By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

When I was in high school my Dad wrote a weekly column for our local paper titled “The Way I See It.”

Each column revolved around our family and the topics ranged from visiting my aunt in Japan to rating movies based on how many bathroom breaks my youngest brother took.

Beside the columns being really well written (I believe he won a few awards for them over the years) I remember thinking how great it must be to write about something you enjoy; all I was writing were 8-page reports on books I didn’t want to read in the first place.

When I got a call six years ago, gauging my interest in writing a weekly sports column, I jumped at the chance. I was addicted to sports growing up. If I wasn’t at practice or playing pickup games I was watching them on TV.

My room was covered in posters with pennants outlining the tops of my walls, and almost all my clothes had some team logo or athlete on them. Sports have always been an integral part of my life for as long as I can remember, but like with most things, interests change over time.

Over the past few years those weeknights spent watching games and ESPN shows have been replaced by hanging out with my wife of over 18 years. (I’m not sure how she put up with me for the first 16 years, but bless her for doing so.)

And those weekends spent gorging myself on football and basketball games, they are now spent watching my 10-year-old son make regional and state cuts in all his swimming events, or seeing my daughter play the French Horn at an All-State conference.

I’ve upgraded from memories I’ll forget in two weeks to memories that will last me a lifetime.

So, as I write my final column for the Southern Sports Edition there are two people I need to thank.

The first is Jason Bishop, owner of SSE, for making that call 6 years ago and allowing the teenager’s dream in me to become a reality. What Jason has built in the Golden Isles is something special that I hope people will continue to support.

Jason, thanks for allowing me the opportunity to write what I wanted to write, when I wanted to write it.

And of course, I need to thank you, the reader. Thank you for logging on every week to read the words of someone who openly despises Georgia football, roots against the Falcons, and doesn’t even pay attention to the Braves, all while tolerating my obscure pop culture references. Sometimes it felt as if I was the leader of the band. (And there you have it folks, a Dan Fogelberg reference!)

My hope is you’ve enjoyed reading my articles half as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them.

I wanted to end this with some poignant words of wisdom, but like many mediocre writers before me, I came up with nothing. Instead, here are the life lessons one of my longtime, closest friends bestowed upon me in my 7th grade yearbook:

“You learn everything you need to know in kindergarten- playtime is for suckers; nap time is better when there’s someone else on your mat; never cross the monkey bars with your teeth; and never, NEVER, eat meatloaf.”

And that’s the way I see it.