Big Uneasy

I've been a subscriber of Sports Illustrated since 1998. And every week I make it a point to look through the magazine.

Each week I have a little ceremony so to say to flip through the magazine and look at every photo. I might read a thing or two, but the first thing I do is look at each photo. Then, I go back and read the stories.

My thoughts on the photos have really progressed since I first started to subscribe. At first they were just out of reach. After a while, I learned to appreciate the images because I learned what it takes to make those pictures.

A while later, after shooting many of the events that Sports Illustrated photographers were also at, I would think "Man, I got a picture of the same play, but I didn't get a picture like THAT of the play."

And recently, I've felt that I can at least hang in there with the best sports shooters. Don't get me wrong, I'm no where near the level of a Sports Illustrated shooter... But think of it like this...The Royals get base hits and home runs against the Yankees and Red Sox each year. They might not win the game or have a better record at the end of the season, but they do have some success against the best of the best.

My "New Sports Illustrated" routine didn't change when I got the latest issue on Friday (one day late btw). I came home from shooting a basketball game and stood in my room flipping through the pages looking at each photo. This issue is the College Basketball Preview issue, so it's a little larger than normal. When I turned to page 128, two pages from the end, for some reason I went right to the photo credits before looking at the photos.

Matt Stamey/US PRESSWIRE

I had to do a double take... I had a photo published in Sports Illustrated. I talked a little about this photo in my last post... Reggie getting knocked out at the one yard line against St. Louis.



A side story about this photo... I actually liked the frame before this shot a lot better. Reggie was reaching out a little more towards the endzone and it had the moment of the impact that knocked him out. But it was a little soft (out of focus). So I transmitted this image instead.

I've been freelancing for US PRESSWIRE for the past few years. They're a photo wire service for sports images. An A.P. for sports photos if you will. When I shoot a game, I send them a bunch of my best photos from the game. From there, an editor posts the majority of those photos on their website (www.uspresswire.com) for clients to purchase. (Clients include USA Today, Sports Illustrated, ESPN... etc)

So, Friday night I went out to find more copies. I hit up five places... nothing. But I had a funny encounter at the Walgreens. While searching the the S.I. on the magazine rack, I saw a Runners World and thought I'd check one of those out since I've been running. So I went to the counter with my Runners World and a thing of Tic-Tac's. The lady scanned the magazine, then the Tic-Tac's, looked at me and said "Wow, you must be really bored tonight." What's that mean? So I asked her "what?" to see if I heard her correctly. "You must be really bored tonight uh?"

How in the world does a Runners World magazine and some white Tic-Tac's translate into me being bored on a Friday night? Oh well.

And, as of Sunday afternoon, Books-a-Million has no more copies of Sports Illustrated.

Get to Know Jake Owen

Who is Jake Owen? I'll get to that.

But lets start with a little KSU basketball. Freshman Michael Beasley is amazing. In his first game Friday night, broke the record for most rebounds for a freshman... in the first 19 minutes. Also he's the first KSU player to have at least 30 points and 20 rebounds in a game since Bob Boozer in 1957. Wow. See you in March!

On Saturday, I did something I haven't done since the 1998 St. Patricks day celebration in Manhattan. I ran in a 5k Road Race in downtown Houma. It was a blast. My goal was to finish under 30 minutes. No problem. Here's the chart for the race, and a picture of me a few steps after the finish line. (Misty left her cousins wedding early to be there... Thanks Misty!)





Not quite at the pace I ran in High School... but I don't care. It was fun.

On Sunday, Misty and shot the Saints game... against St. Louis. The winless Rams bead the Saints 37-29. Oops. Here are some shots.

Couple of Rams players celebrate a touchdown.



Rams running back Steven Jackson... he's good.



Reggie gets knocked out at the one yard line.



Misty and I left the superdome and headed to Biloxi for a concert. Misty won tickets to Little Big Town and Sugarland from a radio station contest. (A picture of Misty and a dog she was taking care of was online with a bunch of other photos, and her picture got enough votes to win her tickets to the show.)

The seats were on the floor, 10 rows back. Not to shabby. I don't really know ether of the groups, I've heard a couple of songs, but I don't know them well enough to sing along.

Here's where Jake Owen comes in. Jake Owen was the opening act for Sugarland and Little Big Town. Jake Owen is the guy that gets on stage and sings a few songs before the main acts come on. Well, for one of his songs, Jake Owen decided to come to the corner of the statge (in front of us) and play his guitar solo. After the solo, Jake Owen tossed his guitar pick into the crowd. I saw it comming right at us, but it was dark and with all the crazy lights I lost it. But I know it was heading right towards us. Misty said that she felt it hit her. So we were looking all over for this thing.... a long with everybody around us. Misty was got on the floor, I started checking on the seats. I even pulled out my cell phone to use as a light. Then, the lady sitting next to me said I should check my pockets. And sure enough, the darn thing landed in my sweatshirt pocket. Now Misty has a Jake Owen guitar pick.

So get to know Jake Owen, he's going to become famous and that guitar pick is going to be worth millions.

Don't eat the Cheese

During the press conference after the Saints game today, Reggie Bush said that Coach Payton has been telling the team "Don't eat the cheese."

Someone asked what that means... and all I heard (well, all I listened to really) was when he listed off a bunch of cheeses, including Gouda. And when I heard that I started silently cheering to Misty because Reggie Bush talked about Gouda cheese. Yea, I know he was talking about not eating it, but he still said "Gouda Cheese"

But yea, the Saints beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 41-24 today. It was a great way to finish off a crappy weekend of football for me.

Friday:
The high school game I covered on Friday sucked, it was really boring.

Saturday:
Kansas Sate lost to a one-win Iowa State.
Wake Forest lost (I picked them to win in the Jimmy C contest)
and LSU won. (Yea, sorry any LSU fans out there, but I've kind of become anti-LSU recently, I think I'll dive into that in another post)

Sunday:
I got some good shots at the Saints game, and they won.
I also won my Fantasy game against Ben... but he just so happened to have three players on bye weeks on his active roster. (wink wink)

But other than the crappy sports on Friday and Saturday... the weekend was great.

here are a few from the Saints game today.

Intros before the game...



A tackle in the first half...



Reggie doing his best karate kick...



And Tom Benson, the Saints' owner, celebrating after the win.