Dan Washburn’s Sporting Life

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 [...]

MACON, 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 [...]

February 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 [...]

February 20, 2001 — Corry Moolenaar just kept on going.
Steady and sure, she emerged on the horizon, pedaling persistently.
I caught my breath as her [...]

February 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,” [...]

February 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 [...]

January 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 [...]

January 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 [...]

Times 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 [...]

January 16, 2001 — The scene was quite peaceful, actually.
A luminous moon brightened an otherwise pitch-black, early-morning sky. Its reflection made the [...]

December 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 [...]

December 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 [...]

December 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 [...]

November 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. [...]

November 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 [...]

November 7, 2000 — From the moment I walked into Sweetwater Billiards in Duluth, Jonathan Forrester was all business.
He was sizing me up. He was [...]

October 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 [...]

October 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 [...]

October 17, 2000 — Horseshoes and hand grenades.
Marcellous Love knows about both.
The 55-year-old Gainesville man grew up poor in the hills of [...]

October 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 [...]