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Bubba On the Lake
#64 Remembering Richie Johnson, July 4th recap
01:01:09
Bubba is back y'all! In this episode Bubba recaps The Bussey family 4th of July festivities and remembers his longtime friend Richie Johnson who passed away earlier this week.
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- [00:00]
Bubba
This podcast is brought to you in part by Russell Lands Coke Buffalo Wild Wings, Central State Bank Dr. Thomas Dudney Sunrise Docks, Bice Motors, the Green Monster Fishing Lights. Now back to Bubba on the Lake.
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Hunter
B U double B A on the lake hey wishing I could listen to the show every day hey gotta hear what Bubba and his buddies gotta B U double B A on the lake in the mellow yellow studio putting on a show Betty say what she always on the go we got Hunter bus sitting at master control don't wanna miss a moment cause Bubba's got the flow B U bubble B A on the lake hey wishing I could listen to the show every day hey gotta hear what Bubba and his buddies gotta say on B U double B A on the lake Hey B U B A Hey B U hey hey B U double B U double B A on
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Bubba
the lake hello again everybody, friends, neighbors and associates. I am your semi retired, mostly washed up post, formerly the Rick and Bubba show. And I want to welcome you to Bubba on the Lake. We're broadcasting from the Melayella studio and our website is Bubba on the lake.com always. You can get email to me Bubba at Bubba on the lake.com and we also have a comment line 308 Big Lake. 308 Big Lake where you can leave a 30 second message. Some of them make it to air, some of them don't. But they're all heard and enjoyed for sure. Don't forget to subscribe, turn on notifications. We don't want you to miss anything from the show and of course follow us on social media. We're pretty much on all of them. Well, I hope that you all had a happy Fourth of July. What a Fourth of July blowout for 250 years, the great American experiment. It's, it's ugly at times, it's been off the market times, but we continue and it's still the best game in town, so to speak. It's really amazing when you think about it, how this country got started, what we had to do to break away from the strongest military in the world, the Declaration of Independence, the signers, what they were putting on the line. It's, it's really incredible. We had a big time here where I live at Lake Martin. We, we, we had. My son came in Hunter. My daughter stayed in D.C. which there was all kind of things going on there and they enjoyed a lot of that from the roof of their building, from her building. And it was. I wish she could have made it home. And I, there was a side of me that wanted to go to D.C. and then I thought about all that mess and I thought, no, I don't want to get in that.
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Hunter
I don't think.
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Bubba
But we did watch the fireworks show and it was delayed because of bad weather. And I mean, I have never seen that many fireworks going off continuously in my life. It may have been the largest fireworks show ever. I don't know what the numbers are on it. We need to, we need to get the staff to check on that. But it, I mean, it went on and on and on through many songs that were being performed by the military band, which did a great job with those, by the way, all those. Not easy to sing. But Caitlin did tell me that they, that the amount of smoke in the air from the fireworks and the number of car alarms going off, it almost made it look like it was some apocalyptic movie. But they loved it. She said they had flyovers at least one an hour, all day. They saw the B2 bombers several times, F35 stealth fighters, the F22 Raptors, and just a host of everything else. Every type of helicopter gunship you can think of. She said it was absolutely awesome. Said I would have loved it and I would have. Now, we did have a couple of F35 flyovers here at, at our, at our lake, which I believe they came out of Montgomery Maxwell Air Force Base. And those guys, I tell you, there is nothing more patriotic to me than a flyover. I love when those jets come over and those engines are screaming and they'll bank their wings to us. And golly, it just, I mean, I can't put into words. Y'. All, y' all know, some of y' all know what I'm talking about. It just, I mean, it's just incredible. And I'm so glad we have that technology. And a lot of our enemies do not, that's for sure. But it was great. I had a real good friend of mine come and stay with us. Don't get to see him enough and important to keep those relationships. And I'll. I'll talk about that a little more later in the podcast. I lost a good friend last week, and I'm going to talk about him just a little bit, too. So those of you that knew Richie Johnson, who I went to school with all, all through first grade on up, passed away last week. And we'll talk more about that a little later in the podcast. But aside from that, we had a, we had a fun weekend. We had a lot of friends over to watch fireworks, the Russell Lands puts on a fireworks show that is second to none and they turned it up this year they had more fireworks, bigger fireworks and it went on longer than it ever has. So I appreciate their effort in that they do an excellent job. As a matter of fact, Russell Lands is a sponsor of the podcast and they all, they have so, so much going on. There's no way to tell you about all of it. But what I will say is go to their website, Russelllands.com and check out the calendar. They also have a real good app that reflects that website and you can find out what's going on. Like Friday on the green, you could have found out all the details about the fireworks show. We have several events coming up at the amphitheater. You want to know about that? A lot of good places to eat thanks to Russell Lands and we appreciate them. So check out that website, Russelllands.com get all the information you need to know about events going on in the Lake Martin area if you're in our area. And while we have quite a few folks that live here full time, we also have out of town folks that come in and out from all over Louisiana, Atlanta, South Georgia, all over the state of Alabama. So it's always good to, to see those folks on those big holidays too. It was a lot of fun. It really was. And I think we may, you know, there's, there's always people that have injuries and things that go on. And I think that was to a minimum. I think we may have had one injury that was, I read about, I don't know. But got to be careful on the water, dealing with propellers and motors and all that kind of stuff and just always want to be safe. But what a great weekend. 