Coolidge vs. Cardozo @ Roosevelt

After the holidays and a Jesuit Classic, I'm back to Coolidge and public school basketball. Coolidge played Cardozo at a surprisingly well lit Roosevelt high school gym. Coolidge came out with the orange unis and applied full court pressure pretty much all night long. Coolidge closed out with a 70-61 win in a game that was not as close as the score indicated. Sloppy second half play and TONS of turnovers allowed Cardozo to stay in the game and probably resulted in a miserable practice for the players the next day. Shout out to in-league games, you never know what will happen.


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Battle of the...

BANDS! I remember going to the Labor Day Classic one year with my sister. It was an annual game between the Prairie View A&M Panthers (her alma mater) and the Texas Southern University Tigers (Michael Strahan's alma mater). At the time she was in school, the team was so bad that the only time the stands were full was during halftime when the bands went at it. The rest of the time was spent milling around in the concourse of the Astrodome, getting phone numbers and seeing what everyone else was wearing.

That wasn't quite the scene at Cardozo high school last Friday during the Ballou/Wilson playoff game, but the way the Ballou Majestic Marching Knights performed brought back memories. The show included the band playing Michael Jackson's "Thriller" while completing all of the choreography with trombones and sousaphones in tow.

I played the trumpet in middle school. Shout out to bands.


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Wilson vs. Ballou DCIAA Football Semi Final

The Ballou Knights polished off the Wilson Tigers 43-7 to advance to the 2009 Turkey Bowl to take on HD Woodson in the DCIAA championship game. The game was pretty slow and Ballou scored, scored and scored again. Wilson proved to be no match but how did they beat Coolidge?

I saw some players preparing the old Gatorade shower on the coach bit except it was a All Sport (do they still make that) cooler with water in it. I tried to get in front of the action without getting on the field but did not succeed. The players drenched the coach and he tried to escape by running onto the field. The only problem was that Wilson just snapped the ball and was right in the middle of a play. Oops. Shout out to the Ballou marching band, coming soon...


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The Second Season

When one ends, a new one begins. This time the Colts of Coolidge High School are playing basketball. I've started photographing this team after their preseason games against teams from other states and after all of their holiday tournaments. We are now down to the nitty gritty of league play. Or as coach Vaughn Jones says, the games that matter.

The League: DCIAA West.

The goals: Win the West. Win the league championship. Win the City Title against Washington DC's top private school.

First opponent: Cardozo High School.

The Colts were matched up against Cardozo High School that boasted Raphael Guthrie who scored 31 and 40 in two previous games. At halftime the Colts trailed 26-25 but ended up winning the game after outscoring Cardozo 56-16 in the second half. So far so good.

1-0 in league play.

Looking Ahead

Last Friday, the Coolidge Colts played their last regular season game against the Cardozo Clerks. As the playoffs get closer, the team gets more and more excited about finally getting that chance to play on Thanksgiving Day in the DCIAA championship dubbed, The Turkey Bowl.

How Sick is this?

Another shoot I've done recently was of one DJ Sickboy. The producer/DJ used to spin at Cafe Japone in Dupont Circle and produces countless hits for the artists over at Heavy Syndication. Oh and one more thing, the soccer club Arsenal seems to be at the top of his list of priorities.

A stroll around U st. And Cardozo High School in Washington DC provided the background for this shoot. I rented a Canon 24mm tilt shift lens just to play around and this is what happened...