April 25, 2000 — Jack Cashin has the face of a man who has fought life and won. It is weathered and lined and topped with a tussock of white hair that looks fine uncombed. He is 75 and handsome. He could be in the movies — he even was …
Read moreApril 18, 2000 — “Bull Durham.” “When Harry Met Sally.” “Good Will Hunting.” Three movies. Three great movies. And they all feature scenes that take place in batting cages. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Perhaps it’s just part of being an American male, but there’s something I love — always …
Read moreApril 11, 2000 — I watched as they filed from parking lot to playing field, each toting some combination of the following: dog, frisbee, child, chair and cooler (full of assorted beverages — some meant for consumption during the game, others for after). These are the riggings of ultimate frisbee, …
Read moreMarch 28, 2000 — Wrestling is perhaps the most basic and intrinsic of sports. One on one. Man against man. Strength, cunning and endurance your only weapons. There are not many sports as physically and emotionally draining. Last six minutes on a wrestling mat and you can barely muster the …
Read more“Golf is like a love affair: If you don’t take it seriously, it’s not fun; if you do take it seriously, it breaks your heart.” — Arnold Daly, early 1900s film star March 21, 2000 — Growing up, when my friends headed out to the golf course, I would always …
Read moreMarch 14, 2000 — “So Dan, what do you do?” a reader asked as I enjoyed an adult beverage at the Monkey Barrel recently. This is a common question. Week after week, this column is filled with stories of my forays into other people’s hobbies. Invariably, my attempts are introductory …
Read moreMarch 7, 2000 — Round and round we went, leaning back in the seats of our go-karts, speeding along mere inches above the track of Georgia red clay. We were playing a game of follow the leader. I was not the leader. No way. I followed every move of the …
Read moreFebruary 29, 2000 — The scars tell the story of the toughest battle of David Monroe’s life. They dot his abdomen. They serve as a constant reminder of the disease that wreaked havoc on the 56-year-old’s insides for eight long years. Colitis cost Monroe his colon just over a year …
Read moreFebruary 22, 2000 — The ball didn’t bounce. It just stayed there, on the floor, and slowly dribbled away. I scratched my head and thought, “Well, that’s weird.” Ball is round. Floor is flat. Ball should bounce. Right? Wrong. That would be too easy. And, as I learned last week …
Read moreFebruary 15, 2000 — The squirrels in my front yard scurried out of my path a bit quicker than normal Saturday morning. Perhaps they knew what I was up to. I was on my way to Sandy Cross, Ga. a tiny town east of Athens in Oglethorpe County. I was …
Read moreFebruary 8, 2000 — Ah, the odd ironies of life. I grew up in Pennsylvania, a short drive from the popular ski resorts of the Pocono Mountains. It was the type of place where a couple of inches of snow didn’t guarantee a day without school or a major blow …
Read moreFebruary 1, 2000 — Padded shorts. Buy some if you’re planning on participating in a spinning class with the guys from Adventure Cycles in Oakwood. Trust me. I do not own padded shorts. And I was reminded of that fact each time I sat down in the days following my …
Read moreJanuary 29, 2000 — Forgive me for sounding un-American, but the Super Bowl — the actual football game itself — is usually boring. It’s usually a long, noncompetitive romp broken up by an equally drawn out and insipid halftime show. This year’s intermission “extravaganza” features 125 drummers and percussionists, a …
Read moreJanuary 18, 2000 — I couldn’t move my head. I wanted to turn it to the right. I wanted to see if there was more room over there. But I couldn’t. My helmet was lodged between layers of limestone. My cheek was pressed against the damp dirt beneath me. I …
Read moreJanuary 11, 2000 — They were no doubt wondering what I was doing there. Tall. Slender. A hint of facial hair. I didn’t look like any of the other students at The Gainesville School of Gymnastics. There were about 10 of them, elementary-school-age boys, and they were sizing me up. …
Read moreDecember 21, 1999 — My apologies to poet Joyce Kilmer, but … I think that I shall never see A column as lovely as a tree. I wasn’t sure what to wear for my tree climbing lesson at the Chicopee Woods Agricultural Center last week. I used to wear Toughskins …
Read moreDecember 14, 1999 — The welts on my right shoulder told me that I should be thankful my fencing lesson came on the verge of the 21st century and not during the 16th. For if the latter was the case, I’d likely be writing this from my grave. The modern-day …
Read moreDecember 7, 1999 — “You’re in pretty bad shape there,” Jim Jennings said to me matter-of-factly. He was describing the predicament that lay before me on the green felt of his pool table. He could have just as easily been describing my somewhat larger problem at the time: I was …
Read moreNovember 16, 1999 — Imagine teeing off with Tiger Woods, going one-on-one with Michael Jordan, shagging flies with Ken Griffey Jr. Pretty cool, right? Well, I went inline roller skating with Derek Downing. And if you were from Bogota, Colombia you would be drooling right now. Trust me. Derek, a …
Read moreNovember 9, 1999 — I wonder if this is what Korean general Choi Hong Hi had in mind when he created the martial art of tae kwon do in 1955 — a roomful of American women punching, kicking and sweating to the beat of the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” Probably not. …
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