Murphys Limited Edition Album in Stores

Okay, this is several hours too late, but WTF.

The Dropkick Murphys have issued a special edition of their album The Meanest of Times for St Patty's Day featuring five bonus tracks, a DVD and apparently some photos taken by me in the CD booklet.

Exactly what pictures they used or how they used, i have no idea. There's a rumor going around that a deal was negotiated over the phone in front of "It's a Small World" at Disney World. (Write your own joke here)

My local record stores don't have it, ergo I don't have it and can't scan it and put it in here. (I'd ask why, but thats like asking why the road i live off of has 5 different names in 8 miles. It's Georgia. I'm coping.) When i finally get my copy, I'll post scans.

Seriously, I'm honored to have some of my work on an album of my favorite band. There's a way Rock and Roll, especially punk Rock, should be seen. And that's gritty, raw, and in your face. I can only hope some of the photos does the band justice because there's nothing like seeing this band live.

So go buy it. (No, i don't get a cut but I've heard 19 of the tracks and there's not a bad tune in the lot.) Meanwhile, me and my lady Ship up to Boston on Friday for some much deserved R&R and St. Paddy's Day shows.

.... And for my next wish? Boston-Philly World Series?

More Baseball.....

Robert McGee is greeted by his teammates as Oconee County beats Jefferson 11-10 in eight innings on Monday, March 10, 2008 at Foley Field in Athens.


Since UGA is taking off to go beat up on FSU for a 3 game set, Its time for the HS kids to play at Foley Field. I went to work the Cedar Shoals-Clarke Central game but the Jefferson-Oconee County game went crazy. Oconee blew a 5 run, 7th inning lead only to load the bases with no out in the bottom of the 7th and not score, gave up a run in the top of the 8th, but mercifully scored two in the bottom of the 8th to finally end the game an hour and a half late.



Jefferson's Jake Fields (16) is mobbed by his teammates after he hit a three-run home run to tie the game at 9 in the top of the seventh inning only to fall 11-10 to Oconee County in eight innings on Monday, March 10, 2008 at Foley Field in Athens.

I love shooting high school sports, bu i hate it when they put lots of games together. Like the times when they play mens and women's basketball back to back. One game always runs long and screws up a deadline. Same case here, Clarke-Cedar started at 8:40. Gave me a big 20 minutes before i had to stop and transmit. Yes i made some nice photos that worked for the paper, but I'd like to shoot the whole game or at least get something really good that tells the story.



Cedar Shoals' Levonte Wynn is hit by a pitch in the first inning as Clarke Central takes on Cedar Shoals on Monday, March 10, 2008 at Foley Field in Athens.



Clarke Central's Bradley West pitches as Clarke Central takes on Cedar Shoals on Monday, March 10, 2008 at Foley Field in Athens.

Sunday Baseball

Pitcher Nick Montgomery warms up in the bullpen as the Memphis Tigers beat the Georgia Bulldogs 7-6 Foley Field in Athens on Sunday, March 9, 2008.

This is an homage to Chris Detrick (Whom won POYi's Sports Action POY & took Third for Sports Portfolio) whom i met once when i was interning at the York Dispatch. He did something (better) like this while working in Utah. I'll perfect it at some point because i don't like that you can see that i shot it through the fence and not as 100% crisp as i'd like, but its a cool thing nonetheless. Stopping the ball mid-spin. (for those who care, 5.6@1/2000.) Something to work on i suppose.

So Georgia's middle relief did wonders again. Out of their 5 losses this year, at least 4 can be attributed to the 7th & 8th inning relief. Today it was 2 outs, 1 on. Two walks and then a call to the bullpen. Guy gets a routine grounder to third, something grabs the foot, throw goes wide, two runs score. Next batter gets a hit, scoring two more. Goes from a 6-3 lead to a 7-6 loss.

In an attempt to break away from the first base/third base side action, i shot for 2 or 3 innings from right center field.



Shortstop Gordon Beckham swings at a pitch as the Memphis Tigers beat the Georgia Bulldogs 7-6 Foley Field in Athens on Sunday, March 9, 2008.

Spring Football?

Georgia coach Mark Richt is silhouetted during practice.

Well Spring football is here. What exactly is "Spring Football?" I have no idea either beyond football in the spring. March is traditionally reserved for Spring Training for baseball and March Madness in college basketball. So why on earth football is hyped in March is beyond me. Come August 1 I'll care. Until then, It's baseball season.

Really, Its Baseball Season.

And once again, media availability for practice is limited to 20 minutes or so.

And..... Lady's Hoops are finished.

Senior Day for Georgia's Women's team. What started off as a 13-0 season finished up with an 8-6 SEC record. Georgia should be NCAA bound. (Full Disclosure: George Mason's women's team went an abysmal 9-19 overall with a 3-14 conference record.)




Anyways, bad equipment struck again. I missed two pictures because of focusing issues. One where the 80-200 back focused and one where the 300 didn't focus at all. It is quite demoralizing to have equipment not work properly.



And on a much happier note, Sgt. Courtney Gale of ACCPD is out of the hospital and doing fine. She was honored at the game.

Gymnastics from Above

Katie Heenan after scoring a perfect 10 on the vault.

So I'm pretty much scared of heights. Not "kinda" or "sorta", rather downright afraid. Not necessarily of the falling, but moreso of the landing. So when a fellow staffer said once "Dude, it would be cool if...." naturally i said yes and forgot that I actually would have to put my money where my mouth was.



Heenan on the uneven bars.

So the catwalks at Stegman Coliseum aren't bad. Completely enclosed, no way to fall. Made me feel better anyways. Only problem is, they're never directly overhead of anything you want to shoot. So i did the best i could with the bad light, odd angles, metal grating and piece o' crap nikon 80-200 lens that was state of the art 3 or 4 generations ago. 2/3rds of the pictures are back focused and it really has me irritated.

But these were nice....



Courtney McCool on the uneven bars and the beam.





Hilary Mauro on the floor exercise.

I hate Scalpers.

Just a quick note... St. Patty's Day is rapidly approaching and DKM is releasing a special, limited edition of their album "The Meanest of Times" on 3/11. More info here. I've heard a few things about the album, so you should take a good look at the photos in the CD artwork. Haven't seen a proof or anything, but i've heard some stuff.

We are planning to go up to Boston for two of the five sold out shows. Just for amusement sake, i looked up a "ticket broker" online. There are way too many tickets being scalped and the highest price i saw was $425/each. Average was about $200. This is flat out ridiculous. There has to be a way to keep concert tickets out of the scalers hands. Its a total disservice to people who are real fans of the band and live music in general. Its just wrong.