Soccer * 3

Today was a fun one.

I started out the day at Campus Day 2008 at UA. Essentially hundreds of local middle/junior high and high school kids were treated to a show at the Greek Theatre on the UA campus.

Afterwards, I had not one, not two but three HS state championships in soccer. I was a little lost at first as I haven't shot soccer in over a year. But I found my groove, luckily. And I'll never complain about shooting soccer. Being a soccer fan and player all my life, I really can't get enough of the sport. Of course the first game went through two sudden-death overtime periods and was settled in penalty kicks.

The only unfortunate part of the games was the lack of internet at the stadium. So I had to get in my car, edit and drive to nearest wireless connection after each game. Not too bad, though, as I found the UA campus wireless nearby.

Early deadline

Had some baseball tonight between UA and Missouri State. That part I knew going into the game. What I didn't know was the early deadline.

The game is running long. The game starts at 6:30 and at 8:15, we're just finishing the fourth inning. I get a call from my sports editor at 8:20 asking if I'm close to sending photos. "Well, I can be," I respond. Good thing because apparently my deadline is in 10 minutes.

So I quickly rush to the press box (luckily, I was already shooting upstairs when I got the call) and edit quicker than I've ever done. I had two photos moved by 8:30 and three more by 8:40.

I'm sure somewhere, someone told me about this deadline. I'm sure I completely didn't realize it. So I'm definitely to blame here, I'm sure. Fortunately, my sports editor is an understanding guy.

Also, just wanna throw out a big thanks to Marc for letting me borrow a spare battery. For some reason, when I put my backup in, it was completely dead. I know it WAS charged as I have a system for knowing when a battery is dead and in my bag. I really can't explain this one.

Why is Sunday spot news day?

For some reason, unbeknownst to me, Sunday just seems to be spot news day. And it's always no where near where I am.

I started out the day with a religion assignment in Siloam Springs and afterwards went over to the Dogwood Festival also in Siloam.

Then later as I'm finishing up some other stuff, I hear a call on the scanner for a fire somewhere in West Fork. Luckily after calling a few folks, I got an address for the house and found my way there. Of course after all this time in getting there, the fire was already put out by the time I got there (and I later found out that there was actually Winslow). But at least I was able to get something to make my drive worth it.

FOOTBALL!!!

That's right! It's spring football time!

All today was spent at Razorback Stadium. I started off with the Razorfest and finished the day with the Red-White Spring football game.

There was a HUGE crowd there for a spring scrimmage. The announced attendance was 40,200.

It was a little weird being the only shooter from my paper at the game. During the season, we always have at least three shooters at every home game. So I was a little nervous being the lone guy.

But, after a while I remembered how to shoot football and came away with some shots I was happy with.

In case you're wondering, Arkansas won.

Back with the Nats

Didn't post last night because I got in real late and just went to bed.

Today had me return to Arvest Ballpark for the first match-up between the "rivals" here in Springdale; they played a series last weekend in Little Rock. The Arkansas Travelers came to town and being another in-state team, everyone is trying to hype the "rivalry." Here's my $.02: it's minor league baseball. Even the players don't care about winning/losing. They're all playing for Team ME. It's all about getting moved up to the big league; records don't really matter in the minors.

Tight quarters

Well, I spent pretty much all day today in the Washington County Courthouse.

Gregory Decay was convicted in his capital murder case yesterday. The 22-year-old was found guilty for the murders Kevin Jones and Kendall Rice, both 24, a little over a year ago. And today was the continuation of the sentencing stage where the prosecution was pushing for death. A Washington County jury has not given a death sentence in decades. Today broke that streak.

This was my first time photographing in the Washington County Courthouse, so this was my first experience with "the closet." Photographers (still and video) are confined to a roughly 3x5 closet space shooting through a window looking into the courtroom. This small confine housed three still photogs and two TV photogs today. Needless to say, it was quite tight quarters.

Yes, I am a slacker

OK, I am finally posting again. Sorry for the slackerness that I exhibited. And thanks, Ben, for pointing it out. :)

Today was a rather light day (in number of assignments, that is). It weight of assignments, it was far from that description.

I had to go to Bentonville today (and afterwards to Rogers) for a funeral service for a local Marine that was killed on April 15 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when his convoy was struck by roadside bomb. The media was restricted from the grounds of both the church and the cemetery, so if the shots look like they're from a distance, there's a good reason. But despite the distance in proximity, I was at least satisfied with the result.