Dan Washburn’s Sporting Life

August 21, 2001 — The wheelchair could have belonged to anyone.
It sat alone and empty on a dock, and shifted slightly each time Lake Lanier swelled beneath the [...]

“It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about [...]

“We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy on a [...]

August 7, 2001 — The sailboats drifted back and forth before me like targets in a carnival shooting game.
There were dozens of them, [...]

July 31, 2001 — Tallulah Gorge sucked me in. It swallowed me whole.
Inside this 1,000-foot crack in the Earth, I discovered a world far removed from the four-lane federal [...]

July 17, 2001 — Betty Jakes felt she was going to be sick. I know this because she said so, probably not knowing that my tape recorder — recording away — was sitting [...]

July 10, 2001 — When I walked into Moose’s Poolside Cafe it was lunchtime. Customers sat on stools and enjoyed veggie burgers, cheesesteak sandwiches and waffle-cut french [...]

July 3, 2001 — I believe Wiffle Ball players peak at the age of 12. After that, it’s all downhill.
Perhaps physics has something to do with it. The lighter the bat, the lighter [...]

June 26, 2001 — Tom Hardy was shouting. He wasn’t angry. Shouting just happens to be the main form of communication at Lanier [...]

June 19, 2001 — “This is weird, dude.”
Between labored breaths, that’s all my friend could say. That’s all that needed to be said.
We were into mile seven of [...]

June 12, 2001 — The phone rang and rang. But it remained unanswered.
The person trying to telephone the Magic charter fishing boat would have to wait. A fish was on the [...]

May 22, 2001 — Forgive me. I’m having trouble concentrating.
I keep looking out the window instead of at my computer screen. I’d rather be out on the Chattahoochee [...]

May 8, 2001 — Gene Teany is beat up.
A lifetime in the Army and three tours of duty in Vietnam will do that to you.
Teany is 65 years old. He [...]

May 1, 2001 — I have studied the videotape, stared at the photos.
I have done so repeatedly. And each time, I cock my head to the side and squint skeptically.
Is that really me? [...]

April 22, 2001 — Paul Newberry looked confused.
The Associated Press sports writer walked into the media area at the Atlanta Falcons complex in [...]

April 17, 2001 — I cursed inside my helmet and squeezed my steering wheel.
I needed more speed.
But I couldn’t maneuver around the slowpoke in front of me. Time to make my presence felt. [...]

April 8, 2001 — Baseball is big business. Duh.
When Alex Rodriguez signed a contract worth more than the gross domestic product of Micronesia [...]

April 3, 2001 — Think good thoughts. And set your alarm for 5 a.m.
That’s what Henry Cowen’s father would say to him the night before a fishing trip.
But, like clockwork, little [...]

This column appeared as part of an in-depth four-day series of stories in The Times entitled “The Cost of Smoking.”
April 2, 2001 — Smokers, I salute you.
It takes [...]

March 27, 2001 — I wanted to dribble. Or throw the ball down on the ground and kick it.
Moving with the ball in my hand felt awkward, and seemed like it should be [...]