This is my view as I speak the rights.  The pond ahead was once a par 3 golf course.  Apartment buildings are all around.  Pompano Beach, Florida, some four miles from “the beach” where the Atlantic Ocean can be seen.  My dear wife, Carrie, and I saw it and it is a beautiful sight.  There is a peace that one finds next to the water that I can’t begin to describe.

This week’s College Football picks and then some more sight-seeing.

Last week saw nine winners and four losers.  The worst week of the season until this week perhaps.  I got some iffy ones for sure.  In week seven, you can’t ignore your heart.  The season is too deep.  For the year the record stands at 59 winners and 19 losers.  We’ll see how things go.

Indiana beats Iowa…I wish I could be there.  Finally some football weather in Bloomington and the Hoosiers will respond.

Duke beats Georgia Tech…I know my love for Duke has little limitation.  They are the IU of the south during football season.

Auburn beats Tennessee…War Eagle and all that crap.

Northwestern beats Nebraska…I know folks are saying the Huskers gotta win sooner or later.  And yes, I do feel badly for Coach Frost.  But, he asked for it.

Boston College beats Louisville…I witnessed the game that put Louisville into the Fiesta Bowl in 1990 when BC came calling to Louisville in November.  BC wins this one.  The Card team is a mess.

Notre Dame beats Pitt…Health is on the side of the Irish.  A soft schedule can do that for you.  Then come playoff time, they get blown out.

Penn State beats Michigan State…Oh my.  This could get ticklish.

Miami beats Virginia…How can I not pick the Canes when I drove past their stadium yesterday?

Ole Miss beats Arkansas…I sure hope the hotel I stay in Saturday night gets the SEC Network.  It might be worth a call just to make sure!

Marshall beats Old Dominion…No offense, but am the only one that thinks that is a corny name for a school full of kids?

Bama beats Mizzou…I heard in Tuscaloosa they polished up a new spot in the trophy case already, despite Nick Saban’s poor-mouthing about how weak the 10th string punter is.

Purdue beats Illinois…The Boilers are not a bad bunch to look at.

USC beats Colorado…The Buffs are better.  But beating USC?  C’mon man!

My dear Carrie and I drove down to Key West yesterday.  185 miles from where I type these words right now is how far the drive was.  Was it ever worth it.  Carl enjoyed the trip too.

Carrie and I are fortunate in that we have been a place or two.  Had our second home in North Carolina not been blown up by Florence so, we would be there now.  But we aren’t.  We are here in Pompano Beach with Cody and Jarrett and Jarrett’s lady friend Sarah.  We are all having a great time.

Yesterday was special in that Carrie and I got to discover and visit places we had never been.  To hang out at Sloppy Joe’s was a treat.  You hear about the place.  You read about it.  Being there was even better.  We all know it doesn’t always turn out that way.

Chickens are everywhere in Key West.  They run the place.

At Sloppy Joe’s our new friend, Brian, played a Moodies song for us.  He sang “Your Wildest Dreams”.  He did a fine job.  Justin would approve.

We did not go in, but I snagged a photo of Ernest Hemingway’s house.  We will tour that when we get back one day.

Along the way, we took a few photos.

The place was beautiful.

We got our photo taken by a nice man.  As south as you can go.

Today, Cody took us to a place south of where we are staying called Tree Tops Park.  You can climb this tower for a good look from the tree tops.

There were some great sights here as well.

This was one of them.

Back home starts tomorrow.

Say a few prayers for the folks in the Florida panhandle.  That was some unreal devastation they were handed.  They got what I feared for my beloved North Carolina shore…so I have a sense of how much hurt is there.  It is heartbreaking.  God Bless them and their resolve.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Pompano Beach, Florida

On the way to Florida we made a stop at Moreland, Georgia.  It was an unscheduled stop.  It was a good stop.

Here is what happened.  Took a look at the map and saw the letters arranged together

A-T-L-A-N-T-A

I read T-R-A-F-F-I-C J-A-M.

