When the Alaska high school sports league made the announcement a few years ago and said that they were going to start women’s flag football my first thought was “Why?”.  I checked the internet and at that time, one other state had flag football as a varsity sport.  Florida.  And it was called Powder Puff Football.  Now, when I was in high school, the boys fall sport was Football.  Girls had two main sports, Soccer, and Volleyball.  The guys got soccer in the spring.  Here, both the boys and girls soccer teams play in the spring, and I guess moving the girls to the fall was not considered.  But yet, there a many more girls sports that are being played in more places than flag football was.  Why not field hockey, or lacrosse?  I guess what it boiled down to in the long run was money, and it was much cheaper to start flag football than to invest in the special goals for lacrosse and all the player gear.  It is too bad though.  At least with LAX or field hockey, those are sports that some of the girls might have a chance to earn a scholarship in.

So, back to the game.  I have tried to shoot flag football before and I just could not follow it.  It was not until last night that things started to fall into place.  I figured out that a team kicks the ball off, and you start wherever the play ends.  Simple, just like regular football.  But, if the ball is kicked past the 20 yard line, like to the 18 yard line, you have 4 plays to get to the 20.  If you get to the 20, you then have 4 plays to get to the 40, then 4 to the next 40, then the 20, then the goal line.  No 1st and 10, no chains.  Ok.  Starting to make sense here.  One of the Eagle River girls tossed the ball to the running back and she dropped it.  I am standing there getting excited, expecting coaches and players to start screaming “BALL BALL BALL” and go to pick up the fumble.  Nope.  Ball hits the ground, play is dead.  Ok, so no fumble.  Team scores and the referee asks if they want 1, 2 or 3.  I have no idea what the difference is.  The only choice I ever heard accepted was 1.  I would assume that whatever you choose, you are different distances from the goal line and the extra points would be 1, 2 or 3, but do not quote me on that.  I think that is the basics of the game, and once I was able to understand the rules, I was able to start watching the game through the viewfinder and create some images.  It was not quite as exciting as boys football, but I was also finding that I was not running up and down the sidelines as much.  So I am still uncertain if I am a flag football fan, but I have figured out, I can watch the game now and understand what is going on, unlike something like cricket.

Anyway, here are a few photos from the game.  To view and purchase photos from the JV or Varsity games, visit http://www.digital-eos.com

Avoiding the Flag Grab

QB Option

QB Keeper

The reception.  I have lots of reception photos, great shots, but not the one.  I have plenty of shots of wideouts getting the ball in the air across the field, usually with one or two players in frame, usually between me and the reception, or the ball just too far away to show you it was caught, or after it is already in the hands of the receiver, or one with a ref totally getting in my way.  What I have been looking for is that perfect shot.  Full body, ball getting ready to fall in the hands of the receiver in full stride.  I came close the very first game of the season with this shot of an interception.

But it was not the shot I have been wanting.  You could not tell from the photo who was actually going to catch it.  Composure wise, it is better than what is coming, with a great background, nice exposure, and pops right out at you, but not what I have been wanting.

So the game started and it looked like it was going to be a running night.  Junior quarterback Kelechi Madubuko was doing a lot of hand offs and QB keepers, but not tossing the pill much.  Then, there it was, in the second quarter.  Madubuko was clear in the center of my frame with his arm loaded for a pass, and a deep on from how he looked.  I snapped a few pictures of him and swung the camera around.  While swinging around, out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of blue and I got him in frame and started firing.  No line judges, no referee, nothing between him and me.  I did a quick check after the play was over and yup, it looked in focus, but never trust the LCD.  I continued shooting the game.  I got home and started dumping the photos onto my hard drive and going through them in Apple’s Aperture.  About 1100 game photos to go through.  One by one I go through them, quickly looking for keepers, maybes and junk.  Then I come to that clear shot of the QB, I could not wait.  I clicked the right arrow key a couple clicks to find a nice, sharp shot of wide receiver Jeavonte Dunn in full stride, looking over his shoulder (towards me) with the ball right there.  Yes.  Finally.  And here it is.

***UPDATE***

It was confirmed today that former Alaskan Senator, Theodore “Ted” Stevens did die in the crash this morning.  He was 86 years old.  These images are available for media use from Zuma Press.

