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Jeff Beck - "Jeff" (2003- Sony Music Entertainment) Still one of the best guitarists alive, 40 years after the Yardbirds... My Photographs You like photos? I love taking them. Click here, if you wanna see some of my work
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Monday, Nov. 22, 2004 - 9:03 p.m. There was a very long line outside the box office when we arrived at the stadium yesterday. Considering the fact that they only had 500 seats left for the game ON WEDNESDAY, I figured that meant that the people in line were fighting over crap seats. I told the boys that scalpers were our best option. After stopping and asking a couple what they had to sell, we found a pair of guys with something worth haggling over- B section seats that weren�t underneath the baskets (at least with my limited knowledge of the stadium, I though so). So I asked them what they wanted. $40 each was their first offer. That�s $15 over face value. Too much. So the first thing I said was to Codeman and J-Rod- �Lets look around a little more�. Scalper #1 said, �No, wait man- what you wanna pay for them? I take care of you later on for a better game!� Momentum swings towards Roadiepig. �Those seats are behind a basket!� I threw back at him with a smile on my face. �No, man- they�s good seats! What you give me, man?� I tried �$90 for the three?� �You�re killing me, man! We gotta split this when we leave. Make it $100 and they yours�. So we paid for 4 tickets and got 3. Not bad, to see a sold-out game involving the hottest team on campus, the 5th ranked Illini. BTW- just try buying A or B section tickets at the box office. All of these seats are sold to season ticket holders, along with the lower portion of the C section, too. Yes, we did land 4 B section tickets at the box office on game day last year. That was also for a �scrimmage�-like game, and they were only there because the original purchaser returned them. So I was real happy with our purchase. This shot shows you approximately the angle we were seated. Remember that I took this with the lens pulled back into wide-angle format, to capture the entire floor at tip-off:
We never lost sight of the ball at this perspective. When the teams were at our end of the court we had the best view in the house. I have only one regret- I brought the Fuji instead of the Minolta for reasons of practicality. Since it is the smaller of the two and the lens retracts further into the camera�s case, this meant it was easier to slip into a coat pocket. That, and I didn�t know for sure if I could get away with taking into the stadium (turns out the only rule is �no professional cameras with detachable lens�) So, what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? The action shots are somewhat to very blurred due to the low light. Does that stop me from making you look at a few of them? What do you think?
That one is from the other end of the court, using the telephoto feature. Somehow, the blurred result appeals to me. These are from our end of the court:
Yes, there are 4 defenders covering Roger Powell Jr. in this frame. And yes, he made the basket. Luther Head, Illini guard, covering his FAMU counterpart bring the ball up court:
The starting 5, after a quick meeting before Powell shoots free throws:
This group (minus one minor senior who has moved on) won the Big Ten title last season, and made it to the sweet 16 of the NCAA tourney for the second straight year. Everyone is predicting great things for them. Myself included. After the Cubs collapse and failure to make the playoffs, the continual sorry play of the Bears, and the pathetic results from the Illini football team this fall (Their coach was fired today after a 8 year tenure, too), I am ready for a little success from my sports teams� Oh yeah- one last photograph, with an odd story� If you follow any sports here in the U.S., you know teams that have Native America Indian names or �mascots� have been under fire in recent years. I am kinda conflicted on that issue myself- Chief Wahoo (the Cleveland Indian�s big-eyed, buck toothed symbol) is truly offensive. The fans in Atlanta and Florida State doing their �tomahawk chop� arm gestures sure seem condescending to me, too. But the symbol (not �mascot�) of my Illini (Chief Illiniwek) doesn�t fall into the state of caricature like many of the others. Based on the tribe of Native Americans who once inhabited this area, the original Chief was designed with the help of a group of Sioux Indians from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I could spend an entire entry explaining why I don�t consider how the university portrays the Chief is demeaning or in poor taste, but that would probably bore you to death. So I won�t. But I have two quick items about the chief I though I would pass on to you today. The second person to portray the chief (way back in 1929)was a man from Mohall. He is also the person who went to the reservation and paid the Indians to construct the first true Chief Illiniwek outfit (which the present one is still based upon). The daughter of this man was Lease�s boss for the 5 years she was a teacher at her preschool. He had passed away before this time, but I did meet him once at a parade (he was a successful local politician for many years). So that is connection number 1. Number 2?
This is the present student portraying the Chief. In the past, the University has chosen many different people to portray him (even having a female student during WWII). There have been Hispanic Chiefs, a Korean American Chief, and I think even a African American chief. But this year�s chief is only the second to be a native of Mohall, and the first to be the son of my son�s high school baseball coach. Coach even walked past us after halftime. I managed the urge to trip him somehow. Small world, huh?
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