We went around Atlanta to the west and along the way we found Newnan and Moreland again.  Many years ago I was on the local television station in Newnan singing a song i wrote called The Lewis Grizzard Highway.  Lewis Grizzard died in 1994.  I never met him.  I have read every word he published in book form.  He was a human interest columnist for the Atlanta paper for a number of years.  His column was syndicated to some 600 papers at the heighth of its popularity.  It did not run in the Courier-Journal.  The Bingham’s, I would say, had something to do with that.  Lewis spoke his mind.  He was a bit on the conservative side when conservatives had more sense than they do today.  Many of us whom were considered conservative back then have been left behind by a progressive movement we don’t recognize as being conservative.  Conservatives think for themselves I believe.  That is in short supply since State Television a.k.a Fox News has seemingly high-jacked so many minds with fear speech and division.  When this Republican deems Fox News worse than CNN, the country is in trouble.

I think Lewis Grizzard would still be hanging with me and others like me in the minority as we sit, watch, and wait (there are not enough of us to make a difference), and hope to live long enough to see America rally in the name of  Republic goodness instead of hearing about rallies where a president is making fun of people.  What good does that do?  Who does that help?  Hard to take for a guy who spent a dozen years telling elementary kids to “Be Nice!” And why are gas prices so high?

I digress.

Lewis Grizzard was 47 years old when he passed away.  He had heart trouble for a long time that caused multiple surgeries.  He did not survive the last one.

Moreland, Georgia was Lewis’ hometown.  In Moreland there is the Lewis Grizzard Bar-B-Cue Pavilion.

It is a nice little place.

I think Lewis would be proud.

In Newnan you will find Sprayberry’s, a fine bar-b-cue joint.  I ordered what I always ordered:

The Lewis Grizzard Special.  That and a glass of unsweetened tea and you got it made.

Lewis is remembered on the side of the Sprayberrymobile.

On the wall in Sprayberry’s.

Before we left for our trip, I grabbed a book not knowing we would be heading to the land of Grizzard.  It was a gift from Paula Lincoln when I graduated from college.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Had a good week picking the games last week with 12 winners and 1 loser.

The season picks so far are 50 winners and 15 losers after 5 weeks.

Don’t have much time here.  Will check in with a good story about a Great American tomorrow.

Ole Miss beats NLU….I still call them NLU

Iowa beats Minnesota…The Hawkeyes come to Bloomington next week.

Auburn beats Mississippi State….Should be a good one.

Bama beats Arkansas…And everyone else.

Michigan beats Maryland…But it may be close.  The Wolverines play more like squirrels.

Northwester beats Michigan State…like IU should have.

NC State beats BC…Wolkpack is tough.

Clemson beats Wake Forest…But Wake will give them some resistance

LSU beats Florida…And Coach O will be spitting joy at the post game presser

UK beats Texas A&M…I am a believer

Notre Dame beats VA Tech…Wake up the echoes

Georgia beats Vandy…Do the Dawgs still wear silver britches?

Stanford beats Utah…in a good one.

Lastly…Sadly…

Jessica Cobb died this morning.  She is the daughter of Vicki Dean.  Vicki and I worked at Medora together.  Jessica worked there on occasion as well.  Vicki is a good friend.  Jessica leaves behind nine young’uns.  God Bless them all.  Jessica had cancer.  She suffers no more.  We are sad.  She would want us to press onward and be the best we can be.  Which means being more like her.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

A prayer from my maternal grandfather.

Last night was wonderful.  My dear wife, Carrie, and I shared dinner with our son Jarrett and his lady friend, Sarah.  Pizza and salad made the menu.  Thanksgiving made for the dessert.

Jarrett just got back to the U.S.of A Thursday.  He has been working as a body guard for the Iraq Ambassador in Baghdad.  His flight schedule was Baghdad to Dubai to London to Chicago to Louisville.  That is a long road home.  He had a long stretch at the Embassy and is back home for some time off.  His stories are interesting and he goes about it all very nonchalantly.  He is as cool as the center seed of the cucumber.