250 years. You know, I saw one stat. And we're going to talk about a few stats with America here as we kind of review the 4th of July and I'd like to hear how yours went. Drop me an email bubba at bubba on the lake.com I heard one stat and this one kind of blows me away and I hope I've got these numbers right. I need to, I probably needed to verify that. But from the time the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk and they only flew 120 foot. Okay, think about that. Just a little bit longer than an extension cord. From the time they did that till the time Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon was 66 years. Now if you're depending on if you're a new Earth or old Earth person, you think the earth is roughly 6,000 years old. Or you think it's 60 million. Since the beginning of man, Adam and Eve, or whoever you think it was, men and women have looked up at the stars, at the moon, and wondered what it was like, what it was made of, how you get there. They looked at birds and wondered what it would be like to fly. And that went on for thousands of years until Kitty Hawk and the Wright brothers. And then In a mere 66 years after that, we stepped on the moon. That is mind boggling to me. It's a uniquely American experience. You know, our country gives such opportunity to so many people to be all they can be. And it ain't perfect. I'm not saying it's perfect. It hasn't been perfect. It ain't perfect now. And it won't be because people are involved. But at least we got a fighting chance. We've still done more to protect the world, give people freedom who were enslaved here and abroad. And we have done more as far as giving finance, support, help to people who needed it, who were in natural disasters. You know, no other country can do it like we can. They just can't. They don't have the resources, don't have the military, they don't have the equipment, they don't have the fortitude to do it. And it comes with a cost. You know, we've got a national debt, we really do something that's going to have to be addressed. But we have been a beacon to the world on so many fronts and I'm so proud. And you know, I had this discussion with my daughter on the phone yesterday. Of all the time that mankind has been around again, depending on how long you think it is and all the places in the world, what a blessing, what an absolute blessing from God that we don't deserve, by the way, to be sitting here in the United States of America this day and time. Don't care what your situation is. If you live under a bridge in this country, you're better off than 80% of the people in the world. I mean, you just have an incredible opportunity here. The medical advances, the, the travel, we can, I mean, we hop on a plane and go out west like it's no big deal. You know, it's just a walk in the park. I know security and the way they heard you through the airports can get a little annoying. I'm not letting them off the hook on that. But guys, we can get in a plane and be, you know, out on the west coast by dinner time. And you know, I think about what Lewis and Clark and all those people went through to try to navigate back in the day. Good gravy. Come on. I mean, I don't like flying on a plane to the west coast, much less riding a donkey, you know, or a horse. I can't even, I can't even imagine what their days, nights were like and don't want to. Oh my goodness. But what a blessing to be here in the good old US of A. We'll talk a little bit more about that in just a minute. We got several other things coming up on the program. Thank you so much for being a part of this podcast. And we'll be right back in just a minute. You're listening to Bubba on the Lake. One, two, three.
- [12:35]
Commercial Announcer
We'll be right back. What a matchup we've got, folks. Just non stop action. The energy is electric and the fans are all in. An intense game like this calls for a Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer. Yeah, that taste. Scores every time. And just like that, they're back at it. Passionate fans in an ice cold Coca Cola. Now that's a winning combo. No matter the team, no matter the sport. Everyone knows fan work is thirsty work. Enjoy a Coca Cola. At Central State bank, we believe community banking is more than just transactions. It's about relationships. For over 100 years, we've been helping neighbors grow, businesses thrive and dreams become reality. Because when you bank local, you invest in your community. Central State Bank. Large enough to serve you, small enough to know you. Visit all us today or learn more at centralstatebank.com Member FDIC Illuminate your night fishing adventures with the ultimate in submersible fishing light technology. The Green Monster fishing light attracts bait, fish and game fish in all water environments. Turn any dock into a vibrant feeding frenzy. Compact, tough and energy efficient, the Green Monster fishing light will provide endless hours of family entertainment and enhance nighttime visibility for safety docking. No dock, no problem with our 24 inch portable green monster fishing line. Start landing trophy fish tonight. Visit the greenmonsterfishinglight.com.
