  Crawford County did not have enough players to participate.  I am quite certain this is a first for North, having to win via forfeit due to the other team not showing up.  I hate it.  The players deserve to play games.  Good luck to Crawford on getting things straightened out and taken care of.

That is that.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Any person who doubts God’s existence has led a bland life for sure.  I feel sorry for them and I hope and pray they eventually see what Hank Williams eventually saw…”The Light”.

As I type these words I hear a natural symphony that comes to a crashing crescendo  whilst being filled with tempered music that waits on yet the next crash of might and power and grace.

If I had a stiff wind behind me right now and enough solid saliva with which to project, I am quite certain I could spit in the ocean.  High tide is in front of us.  Where my dear wife, Carrie, and I sit right now is on the barrier island that got so much attention last October as Hurricane Florence was working the place over: Topsail Island, NC.

We found this place by accident many years ago.  I have told that story over and over again.  Thank you, Tim Krekel.

Getting back to God’s existence for a minute.  I will grant you that things seem pretty mixed up right now if you are an American and a Christian.  I suppose that old adage about we all get to the cross our own way has never been so truly played out than the last few years.  Things have to get better, don’t they?  Of course they do, if we are going to prosper.  Seems so many nuggets of truth I learned in Sunday School are not so fashionable these days in the politics of our nation.  I still believe in goodness, grace, helping others, and trying to bring people together and not relishing in dividing the people of the land we live in.  There’s always been enough division.  No need in creating more, unless that is your strategy. If it is, shame on you.

There are more shells and stones and pebbles and grains of sand on this beach than there are people in my native home state of Indiana and our adopted home state of North Carolina.  If you have been fortunate enough to stroll a beach anywhere in the world, you know what I mean.  The little pieces of creation, whipping along the shore in and out as the tide rises and the tide falls know no mathematical equation.  It is the random act of nature and its splendor.  I think God sees to that.  Who else put this together?  Good luck with that, if you don’t believe.

Psalm 143 :8

Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you.

Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.

I try to put a few steps in each morning.  I walk and listen to music and pray and listen for God’s voice when I am calm enough and obedient enough to do it.  I have heard some things I rejoiced in.  I have heard some things I wanted to turn from.  I have heard laughter.  I have been directed on occasion.  Things always turn out for the best when I have listened and said yes.

Among the millions, if not billions of individual pieces of earth on this beach in North Carolina, I found this stone this morning as I was walking and listening and one with the water.  There was a message on this stone in front of my feet.

I have picked up thousands of shells and stones out here.  Only today did I find one that told me to go and check out Psalm 143 : 8.

Thanks be to God.

Danny Johnson

This is what happens.  You so look forward to a college football season and you look the thermometer in Southern Indiana and it has read 90 degrees or more all week this week.  It is October for goodness sake!  This is nuts.I sweat as I type these words on an October 3rd evening.  I am sad that we are in Week 6 of the college football season already.

Last weekend in Tuscaloosa I had the time of my life.  It was 100 degrees.  Had it been 75 degrees I would probably still be there trying to get into the next game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.  To say we will be back is an understatement. That slogan the SEC used about it “Means more in the SEC” is all too true.  It may mean too much.

True story.  The first thing I hear from Bama fans after their team just won 59-31 and their quarterback just threw a school record 6 touchdown passes is that Tua (the QB) left a few yards on the field and missed some receivers that will cost them during LSU.  I had a silent scream on my face.  Did y’all just watch the same game I did?  No wonder Nick Saban look constipated all the time.  It is a different world in Tuscaloosa.  But it is a good one.  And…Lord help these folks when Saban turns in his key.  It will be Bear is gone all over again.  And only then will they truly appreciate what I saw on Saturday.  I said it before and I will say it again to Brother Tim Petty, thank you for delivering Carrie and me to T-Town in style.  You’re a good man.

In earnest, I have had a very busy week.  I couldn’t tell you who plays college football this weekend.  So…let me take a time-out.  And pick a few games.

After starting the season 31-11 after three weeks, I have stunk it it up the last two week.  8-6 and 8-6 the last two weeks.  Easily the poorest showing for two consecutive weeks on speaktherights.com.  I hang my head.

Let’s see how things shake out this week.  I have picked a challengers for sure along with a couple cupcakes.  The good thing is Indiana does not play this week and I don’t have to pick against them!  Bless their hearts.  That Michigan State debacle was something.  You would be hard pressed to find the Elias Bureau to come up with stats that said a quarterback who complete 20 straight passes, as IU’s Michael Penix did last week, played for the team that lost the game.  I can’t imagine.

