On Friday, I sent Andrew Brackman an instant message; he was pitching the next day on Saturday against UNC-Chapel Hill and I wanted to see if it was okay for me to get with him beforehand at his place and take some photos of him preparing for the game. We talked more later Friday before the game while Eric Surkamp and the other players warmed-up. He said it would be no problem for me to come over. I then asked if I would be a distraction and if so tell me and I would not come. I’d rather not get photos than to distract him before a game. As usual he said it was fine. I am continuously amazed at how he does not get distracted by me or anything in general. I think he could go through a simultaneous FBI interrogation and IRS audit at 6pm and still be ready and focused to pitch by 7pm. Some other pitchers can become mental cases if the dome light in their car burns out the day before they pitch. But not Drew.

I arrived at his apartment around 4:30. By that time, the other players would have been at the stadium for the 7pm start but the starting pitcher always comes later. While in his room I took note of a few items in there. Under the glass on the top of his desk was a photo of Gregory Parrish, a young NC State fan who at that age of 2, was diagnosed with brain cancer. Gregory had been virtually adopted by head basketball head coach Herb Sendek and the basketball team. Andrew talked about his experiences visiting Gregory at his house, lifting his spirits when he fought cancer. When Gregory died in September 2006 at the age of 12, Andrew was a pallbearer at his funeral. Stories like that tell you what kind of a person Andrew is.

Also in his room were trading cards of former basketball coach Jim Valvano and posters of Bo Jackson who like Andrew, was a successful dual sport athlete. I joked with Drew because behind his desk on a corkboard affixed to the wall, my business card with only two others was pinned up. I told him I must have made it to the “big time” to have my card up on his wall.

I took a few pictures of him around his room. I think he spent most of the time going through his closet trying to figure out what pair of shoes to wear. Taking pictures of someone in the privacy of their space is always uncomfortable for me; I jokingly told him I feel like a paparazzi at times.

We left his apartment around 5:15pm and hopped into his truck. I pulled a CD by the band 30 Seconds to Mars out to listen to. A few months ago Drew turned me on to the band when playing their album debut song “From Yesterday” in the locker room (Andrew is a music encyclopedia by the way). I loved the song and bought the whole CD. He had not heard the other songs on the CD and there were some killer one that I wanted him to hear on our way to the stadium. Around 5:30 we arrived at Doak. As he walked through the parking lot to the clubhouse fans stared wide-eyed at him.

For night games, Doak Field has the most beautiful lighting you can find, at least for two innings. As the sun goes down, for the first inning, there is a beautiful golden cast that illuminates the pitcher on the mound from head to foot. By the 2nd inning, the light illuminates about half the pitcher as the light falls behind the clubhouse. By the 3rd inning, the light is gone and you are at the mercy of the remaining light. But 5th inning the fun is over as only the stadium lights provide illumination. I discovered this golden light yesterday when Eric Surkamp pitched. Just as I took hundreds of photos of Eric in this fantastic light, I took hundreds of Drew the first two innings as well.

Though the Heels won tonight, Brack pitched a fantastic game. I was standing beside Wolfpack pitcher Kyle Rutter during the game and at one point he said Andrew was clocked three times in the first inning throwing 99 mph balls.

At his apartment…

Beautiful light in the 2nd inning…

Monday, May 1st – UPDATE

I realized I forgot to add statistics. Here they are for those keeping score:

Shutter Actuations

• Pictures taken today: 2,012
• Previous total: 2,152
• Total Pictures taken for project to date: 4,164
  

Hours spent on project:

• Hours this weekend spent shooting: 15 hrs
• This weekend’s Post production: 20 hrs
• Previous Hours: 38.5 hrs
• Total Hours to Date: 73.5 hrs (36.75% of 200 hr estimate)

Inside Lacrosse Magazine hosted a contest asking their photographers to submit their favorite lacrosse photos of the past 10 years. The 10 year mark was selected because it represents the anniversary of the magazine.

So I spent a good amount of time going through old photos, finding my favorite ones. Some of my earliest work (when I was a student at UNC) didn’t make the cut because those photos were taken using obsolete technology, or film as it’s more commonly known. So my apologies to Mac Hammer, Judd Lattimore, Jeff Sonke and the others for leaving your photos out (my photos stunk then anyway). I “went digital” in 2001 so I had about 7 years worth of photos to look at. Like the photos I took of UNC when I was a student, even some of the earlier digital stuff by my standards today is sub par crap that I would never confess to having taken. In 2001 I was in my 2nd year working for Georgetown University and covering a great lacrosse team until 2004 when I moved back to NC. I had the opportunity to photograph and know some great Hoya lacrosse players like Kyle Sweeney and Brodie Merrill. Also caught his majesty Mikey Powell when he and the Syracuse Orange came to GU every other year.

Going through the photos was time-consuming but fun. When I first started with digital my archival techniques were poor and thus, many photos were uncaptioned. Trying to ID players from 6 years ago proved near impossible. Still, it was great seeing some of my old work and comforting to know that I’m (a little bit) better than 5 years ago.

Here is a link to some of the photos I submited to Inside Lacrosse for the contest. At some point in the future I think they will run a “best of” photos in an issue. In addition to sending photos that I thought were solid, I selected some photos of players like Brodie Merrill where the photos themselves weren’t stunning except for the fact that the the players themselves turned out to be stunning. Enjoy.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Virginia Tech community in this hour of tragedy. What a truly awful situation. Times like these show how insignificant sports and inter-school rivalries are compared to human life. Today we are all Hokies.

Steve Logan, former ECU head football coach and now offensive coordinator at Boston College had a local radio show on 620 “The Bull” here in the Raleigh/Durham area. “The Logan Zone” was, of course, about football. I enjoyed the show immensely and enjoyed the insights that a former head football coach had. As fans we love to opine, even when ignorant to what really happens in a football program. His insights were refreshing.

During the show he also cracked a few jokes. I found on my iPod an old episode of his from November. In the episode, he talks about an old joke supposedly shared among D1 football coaches about their views on the NCAA. To set this joke up, he was discussing how the NCAA was inconsistently cracking down on Native American mascots it found inappropriate; namely how Florida State and the Seminoles did not get the NCAA’s wrath while others like North Dakota’s Fight Sioux did get in trouble. The joke I found hysterical five months ago, and found it just as funny today. I’m not sure how many people will get it, but it is a must share:

When Notre Dame cheats, and gets caught, it makes the NCAA soooo angry, they put Cleveland State on probation for four years.

–Steve Logan, The Logan Zone

11/16/2006

North Carolina Men’s Lacrosse beats John Hopkins 13-10

Butch Davis, head coach of the UNC football team, may be getting a call shortly from UNC men’s lacrosse head coach John Haus. Typically the men’s lacrosse team plays on Fetzer Field, but it seems that Kenan Stadium holds some mojo for the team. After Saturday’s win, I’m betting the lacrosse team is going to want to play some more games at Kenan where it is thus far undefeated (not for the season, but in entire history of the school).

For the first time since 1994, the UNC Men’s Lacrosse team beat John Hopkins. I fell in love with lacrosse when I first saw the game as a freshman at UNC. It was the first sport I photographed and ever since I have been a fan of and emotionally vested in the men’s team. It’s been tough going for UNC lacrosse fans, but last Saturday was repayment for all the tough times. The win was just [insert your favorite expletive here] amazing.

The game started with a 0-3 John Hopkins scoring run that surely made the Tar Heel faithful think this was going to a thrashing of the Heels. It wasn’t until 12:23 left the second quarter that Nick Tintle threw one between the pipes on an EMO to get the Tar Heels on the scoreboard. The Heels then scored the next two to notch the score at 3. The game then proceeded in bipolar fashion that had fans reaching for the Lithium. The teams traded goals back and forth and tied six more times. The seventh tie was at 12:10 left in the fourth quarter when John Hopkins answered being down 1 with a goal by Jake Byrne. But that Blue Jay tying goal would be their last. North Carolina sent three unanswered balls to the back of the net, including one in the closing seconds by Ben Hunt, to win the game 13-10.

With about 60 seconds left on the clock, I positioned myself behind the team’s bench to get ready for the impending celebration. When the clock hit zero, I ran full speed out to the center of the field with the players to photograph the celebration. It was probably one of the most exuberant celebrations I have photographed in a long time. And as huge fan of the team myself, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face when photographing them. Their energy was just too contagious not to make anyone smile ear-to-ear.

Here is a link to photos of UNC Lacrosse v. John Hopkins.

(p.s. I can’t take credit for the title of the post. It was overheard at the game. The players will understand its significance.)