As we were celebrating Jarrett’s return last night, the North Harrison Cougars football team lost a close one at Silver Creek.  14-13 was the final score.  Silver Creek is no slouch.  I have seen some of the video from the game and it looks like the field was a sloppy mess.  That is not good.  Still, both teams have to play on it.  The game put the Cougars at 4 wins and 3 losses for season and makes complete sense of Coach Mark WIlliamson’s declaration that NH is still “new money” as he put it, after being queried about Cougars status in the hierarchy of Mid Southern Conference.  Coach Williamson is a smart man.  I am glad he is our coach.  North should win the last two of the regular season and gain some momentum heading into the playoffs.

Week Five College Football Picks.

8 winners and 5 losers last week.  Season record 38-14.

I knew I was setting myself up for a couple clunkers last week.  In earnest, I was shocked I got 8 the way the afternoon was playing out.

Indiana beats Rutgers…A trip to Piscataway is no picnic.  Might as well make the most of it.  Look for huge offense from the Hoosiers today.

Alabama beats Louisiana L…What was The Pelican State thinking when they changed the names of those state schools?  Louisiana Monroe will always be NLU to me!

Clemson beats Syracuse…The land of whiny quarterbacks does not discriminate against the powerful.  Clemson should be glad they are at home this week.

Boston College beats Temple…May lose this one.  I still think BC will rebound.

NC State beats Virginia….Ryan Finley should have a big game as NC State is back home for the first time since Florence hit.  The Wolfpack will be ready for the home folk.

Florida State beats Louisville…It has to improve for FSU.  U of L is having a hard time.

Marshall beats Western Kentucky.…

Michigan beats Northwestern…Hope Ryan Field is unkind to the Wolverines…but I doubt it.

Duke beats Virginia Tech….The Dukies start 5-0 for the first time since 1994 when they began the season 7-0.

Kentucky beats South Carolina…The Stadium is sold out in Lexington and for good reason.

Notre Dame beats Stanford…At South Bend under the lights, those golden domes look great.

LSU beats Ole Miss…Eventually Ole Miss will get 11 defenders on the field.  Hurts me.  Go Rebs!

USC beats Arizona…You just never know.  USC is finding itself. Both are 2-2.  Could be a Wildcat win.

No, I did not touch the Penn State-Ohio State game.  I would pick Penn State cos I want to see the Buckeyes get beat 100-0.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

We made it back.

Carrie and I made it to the Joan C. Edwards Stadium on the campus of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia last Saturday.    The Thundering Herd took on the North Carolina State Wolfpack.  NC State won 37-20.

It is a big deal when a school from a “power conference” comes calling to The Joan.  Carrie and I watched the Herd beat Purdue a few years ago.  That was fun.  We were in West Lafayette a couple years earlier  to watch the Herd get bested by the Boilers.

I have written in detail on these pages our affinity for games in Huntington.  Yes, there was a movie we appreciated.  There are people in Huntington we appreciate more.  I have been to more football stadiums than I can remember at the moment.  Not a one of them is as memorable as the Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington.  Going to the game is a combination of celebration and homecoming each week.  There are some rounders there for sure.  They started selling beer at The Joan recently and I don’t like the idea…not at a college game.  That is not necessary.

Carrie and I had a sense of that celebration and relief.  It was good to be back.  We have been to at least one Herd game in Huntington the last 11 seasons.  One year we had season tickets.

Saturday in pictures…

Always the first view of The Joan when we get there.

I never met a goalpost that did not make me feel good.

Enjoying the game with a girl that knows what football is about.  Thank you Lord!

We were humbled to be in the presence of 1971’s Young Thundering Herd…yes, those guys that were depicted in the ashes to glory movie We Are Marshall.  They were here to honor their quarterback, Reggie Oliver.  Reggie died due to complications from a fall he took in August.

