Last night I attended a high school football game that was a great thing to witness.  The Brownstown Central Braves defeated the Southridge Raiders by a score of 50 to 14.  Fantastic.  It was a good thing.  I got to see old friends.  Jerry Brown, my childhood buddy, is coaching again and his Braves just flat shelled the corn.  I saw Harv Brown and many others.  The Braves came to play.  The Raiders were like deer in the headlights on one hoof.

Speaking of wow.  I got word that the North Harrison Lady Cats beat Jeffersonville last night.  The score?  27-25.  Someone held the ball.  Earlier in the week, the Lady Cats scored 100 points.  It must have been a nail biter.  This is a portent of another memorable season.

On to College Football Predicitons Week # 10

Notre Dame beats Navy…I have no doubt that Notre Dame will win this.  I have been wrong before.   Coach Brian Kelly’s days may be numbered.  They don’t look like a Notre Dame that gets the respect you expect for a Notre Dame team.

Ole Miss beats Georgia Southern…I went back and forth via text with a Mississippi cousin.  He hopes the Rebs decide to tackle today.

Indiana beats Rutgers…The Hoosiers need to win this and beat Purdue and they have a good chance to go to a Toilet Bowl…but that is better than no bowl at all.

Louisville beats Boston College…a trip to Chestnut Hill can be tricky.  Might be a bit brisk this morning in Mass.

Auburn beats Vandy…Of course they do.

Georgia Tech beats North Carolina…This is a stretch.  I know the Tar-folk expect to win this one.  A running game in November is a special thing.

Minnesota beats Purdue….The Gophers are having a good season.  The Big Ten/Fourteen is a better place when Goldy is strong.

Michigan beats Maryland….How many points will Michigan score at home?  Look out.

Virginia Tech beats Duke…I hate to make this call.  You know I love the Dukies.

South Carolina beats Mizzou…the Gamecocks are on the rise.

Marshall beats Old Dominion…Might not.  The Herd is not having a memorable season.  The loss to Charlotte at home may be a game they won’t recover from.  I hope they win in Virginia today.

Kentucky beats Georgia…It is November and the Cats are looking around and saying “Who, us?”  Yes, you.  The Wildcats matter in November for the first time in the Cable TV era.

USC beats Oregon…The Trojans are finding themselves.

Happy November to you!

Danny Johnson

It has been too long.  I am on the porch looking back a bit.  A couple weeks.  A couple days.  In some cases, three or four decades.  Time is a funny thing.  It truly is.  I am in awe of it.

Two Friday nights ago I saw the greatest North Harrison High School football victory of all time.  North defeated Charlestown, a team that had defeated them in the regular season by a score of 48-14.  The Pirates of Chucktown figured they would run roughshod over the Cougars.  They were wrong.  In a game where it was win and you go forth in the playoffs, lose and you go home, this was the sweetest of victories in the history of North Harrison High School Football.  I was close witness to the other greatest games.

In 1982 the Cougars with a record of 6-1 came into Brownstown Central and defeated a 7-0 3rd ranked BCHS team by the score of 27 to 14.  The game was at Brownstown.  I was on the sideline as a 9th grader on the team.  This game was special.  My Dad coached Brownstown from 1970 to 1978.  He was coaching the Cougars when we won this game.

In 2006, the last time the Cougars played the Perry Central Commodores, the PC team was ranked 5th in their class.  The game, at Perry Central, was won by a stifling Cougar defense and a strong running game.  I was calling the game on the radio.  I called it the biggest game since 1982.

Last year the NH Cougars, playing at home, beat the Brownstown Central Braves for the first time since 1992.  The Braves have owned us for a long time.  Last year, we got them…38-30.  It was a classic.

This victory over The Charlestown Pirates was the greatest game of all time for North Harrison Football.  I am proud to know I was there for all four of the greatest victories.

What is the 5th greatest victory?  Well, I don’t know.  I do know I always like to brag about the time NH beat Brownstown Central, at Brownstown in 1984.  The score was 59-0.  It is still the worse defeat BCHS has ever suffered at home.  I was there.  I kicked extra points in that game.  I missed a few too.

