Kansas City is known for having the most fountains of any
city outside of Rome, but when it’s cold outside said fountains are turned off.
Thus, KC has no fountains when I've been here for my five Chiefs home games,
all of which have occurred in late November or December. Saturday was overcast
with freezing rain throughout the day that continued until Sunday afternoon,
but was still overcast for my entire time in KC.
Since I couldn't get great shots of KC due to the
weather, here’s a look at my favorite Kansas City photos.
Ten minutes from Arrowhead Stadium in Independence, MO is
the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum. With the crappy weather, I
figured that inside shooting would be best. This was the first presidential
library and features a replica of the Truman Oval House and lots of exhibits
showcasing his presidency.
A lot happened in his first four months as president
after taking over for FDR, who died in office. Both fronts of World War II
ended and Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bomb twice in Japan.
In addition, Truman is buried in the courtyard and is now
the 15th former U.S. Presidential final resting spot I’ve photographed.
A week removed from his five-touchdown explosion, Kansas
City running back Jamaal Charles popped off a 31-yards ground score to put the
Chiefs up 7-0. However, the visiting Colts ran off the game’s final 23 points
to win the game. The KC loss coupled with Denver win gave the Broncos at least
the #2 seed in the AFC and the Chiefs clinched the #5 seed and will be on the
road for the playoffs.
I set up two cameras in the press box due to the cold and
the lack of space in the end zone to put my cameras. The 40D with the Sigma
10-20mm lens was set up in the far left corner and the GoPro Hero 3 was at the
50-yard line. For the GoPro, I purchased the “frame” so I could hook up power
since the battery sucks. It worked well and as did the press box set up.
UP NEXT: Miami
& El Paso again
I conclude 2013 with a double dip in Miami for the
Jets-Dolphins game on Sunday and the 80th Sun Bowl on Tuesday featuring the 8-4
Virginia Tech Hokies and the 9-3 UCLA Bruins. It will be my third Sun Bowl in
the past five years. Interestingly enough, the last time I did the Sun Bowl (in
2011) my NFL game that week was also the Jets-Dolphins in Miami.
For me, a tradition like no other is the college
basketball/NFL double dip weekend the first weekend of December. This is my
third straight year (fourth overall) doing the CBS opening tip game and then
doing a football game the next day. My previous three opening tip/NFL double
dips started out at Kentucky; and the last two both ended in Miami. Here’s a
look at my four such weekends and how the teams fared.
YEAR
HOOPS GAME
NFL GAME
2013
MISSOURI 80, UCLA 71
CINCINNATI 42, Indianapolis 28
2012
Baylor 64, KENTUCKY 55
New England 23, MIAMI 16
2011
KENTUCKY 73, North Carolina 72
MIAMI 34, Oakland 14
2009
KENTUCKY 68, North Carolina 66
Oakland 27, PITTSBURGH 24
WOW! JUST WOW!
Columbia, Missouri is in the middle of nowhere and I had
to fly into St. Louis then drive two hours to get there. However, since I was
in St. Louis anyway; I stopped at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. This
Catholic church is breathtakingly beautiful. I’ve photographed numerous
churches all over the world and easily my favorite. Pope Paul VI called this
place “the outstanding cathedral of the Americas.”
Though the basilica was completed in the 20th century,
the inside is designed to look like the greatest example of Byzantine style
under Roman emperor Justinian in the sixth century. It has nearly 42 million
individual mosaic glass pieces with a range of over 8,000 different colors that
were installed by Tiffany & Company. When I was in Istanbul this past May,
there are two former churches (the Hagia Sophia & Chora Church) that were
clearly the inspiration for this magnificent place of worship.
I got into town a day early to ensure I was there early
for my photo shoots with the teams on Friday; so I photographed the Thursday
night Mizzou game against West Virginia and also get three time lapses of the
game. Missouri dominated from the opening tip. The final score wasn’t
indicative, as the Tigers failed to hit free throws down the stretch. And yes,
the final score of both Mizzou games were the same.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MY GALLERY OF THIS GAME
MIZZOU ARENA TIME
LAPSE
Using my spare Canon SLRs and the GoPro Hero 3, I covered
three different vantage points for the time lapse. The 20D was set up with the
Canon 17-40mm L lens in the corner, while the 40D was high up in the rafters
behind the boards using the Sigma 10-20mm lens and the GoPro was at midcourt.
Below is a combination time lapse of these three views.
PHOTO SHOOTS
For the first time since the 2013 Final Four, I lugged
out the lighting gear and shot some sportraits of Missouri and UCLA. I
photographed six Tigers and nine Bruins. Looking ahead to the 2014 NBA Draft; nbadraft.net
has two of these student-athletes as potential picks. On that site, they have
Missouri’s Jordan Clarkson going #24 overall and UCLA’s Kyle Anderson at #31
Three Missouri players posted at least 20 points as the
Tigers continued their NCAA active streak of 24 straight home wins to stay
undefeated by beating the previously unbeaten UCLA Bruins. This game marked my
first in Columbia since the 2001 college basketball season when I did two games
at Mizzou within a month. Back then, the Tigers played at the Hearnes Center,
before the Mizzou Arena was built three years later.
FAUROT FIELD AT
MEMORIAL STADIUM
The Missouri football team’s stadium is under renovation,
but I still managed to sneak in and got some shots of the empty stadium. It’s a
horseshoe-shaped stadium with seating in the opening end with a grass berm in
the curved end that has a giant block “M” that’s made out of pained white
stones.
The Ginger Gunslinger, Andy Dalton, completed 69% of his
passes for 275 yards with three touchdown strikes and another on the ground to
lead the Bengals to their ninth win of the season. Cincinnati jumped out to a
21-0 lead with ten minutes to go in the second half before Colts QB Andrew Luck
threw the first of his career-tying four touchdown passes; but it wasn’t enough
for Indianapolis.
Since the game was in Cincy, I knew I could get out Sunday
night and not waste an entire day of travel since I’ve been away from home
since Wednesday night. I rushed to the airport only to find out that my flight
was delayed, but would still get me home on time. However, that all changed
when the incompetent ground crew apparently forgot that it was cold outside and
wasn’t ready for us when the plane needed to be de-iced. It meant that with the
extra hour on the tarmac that I missed my flight from Salt Lake City home to
San Jose. Strangely enough, I’ve never had to stay overnight because of a plane
issue in my more than 1.2 million miles on Delta/Northwest, or any airline for
that matter. Once, it would've happened when I was living in Grand Rapids, but
I just drove home. To add salt to the wound, I could see my actual plane
leaving the gate when I arrived – it was in the opposite terminal. To cut the
wound even deeper, Delta put me on a 3:00pm flight home on Monday. Luckily, I
did manage to get them to change it to a morning flight, but to Oakland. Ugh.
UP NEXT: NY Jets
at Carolina
Much like the Titans home game in Week Four, I’m beyond
stoked to do this game. I had it circled when the schedule came out for a
multitude of reasons. 1). I get to do my 28th out of 32 NFL home venue time
lapses, 2). Photograph Cam Newton in an NFL uniform (I do so at the 2010 Iron
Bowl when he was at Auburn), and 3). I will drive to Columbia, South Carolina
Saturday after the production meeting to photograph my 41st U.S. state capitol
building.