- [14:15]
Bubba
Okay, folks, we're back and we're reflecting a little bit on the 4th of July and our 250 50th birthday. I heard a discussion. Was it a birthday or anniversary of our country? It's a birthday. The country was born. It didn't marry somebody. I don't, I don't, I don't even understand that argument. It was a birthday 250 years. And this is what's strange to me. I remember the 200th birthday. I remember The Bicentennial. We had a big blowout when we were a kid with that. And here we are at 250. That's just amazing to me. Amazing to me. Some other amazing facts. This comes from Reader's Digest. I thought some of these were pretty good. I'm going to scan through a couple of them and share with you. The Declaration of Independence is the first time that the term the United States of America appears in any recorded history. Did you know that that was the very first time? Prior to that we were known as the United Colonies and other variations of that. All of this according to readers digest. The U.S. constitution has 4543 words. It's on display in the rotunda of the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. since 1952. It was removed in 2001 for analyst analysis. I should say conservation and encasement and returned to display in 2003. All four pages are behind airtight glass filled with argon gas to protect the aging document. Argon, I assume, limits humidity in that. Did you know in the Constitution that there are grammatical mistakes? Yes, and there is a spelling mistake. One of the states is misspelled. Did y' all know that? Pennsylvania is misspelled. And it was misspelled by none other than Alexander Hamilton, who was tasked with writing the names of the states next to each one's delegate. Pennsylvania is misspelled their delegate, Benjamin Franklin. How about that? Did you know the Library of Congress is the largest library in the world? The oldest federal cultural institution in the country, as well as one of the most beautiful libraries. The Library of Congress was founded in 1800. It's the largest library in the world with millions of books, 470 languages in addition to films, photos, maps, sheet music, recordings, legal material and all type of other material. How about that? Did you know that? How many Indigenous American tribes do we recognize? Native Americans? You know, I've always kind of had a little bit of an issue with that term because there were people here probably before the Indian tribes, the Vikings and the Scandinavians and some of those. But look, I'm not going to split hairs here on the birthday, okay? Not going to get into that. There are 574 federally recognized indigenous American tribes. That number is of 2024 probably gone up now. That's according to the annual list published by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs. Native American tribes are federally recognized and entitled to certain rights and protections, including limited sovereignty, immunity and powers of self government. Did you know that A lot of people probably think there's only three or four. How about this? President Tyler, who was born in 1790, still has a living grandson. He was the 10th U.S. president. He served from 1841 to 1845. He was born when George Washington was still president. Now think about that. That's. That's, that's just three, four generations that from George Washington. That's. That's not a long time, y'. All. That is not a long time. New York City. New York City. Yep. I said it has more than 8 million people in the five boroughs. And the population of New York City is larger than 38 of the US 50 states. New York City is larger than 38 of the 50 US states. There's only 12 states larger than New York City if it was its own state. California, Texas, Florida, New York. The state itself. Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, New Jersey and Virginia. There are more than 200 different languages spoken in New York City. Sadly, English is usually not one of them. Now, I love going to New York City. I haven't been back since the commies been in charge, but I enjoy New York City. You just got to know what you're doing when you go there. How many American flags have there been? A little more trivia here for our Fourth of July recap. 27. 27 different flags over history. Where was the first Mardi Gras celebration in the United States? Now, folks in my state are going to know this right off the bat, but it may be surprising. It was not New Orleans. It was Mobile, Alabama. Mardi Gras first celebrated there in 1703. Mobile continues to celebrate Mardi Gras. New Orleans picked up its own Mardi Gras traditions in the 1740s, and they're probably better known for it today nationally. But they were 37 years behind Alabama. How about that? Odd. If you. If you're interested in wildlife, did you know that South Florida is the only place in the world where crocodiles and alligators live together in the wild? How about that? I know this. I don't want to be in a pond down there. I think there's too many of them. They need to regulate them a little more. Where do you think the official crossroads of America is now? This is based on the highest concentration of interstate highways. What state has the most interstate highways crossing its boundaries? Indiana, right in the middle. Makes sense, doesn't it? Indiana. Let's see. How many do they say they have? More interstate highway per mile than any other state. In 1937, the state's general assembly adopted the phrase the crossroads of America for that very fact. Let's see, where do you think the tallest mountain is? From base to peak in the United States. From the base to the peak. Not above sea level, just the mountain itself. That would be in Hawaii. The tallest mountain in the world, when you look at it, from base to peak, while only 4,205ft above sea level, it measures about 33,500ft from the sea floor all the way to the peak. And the name of it? Boy. Boy, it's in Hawaii. Got a Hawaiian name? Can't say it. M A U, N A, capital K, E A Monake. Is that it? It's a volcano in Hawaii. Far as geography goes, in our country, which four states are further south than Mexico? Not a trick question. Not a trick question. 10 states have borders that are farther south than part of Mexico. Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Hawaii and South Carolina all have borders farther south than the northernmost part of Mexico. This gives new meaning to the phrase south of the border. You don't think of it that way, but if you look at it on, on a globe, you can see it. Did you know that the father of our country, George Washington, never ran for president? Is that. That one surprised me reading it. Unlike his successors, George Washington never actually campaigned to be president. He was simply chosen by the popular demand of the electoral College. This happened for both his first and second term in office with the elections of 1789 and 1792. He was also the only present to ever receive a unanimous ballot of all electoral votes. How about that? Didn't even run far cry from what we see today. In it, the cdc, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was founded in Atlanta in 1946 as a communable disease center with only 400 employees. When it began, the CDC's primary mission was preventing malaria from spreading to. To other parts of the country. No longer epidemic to the U.S. malaria was eradicated from the country in 1951. So you have to say good job, Good job over there. I'm sorry I slipped into Trump there a little bit. I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to. All right, here is here. Here's another fact, and I, I think this one may be lost in the numbers a little bit. Did you know that Americans have a shorter life expectancy than people from other countries? Did you know that although life expectancy in the US rebounded back to pre pandemic levels in 2023, it's still lower than other comparable countries like Austria, I should say Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK in 2023, life expectancy in the US was 78.4, compared to 82.5 in other countries. Well, maybe so. I don't know. Some of that may be lost in the numbers. I know some countries even calculate your birthday and how old you are different than we do. Did you know that? I think it's in Korea that they. They count your age from the time you're conceived in that right? Is it Korea that does that? I know we. We read about that. Did a story on that one time. If you want to be a US President, you need to live in one of four states. Of all of our presidents, did you know that half of them came from four states? Virginia, Ohio, New York, and Massachusetts are the home states of half of all the US presidents, eight were from Virginia, seven from Ohio, five from New York, four from Massachusetts. Only eight presidents were born west of the Mississippi, and only 21 states were the birthplace of a president. Hmm. How about that? This is an interesting fact. I'm thumbing through these. It's in Reader's Digest. You can find them online. It says more Americans move back to their home state during the pandemic. There's no place like home. Between 2019 and 2022, the percentage of return home movers, people who resided outside their state of birth the previous year and return back home, increased from 4.2 to 5%. The total number of Americans who moved in the same period declined. So if you moved, you probably went back home. Did you know that 2/3 of Americans have pets? As of 2023, about 66% of all Americans, or about 87 million homes, reported owning at least one pet. That's an average of about 10% since 1988, an increase, I should say. Dogs are the most popular pets, followed by cats, then freshwater fish. We got a couple of dogs herself. All right, this is a topic very close to my heart or my stomach or maybe my heart. Americans eat 42 pounds of cheese per person per year. How about that? Is cheese America's favorite food? Well, they're getting close. Each of us eat 42 pounds of cheese a year, more than double what it was when the government first started keeping track of this figure in 1975. In total, Americans now eat 653 pounds of dairy products per person per year. That may play into that other stat we had about our how long we live. I don't know. Did you know the first flight attendants on commercial planes were all nurses? Many of them left over or came out of World War II. Thought that was interesting. Most of all presidents have been Christians. Joe Biden and John F. Kennedy were Catholic. Most of the other ones were Protestant of various forms. Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln had no formal religious affiliation. But there's never been a president with a stated religion other than some form of Christianity. And we hope it stays that way. The oldest city in the U.S. i visited this city when I was a kid. Some of you already know it. St. Augustine, Florida. Founded in 1565 by the Spanish, it has been a continuous occupied settlement of European origin in the United States. It was established 42 years before the English colonized Jamestown. 55 years before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. Which state has the most volcanoes? Who just talked about a volcano? Did you know it's Alaska? I was going to guess Hawaii. 130 volcanoes in Alaska. 54 which have been active within the last 300 years. Don't want to be next to that. That's just a few of the the things I'm glancing over these. Here's another fact. This is from Reader's Digest. Little known facts about the U.S. it says George Washington never had wooden teeth. Not always heard he had. Contrary to popular belief, the first president United States did not have wooden teeth, although his. Throughout his lifetime, George Washington owned and wore several sets of dentures made out of a variety of materials including ivory, gold, lead and human teeth. One theory for how the myth developed is that the ivory teeth became stained over time, giving them a wood like appearance. Now I learned this on our trip out west. I gotta mention this. Which state do you think was the first state to give women the right to vote? Wyoming. When the 19th Amendment was passed in 1920, it guaranteed women in all states the right to vote. However, there were individual states where women could already vote back then. It was a territory not yet a state. Wyoming gave women the right to vote in 1869. It became a state in 1890. Now here is the catch to that. They gave women the right to vote so they would have enough people to become a state. That's what we learned on our tour. You had to have eligible voters, numbers of voters to become a state. They, they were nowhere close to. So they allowed the women to vote, to give them the number because they were afraid that the territories around them would become a state ahead of them and gobble them up. They didn't want that. Speaking of volcanoes, South California has over 10,000 earthquakes a year. 10,000 earthquakes. A lot of those, you never know are happening only 15 to 20 are greater than a magnitude 4 the in. If y' all want to go and look at this. It's really some amazing. Americans purchase £350 million of hot dogs at retail stores each year. I mean that's mind boggling numbers. At least 97% of all U.S. households have at least one TV. The last century. What do you think the most popular boy name is over the last century? James? Not even close. The most popular dog names in the US according to 2024 survey. Luna and Milo. I'm sure that has a Disney tie in there. There's a lot of facts here. I won't burden you with all of them, but they're, they're very interesting. And here's the last one. I'm going to give you this. This is good too. Ties into my trip. The US has a national mammal. Did you know that? We know about the bald eagle being the national bird, but did you know the American bison is the national mammal that designated that designation. Came on May 9, 2016. So it's a fairly new thing. And buddy, we saw them. They are a lot of them out west. I mean a lot of them. And that's good. They're pretty animals. But don't try to pet the puffy cows. We learn that too. Folks. We're, we're just looking back a little bit at America. It's, it's, it's amazing. We're so blessed to be here and during this time and the technology we have just like listening to this podcast. I mean this, this technology came about in my lifetime and we're so thankful that you're here to be with us on it. We'll be right back in just a minute. I have to tell you about a childhood friend I lost this week and we'll tell you more about that in just a minute. Thank you for being part of Bubba on the Lake.
