Woo hoo.  We got some space on ESPN.com  You can find the link here.  They change the content frequently, so if you miss it, here it is:

Hey strangers.  I had the misfortune of having to take a long and relaxing cruise to Alaska, thus the radio silence.  (but don’t worry, a 5 hr slide show is on the way.)

I wanted to draw your attention to the latest issue of Inside Lacrosse (August 2008).  As you know, last year, I did a year-long photo essay of the varsity men’s lacrosse team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  It was a ton of work, but very gratifying to do.  One of the most gratifying results is a 9 page spread that Inside Lacrosse magazine, where I am a frequent photo contributor, published in this latest issue.  I had been in talks with Inside Lacrosse’s art director James Schaffer since as early as September or October about the possibility of doing a spread in IL.  At the time, I didn’t know if the project would even be successful or would reach fruition. Also, the story could always be displaced by other stories if a major event broke in lacrosse.

So other than my discussions with Inside Lacrosse and UNC sports information director Dave Lohse, I told not a soul that the photos could eventually find their way into the printed version of IL.  I told not even the coaches or players.  I only told them about 2 weeks ago when I knew the magazine had literally gone to the printing presses with the article included.

I’m really excited about the end result.  The editors decided to publish 9 pages for the story, a good 2 to 3 more photos that I ever expected.  Also used was a photo on the table of contents page.

If you are a UNC Lacrosse fan and want to order a back copy, you can do so on this order form.

Of course, you are a subscriber anyway, right?

A public thanks to James Schaffer, Keely Knop, John Jiloty, Jon Brand and Matt Can at Inside Lacrosse for their help.

So… there is an elephant in the room that I have not pointed out yet, so let me get the hardest part and say that UNC did lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament, upset by Navy at Fetzer Field. Given that it was my alma mater, it was obviously hard to take.  That said, the NCAA tournament is a cruel mistress. Only one of the sixteen teams that enter exit happily. An exit in the first round isn’t much easier than an exit in the last game. Given that a loss means an end of the season, losing in the tournament in an abrupt way to end your season. 

Even though the season is over, I’m going to still be working on the project. No, not in the Hillary Clinton never-say-never sense, but because, hey, I have a lot more time on my hands after the loss. So I’ll be doing some minor stuff with the guys who are around for the summer. But I’ll also sifting through literally thousands of photos that I took over this last year to pull out the cream of the crop. It’s going to be a huge labor of love. Too bad I can’t train that elephant in the room to edit and caption all the photos I have. 

Saturday I’ll be flying to Ithaca with the Duke team for their game against Ohio State hosted by Cornell University in the NCAA quarterfinals. I went with them last year and had a great time, so I’m looking forward to this experience. I was worried if I would be the persona non grata as the UNC guy, but instead I had a very welcoming and pleasant experience with them last year. 

But stay tuned; more is to come out on the UNC project. I’ve been working on some photos to highlight stick stringing as well as the canines in some of the players lives. Those two posts, among others I hope, I will be on Inside Lacrosse. 

(updated 5/20/08 to fix some spelling errors)

Wow, things have been busy.  I’ve been taking more photos than I’ve had time to post them.  There are a lot of things that I still need to post.   Stay tuned for the following to eventually be posted:

• UNC Lax vs. Hoftstra
• UNC Lax vs. Duke @ ACCs
• Duke Lax vs. St. Johns

Here is a link to my latest post on the Inside Lacrosse blogs.  It covers all of last week: From practice to game day against Hofstra.  I omitted things that I learned, because all of these are pretty much inside jokes that only the guys will get.  That, and I only learned two things.  So here goes, drum roll please:

Things I learned:

• Milton Lyles needs to use two hands.
• Shane Walterhoefer and Sean Burke are messing up my creativity and photography.

I updated my gallery of some of my favorite lacrosse photos.  This gallery is a work on progress and I’ve really neglected updating it.

I deleted a good number of the photos as well.  I was posting some photos because they contained some of the greats of lacrosse like Brodie Merrill, and less because the photos were good.  So I had a “Come to Jesus” meeting with myself, and hit the delete key a few times.  Here is my updated gallery of lacrosse favorites.

Photos are now posted from when UNC played Ohio State at Boy’s Latin in Baltimore. Note that I only put around 15 photos in the gallery, but there are actually hunderd’s from the game. If you want to see everything, I put up a link that will probably expire in a month where you can view all the photos.