Young Reggie.

A Marshall legend, he will be missed.

The Joan.

It was Stripe the Stadium night.  Glad we were in the Green section 111.

Remember the name Ryan Finley.  He is the NC State qb and he will be playing on Sundays one day.  His downfield accuracy is as good as I have ever witnessed.  I have seen many good ones.

I will leave you with a field goal…it was good!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

The Cougars win tonight!  North Harrison 35  Eastern 7.  So says my Twitter page.  I was not able to make the game tonight.  I will be very glad to look at the video later tonight.

I just finished listening to the Brownstown Central Braves get beat by the Seymour Owls on my WJAA app on my phone.  I told my Dad last night that the Owls would best them.  He did not believe me.  At halftime I told my dear wife, Carrie, Seymour was sandbagging in the first half.  The Braves were ahead at halftime.  I told Carrie the Owls were saving their best running back for the 2nd half.  Whilst he carried the ball 9 times for 21 yards in the first half, he gained over 200 yards in the second half.  I knew it was coming.

The Owls outscored the Braves 20-0 in the 4th quarter.  Final score: Seymour 44 Brownstown Central 34.

Carrie and I drove Interstate 64 Eastbound this evening.  We are going to watch the Marshall Thundering Herd play host to the North Carolina State Wolfpack tomorrow night.  It will be hard not to root for the Wolfpack with all the heartache the folks in North Carolina are going through.  But we will be in green in Section 111 as we Stripe the Joan with green and white for the 7 PM kickoff.

As we drove East we passed the Winchester, Kentucky exit, looked at the sign that indicated such.  I took a couple deep breaths and shook my head.  My sister-in-law, Emily, has a brother, Ben Shemwell, that lives in Winchester with his family.  Last Saturday Emily and Darrell’s nephew, Marco Shemwell, was hit and killed near Kroger Field in Lexington by an 18 year-old drunk driver who was a student at the University of Kentucky.

Tomorrow, before the UK home game against Mississippi State, there will be a moment of silence for Marco before the National Anthem.

The 18 year-old that hit Marco pleaded not guilty.  Of course he did.

I wish folks in this country were as interested in stopping the mindless drunk driving deaths the same way they get worked up about keeping people out of the country and building walls.  We’d all be a hell of a lot safer than any wall could make us.

For the College picks this week…I am 30 winners and 9 losers so far.

Just picks.  I am in no mood for attempts at clever commentary.

Ole Miss beats Kent State

Michigan beats Nebraska

Notre Dame beats Wake Forest

Pitt beats UNC

Louisville beats Virginia

Alabama beats Texas A&M

South Carolina beats Vandy

LSU beats Louisiana Tech

Kentucky beats Mississippi State

Marshall beats NC State

Auburn beats Arkansas

Indiana beats Michigan State

Iowa beats Wisconsin

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I suppose this is the week I stub the toe.  After a 20 winner 6 loser start in the first two weeks, there are a couple of I picked them with my games on the list this week.  That usually gets me.  I did not pick Ole Miss to beat Bama.  I didn’t say the heart was stupid.

Friday morning as the sun comes up

Pregame

Thanks to the Ramsey VFD.

The sun goes down.

Last night was a tough evening for NH Cougar fans.  The Cougars were defeated by the Brownstown Central Braves 42-0.  This was the first time the Cougars suffered a shutout since 2013.  That is a long time and nothing to be ashamed of, if you know a thing or two about Cougar football history.  I know a little.

Last night a friend  of mine was playing armchair quarterback and second guessing this and that as the Cougars struggled a bit.  I looked at him sternly and said, “This is the sixth time we have been beaten in the last four years.  So I don’t want to hear that.”

I am sure there are a few folks that wish I would chime in and put in a critical word when THEY think the opportunity presents itself.  I will tell them also…this is the sixth loss in four years.  I don’t have a critical word.  Enjoy it!