On to the picks:

Duke beats Pitt…Coach Cut just wins.

Ohio State beats Michigan State…Mad that Sparty beat IU last week.

Washington beats Stanford…Will be a fun game to watch.

Iowa beats Michigan…Big one for the Hawkeyes.  I root for Iowa too.

Oklahoma beats Kansas….And everyone else till they play Alabama.

Penn State beats Purdue…Purdue…aka MASH Unit.

Louisville beats Boston College…I saw these two play in 1990 the year U of L whipped Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl.  I was in the press box at Louisville for that one and got to talk to Gerard Phelan, the guy who caught THE PASS from Doug Flutie that beat Miami on the last play of the game. He was the color commentator for NESN (New England Sports Network) I shook the hand that caught THE PASS.  In my football life, nothing impressed me more until I kicked footballs in The Rose Bowl.

LSU beats Utah State…Play the freshman!

Florida beats Auburn…Hope I get to see a little of this one after a little travel on Saturday.

Notre Dame beats Bowling Green…And the Bowling Green players will get to tell their grandchildren they played at Notre Dame Stadium.

Northwestern beats Nebraska…I have been called foolish for this pick.

Georgia beats Tennessee…And folks on both sides lament the fact that this game is supposed to mean some thing.

Ole Miss beats Vandy…Hotty Toddy!

SMU beats Tulsa…The Mustangs are finally back.  They deserve some love.

Have a good weekend.  Take care of one another.

And when you can….speak the rights.

Danny Johnson

If I am going to see my beloved Ole Miss Rebels go down in defeat, it is easier to take against the best team in college football.

Thanks to Clemson’s fart against North Carolina and Tua’s 6 TD passes against a suspect Ole Miss secondary, the Tide is now the number one team in the country.  I doubt they will be supplanted, even in January.  This is a great team.

I have been to some great college football venues.  But Saturday was different.  Walking into Bryant-Denny Stadium on the campus of the University of Alabama, there was a nervous tension inside me that I was not expecting.  I knew it would be special.  I did not expect to be as overwhelmed as I was.  Maybe it was seeing the Crimson Tide in their Crimson jerseys for the first time.  I had seen the Tide play two times before in their whites.  I thought is was cool to see the Tide in the past.  Saturday was different.  It meant something.  Is it because I am older?  Is it because I never thought I would get to Bryant-Denny Stadium before Saturday?  I truly do not know.  But I sure thank my friend Tim Petty, the Roll Tide aficionado, for making it all it was.  Tailgating with with specter of the Stadium to the west.  It was all so special.  It reminded me of a line from a movie I first saw in 1988.  One character looked at another and ask, “What do you do when real life exceeds your dreams?”  The other character answered, “You keep it to yourself.”

I can’t do that.  Yes, the Rebs got beat 59-31.  Yes, it was hottest I have ever been in my life.  Yes, Carrie and I did not stay for all the game.  Yes, it was more than I ever dreamed it would be.

The following photos chronicle what I speak the rights about:

I would be remiss if I did not include the Cracker Barrel gang.  Carrie and me with Tim and Michelle Petty and Mr. and Mrs. Petty.  They are such a joy to hang with.  Great stories and just wonderful folk.  I am proud to know them.

Two weeks ago I got my picture taken with one football legend at Indiana, Anthony Thompson and this weekend outside the Bear Bryant Museum I got my picture take with Brother Tim Petty.  I must be living right.

Tailgating in style.

Carrie and I with Tim and Michelle and David and Jessica.  The two on the right brought a little culture to campus, even though our team got beat.

Denny Chimes on game day.  Wow.

Carrie and me outside the stadium.  Yes, it was hot.  Mom said the heat index was 101 at kickoff.  I thought it was more.

What a sight.  This was wonderful.  Sitting in the Ole Miss section, of course.

The Rebels before the game.

Bama about to score.

You didn’t think I could post about this game and not include a picture of the kicker did you?

I made a second trip to The Rose Bowl Stadium last year and saw a game at Bama this year.  Both made me appreciate and thank what this game has meant to me over the years.  It is amazing how I feel at home at these iconic stadiums.  That’s when you know it is right.  This past Saturday was one of those.  I am a blessed man.  I will keep saying that.  Thank you, Bother Tim.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson