A Helmet Popping Good Time...

The local college football opener for McMurry and ACU was being played at Shotwell Stadium last week. It was the first time these two teams had met since 1971. It was also McMurry's first game as a member of Division II and ACU's last year of playing D2 before the move to the Southland Conference in Division I FCS next year. Both team got out to a pretty slow start. I was expecting McMurry to have a hard time against ACU's defense. I wasn't, however, expecting ACU to come out and have a hard time with the ACU defense.

In the second quarter things started to change for the ACU offense. They started to click while the ACU defense kept pounding away on the McMurry offense. The War Hawks going for it on nearly every fourth down wasn't helping their defense either. By the end of the third quarter the blow out was in full effect. The game ended with ACU winning 51-0 and showed that McMurry has kind of an uphill climb to make waves in the higher division.

Slime Time...

Every year on the Saturday at the end of freshman welcome week for McMurry University they have the "Slime Olympics." Basically, it's one of those events that everyone gets to unwind and get ready for the start of the school year. But, by the end of the thing it just turns into one big food fight. The good part of that is it usually turns into some pretty decent photos. The bad part though, is no matter how hard you try, you're going to catch a stray stream of flying chocolate syrup or flying shaving cream.

Rainy Day Abilene...

Last year at this time a good chunk of the state was either in the midst of burning down or had already been scorched and there was absolutely no rain anywhere in sight, plus it was already hotter than hell. This year, we've been getting some nice rain. So much that the area has already gotten more rain in the first few months of the year than we had gotten all last year. Last Thursday was no different. There was a little bit of rain in the morning, but during the afternoon it poured. Getting nearly an inch of rain only meant one thing, the parade that was supposed to be on the front page got rained out and we needed to find a weather photo to replace it. I spent quite a while driving around looking for something and had a few really lame shots of cars driving through flooded intersections as safe shots. But nothing I was in love with. Finally, while I was driving by McMurry University I saw a bunch of people walking into Radford Auditorium in caps and gowns. I figured it was graduation practice. So, I spent about 20 minutes sitting in my car watching people trying to avoid the rain until I saw these two ladies huddling under one umbrella trying to stay dry. I was able to track them down, get names and find out it was a pinning ceremony for new nursing students. After that I was able to head back to the office happy (and soaked just from a 20 yard run from my car to the building).

Rainy Day Baseball Again...

Last year I can't remember one weekend that any of my assignments got rained out. Hell, I can barely remember many days that we got any rain last year. This year, for the second week in a row the skies were filled with grey clouds. Last week, it was a full on rainy weekend and everything happening outdoors got cancelled. This week, there were clouds in the sky most of the week, but there was no rain, just a bunch of humidity. On Saturday it was drizzling as I was walking into the Cooper softball game. I ended up shooting the first half of the first inning and between innings there was a huge lightning bolt in the sky. By rule any time the teams are pulled off the field it the teams have to stay off the field for at least thirty minutes after the most recent lightning. So, I figured I'd go back to the office and put in the St. Patrick's Day parade pix I had shot in the morning.

I ended up going back to the field after about an hour and they had just gotten started again. I got there in time to shoot Cooper batting in their half of the second inning. There were hitting pretty decent and scored a few runs. Then the rain started coming down, not too hard but coming down. Then the rain starts getting a little harder, there was 2 outs in the inning so, my plan was to tough it out till the end of the inning, one more out and go shoot from one of the dugouts. Well, I guess the umpires were tired of the rain getting heavier and called the players off the field again. Well, that was it, I've been to this game twice and only gotten a grand total of five outs, I'm done here.

After that I went to shoot McMurry baseball and was hoping for a little better luck down the street. I got to the game and it looked like the players were warming up. Woohoo! I guess they were getting ready to play, finally I may get to shoot a get without it being stopped. I go in the press box and find out they were warming up, getting ready for the second game. As I'm walking out on the field it looking like the sun is peeking through the clouds, well, I guess one out of two ain't so bad. I made a few nice frames, but, I know I'm still a way away from having my baseball timing down, at least it's Spring, hopefully we'll have some nice days to shoot.

Ending the Streak...

It's hard to call a game a rivalry, when it is so lopsided that one team has a 23-game losing streak that dates back almost 50 years. That is how long Hardin-Simmons has been dominating it's cross-town rival McMurry. And most of those year the score has been pretty dominating on HSU's part. This year, though, McMurry has a really good team and HSU is down a little. It was also McMurry's last chance to get a win, since it was probably the last time these two teams would play with McMurry moving up to play in NCAA Division II next year.