Last Friday the Cougars were defeated by a tough Southridge Raider team.  The final score was 24-7.  The North Harrison Cougars ended the season with a record of 8 wins and 3 defeats.  It was another magnificent season.  Thanks to all the Coaches and Players for giving us yet another season to remember.  Here are a few images of that game:

Pre-game

It was a beautiful night for football.

See what I mean…

High School Football….good times.

Though a bit out of sequence, I would be remiss if I did not pay honor to my dear friend Kelly “Samonhead” Samons for winning the 17th Annual Corner King Classic.  It was his first Classic victory.  Well done, old bean.  This was played on October 23rd.

Yesterday, November 2nd, I visited with some old friends.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I stopped by my old Elementary School in Brownstown.  I am on the stage where I participated in Christmas Programs from 1973 to 1978 and was in the 4th grade musical  in 1978.  It was good to see the place.

We also stopped by Medora school where I worked for over 15 years.  It was good to see old friends.  I got hugs from former students of all ages, as it is a k-12 building.  It was good to see these folks.  It was odd.  It was the first day since I interviewed for my job their in 1998 that I was not working there when kids were in the building.

Justin Hayward then and now.  The guitar is the same. Carrie and I saw the Moody Blues in Indy on Tuesday night.  It was great as always.  I hope to see them again some day.  In earnest, this was the 50th time I have seen The Moody Blues in concert.  I have enjoyed every one.

The Moody Blues!

Now that is Speaking the Rights!

Danny Johnson

Well…here we are.   Already into the 9th week of the College Football Season.  Wow.  Where has it gone?

I am a bit sad tonight.  This evening I watched the North Harrison Cougars go down to defeat at the hands of the Southridge Raiders.  The Cougars ended the season with 8 wins and only 3 defeats.  It was the second best season in school history.

I will write more about the Cougars later this weekend.

Right now I am watching a commercial break before the bottom of the 9th in a World Series game that has the Cubs coming up for their last at bat down 1 run to none.  Go Cubs.

College Football Predictions for Week # 9

Minnesota beats Illinois…Goldy is steady this year.

Duke Beats Georgia Tech…Some have said I am silly for this pick.

(Tying run is on first)

Southern Miss beats Marshall…I hate to pick against the Herd.  It is like picking against family.

Michigan beats Michigan State….A rivalry game that should not be a problem for the Wolverines.  One can only hope it is.

Indiana beats Maryland…They better.  I plan on attending this one.  It will be 28 years to the day I saw the best college football game I ever saw in person.  IU beat Iowa 45-34 that day.  It was a classic.  I have high hopes.

(One out…a guy went fishing for a low ball and struck out.)

Auburn beats Ole Miss…This hurts too.

(Two out….runner at second.)

Louisville beats Virginia…The Cards should score over 50.

Kentucky beats Missouri…The Tigers are having a tough year.  The Wildcats are on the rise.

Penn State beats Purdue….No let down after the colossal upset of Ohio State last week.

(Two on with two out)

Washington State beats Oregon State…The old pirate, Mike Leach, would do miracles for Indiana if they could get him to Bloomington.

FSU beats Clemson…It is time for Clemson to fall.

Nebraska beats Swissconsin…The Cornhuskers are the real deal.

UGA beats Florida…I may miss this one.  Just can’t bring myself to pick against The Dawgs.

That is it for now…

Gotta watch this baseball game end.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

I won game seven of the World Series more times than Pete Rose ever thought about playing in the game.  I struck out the last batter with a fast ball low and away, on most occasions.  When I was feeling stick-worthy…not that often…I hit the shot heard round the newly minted 26 teams when Toronto and Seattle came into the league in 1976.  Or did they start play in 1977?  It was 1977.

I miss my childhood during the World Series.

