Covering Nashville’s Brandt Snedeker at the Ryder Cup was another highlight for Climer.

-- Ap Photo/Chris Carlson

I was in a bar just outside Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta when the bomb went off at the 1996 Summer Games.

I immediately jumped up, went out the door and into utter chaos, where I interviewed anybody who would stop to talk.

I wrote a story sitting on a sidewalk curb, banging away on an old Radio Shack flip top that was one of the precursors to the laptop.

Prize fight

I had never been to a heavyweight championship bout when I was assigned to the Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson fight in Memphis in 2002.

Old sports writing friend Tom Weir told me beforehand that there is nothing like the atmosphere in the minutes leading up to the fight.

He was right. You needed a knife to cut through the raw emotion of that accompanied the entrance of first Tyson, then Lewis.

Emotional detachment

Over the years, I’ve tried to distance myself emotionally from events I covered.

I’ve been successful, for the most part. But I failed miserably at the 2014 College World Series.

There, standing on the outfield grass at TD Ameritrade Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska, I stood beside Tim Corbin and watched Vanderbilt’s players celebrate their national championship.

I’m not afraid to say I hugged the Commodores coach, whom I consider a friend.

Ryder Cup magic

There’s nothing quite like the first tee for the first match of the Ryder Cup.

In 2012, Nashville’s Brandt Snedeker was teamed with Jim Furyk for the U.S. against the European twosome of Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell.

After the match, I asked Snedeker what he recalled about the scene at the first tee.

Climer interviews renowned sports artist Leroy Neiman at the Sara Lee Classic LPGA Tournament at Hermitage Golf Course in Old Hickory.

-- Photo Courtesy Of David Climer

His response: “Not a thing. I was just trying to remember to breathe.”

In sickness and health

The 1985 football season was a remarkable one for the Tennessee Vols.

They survived a knee injury to star quarterback Tony Robinson at midseason to make it to the Sugar Bowl, where the powerhouse Miami Hurricanes awaited.

After spotting Miami a 7-0 lead, the Vols ran away with a stunning 35-7 upset.

By all accounts, it is one of the most memorable games in UT history.

Except that I don’t remember a single play.

I spent the 48 hours before the game in bed with intestinal flu.

I got up and covered the game and wrote what was a pretty good story, if I do say so myself.

Then I went back to bed.

Somehow, I find it ironic that one of my greatest memories of a long sports writing career is a game that I don’t remember at all.