Last Friday night started the High school football season. The game I was assigned to was Desert Ridge at Mesquite in Gilbert, which went into over-time.  The excitement around the came was intense. You would have thought these teams were playing in Superbowl. There is nothing like a high school athlete who has a drive to play the game.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/page/slideshowfull/1978

I was covering the send off rally of the Arizona Cardinals as they were leaving to New Orleans to play the Saints. Tons of fans and supporters showed up for rally at the airport. I was watching the cheerleaders dance during the celebration and noticed the Bidwill family waiting behind them for the team to show up.

One of the youngsters from the family had his eye on them, and I was talking with fellow photographers looking on at the boy. I was looking at the facial expression …

So I did something yesterday I hadn’t done in I don’t know how long, and I kinda liked it. I was a “FAN” for the ASU/UofA game. Since I’ve got 12 staples in my tummy and not being able to carry anything over 10 pounds, I’m on the injured reserved list. So I sat at home in my recliner and with friends (I even had a Wildcat fan there) watched my Devils lose to our nemesis in what was another typical Duel in the Desert. There are two kinds …

While I uploaded my last few photos from tonight’s high school football match up between Mesa’s Desert Ridge and Tempe’s Corona del Sol (live coverage and discussion over at varsity.evtrib.com), I thought I would share one of my few lightning photos. It’s taken me about 4 years as a staff photographer but I’ve finally caught one of these things in a neat setting:
I usually end up obsessing so much over where to shoot the lightning that by the time I pick a location the storm has passed.
This was a 4 …

Did you get a chance to check out varsity.evtrib.com for our live web coverage of prep football? You can still visit to catch a recap of tonight’s action. Here are a few shots from Mesa’s Red Mountain playing at Corona del Sol in Tempe. A complete slideshow of game  photos will be available on the main page at evtrib.com.

Visit  varsity.evtrib.com to watch our live coverage of Friday night prep football.

Every so often on assignment something extraordinary stands out. While waiting to take mug shots of varsity football players at Queen Creek High School, I noticed the freshmen crossing the track in a way that looked like a sort of ritual. Some players were log rolling, others crawling on their hands and knees. But after asking a parent what they were doing, I found out the reason was much less extraordinary. The players were told not to walk on the track with their cleats to avoid damaging the rubberized surface. …