I really do remember the Big Red Machine.  I was young, but, you must…well…you have no clue as to what a memory I have.  It is not always a blessing…but it is most of the time.  The Big Red Machine won the World Series in 1975 and 1976.  The first time I went into Fenway Park in Boston, I thought I would cry.  Perhaps I did get misty.  It is chronicled in one of my first posts here.  That is where the Reds played the Red Sox in the greatest World Series ever.

I have been fortunate enough to attend a few games at Wrigley Field too.  Fenway and Wrigley are the two most iconic baseball parks in America.

I miss my Uncle Paul and my Aunt Pupi.  They lived in Selma, Alabama.  Paul Hines was one of my mother’s five older brothers.  Every October in the 70s and most of 80s, around World Series time, they would come up to Indiana for a visit.  We would watch the World Series, talk, eat, have fun, and my Mother would take Aunt Pupi to Apple Acres near Bedford, Indiana to buy good apples.  Most of them would find their way into Aunt Pupi’s kitchen to be cooked and prepared like only she could.

I still relish baseball.  I wrote and recorded a song recently that alludes to the game.  I was a member…played first base…of an undefeated Little League team in 1979 in Brownstown, Indiana.  My trophy….only the winners got trophies in those days…is behind me as I type these words.

Me…I am rooting for the Cubs in this World Series.  And I am tired of talk about folks “jumping” on the Cub’s bandwagon.  I say that we have to root for someone and there are only two teams left.  I have been to Chicago.  I have been to Cleveland.  I like the city of Chicago better.  My favorite painting, “Nighthawks”, by Edward Hooper is at home at The Art Institute in Chicago.  I am ready to see it again.  The food in Chicago is better than it is in Cleveland.  And…I think the folks are nicer in Chicago.

I hope they get tonight’s World Series game in before it rains in Cleveland.  It is going on in the room next to me.  I have to swallow kind of hard to listen to Joe Buck call anything, but I am ready to watch some baseball.

Go Cubs!

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

I am still trying to process the victory enjoyed by the North Harrison Cougars over the Charlestown Pirates in the opening round of the sectional last night.  It was wonderful.

With less than two hours to kick-off, I make this weeks College Football Predictions:

Indiana beats Northwestern….only because I think the Wildcats will win.

Louisville beats NC State….in a big way.  This ain’t Raleigh, Toto.

Texas beats Kansas State….I think…but you never know about Bevo these days.

Swissconsin beats Iowa…and I hope I am wrong.  The game is at Kinnick Stadium and the Hawkeyes can be pretty good at home too.

Michigan beats Illinois…If the Illini found a way to win this game, I would get in the floor and do a Curly move.

Nebraska beats Purdue…Cornhusker fans are surely having difficulty with the fact they have two play two football teams from the State of Indiana in consecutive weeks.  The Big Ten schedule maker was obviously mad at them that day.

West Virginia beats TCU….Another pick cos I think TCU will win and that is the way my season has gone.  I HOPE TCU wins by 50.

Alambama beats Texas A&M…At Neyland Stadium last week I discovered one constant in the 2016 College Football season…only Bama will beat Bama.

UCLA beats Utah…Go Bruins!

Marshall beats Charlotte…The Herd needs another win to pick up some steam in conference play.

Cincinnati beats East Carolina…This won’t be an easy watch.

Ole Miss beats LSU….Coach O meets his old team.  Rebs need a victory for respectability.   Coach O needs a victory to be considered as a candidate to stay on as head coach and not interim head coach.

I will have more to say about the NH win over Charlestown later.  When the dust of that game settles in mind, I will speak the rights about it.

Danny Johnson

Today a great guy I work with asked, when he found out I was at the Alabama-Tennessee game in Knoxville, how much it cost me to get into Neyland Stadium to watch the match-up between top ranked Bama and 9th ranked Big Orange.  I told him it did not cost me a dime.  My ticket, thanks to my friend Bob Biddle, was handed to me by a friend of his.  Lee is his name.  He handed me a ticket with a smile on his face.  He told me and Brother Tim Petty, also there and a partner in good fortune, to have a good time.  We did.  Thank you, Bob.  Thank you, Lee.

There were over 102,000 people in Neyland Stadium.  I wore an Ole Miss shirt.  I did not see another one.