- [34:32]
Hunter
Where's Bubba?
- [34:34]
Commercial Announcer
I'll tell you where. He's on the lake. Just got that new boat. Let Sunrise Docks protect your investment with swift shield boat covers, Neptune boat lifts and easy ports for your personal watercraft. Plus they have composite decking that stays cool. Designed with your feet in mind, Sunrise Docks is always first in quality, first in service, and first in customer satisfaction. Right off Highway 63, your Lake Martin headquarters. With two barges and the most experienced boat lift crew on the lake, Sunrise Docks is your lake Life Expert. Call 256-392-5200.
- [35:09]
Bubba
On the water or off, experience lake life to the fullest at Russell Lands on Lake Martin. Spend your Mornings with breakfast at Fanny's. Afternoons you can explore over 100 miles of trails through Russell Forest. And for dinner, how about the southern farm to table flavors at Spring House? Whether you're here for the weekend or you've made your home at the lake, Russell Lands is where community and the land come together. To learn more about upcoming events, visit Russelllands.com come see what Lake life is all about.
- [35:42]
Commercial Announcer
What a matchup we've got, folks. Just non stop action. The energy is electric and the fans are all in. An intense game like this calls for a Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer. Yeah, that taste scores every time. And just like that there, back at it. Passionate fans in an ice cold Coca Cola. Now that's a winning combo. No matter the team, no matter the sport. Everyone knows fan work is thirsty work. Enjoy a Coca Cola.
- [36:25]
Bubba
All right, folks, folks, we're back and we've been reflecting a little bit on the fourth of July weekend. I hope all of you had a happy and safe fourth of July. We did. It was a blast. A little strange having it on Saturday. I kind of like having it during the week, but you know how those calendar days fall sometimes. The kind of a downer with this week was I got word that very good friend of mine from school had fallen ill, had a massive heart attack. I believe he had a stroke to never regain consciousness. I was able to get to the hospital in Gadsden to visit with family and see him before they took him off life support. He ended up passing away 24 hours later. Richie Johnson, who, many of you who knew Richie will probably be very surprised to hear this news. He was our greatest athlete in our class, Very popular, just a super all around guy. And a guy that I met in first grade. And I have to tell you a couple of, couple of stories about Richie. That's funny. When I was in first, I didn't go to kindergarten. I just started in first grade in 1969. And on the first day, you know, my mom had already kind of told me, said, look, we're going to go to school. I'm going to leave you. Your aunt Bessie's going to pick you up now. Afternoon gonna be kids area. You're gonna do fun stuff. You know, they sold it to me because I, you know, I was stay at home kid, man. I, I didn't really want to go anywhere. We had fun at home. So I agreed to it. I was good with it. We went, I had Mrs. Morris and we had a new thing called a pod it was a big open area where the. The rooms were kind of scattered around it. Those of you that are familiar with pods know what I'm talking about. It's hard to describe, really. So we go and we get there. Mrs. Morris was my homeroom teacher. And we look around the class and look at all the stuff, and it was all nice and all that. And then mom got ready to leave. Well, at that point, I kind of was having doubts about my agreement on that because, you know, mom never cared me anywhere and left me like that much. Maybe at church, but. So I was a little shaky on that. Teared up a little bit, and she said, well, look here. Here's another young man. And it was Richie. And he was sitting there, and she introduced me, and the teacher introduced us. And he had a book about rockets, because there was a lot of rockets going on in 1969. You know, we're about to land on the moon, and I sit down next to Richie was very nice, and he slid that book over so I could look at it with him. And we started looking at that rocket book, and I never looked up again. I don't even remember mom leaving. So even back in first grade, very kind, very social to. To slide that book over and let me take a look at it. And that's just kind of the person he was. He was great athlete, best athlete of our time coming through high school. And so we got to play a lot of sports together. And when you do that, you get some pretty tight bonds. I will tell you one funny story. In eighth grade basketball, it was my first year to play with the school and have my name across the jersey. Very proud of that. Didn't make the team in seventh grade. Had to go back and get a little better. And