Yeah, I wish we would have attempted a field goal at Charlestown but that is the kicker in me talking and if that kick would have been good it would have done two things.  One, it would have made the score a 21-18.  Two, and selfishly I say, I would have seen a 38 yard field goal (there was a stiff breeze at the kicker’s back) go through the uprights and that has not happened for NH since 1985. I had a good place to watch that one.  Again, that is the kicker in me.  I have faith in our coach and those around him.

I congratulate the Braves for their victory last night and I know the Cougars are going to be fine.  They are in good hands.

College Football Picks for this week.

Indiana beats Ball State…I am in a hurry this Saturday morning cos my dear wife, Carrie, and I are meeting friends in Bloomington for this one.

FSU beats Syracuse

Kentucky beats MState Racers

UT neats UTEP

Notre Dame beats Vandy

Duke beats Baylor

LSU beats Auburn

Virginia beats Ohio

Alabama beats Ole Miss

Mizzou beats Purdue

USC beats Texas

UCLA beats Fresno State

Louisville beats WKU

The Marshall Thundering Herd was to play at South Carolina and that game was cancelled due to the Florence Storm.

We continue to pray and hope for the best as the folks in the Carolinas are up against it like we can’t imagine.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Written as I listen to Bruce Springteen’s CD The Rising.

My mind keeps wondering to places I have been and things I have seen with my dear wife, Carrie.

This past summer Carrie and I visited the 9/11 Memorial in New York City.  It is where the Twin Towers sat.  Today was the first 9/11 to come around, obviously, since we were there this summer.  I didn’t know today would come with so many memories and haunting sights and sounds that we gave a short glimpse to that day.  At least, I didn’t expect to feel this way.

When my friend Robert Becker played songs on his radio station this morning in Seymour, Indiana, he played songs from The Concert For New York.  The lives of members lost from Ladder Company 3 were mentioned before a song by The Who was played.  Immediately my mind came back to the moment I took this picture above.  A tear came to my eye.

You will never find a place with more people that is as quiet as this place.  It is amazing.  There is a presence there for sure.  You feel it.

Another place on my mind is the home away from home Carrie and I found together about fifteen years ago.  It is our place.  We have shared it with others, but it is our place.  That place is the North Carolina Shore.  Topsail Island, North Carolina to be specific.  With Hurricane Florence coming straight toward Topsail, pronounced Top-sul and not Top-sail, I am afraid Carrie and I will be dealing with the possibility of a place we will have to remember.  When we get back, I have no doubt it will be a different place.

Sunrise

That Sky.  I wrote a song about it a year later.

The town of Topsail Beach.

Writing one of those songs.

A fortunate man.

I took this last Spring.  I hope that pier makes it.

I hope this place makes it too.  Good fish.  Great people.

Faith Harbor United Methodist is closing up Wednesday and they hope to get back Monday.  I pray for all my Topsail friends.

I love to look back fondly on things of the past.  The idea of only being able to look back at some of the places, faces, and sights we have grown to love scares me.

God be with all in the path of this storm.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

A tale of two fields…

North Harrison High School Friday morning 9/7/2018.

Charlestown High School Friday evening 9/7/2018.

The North Harrison Cougars were bested by the Charlestown Pirates last night.  The final score was 34-22.  That is always a tough place to play.  Now the Cougars need to put this one behind them and get ready Brownstown Central.  The Braves come calling to Ramsey next Friday.  One Brave friend has been calling the game “epic” for three weeks.  That is his version because North beat the Braves up there last year.  Me, I am just looking forward to another Cougar victory.  They can play better than they did last night for sure.

College Football Picks…

Last week yielded 10 winners and 3 losers.  I’ll take that in week one.  A couple of the games I picked out of meanness, of course.  I will pick against West Virginia til the cows come home.  And this week I will do something questionable again. Only this time, I feel it…or is it a case of transferred angst?  Both, I would surmise.  Either way it is still good fun.