Bob, Tim, and Davis lead the way.  How we stayed together in such a mass of humanity is a miracle.

A great deal of Orange was fashionable in Knoxville.

This sorry fellow above me was an obnoxious pain.  There are many of these in the Southeast Conference.  He made issue of my Ole Miss shirt.  I told him the place needed a little culture.  You know, books with words and not just the ones you get at Shoney’s with a box of orange crayons.  He was bad.  There was record decibel level at the stadium Saturday.  I have never heard anything like it.  The loud mouth behind me pushed them over the edge.  He shut up in a hurry.  Bama won 49 to 10.

We had a great vantage point.  Thanks again, Bob.

Bob and Davis look  on.  Rocky Top was not played enough for their liking.  The last time I was here with them we heard it 800 timed.  The Vols beat the Rebs 52-10 in 2011.

Neyland Stadium is truly one of the great venues to witness college football.  The place is to get a face-lift ready for the 2019 season.

Bama ran for 438 yards, the most they have had rushing since 1986.  The line play was awesome.  My hat is always off to the guys who, as my Mother says…”Block for him….help him!”  They helped him, Mom.

It was 49 to 10 with 11:38 left to go.  The Tide could have scored more.  They will, on someone else.

Of my College Football Predictions last weekend, I picked 8 winners and 5 losers.  It has not been a good season from a picking standpoint.   But it has been a good season so far.

Next month I will take my Dad to see UCLA host USC in the Rose Bowl.  Good times?  I will say it again.  I am very blessed.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

It is Saturday Morning, and I will make this snappy.

Iowa beats Purdue

Georgia beats Vandy

Nebraska beats Indiana…but it will be closer than the Huskers visit in 1978 (69-17).  Have they been back?

Ole Miss beats Arkansas

Miami beats UNC

Stanford beats Notre Dame…maybe not.

Arizona State beats Colorado

Alabama beats Tennessee

Minnesota beats Maryland

Southern Cal beats Arizona

UCLA beats Washington State

Houston whips Tulsa

Florida Sate beats Wake Forest

Last week I was 9 winners and 4 losers again.  Making progress, but nothing to brag about.

I’ll wave at you today, as I play peacemaker between a Tide fan and two Vol fans as Bama visits Rocky Top at Neyland Stadium.  For the mental sake of all involved, I hope I don’t hear that song as many times today as I did the day Ole Miss got whipped by the Vols my last trip to the land of the Great Pumpkin.  I will be wearing an Ole Miss shirt today as part of my therapy.

Now that is speaking the rights!

Danny Johnson

Charter Cable.  The Cable Guy was in our house today.  It is a rented house.  It is ours for the week.  Well, most of a week.  Saturday we were derailed by Hurricane Matthew.  We did not get here until Sunday.  We leave EARLY this Saturday morning.  We have a date in Knoxville at Neyland Stadium to attend to .  At least I do.  It will be a good time.  Top ten match-up between Alabama and Tennessee.  Roll Tide v. Rocky Top.  Rumor has it I will be on TV thanks to a big orange “L” written on my bare gut.  I am to be the “L” in VOLS.  Funny how rumors get started.  It ain’t so, folks.

At this moment this is where I am SPEAKINGTHERIGHTS from.

That is the Atlantic Ocean in front of me.  It holds me in awe.  I feel relief here.

In the kitchen my dear wife, Carrie, is working on a family fish fry.  We have three pounds of shrimp, five HUGE flounder fillets that will be cut up into many pieces of fish.  Thanks goes to the folks at Thomas’ Fish Market.  They never disappoint.  They are good people.  Same faces every March, July, and October.  That is when Carrie and I tend to get here.  The place is home away from home to us.  You see, we found this place together.  It is our special place.

A blessed bonus, as I mentioned, a family fish fry.  We have my sister, Lynn, and our niece Katie in the house.  Also we have our son, Jarrett and his young lady friend, Sarah, with us. They got here this morning.  This yields a fish fry that Carrie and I can share.  You’d enjoy it too.