our first game of my eighth grade year, we played at Oxford High School, which was our big rival. And I'd played park and recreation ball. But when you play park and recreation ball, you don't have cheerleaders cheering against you. At least we did. So it was my first experience with cheerleaders, who are very cute, by the way, kicking the bleachers and telling you to hit the wall when you shoot the ball. And that was a. You know, that was a little traumatic if you haven't faced that when you're in a hostile environment, which we didn't play in hostile environments in park and rec league. You know, I'll never forget the game and people cheering against you, screaming at you, the cheerleaders kicking the bleachers. I mean, it was. It really was sensory overload to a degree. And we throw the ball in. At one point, there's a screen set for me. I take a shot, it goes in it. You know, it. It rumbles around the rim and pops out. Well, here comes Richie. He grabs the ball, goes up, puts it back in, banks it off the glass, rebound, scores a point, scores a basketball. So we're all doing high fives going down the court. Well, we get down there and we set up our defense right in our zone. Well, Oxford throws the ball in under the goal. Then they do a layup on the same goal. And I'm like, what is going on? And the referee stopped the game. The coaches are hollering all this. Well, apparently when we threw the ball in, we were on the wrong end of the court. But we were not the only ones confused. The referees were confused, and Oxford was covering us, so they didn't know it either. So it was kind of one of those funny moments. So we're on the bus ride home, and I remember asking Richie, how many points did you have tonight? And he said, oh, I don't know, 12, 14. I don't know, 16 maybe. And I asked him, I said, did you count the two points you scored for Oxford? Well, of course, the back of the bus erupts then, you know, because you boys are going to give you some grief, you know, and they're all hooping and hollering. And Richie, with a great comeback, I have to admit, said, well, I wouldn't have scored those two if you'd have hit your shot. And he was right. It was a great comeback. I thought even today I tip of the hat on that one. And look, I was proud to make any shot. I didn't care whose goal it was on. I would have took it. But we had. We had some moments. I think probably the funniest to me was B team basketball. That would have been 10th grade. Now I'm competitive, and I want to win just like everybody else. But by 10th grade, I realized I was not going to the NBA. Okay, I probably was not even going to play past high school at, you know, some juco or something. I mean, I just didn't have the height. I wasn't going to make it. So to some degree, I rode the pine, too. I wasn't starting. So I guess that's kind of where I started working on my comedy a little bit. So we had a coach, and he. The coach had some issues. Okay, I'm just. I'm gonna put that as nice as I can. He had some issues, bless his heart. And he would. I would sit next to him and he would tell me things, and we. We had some interesting conversations. But he told me one time, he said, bussey, he said, tell coach Dearman, who was the varsity coach, to fix those lights in the scoreboard. I can't tell what the score is. I said, yes, sir, I'll do that. And I said, hey, coach, by the way, we're up by 20 points. Why don't you put the scrubs in? Which we referring to those of us on the bench. Well, we wasn't up by 20. So he calls timeout, and he gets up and he says, you, you, you. He's pointing to us on the bench. You, you, you get in the game. Well, he told six of us to go in, and there's only five on basketball. So there's six of us standing around out there, and we look like idiots, right? I mean, so the joke really got back on us. And the referee selling one of us. We got to sit down. And none of us wanted to sit down because we didn't get in the game much. You know, we wanted to stay out there. So even though I was having a little fun, that one kind of came back on me. But my favorite was, I would tell coach. I said. I said, coach, Johnson ain't covering his man. Johnson ain't covering his man. He'd say, busy call. Time out getting that game. Get Johnson out of that game, because he ain't covering his man. He would almost say back to me exactly what I told him. So I'd go, the desk man, you know, get in the game. And this is where it even got funnier. We had two Johnson's. We had Richie and we had Tim. Tim was a forward. Richie was a guard. So most of the time, because I was a guard, I got Richie, right? And I did this quite a bit. And I'd say, richie, yeah. You know, And Richie knew what I was doing. He'd learned the game, what I was doing over there. And he would say, what did you tell him? He was so mad. He