March 20, 2001 — The Appalachian Trail was crowded on Saturday. Skies were clear for a change, and warm winter temperatures made a trip to the North Georgia mountains a must. There were hordes of hikers — but I’m fairly certain Shane Adams, Jason Long and I were the only …
Read moreMACON, March 10, 2001 — Coach Seth Vining was smiling. And laughing. And jumping up and down. His players were, too. Chanting and screaming, the team became one big mass of celebration in the Macon Coliseum locker room Friday afternoon. The East Hall Vikings had just defeated Calhoun, 78-67, for …
Read moreFebruary 27, 2001 — Fly-tying is all about thread control, I was told. However, I’m not sure if thread control matters much to the fish. They’re just looking for something to eat. But the thread holds it all together — hook, fur, feather, foil — and allows the disparate ingredients …
Read moreFebruary 20, 2001 — Corry Moolenaar just kept on going. Steady and sure, she emerged on the horizon, pedaling persistently. I caught my breath as her bicycle approached. I took a drink of water as it sped right past me. “I’m not stopping!” Corry yelled with joy. Corry doesn’t stop …
Read moreFebruary 13, 2001 — I would have expected nothing else of a coed volleyball league at Brenau University. The playing field was level, to be sure. “This is a women’s college,” Scott Haney, the school’s head volleyball coach, explained, “and I wanted a volleyball league where the women dominate.” Haney …
Read moreFebruary 6, 2001 — Seven-year-old Joshua Turner likes to ride his dirt bike. He likes to play Nintendo, too. And basketball and soccer and baseball. Little Joshua sounds like a typical second-grader — until he opens up his briefcase. That’s when he starts to sound like a turkey. Joshua is …
Read moreJanuary 30, 2001 — It was just a squirrel. That’s what I keep trying to tell myself. But when that rodent ran toward me, it stirred something. My heart quickened. My palms became sweaty. It was just a squirrel, I know. And I realize the hawk was to do all …
Read moreJanuary 23, 2001 — The sharp steel sank inside the soft stump and my soul screamed. The mountain man inside of me awoke. I began to second-guess all the other Sundays of my life — the ones not spent hurling axes and knives at pieces of wood. All those hours …
Read moreTimes staff writer Dan Washburn recently spent 24 hours with the crew of Hall County Fire Services Station 7, getting a unique insight into the inner workings of the lives of Hall’s firefighters and emergency workers. Put down your cup of coffee and save a stranger’s life. Quit everything you’re …
Read moreJanuary 16, 2001 — The scene was quite peaceful, actually. A luminous moon brightened an otherwise pitch-black, early-morning sky. Its reflection made the pond’s surface sparkle, and illuminated silhouettes of leafless trees lining the water’s banks. It was cold and quiet — save for the constant mechanical hum coming from …
Read moreDecember 26, 2000 — Growing up in the small northern Pennsylvania town of Bloomsburg, there were often times when I couldn’t wait to leave. I wanted to get out. Well, I’m out. I’ve been out for several years. And now there aren’t many things I look forward to more than …
Read moreDecember 19, 2000 — If you were wondering, professional athletes don’t necessarily make great bowlers. I learned this last week when I hit the lanes with the Atlanta Falcons. In all fairness, most great bowlers likely wouldn’t fare too well in the face of an all-out blitz by the Tampa …
Read moreDecember 5, 2000 — There was a moment during my nighttime mountain bike ride with members of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association when I felt totally free. I was in midair, flying headfirst over my handlebars into the pitch-black forest of Chicopee Woods. I had no idea what hazards stood …
Read moreNovember 28, 2000 — My first glimpse of football royalty came through the foggy rear window of a red station wagon. I pressed my face to the wet glass and peered in. His Majesty — the most celebrated sports mascot in the nation — was sleeping. But this dog’s catnap …
Read moreNovember 14, 2000 — You can only run from reality for so long. And last week, I believe reality finally caught up with me. It’s been nearly a decade since my days as a high school basketball player. Nearly a decade since I ran my last suicide sprint. Nearly a …
Read moreNovember 7, 2000 — From the moment I walked into Sweetwater Billiards in Duluth, Jonathan Forrester was all business. He was sizing me up. He was trying to figure out what, if anything, I knew about darts. I knew a little. Back in college, I threw my share. Not many …
Read moreOctober 31, 2000 — I’m not sure Antonina Grib understood just how bad a tennis player I actually am. Such ineptitude is hard to describe over the phone. But in person, out there on the court, I’m pretty good at getting the point across. And I believe I saw Grib …
Read moreOctober 24, 2000 — I remember an episode of “Magnum, P.I.” in which Magnum is forced to tread water for hours and hours and hours. He was lost at sea, fighting for his life in shark-friendly saltwater under a hot Hawaii sun. His body grew tired, his mind weak — …
Read moreOctober 17, 2000 — Horseshoes and hand grenades. Marcellous Love knows about both. The 55-year-old Gainesville man grew up poor in the hills of North Carolina, one of eight children on a small family farm. They lived off the land, and passed down shirts and shoes from child to child. …
Read moreOctober 10, 2000 — There’s just something about little girls and horses, I suppose. Never has a Sporting Life column spurred more reader reaction than last month’s story about 8-year-old Honey Beth Campbell and her horses, Hunker and Godfather II. There were letters to the editor, e-mails and calls. “Even …
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