Dodgertown wasn't a spring training site. It was a shrine. The many times I went to West Palm Beach for the Atlanta Braves' camp in the 1980s, I always made sure to include a pilgrimage to Vero Beach and a day wallowing in baseball history. Sometimes, there was the obvious local story. Rick Honeycutt, the … Continue reading Where have you gone…
Author: Mark McCarter
Mark McCarter is a long-time newspaper reporter and columnist and four-time Alabama Sportswriter of the Year. He's the author of four books, including "Pandamonium," about the return of pro baseball to north Alabama, "Baseball in Huntsville," and the namesake of this site, "Never a Bad Game."
McCarter has worked for newspapers in Chattanooga, Anniston and Huntsville, and lives now in Huntsville with his wife Patricia. His work has also appeared in Sports Illustrated, Fortune, The Sporting News, Sport, USA Today, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and a variety of other publications. He is currently assistant athletic director for external operations at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
A member of sports Halls of Fame in Chattanooga and Huntsville, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Writers Hall of Fame in 2022 and named one of the "50 Legends" of the organization. He was also honored with the Mel Allen Award for contributions to sports in the state by the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
Mark covered the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, 10 NCAA Final Fours, 13 Daytona 500s, four BCS national championship games, five Super Bowls, three World Series, more than 20 bowl games, The Masters, the Kentucky Derby, a heavyweight championship fight and a national political convention and a space shuttle launch.
His most memorable event, though, was the annual Buff Bowl, a flag football game at a Tampa nudist camp on the day before a Super Bowl.
And, to answer your question, no, he was not.
Happy birthday to a friend and hero
The first time I visited his office, I was blown away by the stark absence of anything football-related. There was a trophy -- the Dapper Dan Award, given to the Sportman of the Year in the Pittsburgh area -- and a football, deflated to a size as if to make Tom Brady comfortable. The paintings … Continue reading Happy birthday to a friend and hero
A Rose by another name…
David Carroll, one of Chattanooga's great TV and radio broadcasters and a friend for 40 years, was steering me down memory lane today. The subject was the various notable people who, sometimes just at random, found their way into Chattanooga. So, a short anecdote: Ed Holtz was the Chattanooga Lookouts' general manager back in the … Continue reading A Rose by another name…
Fiddlin’ around the course with Charlie Daniels
There's a three-time NASCAR champion, a Grammy Award winner, and then loitering around with us on a tee box between shots, an America Idol runner-up. This, after an bumping into an Oscar nominee and a Heisman Trophy winner in the clubhouse. Meanwhile, there was a sportswriter carrying a 28-handicap and a more than a little … Continue reading Fiddlin’ around the course with Charlie Daniels
Minor leagues no longer twisting in the wind
Here's what Minor League Baseball has been the last four months. It's been the tall, skinny, inflatable guy that gets planted in the parking lots of muffler stores and used-car lots. It's just been helplessly blowing in the wind. It's been less at the mercy of COVID-19 than it has at the mercy of the … Continue reading Minor leagues no longer twisting in the wind
R.I.P, Jerry Dugan
An elderly couple talk in the evening: “Honey, I’m so sorry that I let out my anger at you so often. How do you manage to stay so calm with my foul moods?” “I always go and clean the toilet when that happens.” “And that helps?” “Yes, because I’m using your toothbrush.” If Jerry Dugan … Continue reading R.I.P, Jerry Dugan
The Facebook challenge
Somewhere between the divisive political discourse and the cute kitten pictures, the selfies (shorthand for self-absorption, not self-portrait, it says here) and the ads that target you just because you glanced for one millisecond at a breezy new summer shirt, Facebook has its moments of fun. Facebook has its challenges -- in more ways than … Continue reading The Facebook challenge
My racing problem
So, just when it seemed things couldn't get much more bizarre and hurtful and flabbergasting, there was this from a dirt track in a wide-place-in-the-road place called Pine Hall, N.C., halfway from Winston-Salem to the Virginia line: The track owner was offering for sale "Bubba Rope," a noose fashioned like the one that greeted Bubba … Continue reading My racing problem
Never a Bad Game 