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.

Wow, three days in a row I’ve been to practice. Much of this is because my basketball duties are effectively over which leaves me with much more time (Sadly, I don’t have enough seniority to go to San Antonio with the men’s basketball team.) Don’t get me wrong, I love photographing basketball, but it keeps you busy when its going on.

The team takes on UVA tomorrow, and typically before a game, the practices are a little lighter. However, before heading out for practice, “Santa Haus” payed a visit to the team in the form of new elbow pads for the short sticks.

I didn’t learn a whole lot today, except that the freshmen like to talk about their hair. Ha, only they will get that one. Speaking of the freshmen, I went to Franklin Street Pizza and Pasta with them after practice. Had a great time with them and I finally got some pics of them away from the field.

The North Carolina Tar Heels beat Johns Hopkins on Hops’ home field, only after generations of Tar Heel teams have been dispatched by the Blue Jays with an “L” since 1994. The win was an important one to help the team build some confidence, and to break the Homewood hex that has vexed the Heels for so long.

Homewood Field is turf, and I have to say that for photography, it stinks. The field emits radiant heat, even when ambient temperature is relatively cool. These heat waves made so many of my photos look soft. I had to delete countless photos that were afflicted with this softness. I feel bad for my photography brethren who constantly work at that field. That said, being a lacrosse fan, I have always wanted to go to Johns Hopkins for a lacrosse game, so this was a great treat. I also wanted to get some photos of the man, the legend Paul Rabil before he graduates.

I guess you came here to see the photos right? Well, here they are: Johns Hopkins Lacrosse v. North Carolina photos.

When UVA is on the docket, neither wind, sleet or snow will stop the Heels from preparation. OK, so I’m being a little over dramatic as I write this before I go to bed. But, after a sunny practice yesterday, today was a cold rainy mess.

For the first time this semester, I went back in the weight room with the team. They have typically been lifting in the morning, so I’ve been missing their lift sessions. I have to say, after being sick of them last semester, I was happy to be in there for something a little different.

When the team came back to the locker room from the weight room, they found new sticks waiting for them. The sticks are Carolina Blue and I think that they are from the Mikey Powell line (Grant Zimmerman thought so too - they only had a logo and no writing to confirm this). The sticks will be welcome when the team takes the field to take on UVA Saturday on a nationally televised game.

What I learned today:

• I learned from Michael B. Burns more about the reasoning of putting long poles with shorts on the wings before faceoff, or vice versa, or having the same size sticks match-up.
• I learned from team manager Yu Katoku that in Japan, ties are settled by playing rock, paper, scissors, instead of overtime due to the lack of fields and playing time. (those crazy kids)
• I learned that Kevin Piegare seems to think he can keep the duplex clean when he moves in there as a sophomore. Time will tell.
• I learned from Matthias McCall that the grass that collects around the spikes of your cleats when the ground is wet is called “scrom dog”.
• I learned that Sean Jackson doesn’t always get his appetizer.
• I learned that Cryder DiPietro and Michael Jarvis couldn’t touch their toes when stretching if their life depended on it. The downside of being tall I guess.
• I learned that even when talking about lacrosse sticks, if Bobby McAuley asks if you want his shaft, say ‘no’.

The team began practice with a film session before heading out to the field. Assistant coach Paradine manned a Mac Book Pro (Mac snob alert! — I was happy to see a Windows computer was eschewed in lieu of the better computer. Alert over) and showed some clips of UVA to the team while coaches Haus and Lattimore made commentary as necessary. Afterwards, we headed out to practice on what was a beautiful North Carolina day. There is not much that I can say about practice, but I did learn some new things about the nuances of lacrosse:

• Chris Cortina taught me how extra-man offense, and man-down defense team members are picked. It was something I’ve always wondered.
• I learned from Jamie Locke and Andrew Moss that goal keepers are susceptible to getting their thumbs jammed, and it is common for goal keepers to have messed-up thumbs.
• I learned that Nina Walker reads my blogs! Huzzah!

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 »