Much like most of my February posts, this one is probably not going to make your top-5 ‘Andy’s Greatest Posts of All-Time’ list. As a matter of fact, I have next to nothing to report. But since I’m in the mood, what with the 35 pages of research paperage I’ve written in the past 4 [...]

Contrary to Eric, however, Jim’s day had not truly begun. The past few hours of wakefulness had been purgatory–suspended between hellish anxiety and the heavenly sensation of perfect exertion. The only part of the day that would matter, either to Jim, or to those who would later thumb the meet’s results, were the fourteen-or-so odd [...]

Remember the first time you saw an athlete after his playing career had ended, and thought to yourself “Was he always that doughy and tired-looking?” When I was twelve, I sat a few rows behind Ryne Sandberg at a Cubs game. He was there to sing the seventh-inning stretch, and I was there to stare [...]

I can still vividly recall the previous year’s Crescent City Classic. I remember the effortlessness of those first few miles at 5:30 per (far ahead of goal pace), and the elation as I crossed the finish. My goofy grin must have been visible from space as I ran up Roosevelt Mall to meet my girlfriend [...]