Mark Wiedmer started work at the Chattanooga News-Free Press on Valentine's Day of 1983. At the time, he had to get an advance from his boss to buy a Valentine gift for his wife. Mark was hired as a graphic artist but quickly moved to sports, where he oversaw prep football for a time, won the "Pick' em" box in 1985 and took over the UTC basketball beat the following year. By 1990, he was the newspaper's lead sports columnist, a title he still holds today after a couple of Tennessee Sports Writer of the Year awards and a box full of other honors. He joined the staff of the Chattanooga Times Free Press when the Free Press and Times merged in 1999. Mark hails from Hopkinsville, Ky., and graduated from Centre College. Contact Mark at 423-757-6273. or mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.
How far would you go to show your school spirit?
by Mark WiedmerUnless we can all agree that we'd like to pay the same amount of federal income taxes that President Trump has over the years, it's tough for Americans to find common ground on much of anything these days.
by Mark WiedmerAs only third-year University of Tennessee football coach Jeremy Pruitt can, the boss of the Volunteers said of Saturday night's first half at South Carolina, a game in which the visitors fell behind 7-0 early, then botched their first punt: "Well, we didn't start the game the way we wanted to."
by Mark WiedmerAndy Bender had his perfect University of Tennessee football Saturday, at least the perfect COVID-19 edition, all figured out.
by Mark WiedmerCould the Atlanta Falcons' loss become the Howard Hustlin' Tigers' gain?
by Mark WiedmerDan Quinn's sixth season as coach of the Atlanta Falcons might be his last.
by Mark WiedmerIt doesn't take long for Jim Morgan to recall the day he knew the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chattanooga were going to be relied on like never before by our town's neediest young people.
by Mark WiedmerWhere's leadership when you need it?
by Mark WiedmerAccording to ESPN's latest Major League Baseball playoff calculations, the Atlanta Braves began Monday night's game at Baltimore with a 99.9 percent chance of reaching the postseason.
by Mark WiedmerWe've been blessed here in the Tennessee Valley to have witnessed so many previous acts of kindness and charity from Peyton Manning and his foundation
by Mark WiedmerWhat would it take for the idea of "The Battle for the Border" to become more than wishful thinking?
by Mark WiedmerAt least somebody's still willing to take a chance on Colin Kaepernick.
by Mark WiedmerIt's probably too early to bestow the National Football League executive of the year honor on anyone.
by Mark WiedmerThe unexpected. Isn't that what makes sports great?
by Mark WiedmerMy oldest daughter attended her first high school football game of the season Friday night. She promises me she wore a mask. And socially distanced. And stayed away from the crowd, such as it was, as much as possible.
by Mark WiedmerDoug Stein calls them "the Pilgrims." They're millennial golfers and golf course architecture buffs.
by Mark WiedmerWhen University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball coach Lamont Paris was growing up in the northwest Ohio town of Findlay, all his friends were understandably Ohio State fans. All of them.
by Mark WiedmerWelcome to college football in 2020.
by Mark WiedmerThe meetings about everything but basketball have come too often this summer for UTC basketball coach Lamont Paris and his Mocs. The latest occurred Monday, the day after Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a single policeman in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
by Mark Wiedmer'Tis written in the Bible that the truth shall set you free.
by Mark Wiedmer