BTW, you are probably wondering why the heck make a gallery with only 15 photos when I have almost 300 to show? Well, it is standard industry practice. Making a gallery of every single photo is overkill. If you want to find a photo of a certain athlete, the best way is to go to the search page of my site, and search for the athletes last name. Or to see everything of UNC lacrosse you can search for “UNC Lacrosse” or “Duke Lacrosse” for the boys in Durham. (note, don’t use quotes.)

Like cheetahs, they sat waiting, drooling.  The hunger gnawed at their senses, making them only more acutely aware of the next potential meal that could come their way. Then, finally, in the distance, they spot their prey.   They stare it down with a icy gaze, ready to pounce, looking away only to see if the others spot the same prey.  This is survival of the fittest.  Actually, its the support staff waiting for chicken to come out of the kitchen after the first batch was devoured by the players.

Coach Haus treated the players and staff to a great meal at a restaurant.  The food was great, but by the time the support staff (that includes me) got up to get our food, the chicken had been picked clean.  So we sat staring at the kitchen waiting for the waiter to bring out the latest batch of chicken.  When we saw him come out finally with the chicken, we pounced on him like cheetahs in the Sahara.

To serious matters, we lost a tough game to Ohio State 11-14 that was played at Boys Latin High School in Baltimore, Maryland, and which incidentally is the alma mater of faceoff man Shane Walterhoefer.  The Heels were up by one at halftime, but a strong 3rd quarter helped seal the win for the Buckeyes. Walterhoefer was able to conjure up good spirits from his old home field, winning 23 of 26 faceoffs.

Things I learned this weekend:

• The freshmen have bad tastes in movies (”Goonies” seriously?).  Chun-Man Fong (aka “C”) saved the day on the bus with “Transformers”.
• Mike Chires has “thunder thighs” (his words).
• Coach Lattimore has amazing balance and can make his way down the bus without touching the floor.
• The bathrooms is some buses are better ventilated in some than others.
• Milton needs an alarm clock.
• Sean Burke will walk half an hour for Chili’s.
• C is a tape-tearing master.
• Sean Delaney values his bubble baths.
• Kevin Piegare can’t match shoes.
• Coach Olmert shouldn’t be trusted with lemonade around electronics.  People with mustard shouldn’t be trusted around Coach Olmert
• Some security guards at apartment building in Maryland can be um, unfriendly (I can think of an anatomical term to describe them, but I’m trying to censor myself).
• I am the master at finding the light switches on our charter buses.  Like Emmit Kellar said, a career in bus driving may be in my future.
• Most importantly, I learned to NOT TOUCH THE GATORADE’S that are under the bus.

I forgot to link to the photos from UNC vs. UVA lacrosse.  Here they are for inquisitive minds.

North Carolina Lacrosse v. Virginia photos

I worked for the good folks at Inside Carolina for the Spring Football game.  The head photographer for Inside Carolina, Jim Hawkins, was stuck in San Antonio still after photographing the Final Four, so I got tried to be Jim for day (I didn’t have the bluetooth earpiece so I couldn’t pull it off.)

Linked are some photos from the game posted on Inside Carolina. [Gallery 1]  [Gallery 2]

Interesting note from after the game.  I had to photograph the post-game press conference in the football facility (which is amazing for those who have not been lucky enough to go in there).  When I left, I was only only the 2nd floor but had to go to 1st to get out.  I was lost and had no idea how to get to the first floor without taking the elevator.  So I hit the down button and prayed that no one would be on the elevator going doing, lest I feel like a lazy oaf.  I hear the elevator slow down to 2nd, the doors fly open, and no one is there but head UNC football coach Butch Davis himself.  ”Crap!” I thought, but he quickly said in a friendly tone “You going down?  Well come on man”.  So whew, embarassment avoided.  In the 10 seconds I was with him in the elevator, plus what I heard of him on the field and in the post-game press conference, I can see why this guy is so well respected.  He’s the kind of coach that players would run through walls for.  They love him, you can tell.

BTW, I’ve lately had close encounters with all three local football coaches in the last two months.  In February, I was in Duke football coach David Cutcliffe’s office photographing him and the Manning brothers.  Last month, I was at the residence of NC State head football coach Tom O’Brien, photographing him and his family for NC State.  Then this encounter with coach Davis.