Last assignment of the year...

Today was the last game of the year for me. The Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth. The University of Houston was playing Air Force. I hate 11am games, anyone who knows me, know I'm up at the crack of noon on a regular basis. I value sleeping in, it makes me happy. In fact I'm usually up in the middle of the night when I'm writing in this blog. So, getting up to leave at 6:30am was, to say the least, difficult.

The main reason I was at the game was one player, University of Houston quarterback Case Keenum (above). Case is from Abilene and I've been shooting him since he was in high school (below). He was one of those kids in high school that, on paper, didn't look all that special. But, the kid knew how to win. His high school coach told me Case's 40 time was always "one step faster than the guy that was chasing him." That's just the way he played, if you needed three yards he would always get you 3.5. He was fun to watch, so when Houston was selected to play in the Armed Forces Bowl just down the road in Ft. Worth covering him was a no-brainer.

So, while I'm shooting the game, not only am I looking for good pictures to go with a game story, I'm also thinking about getting stock-type images of Keenum for any story or stories we will be doing about him in the future. Since the University of Houston doesn't play in a major conference and isn't ranked in the top 25 getting wire photos them isn't a sure thing let alone getting photos of the one kid on the team you need. Although, it is a little bit easier since he plays one of the most important positions on the field.

The game itself was all it was supposed to be. Air Force runs an option attack, while Houston runs the spread. I was really impressed by how well Air Force played considering the limitations on them as far as recruiting because they are a service academy. Houston ended up winning its first bowl game since 1980, but it was really close.