The game wasn't all that exciting, McMurry didn't air it out quite like they had been doing all year with HSU's biggest team strength being pass defense. So, they stuck with a fairly conservative running and short passing game moving the ball down the field pretty slowly but effectively and often. HSU was running the ball well, but could never really get ahead or ended up with an untimely turnover when they didn't need it. Personally, I'd have preferred a little more offense, just makes for better pix, but I did manage to get a few that I was happy with. And given how long the streak was, it made for a couple nice celebrations photos after the game was over too.

Crosstown Volleyball, College Style...

The week before Halloween is always Crosstown Rivalry week, not only for the high schools but also for the two local D3 colleges, McMurry and Hardin-Simmons. It's kind of weird this year though, since McMurry is moving up to play NCAA Division II next year, so this is the last time the week both the volleyball and football games will be combined. It's not going to be quite as fun next year, but the week won't be as busy as well either.

When they played earlier this year, McMurry won the first game pretty easily and then Hardin-Simmons ended up winning the next three straight games to take the match in four games. This time McMurry won the first game in a blowout, then Hardin-Simmons came back to win the next two games pretty easily. It was looking like deja vu all over again. This time, however, McMurry ended up winning the next match, forcing a fifth game. Now, not only is it rare to see a five-game volleyball set, it's even more rare for me to stick around for all five games. But, given the rivalry and the emotions flowing I figured I'd stick around for the whole thing. Plus, they only play the final game to 15, so at least it'll go a little quicker. And, the added bonus is since they were playing so close the final two games I knew there would be some great emotion from the win, and given the heated rivalry, that just added to things.

Spring Time is Track Time....

I shot my first track meet of the season, a college meet. And while I often bitch and moan about how much I hate shooting D2 and D3 baseball, I LOVE D3 track! Why? Well, two events... the hurdles and even better, the steeplechase. I know it sounds pretty sadistic and awful, but the two best things about shooting track, and one of the reasons I love shooting it so much are emotions and chaos. With championship events it's great because there is no shortage of emotions. However, at the meets with very little at stake (other than practice and attempting to qualify for nationals, something that can be done even after the conference meets), the only thing left is chaos. And at the D3 level, while there are some really incredible athletes, lets just say, not all of them are. So, the chance for chaos is always there. In the steeplechase it's almost guaranteed there will be at least one runner doing a faceplant into the water. Now, I didn't get a chance to shoot the steeplechase the day before. But, the 100m or 110m hurdles come very close in the crash factor.

Now, I NEVER hope for an injury to an athlete, that's awful and I never want to see someone end their career in front of me. However, a trip over a hurdle that leaves nothing but bruised pride or a fractured ego always makes for good images. So, any time I see a pair of legs sticking straight up, I've got to say I get a little excited. And, while the top photo may look like a collision was going to happen, it didn't and no one was hurt other than a little road rash or bruises. After that the other two photos were just me looking for something interesting to go along with the crash.

Crosstown College Showdown...

After having gone to a college who's football team draws 90,000+ fans a game I still find it ironic that the Friday high school games draw the biggest crowds in town by a long shot. But the fans that go to the games are still loud and passionate about their teams, so it's still fun to watch. This game while it is called a rivalry has been pretty lopsided for the last few years. In fact, McMurry is in the midst of a 22-game losing streak to Hardin-Simmons. But, things have been changing, with a new coaching staff and a high-octane offense McMurry is trying to challenge the old guard of HSU and be king of the city. The problem was no one told Hardin-Simmons. McMurry put up a decent fight, but still extended its losing streak to 23 games, maybe next year.

Havin a Field Day...

With the end of school, it usually means the start of the really slow news months. The last week of school is sort of a last gasp effort of finding photos at the schools. And one of the only things I think I miss about being a kid and being in school is field day! This field day was for the math and science magnet school while is housed at one of the local universities. It's sort of a gifted and talented kind of program that kids spend their whole school year with the same class. And, they don't have a regular field day like most schools, so to make it a little more like a "normal" school, McMurry University faculty and students put on an educational type of field day for these kids. But it is still pretty much based on fun and tat's the most important thing is to make sure the kids are going to have fun, not to mention the staff too. It was a pretty fun event to shoot, especially after covering the fatal accident the night before.

Crash and Road Rash...

The second day of the ASC track meet went well, but I didn't get as much time as I'd have liked either. I was only able to stay there for about half the races, but the hurdles made up for everything. It's rare to see a crash in the hurdles, let alone two. The second one I didn't get I was too tight on the guy in the next lane, but this one turned out well.

McMurry ended up winning the meet, so I figured two crash photos were a little much, but it did get used and played inside very well. We ended up using the photo from the 4x100m relay as the main photo, since McMurry blew away the field in the race.