Augie Ortiz at shortstop

Marcus Foster glides in for two points.

So far these are the only two images I have entered.  I can enter up to 20.  I do not know if I will enter that many, but I plan on entering at least a few more.  If you like the images, I would appreciate your vote.  Voting has started.  Please visit My Sandisk Entry Page and vote for my images. You can vote for each image once a day. I think I am doing well, but I would love to make it to the finalists.  Thanks!

Here are the other images I entered.

Travis on the Bump

Zach - Base Hit

Brandon Boyer throwing from 3rd to 1st

Garrett Balen signs a letter of intent to Western Oregon University to play baseball for the 2011 season.

Garrett Balen, senior catcher/pitcher for the Chugiak Mustangs signed his NCAA Letter of Intent to play baseball for the Western Oregon Wolves next year.  The signing took place in his parents home in Eagle River, Alaska on Sunday, May 30th, 2010.  Balen will stay in Alaska during the summer and continue playing baseball with the Chugiak Mustang American Legion team.

Garrett Balen signs to play college baseball with the Western Oregon Wolves next season.

Balen will not be the only Alaskan participating in athletics at Westen Oregon.  Justin Ore from Diamond High School, Tanner Grover from Palmer, Mike Petrovich from South Anchorage, and Max Harvey from Eagle River High are on the football team (Harvey was injured last season but says he is ready to go this season), Amber Walker, from Juneau Douglas is with the Volleyball team and fellow Mustang graduate Lorrie Clifford from Chugiak High will be a sophomore on the Women’s Basketball Team.

Balen will be playing catcher for the Wolves, and with both catchers this season being seniors, he will be sliding into one of their spots on the roster.

And yes, Garrett is the son of my sister, making him my nephew.

Last Thanksgiving I shot the Great Alaska Shootout for Icon SMI.  They had asked me to shoot it, and I did, and kind of forgot about it.  Not the games, but working with a wire service, after you shoot, edit, caption and FTP, you are on to the next thing.  Over 4 days, 6 teams, with each team getting 3 games, I uploaded between 40-100 photos per game.  But then for me, I got busy with high school basketball and kinda forgot about the Shootout.

The 2009 shootout featured the Washington State Cougars, and during one game, Klay Thompson broke out for a shootout record with 3′s, surpassing Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson whose record had stood for like 15 some odd years.

So weeks turn into months and today, June 1st, I received a check from Icon SMI.  It turns out that for the December 7th issue of Sports Illustrated, Thompson was named “the best player in the Pac-10″, and SI had used THIS PHOTO from Icon SMI in the article pictured above.  It is on page 46.  This is the Derek Jeter Sportsman of the Year issue.  I am pretty excited.  I have had SI stuff online briefly, stuff in ESPN the Mag and at ESPN.com, but it is really nice opening up an issue of the top sports magazine to find an image that you took.  Even nicer when you get a check for it.  I have a close up of the photo as it appeared in the magazine with my by-line next to it bellow.

One of the many graves at the Ft. Richardson National Cemetery

On the last Monday of May, throughout the United States, people gather at their local National Cemeteries to remember those who have given their lives in protecting the people of the United States, their allies, and those unable to defend themselves.  People of all backgrounds, active and retired military, their families, friends, politicians, foreign dignitaries, and more gathered at the Fort Richardson, Alaska National Cemetery on Monday, May 31st in recognition of Memorial Day 2010.  Congressman Don Young of Alaska spoke, Alaska Senator Mark Begich delivered the Presidential Proclamation, and  Alaska Governor Sean Parnell delivered the State of Alaska Proclamation on a beautiful day in Alaska.

while it might be hard to see, the posters have a white boarder and are sizes for 16×20 frames.  Most of the time, the boosters have the teammates sign the posters around the white boarder.

Here is a soccer poster from this season.

I really enjoy presenting the boosters with these posters and the seniors and their parents talk to me about the posters all the time.  I had one parent recently tell me that she goes into her sons room while he is away at college just to look at the poster.  If you are interested in having a poster made up for your athlete, even if they are not a senior, please contact me directly for pricing, or if your are a booster member and you would like to do posters for your senior night, please contact me for special booster pricing.