This was me trying to be artsy with my camera this morning.  I call it “Sunrise with Batman Effect”.  Any of you that remember the old Batman TV show know what that mean and I hope you chuckled.  You should.

I will be back tomorrow with an update on the fish fry and with the College Football Predictions Week #7.

Take care…and…speak the rights.

Oh, I get to watch football on TV tonight!

Danny Johnson

My regrets to The Moody Blues for a take on their 1968 album.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I are sitting in a Topsail Beach, NC coffee shop.  It is our closest link to finding internet service.  The place we are staying, affected be Hurricane Matthew has no cable TV or internet service.  It usually is quite reliable.  The folks on Topsail Island are counting their blessings.  It was largely spared of defeat in the face of a Hurricane that headed inland.

This is where I sit as I type these words.  All is well.  Just ask Carl.

He was staring out at the ocean soon after we got here.

The sky was blue, the ocean quite busy, the island relieved.

At the Farmer’s Market in Raleigh, we happened on some good old fashioned purple hull pleas like I used to eat when I was a kid.  Carrie consulted my mother on the phone as to how to prepare them to the fullest.  They both came through.  The peas were a success!

So was the day old cinnamon/sour dough bread we picked up at the Market.  Accompanied with cooked apples, grits, and a good cup of coffee, this was quite the breakfast yesterday morning.

We have been blessed this week to have my sister, Lynn, and my niece, Katie, here with us.  They are having a marvelous time.

The College Football picks were moderately successful.  Another week of 9 winners and 4 losers.

I can tell you it has been awkward not looking at a football game recently.  No Sunday games to watch.  No Monday Night Football.  Truth is, I am not sure it has not been a good thing.

I hope all in the civilized world are doing well.

To tell you the truth, what I have not missed seeing is all the political drama being played out as we come nearer to a resolution to the worst presidential election season this country will ever know; I am confident of that.

This Saturday Carrie and I are supposed to meet up with the Biddles and the Pettys on our way home.  Brother Tim, Robert, and Davis and I are heading to Rocky Top to watch the Vols host the Tide.  I will sit between Tim and Bob and wear an Ole Miss shirt as I declare myself to be Switzerland that afternoon.  Doubt that sentence has ever been thought of before.

Have a good rest of your week.  Thanks to the folks hosting my speaktherights.com post today.  I can tell you they make a good cup of coffee.

Take care and speak the rights!

Danny Johnson

My dear wife, Carrie, and I are in West Virginia this Friday night.  No, we are not over here watching the Thundering Herd play football.  We are heading to North Carolina tomorrow.  We will be stopping in Durham.  We had planned on checking into a place to stay on the coast of North Carolina.  We did not plan on a hurricane.  At this writing the place we are planning on staying is boarded up.  They told us to come on Sunday.  We’ll see how it goes.

Just got word that the North Harrison Cougars beat the Clarksville Generals 56-6 tonight.  Wow.  That is some serious scoring.  Clarksville is so bad this year.  I feel for them.

On to the picks.  I did better last week.  I picked 9 winners and 4 losers.

Auburn beats Mississippi State…The cowbells can’t save this State team.

Penn State beats Maryland….Coach Franklin needs this one badly.

Oklahoma beats Texas….already speculation as to who will replace Coach Strong.

Ohio State beats Indiana…the last time the Hoosiers won in Columbus was 1987.  The last time they beat Brutus in Bloomington was 1988.

Illinois beats Purdue…it might be a close one.

Va Tech beats UNC…I’ll be in the neighborhood tomorrow.

Duke beats Army….Duke hot and cold.

Notre Dame beats NC State…what a place.  All of these NC schools are at home.

UK beats Vandy…and I suppose someone out there really cares.

UCLA beats Arizona State…Still some season left in the Bruins.

Miami beats Florida State…Good to see this game mean something again.

Alabama beats Arkansas…No one can beat the Tide.

USC beats Colorado…Troy boys need to help their coach out.

Have a great weekend of football.

Speaking the Rights…

Danny Johnson