said, what did you tell him? I said, I didn't tell him nothing. And then when Richie would walk by, I'd slap him on the butt and say, let's tighten up that defense, Johnson. And I. I would be laughing, trying to hide it, but it was the funniest thing. And Richie was so mad, he would get so mad at me for doing that. But I had to have a little fun. It was best not to leave me on the bench. With spare time because it, you know, I got into trouble. But we had a good time and we were competitive. And Richie, we played on a lot of basketball teams together, played on a lot, even more baseball teams together. And he was the world's greatest athlete. Played hard, oh my gosh, talented, but he was always humble about it. And he was always loved by his teammates, his coaches. And this is the thing that was always interesting to me. All of the opponents, the other players always respected and love Richie too, because of the effort. I mean, he, he gave everything he had. He put it on, he left it on the floor, he left it on the field, left it on the diamond. He was the quarterback of the football team, you know, leader of the basketball team, one of the best baseball players. Went on to play baseball in college at Gadsden State and had a good career there. So. But he, he will be missed and sadly left us, I think, long before he should have. At 62 years old, Richie was always a good friend, him and his family, his mom and dad, Linda and Terry, brother Terry, who was a bivocational preacher, worked for the Koch company and preached, was a outstanding man. And his family took care of me. When I was 15 years old, when my father was dying of cancer, it was a real rough exit for my dad in and out of hospitals. I wanted to quit baseball. It was my last year of Babe Ruth league, which is 13, 14, 15. And he would have none of it while he still knew was in the world. He said, no, you, you've put the time and effort in. You struggle through those 13 and 14 years when you wasn't the biggest and the best. And now you've got a chance to really do something and you need to stay and do so. Him and my mom would not let me quit, even though I wanted to, to be with him and just insisted that I play. So I did. But they were unable to move me, get me to practice, get me to games. So the Johnsons did that quite a bit. And I will forever be grateful to Lyndon, Terry, Richie and Scotty for doing that. Scotty's Richie's younger brother. And they, they let me stay at their house. They transported me to my aunt and uncle's. I stayed there part of the time and it was just a constant. You never knew what was going on with dad and how sick he was going to be or what hospital. Spent a lot of time in the hospital, but they made sure I never missed one practice or one game. And I'll always be thankful for that. They went over and beyond to be sure I was taken care of. And I really, really appreciate that. I practically was a third Johnson. We, we were really actually kinfolk down the line somewhere. My grandmother was a Johnson. We had some common kin folks. I don't think we even realized that till high school. But I will forever be thankful. And I will forever be thankful to call Richie Johnson a friend. He that same kid that pushed that rocket book over so I can look at it. He was that way through his whole life. And if you ever knew Richie, you know what I'm talking about. So I wanted to share that with you. And I appreciate you letting me indulge on that for just a minute. We'll be back in just a second.
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You know one thing I love about Buffalo Wild Wings?
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You can get wings with any of their 26 sauces and dry rubs for takeout and delivery. That's like bringing an entire B dubs home with you, which you can't do. I tried. I've knocked down so many walls only to then be told to halt construction
- [51:31]
Bubba
because I'm not zoned to be a sports bar.
- [51:33]
Commercial Announcer
Kinda just looks like a big pergola or something. Because of the lack of walls, at least these 26 sauces and dry rubs are available to go. Buffalo Wild Wings let's go.
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Bubba
Sports Bar on the water or off? Experience lake life to the fullest at Russell Lands on Lake Martin. If you love the outdoors, then Naturalist Marianne's classroom is where you need to be. She brings the outdoors to you at Russell Crossroads. Or you can see Lake Martin and thousands of acres of undisturbed forest taking a guided horseback trail ride through the stables. If you're here for a weekend or you've made your home at the lake, Russell Lands is where community and the land come together. To learn more about upcoming events, visit Russelllands.com come see what Lake life is all about.
- [52:26]
Hunter
Foreign.
