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22 APR 04: THE SPORTS MONSTER
Wednesday was one of Columbus's biggest sports days in quite awhile. Baseball Hall of Fame member Hank Aaron came to town. The Tour de Georgia had its finish line downtown. And attendance at the Columbus Catfish game swelled to almost 700.
The big event of the day was the Tour de Georgia cycling race, which traveled from Thomaston to Columbus. It may have been the one day of the year when people in this military town didn't mind trying to sound a bit French.
(It may be called the "Tour de Georgia," but have you noticed the course doesn't go south of Columbus? If some of those European cyclists went through rural Sumter County, they might come under fire.)
Stage two of the Tour de Georgia included the first "mountain stage" of the race, in the Callaway Gardens area. You call that area mountainous?! A tougher challenge might have been to have the cyclists dodge roadside peanut stands.
A four-bike breakaway developed in the Pine Mountain area, and continued into Harris County. Obviously this shows the Tour de Georgia organizers don't know what they're doing - because there should have been a "competition caution flag" somewhere, like NASCAR's trucks have.
The breakaway did NOT go all the way, however - as the main pack caught the leaders by the time they reached downtown Columbus. It almost felt for a moment like Muscogee County Sheriff's Deputies were pursuing all of them....
The Tour de Georgia course in Columbus was changed a bit this year. The finish line was downtown, NOT at South Commons. This not only allowed for a bigger crowd to watch - it prevented the cyclists from getting Continental Carbon soot all over their jerseys.
(And another benefit: the cyclists didn't have to inhale leftover car exhaust from last weekend's AutoFest....)
The winner of stage two of the Tour de Georgia was Italy's Mario Cipollini. If he was a native of the U.S., he might have his own chocolate chip cookie named after him.
Some people only cared about one thing in the Tour de Georgia: where Lance Armstrong finishes. Well, some people DO care about a second thing - whether Sheryl Crow is anywhere nearby, so they can flirt with him.
Lance Armstrong finished 41st in Wednesday's stage of the Tour de Georgia - but he's only a few seconds off the lead, with five stages to go. I still say if he wins the title, his sponsors at the U.S. Postal Service should lower stamp prices for a week in celebration.
The Tour de Georgia moves on today, as stage three heads from Carrollton to Rome. It doesn't even restart in Columbus - which may explain why motel managers will have sour looks on their face today.
(Before I forget: Instant Message to whomever issues the parking advisories at the Government Center: It's Front AVENUE, not Front Street. Maybe one of these days, you should step outside the building and walk around.)
Before the Tour de Georgia rolled into town, Hank Aaron visited Columbus. He's opening a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop on Veterans Parkway this summer. If you think about it, this business DOES make sense - because baseball players used to put "doughnut weights" on their bats in the on-deck circle.
Hank Aaron visited Columbus for a construction kickoff event of his Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. Maybe this explains why he was too busy to attend any of the "Weigh Down Columbus" events earlier this year.
Somebody's gotta ask it: are any local civil rights leaders upset over where Hank Aaron is building his Krispy Kreme shop? It's on Veterans Parkway, near Columbus Park Crossing - and NOT along Victory Drive or Buena Vista Road. If none of the doughnuts have chocolate fudge icing, that will settle the issue....
(A friend of mine explained Hank Aaron is building his Krispy Kreme shop near Columbus Park Crossing because that's where the money is. That's funny - last time I checked, the Columbus banks all had their main offices downtown.)
Someone else asked aloud Wednesday why no one's come up with a "low-carb" doughnut yet. Well, be patient - because I can remember when Dunkin Donuts sold "oat bran" versions during that food fad. Thankfully, I've never seen a doughnut
made with aloe vera or "Noni juice."
(THE BIG BLOG QUESTION: Who has the best doughnuts in Columbus? Click here to vote on this important issue!)
Amidst all this sports-related activity, I took a call Wednesday evening from a woman complaining about something the reporters missed. The district high school tennis tournaments have been held for two days at Cooper Creek Park, and she claimed not one TV station was there. Now if Columbus detectives will kindly hand over the surveillance tape....
Now let's catch up on other things from the last couple of days:
+ WRBL's web site posted a correction, about a story on an alleged scam at a tax preparation office. "We didn't do our homework," the article bluntly says. In this Internet era, maybe the guilty party should have posted the story 100 times as
punishment.
+ Fort Benning's commanding general announced 20,000 soldiers will come to this area this summer, to train for the fight against terrorism. If I was Roy Bourgeois, I'd move to an underground bunker as soon as I could.
+ Instant Message to the new "Taco Star" stand on Macon Road: Are you planning anything like "Nashville Star" on TV? Will there be a contest to find the best mariachi band?
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