September 25, 2001 — Mr. Cantore, my high school health teacher, wanted to illustrate to the class that boys — basketball players in particular — are less flexible than girls. So he called me to the front of the classroom. And I proved his point. I was unable to do …
Read moreJuly 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 the batter, or something like that. I don’t know, I never did very well in science …
Read moreOctober 3, 2000 — They come in sweatpants and shorts, suits and scrubs — looking for a quick escape. They leave the classroom, the office, the living room couch, and walk or jog a flat stretch of Gainesville sidewalk that, at some point in history, became known as the “Brenau …
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 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 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 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. …
Read moreApril 6, 1999 — So what exactly is yoga? Let’s first begin by identifying some things that yoga is not. Yoga is not a little green man. Yoga is not a dairy product. Yoga is not a religion. And, yoga is not a bunch of hippies sitting around, chanting and …
Read moreMarch 9, 1999 — I was never much good at roller skating. So when my fourth grade friends and I headed to our local rink, I was not among those rolling on rented skates, singing to the beat of Eddie Grant’s “Electric Avenue.” I was safely on the other side …
Read moreJanuary 26, 1999 — “You’re not going to throw up, are you Dan?” asked Lake Lanier Rowing Club executive director Sara Nevin — only half jokingly — after I completed 2,000 meters on an indoor ergometer rowing machine, affectionately called an “erg” by those familiar with indoor sculling parlance. On …
Read moreDecember 29, 1998 — “Do you feel good? Say yeah!” cried Colleen Manji, instructor for my brief and often blundering foray into the estrogenic world of Jazzercise. “Yeah!” responded my classmates, approximately 20 women of varying ages moving in relative unison to the music’s dance-club beat. I was feeling alright, …
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