Scott Fowler is a national award-winning sports columnist for The Charlotte Observer. Reach Scott at (704) 358-5140 or e-mail him at sfowler@charlotteobserver.com.
Travis Padgett, a one-time football star at Boiling Springs Crest and a sprinting standout at Clemson for the past three seasons, ran the fastest he ever had last month at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field trials.
For Anne Donovan in these Olympics, there is No.1. There is really nothing else.
Rocker Tom Petty has decreed for years in one of his hit songs that “the waiting is the hardest part.”
I've compiled a list of the 10 best individual efforts I've seen in the past 20-odd years, since I started writing about sports at my college newspaper. 
Comment?
David Marsh knew it was a gamble. He had won 12 national championships at Auburn as swim coach. He could probably stay right there – coaching at his alma mater and riding a wave of personal success – for the rest of his career.
Cullen Jones edged closer to a spot on the U.S. Olympic swim team Wednesday, finishing fourth in the semifinals of the 100-meter freestyle to advance to the final tonight.
The world of swimming has splashed down smack in the middle of a costume drama.
What would you do if you had made the U.S. Olympic swim team yesterday?
It was an eventful – but not particularly successful – Sunday for Olympic hopefuls from the Carolinas in both the U.S. track and swimming Olympic trials. Comment?
» SLIDESHOW:
U.S. Olympic Trials
» VIDEOS:
Mark Gangloff | Doug Van Wie
Charlotte's Ricky Berens is only 20, but he has already competed once in the Olympic trials.
Making the team. We can all identify with that, can't we? ... About 1,200 swimmers will compete starting today in Omaha, Neb., for a handful of precious Olympic spots.
» Video: Meet Mark Gangloff
Over a four-year period, we live through 2,103,840 minutes. Swimmer Mark Gangloff is most concerned with a single one of them.
On a team that came from everywhere, Doug Van Wie is a rarity.
Lashinda Demus was used to jumping hurdles – 10 of them in every race. But this was ridiculous.
Happy birthday, Bill Werber. The oldest living ex-major league baseball player turns 100 years old today in a south Charlotte retirement community.
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Scott Fowler | The Jump. It's what Shakeema Welsch dreams about. It's why the Charlottean pursues the lonely and peculiar sport of women's triple jumping.
Until I wrote about the way jersey numbers have infiltrated my brain and asked for your own examples, I had no idea how common this was among sports fans. ... Here are a few of my favorite examples from readers. Comment?
Cullen Jones likes to play this game with strangers. Because he looks like an athlete -- he is 6-foot-5, 195 pounds and usually dressed in the gear of his sponsor Nike -- Jones often is asked on the streets of Charlotte what sport he plays. "What do you think?" he will ask. Invariably, the first guess is basketball.
As I watched the Coca-Cola 600 unfold Sunday night, I kept thinking about TV shows.
Like our first date or our first baseball glove, we all remember our first car.
If you are Mr. Consistency, and then suddenly you're not consistent anymore, what does that make you?
Humpy Wheeler was a dealer. The drug he sold was legal. He first told me about it eight years ago, when he provided the best description of a sports promoter I've ever heard. "What are people really buying when they go to a sports event?" Wheeler said. "They're buying a drug. It's called Adrenalin. If you can't create Adrenalin rushes, people are just in an ordinary setting."
Scott Fowler | There was a curious and fruitful meeting Monday that touched three sports -- ultra-marathoning, Olympic swimming and auto racing.
Scott Fowler | I was pumping gas. I still had a quarter-tank when I started and yet the numbers soon blinked past $50. That was irritating. ... But then I forgot about the annoyance when I saw the exact amount registered on the pump: $51.51. Comment?
SCOTT FOWLER: Shareese "The Beast" Woods doesn't look like a beast at all.
Ten days ago, something extraordinary happened on a playing field in Ellensburg, Wash. Comment?
Scott Fowler | Jake Delhomme threw a real football Friday morning at the Carolina Panthers' mini-camp. He threw it 34 times, actually. He's on a strict pitch count, so he knew the number exactly. Comment?
» MINICAMP: Sat. photos | Fri. photos | Video
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The world could use more Boo Weekleys. Amid a sea of golfers who mostly look and sound the same, Weekley stands out like a glass of sweet tea at a wine-tasting.
Thursday was just a gorgeous day for golf -- one of the best in this tournament's six-year history.
With the NFL draft just ending, the Wachovia Championship starting and the last day of school still in the distance, the Olympics are hardly on anyone's radar.
If you're a Carolina Panthers fan, you are feeling good about yourself today.
Scott Fowler: Blame Sam Vincent all you want for the Charlotte Bobcats' stagnant fourth season, which began with playoff hope and ended with Vincent getting fired only 11 months after getting hired. Comment?
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POLLS:Brown as coach? | Vincent firing?
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Scott Fowler | I never thought I'd see the day. Certainly North Carolina was capable of losing to Kansas, and the Tar Heels did lose big, 84-66, to the inspired Jayhawks on Saturday night in a national semifinal. Comment?
» PHOTOS: Kansas-UNC | Memphis-UCLA
» POLL: Surprised by outcome?
» BRACKETS: Printable & updated
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When the ACC tournament first came to Charlotte 40 years ago, America was in a different place.
The Carolina Panthers might start their fourth quarterback of the season Sunday.
