“Once there was a time, I’d rob my mama For a good meal and a smoke. Once there was a time, I’d sell my brother For a dollar when I was broke.”
Alvin Lee (born Dec. 19, 1944)
This week we have arrived at a moment that is 10 years after a space in time. (Some of you older folk will get that reference, and I’ll explain to the young’uns a bit later).
Since the aforementioned “space in time,” I have ridden the infinitesimal speck of sand we call Earth for 3,653 days as it drifted among the vast wheels and gears of the cosmic orrery, and today I celebrate my 10th year writing for Smith Communications.
I filed my first stories for Lake Oconee News, Volume 15/No. 52 on Dec. 27, 2013.
Both stories were about Greene County varsity basketball. The Lady Tigers defeated the Lady Bulldogs of Hancock County 57-41 with Miranda Davis scoring 21 points, while the Tigers scorched Hancock 76-58 behind 22 points from Trey Christopher.
All in all, it was a pleasant night, and I decided to take a full-time position with the paper when it was offered to me a month later.
Before I could get the sports desk organized, I found myself at the Macon Coliseum watching Tookie Brown and the Morgan County Bulldogs demolishing Buford to win a state basketball championship.
Now, I had covered more than a hundred basketball games while working for other papers but covering a team that won it all was special.
Trust me, it’s rare!
Of the many ledes I crafted during those days, my favorite was from the game story I wrote about Morgan County’s victory over the Cedar Grove Saints in the 2014 Elite Eight match played at Morgan County’s gym: “The Cedar Grove Saints came marching into Madison Feb. 27; when they departed, they found they were not in that number headed to the final four.”
Dang, I’m good. Where’s my confounded Pulitzer?
But Morgan County wasn’t done. They went back to the final in 2015 only to lose a heartbreaker to Jenkins 62-60.
Undeterred they avenged the loss with a 66-56 win over Jenkins in the 2016 final. Jailyn Ingram – most recently spotted on the hardwood playing for the University of Georgia – led the team with 28 points.
The Lady Bulldogs, who had won the region title for five straight years, roared through the post-season and defeated Jackson-Atlanta 68-61, giving Morgan County a dual state championship. Tatyana Davis led the Lady Bulldogs with 32 points.
So, in my three years as sports editor, my Morgan County teams – and I always considered them mine despite what the head coaches might have said – won four state basketball championships. No other Lake Oconee News sports editor can make such a claim.
Had the AJC hired me straight out of college as a professional football beat writer, the Atlanta Falcons would be a dynasty on par with the Packers, 49ers, or Patriots by now. And we would remember 28-3 as the final score.
My tenure as sports editor concluded a few months later and I stopped showing up at the gym or the court and started showing up at government meeting rooms, where you seldom see a slam dunk. Although you do see quite a few fouls, nearly all are intentional.
Sometimes I miss the Lake Oconee News sports desk, but let me tell you, it’s a grueling and unpredictable job. Your schedule – to a large extent – depends upon the successes and failures of teenagers.
Good Lord!
Someday I might get around to writing a column confessing all my sins as a sportswriter, but for our purposes here, just one will suffice.
When it’s 20 degrees outside and the sportswriter’s truck is making an odd noise his mechanic is at a loss to explain, and the team he is covering is scheduled to play a school just south of Waycross on Saturday night should his team win Friday night, the sportswriter is tempted to root for the other team, the bad guys.
And I’ll admit I have once or twice.
But I never rooted against Tookie Jailyn or Tatyana.
Okay, now for the explanation of the headline for the young’uns as promised.
“A Space in Time” was the seventh album released by British blues rock band Ten Years After. Get it? The album has it all: aliens, dumpster diving, monkeys, prison, alcoholism, and drug addiction. What more could you want?
Oh, and I almost forgot … Selah!