Way Back Wednesdays: The Mayor's Cup

Have you ever seen an 8 year-old kid fight another 8 year-old kid and have everyone in the building be fine with it? Well this is a common occurrence at the Mayor's Cup in Washington DC where amateur boxers of all ages are invited to punch each other in the face. If you get a chance, you should check it out at least once. It's weird and fascinating all at the same time.

Way Back Wednesdays: Sacked...Almost

On October 20, 2006 my beloved Coolidge football team went up against perennial Turkey Bowl contender Dunbar High School. The game, preceded by much fanfare, was televised on ESPN and hyped as a match between two Washington DC powerhouses boasting loads of D-1 talent. Well, it didn't quite work out like that.

In one hell of an off-season before the 2006 campaign, a Coolidge assistant accepted a head coaching job at Ballou High (also in DC) and took four of the Colts top players along with him. The match-up that ESPN had scheduled included Dunbar's Arrelious Benn (Illinois/Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Nathan Bussey (Illinois/2011 NFL Draft) and Coolidge's Marvin Austin (UNC/2011 NFL Draft), Romale Tucker (Syracuse/Towson), Lamar Milstead (UVA), and Dwan Thornton. The game that was actually played was lacking Coolidge's all stars.

Coolidge brought out a team that didn't have the star power of the 2005 squad and still competed, but lost, to Dunbar. This is a shot of Coolidge freshman QB getting de-cleated shortly after firing a pass attempt.

The Ides of April: Trump Edition

"I'm at the Trump International, ask for me."

Just kidding. I was having a good ole time on the escalator while travelling from one money-sucking building to another. Then I noticed the setting sun dancing on the side of the Trump. Palm trees, and golden rays. They say the light is better on the west coast. I obviously don't have any dissenting evidence.

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National High School Invitational Championship: Oak Hill vs. Montrose Christian

Just when I thought the high school basketball season was over, BAM! A national invitational tournament comes to Georgetown Prep in North Bethesda to determine the best high school basketball team in the entire country. Of course this "national championship" is theoretical because every high school team wasn't invited and the Chinquapin Burrs could have easily made it at least to the final four, easily. But they weren't invited, so they didn't make it.

Oak Hill Academy and Montrose Christian, however, did advance to the finals. The two perennial powerhouses and D-1 ballplayer factories faced off in their second double overtime thriller this season. Montrose, led by Justin Anderson, defeated the Oak Hill Warriors led by Duke-bound Quinn Cook with a score of 71-64. Shout out to kids being genuinely happy about winning (and sad about losing).

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March Madness: Bucknell vs. UConn

Tuesday, I wrote about the thriller that was ODU/Butler. Today's story is a different team who suffered the same fate, but with a score not nearly as close. As an American alum, it was good to see another Patriot League team live and in the big dance. But it's tough when that team has to go up against a Bronx baller named Kemba Walker who led his team with 18 points and 12 assists. Even though UConn ran away with the game pretty early, photographing the Bucknell Bison was just as exciting. Shout out to the Patriot League champs, but it would have been a different story had American gotten past Lafayette.

Way Back Wednesdays: The Common Denominator

When I figured I'd take a shot at a career in photojournalism, I interned at a small newspaper in Washington DC during my last semester in college. The community oriented, bi-weekly paper was called The Common Denominator run by publisher Kathy Sinzinger. It was a small operation held together by her, maybe one or two staff writers, a couple of interns and contributions from political cartoonists and a couple of freelance photographers.

Although I had no idea what I was doing or how to cover a news event, it was a great experience. I didn't even know what a good news photo was supposed to look like because all I'd studied in my photo-j courses were Pulitzer prize winning photographs from war-torn countries and images of natural disasters. There was nothing like that going on in DC. Well maybe there was, but I wasn't covering it.

I don't remember what this particular story was about, but on April 16, 2005 I was assigned to photograph some students in a science lab at the recently re-opened McKinley Tech High School. I walked in feeling like a real photojournalist with my Canon Rebel XT and my 18-55mm kit lens. Spent about 30-40 minutes in science class and came away with this. Front page, baby. Too easy.

Seriously though, The Common Denominator and Kathy helped publish my first photo essay on boxers Lamont and Anthony Peterson and she introduced me to former head coach of Coolidge High School football, Jason Lane. And we all know how much I love Coolidge. So, shout out to community newspapers.

March Madness: Old Dominion University vs. Butler

One of the first games of the 2011 NCAA basketball tournament ended with a buzzer-beater at the Verizon Center in Washington DC. Last year's runner-up, Butler University, took out the Old Dominion Monarchs 60-58 after a last second put-back by senior forward Matt Howard.

This assignment from Old Dominion was my first ever NCAA tournament game and I walked around the arena while the place was fairly empty, soaking up the atmosphere. I noticed that the venues that host the NCAA tournament are interestingly devoid of any sponsors or advertising and are transformed into large, blue velvet arenas complete with blue carpet, blue drapes and blue NCAA logos. The only other color/logo allowed was that of the red cups with the Powerade emblem. Next time you watch a tourney game, I challenge you to look for any in-arena ads.

The occasion seemed like a good time to break out the good old floor remote. Although this camera angle elicited a LOT of crap, I was able to get a few good frames but nothing terribly exciting. I was also angling to get some great access to the team, but apparently NCAA rules state that no one is allowed in the locker room before the game or during half time. It's not like I was passing out $100 dollar bills. Shout out to ODU's seniors, that was a tough way to go out.