“Don’t Get Hit.”
Those were the words of my mother when I was preparing to photograph my first NCAA football game at (sorry Gator fans) Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. Now, six years later, my mother is a little less worried but still is vocal about her boy on the sidelines.
My office does not have carpet, it is a type of Bermuda grass, with no air conditioning, just the Florida sun and the occasional breeze like when Mike Gillislee breaks through the defensive line - luckily that happened quite a few times against Bowling Green during the season opener which began with a scorching hot 3:30 p.m. kickoff.
The work day starts roughly three hours before kickoff and ends about four hours after the clock hits 00:00. I shoot roughly 1,500 photos per game, video of the post-game press conferences and a post-game video of Gator Bait’s Instant Analysis. Then it is time to edit all of this content as quickly as my MacBook Pro can process it and get it to you.
The Heroes and the Villains
This is my fourth season covering the Gators from the unique perspective of the sidelines and each year is like a Shakespeare play with its heroes (Tim Tebow, Urban Meyer at times, Trey Burton) and villains (Steve Addazio, Nick Saban and many others in the SEC).
What is noticeable about this season is there aren’t the stars like there was in seasons past. We all know that Tebow is the proverbial master of all things college football, but there used to be a cast to go along with boy wonder. We used to have characters like the Pouncey twins, protagonists like Percy Harvin to make the impossible possible and even the feel-good story like Gary Beemer’s touchdown in 2010.
From my perspective, this has been lost, and I hope it will return soon.
To regain this galaxy of stars does not require two national championships or a beatdown on Alabama.
Tebow never used a Twitter account when he played at Florida to reach his status - neither did Harvin or the Pouncey twins. The players gained their reputations the good ole fashioned way – through the press. Through feature stories, profiles and goofy photo shoots, they were given a voice and an identity long before social media could provide an avenue.
There were professional writers and photographers that are trained journalists to tell their story.
And even from the sidelines you can see it changing.
Working the Game
Working a game from the sidelines is entirely about perspective. You, the fans, like the sportswriters and TV talent, sit high atop Ben Hill Griffin Stadium breaking down every play as if it was your call. That is what is special about actually going to a football game in The Swamp – you can feel the game. No 90” Sharp LED TV can replace the feeling of being at a game and no matter how many speakers you can fit in your living room, they won’t give you the feeling of fourth-and-1 with 20 seconds left in the game.
It’s about perspective. It’s about feeling the game.
On the sidelines, everything changes. You are shorter than the players (even at 6-4). You see the formation just a few seconds before the snap and make your best judgment to read the quarterback and figure out the play with enough time to make a picture, all while simultaneously adjusting all of that complicated camera stuff and trying not to get run over.
Luckily, I have an assistant this season, Christine Casey (@C_MCasey) who shoots with me and helps lug around the 50-plus pounds of gear that it takes to cover a game.
Every game has a story, much like you read in the countless articles that break down the performance of the team. But this story is not about yards gained or lost, it is rarely about the score, it is sometimes about who wins and who lose – this story is about the fact that 90,000 people can get together and for a rare moment in our society cheer for one team, one party, one organization.
The visuals tell this story. The perspective tells this story and sometimes you need to climb to the last row or hang off the side of a building to capture it.
The Season Ahead