- [52:39]
Bubba
Welcome back everybody and thank you for indulging me just a little bit to talk about my old friend Richie Johnson and passing away. You know, we're at the age now where, you know, I used to. I used to think it was strange that a lot of the old folks I knew would read the obituaries every day, and they made such a deal about it, even on the radio, when I used to work in Piedmont, they, you know, that was a big thing every day. And I thought, well, that's kind of morbid. But, you know, now that I'm in the fourth quarter of my life, I realize that I'm going to a whole lot more funerals than I am weddings. And it kind of. It kind of sets with, you know, you think, well, here we are. This is the. This is what we're up against now. So I appreciate that. I want to thank all of you for being part of Bubba on the Lake. We are finishing up podcast podcast 64, and it has been a wonderful year and a half. We still have a lot of good things planned this year. As a matter of fact, the next episode, we're going to have Joe Scott Morgan back from the podcast Body Bags. It was recently voted the top true crime podcast in that genre, and true crime is a huge genre of podcast. Matter of fact, I think it is the top genre of podcast. So we had him on before. He's also a medical examiner in charge of the forensic program at Jacksonville State University, and we're excited to have him on again. It was one of our biggest podcasts. So we're gonna have him on to talk about a few of the current cases and maybe a historical case or two, like we did last time. Also, I wanna remind you that if, as we begin to tape this segment, we. It looks like the ceasefire with Iran is over. President Trump has ordered military action against them, which we talked about with Colonel Jason Benefield and predicted that. That, that would be necessary because they have a history of negotiating, negotiating, negotiating. They learned that from the. From the Vietnam conflict, and they are trying to execute that again. And, you know, it just gets old. I mean, it's an old playbook. They say they're going to do this and they don't. They say they're going to do that and they don't. And, you know, they put out a press release and they're mad about something and they want to negotiate if the table's round or square and, you know, all this stuff. So I think Trump went out of his way to try to end this quickly and peacefully, but I think you're going to have to bomb them into submission. And we have deeply hurt their military ability. We have basically sunk every boat they have. But I think we're going to have to open up the Strait of Harmu's on our own and that's going to take, that's going to take some more work. So I hope they do that and I hope they give these guys the butt kick and they've been needing for 40 years and that we do not have to deal with them on the national or worldwide stage again. So anyway, that's going on. We may try to get Colonel Benefield back on soon to analyze some of that. But I wanted to make note of it that that began just a little while ago while we were doing this podcast. So again, I want to thank everybody. We've been broadcasting from the Melayella Studio. Our website is bubbaonthelake.com our comment line 308 Big Lake. Love the comment line. Always entertaining. Don't forget to subscribe, turn on notifications. We don't you to miss anything for the show. And of course, follow us on Instagram and all of our social media outlets. Hunter does a great job keeping you updated with those. And we're going to have some more exciting things coming up. So we're going to wrap it up here. The last few podcasts have run a little long. We'll try to keep this one in the window a little bit better. We actually have Richie's funeral tomorrow when I'm recording this and we're going to speak at it too. So probably share some of those stories you heard here today. There's, there's literally hundreds of them. I had to, I had to filter down the best ones to tell for, you know, this scenario because we, we had a lot of fun over the years. We really did. And, you know, it's just, it's just sad. Someone who was so full of life and a good guy that we lost him at such an early age. Being the athlete he was, I would have put all money on him seeing 90. But you just never know, you know, when your number's up, your number is up. God knows it. He designed it and we have to accept it. So I know that his dad, who preceded him into glory, is excited. Brother Terry, who meant a lot to me, is excited to see his son again. And while many of us are sad on this side, he is rejoicing on that side too, as he finally gets to lay eyes on his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And if you don't know him, please get to know him. Ask somebody you know and don't let that get away from you. So, folks, thank you again. We appreciate your support. Until we sail into port again, God loves you. So do we. And thank you for listening to Bubba on the Lake.
- [58:24]
Hunter
It's Bubba on the Lake. Bubba on the Lake.
- [58:29]
Bubba
On the water or off, Experience lake life to the fullest at Russell Lands on Lake Martin. Grab a latte at Bruce 63, linger over lunch at Fanny's, or take in a Lake Martin sunset at Kalija Restaurant. Whether you're here for the weekend or you've made your home at the lake, Russell Lands is where community and the land come together. To learn more about upcoming events, visit Russelllands.com come see what Lake life is
- [58:57]
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all about at Central State Bank. We believe community banking is more than just transactions. It's about relationships. For over 100 years, we've been helping neighbors grow, businesses thrive and dreams become reality. Because when you bank local, you invest in your community. Central State Bank. Large enough to serve you, small enough to know you. Visit us today or learn more@centralstatebank.com Member
- [59:23]
Bubba
FDIC Dr. Dudney has been my dentist for about 20 years. He does a great job taking care of my teeth, making sure my cavities are good, cleaning my teeth, and also adding veneers to my smile, which was a game changer. Now Dr. Dudney and his friendly staff can do the same for you. I ask you to give them a chance. Just talk to them. No cost. Just make an appointment. See what you need. See if you can have a better smile and feel better about yourself today. Give them a call at 205-663-6545 or tedudney.com this podcast is brought to you in part by Russell Lands Koch Buffalo Wild Wings Central State Bank Dr. Thomas Dudney Sunrise Docs Bice Motors the Green Monster Fishing Lights B U double B
- [60:20]
Hunter
A on a lake hey wishing I could listen to the show every day hey gotta hear what Bubba and his buddies gotta say on B U double B A on the lake in the mellow yellow studio putting on a show Betty say what she always on the go we got on a bus sitting at master control don't wanna miss a moment cause Bubba's got the flow B U B A on the lake hey wishing I could listen to the show every day hey gotta hear what Bubba and his buddies gotta say on B U double B A on the lake Hey B U B A hey B U B A hey B U B A hey B U B A on the lake.