Tommy Tomlinson has written a local column for the Charlotte Observer since 1997. He grew up in Brunswick, Ga., where his dad built houses and his mom was a waitress -- if you ever stopped for breakfast at the Denny's on I-95, she probably poured you coffee. He studied journalism at the University of Georgia, where his first year in school was the great Herschel Walker's last.

He (Tommy, not Herschel) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary in 2005, and was named best local columnist in America by The Week magazine in 2004. His newspaper work appears in "Best Newspaper Writing 2004" and "Best American Newspaper Writing." He also wrote the introduction to the book "North Carolina 24/7" and has written for Garden & Gun magazine and ESPN.com. He believes he is the only journalist in history to cover the Super Bowl, the Bassmaster Classic and the National Spelling Bee in the same year.

He has taught at the Poynter Institute, UGA, the Nieman Narrative Conference and National Writers Workshops across the country. He likes college football, Lee Child thrillers, music of all kinds, hush puppies, rivers, bourbon and Warner Bros. cartoons. He dearly loves his wife, Alix Felsing, and their yellow-Lab mutt, Fred. The three of them are spending the 2008-09 school year at Harvard University, where Tommy is a Nieman Journalism Fellow. He can't believe it either.