Speaking of good fun, next week my dear wife, Carrie, and I will be in Bloomington to watch the Indiana Hoosiers take on Ball State a.k.a Testicle Tech.  At least that was that I was told many years ago.  Carrie and I are meeting up with old friends I used to work with at Meodra Schools.  I am looking forward to it.

This week…

Duke beats Northwestern…My allegiance to Coach Cut knows no boundary even Lake Michigan.

Michigan beats Western Michigan…How’s that for a segue?

Notre Dame beats Ball State…Wake Up The Echoes.

Nebraska beats Colorado…Good to see them playing again.  Been eight years since this rival game was played.

North Carolina beats East Carolina…UNC needs a victory and ECU needs help.

Ohio State beats Rutgers…Love to pick against the Buckeyes but even I am not that stupid.

Ole Miss beats Southern Illinois…Play everyone, Coach Luke.  Bama is next week.

Iowa beats Iowa State…Great times in Iowa for all.  West Virginia take note.  You should man up and play Marshall every year home and home.  It would be great for all of West Virginia.

Kentucky beats Florida…I did it.  UK might do it.  I think they will and Coach Smarty Mullen will have a great post-presser.

Indiana beats Virginia…The Hoosiers will be a soaking mess tonight.  He would holds on to the ball will win.  Go IU!

Penn State beats Pitt…Might be the best game of the day.  Could be some big scoring numbers pending on the weather.

USC beats Stanford…This too will be a good game.

Marshall beats Eastern Kentucky….Go Herd or Go Home!

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

1982 is a season in North Harrison High School Football history that some folks still look back on fondly.  Football was a fledgling sport at the time.  Only in its fifth season, the team had been very competitive the previous two years and anyone who knows how difficult it is to be competitive in the early stages of a football program knows there were some good things happening.  A few more touchdowns would have brought a few more victories in many close games.  But that is but my personal lament.  Losing to Brownstown Central in overtime in 1980 by the score of 9-6 will do that to a fella.  Me more than most.

In 1982 the North Harrison Football team finished the season with a record of 7 wins and 3 losses.  An Eddie Bagley Clarksville run just beyond the outstretched grasp of Jeff Brown who ran after him for 60 yards with his arms extended trying to catch him was the difference.  13-8  Clarksville wins.  Going into week 8 the Cougars were 6-1.  An undefeated Brownstown Central highly ranked team was next.  The trip to Brownstown was kind.  NH 27 BC 14.  I will never forget it.

Being the only Brownstown native on the NH roster that season, you’d think that was the most important game to me that year.  Well…it was.

But this morning as I was walking the track,  my mind hearkened back to that 1982 season.  I was a freshman.  I played center on the JV team and spelled a defensive tackle now and again.  At this point in my high school career, I had not thought about kicking a football.  My how things change.

This morning I thought fondly on the first JV football game of the 1982 season.  The NH team was playing host to the Charlestown Pirates.  In earnest, the Pirates got off the bus probably thinking they would be playing a bunch of hayseeds that didn’t know a blitz from a quarterback sneak.

Little did they know.

We, the North Harrison JV team,  beat the Charlestown JV team 20-0 that night.  I remember it well.  I was in pain the whole game.  I had an ear infection.  I was sick as a dog, so they say.  While I was enjoying the result, I remember leaving the locker room that night.  As I walked past the coaches office on my way out, Coach Tim Harbison called my name out.  “Cheeze, get in here!”  He extended his hand to me.  I shook it.  “I know you were hurting tonight.  You were a hell of a football player tonight.  You were a man.”

Thirty-six years later those words put a lump in my throat this morning as I made laps around the field where it all happened.

You want some context?  Charlestown was a team that, in the early days, routinely put a beat down on NH.  We won our JV game 20-0 in 1982.  The first North Harrison varsity victory over Charlestown came in 1999.  How ’bout them apples?

This Friday night the North Harrison Cougars varsity team looks to run its record to 4-0 in a game at Charlestown.  I have no doubt that the Cougars can take care of business.

I know what that feels like.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson