This weekend I posted a couple blog posts to Inside Lacrosse about UNC’s trip to Johns Hopkins. Here are links to those two posts:
Day 1: Road trip up to Baltimore
Day 2: Game day at Johns Hopkins
I will be riding the bus up with the team tomorrow as they head to take on Johns Hopkins for a Saturday match-up. My hope is to post some photos Friday night (if I have Internet access) after our trip up there.
Mostly likely I will post on the blogs on Inside Lacrosse.
“Forget the Big Ten, we share the same dry cleaners… There is no other area like this. It produces things, situations, feelings that you can’t talk to other people about. Because they have no understanding of it.” — Duke Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski
With their proximity, and the high-caliber athletics program found at both schools, the rivalry between the schools is so intense, that those who did not graduate from either school, or is a fan of either school, will never be able to understand
exactly what the rivalry is about, just as Coach Krzyzewski said. Fans love to hate schools that are good. But when two schools are next door to each other, and both are so good, the hate comes easy. Just how good are the schools athletically? The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Cup (formerly the “Sears Cup”) ranks schools based on athletic performance, specifically national rankings in the individual sports. In 2006-2007, North Carolina was ranked #3 and Duke #11 nationally in those rankings. Recently, Stack Magazine created their “Elite 50” rankings that ranked schools on a formula based on athletic and academic performance. In that ranking, UNC was #1 and Duke #5. Obviously, these are two high-quality schools sharing the same dry cleaners. Read the rest of this entry »
The Heels had another one of those close games, running up the score in the first half, then keeping the crowd (and a photographer) on the edge of their seats in the second half. Those on the edge of their seat risked being blown off in the gale-filled game. The temperature was in the 50′s, but felt much colder with the wind howling the entire game. But the Heels held on to win 8-6, on the back of 5 goal performance from junior Ben Hunt.
Here are photos of UNC lacrosse v. Notre Dame.
Art Chase at Duke University sent me an ominous instant message of just “call my cell”. I thought at first I was in trouble, but Art asked me if I could photograph some “guests” that would be with the new Duke Football coach, David Cutcliffe. I wasn’t jumping at the chance to do it, because the shoot was going to be at 8pm Saturday, just one hour before the 9pm tip-off for the Duke vs. North Carolina basketball game that I was also photographing. Usually its a stressful game to set-up for and shoot, and I thought I would be a basket case around 8pm. But Art has helped me a lot in the past so I said “sure”. As for who the “guests” were, I assumed it was rich alumni and donors and didn’t give it a second thought.
Before every game there is a press meal, and during the meal, Bob Rosato from sports illustrated mentioned that both Eli and Peyton Manning played for coach Cutcliff and that one of them had been spotted. I may not have gone to Duke, but I can put two and two together. So I walk over to Art and ask him, “Does one of the guests that I’m photographing tonight happen to have the same first name as I do?” He laughed, said “yes”, and I said I was now an even bigger basket case now.In the end, it was fine. I was even able to slip to the other side of the lens and get a picture of me with the Manning brothers. They are pretty nice guys. It was a room full of only a few people, so it wasn’t like they had to put on a show. I think it reflected who they really are — pretty down to earth.Also walking around was a guy whose voice seemed very familiar, but I could not place it. I turned around to see that Matthew McConaughey was also there in the coach’s office. So man, I never thought I would be meeting the Manning brothers and Matthew McConaughey before this game. Crazy how things happen. (btw, Matthew, also a very nice guy)
Side note, if you are a photographer, and sports information director asks you to take a photo of an event, but is vague about who will be there, take the assignment. Two years ago Bruce Winkworth at NC State asked me to photograph an event at a NC State baseball game. He said there would be a special guest there, but could not say who it would be. I couldn’t do the event though as I was booked for another assignment. I found out later that the guest was none other than Alex Rodriguez.
I have finally posted photos from North Carolina Lacrosse vs. Cornell from last Saturday. My week has been packed with work and I had not had time to post these.This win was a huge win for the program. First, Cornell was in the quarterfinals, loosing by one to Duke. Second, the Tar Heels shaked a hex that had been on the team. Many times before, the Heels built a large lead quickly, only to fall in the end. Saturday, the Heels built a huge lead quickly, only to see it get etched away by the Big Red. This game however, the Heels kept their heads about them and won in a convincing 13-8 game. (Had the Heels not had 3 defense guys out in the final seconds, it could have been 13-7).
I’ve been truly overwhelmed by my workload and have not yet had a chance to post the photos from the games I photographed recently. The following are on the way:
