Redskins vs Bills 8.13.2010 – Images by Mike Morones
Well, it’s that time of year again – football season! I spent yesterday at FedEx Field and anybody who has been there knows what a joy that can be. The media room got a fresh coat of paint, warm hot dogs and wireless internet access. So I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice. Even though it mildly upset my sensibilities to see McNabb in burgundy and gold, any football is good football.
Redskins Minicamp
I spent much of yesterday in Ashburn at Redskins Park for the team’s first minicamp of the year. One of the media relations guys said he was surprised at the amount of coverage for voluntary workouts. Maybe so but I guess with a new coach, Donovan McNabb in burgundy and gold and a few new running backs, it was to be expected. Basically it took 90 minutes to get there, 90 minutes to get back and 25 minutes to shoot if you don’t count the hour-long press conference after practice, for which I had to wait another 90 minutes. I discovered early on that a lot of this job is waiting – waiting for access, waiting for the right light or composition to come together. It also took me a little while to learn that time spent waiting was not necessarily time wasted.
Mr. McNabb comes to Washington
I drove up to Ashburn this morning to cover the press conference introducing Donovan McNabb, formerly of the Eagles, as a Washington Redskin. As pictures go, it wasn’t exactly a barnburner, but the amount of media present was noteworthy. I’m told more members of the sporting press showed up for McNabb’s coming-out party than the second coming of Joe Gibbs. I wasn’t at the one where Mike Shanahan was introduced as head coach but I can’t imagine he drew this kind of crowd. In attendance, of course, was a salty group of reporters from Philly. Though I suppose saying ‘salty’ and “Philly’ is kind of redundant. I say it with affection as they are my people! Anyway, here’s a pic or three:
Donovan McNabb is introduced as a Washington Redskin by head coach Mike Shanahan at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Virginia on April 6, 2010. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star) -- NIKON D300 | ::20mm, f2.8, 1/400sec, ISO2000
Note to Redskins PR people - if you insist on having that video screen in the background, at least have the decency to turn off the ceiling lights and eliminate those heinous glares.
At least they stopped rolling out the three Super Bowl trophies. Maybe it worked for Gibbs, since he earned them and all. Now its just a reminder of nearly 20 years without an encore.
Having grown up in eastern PA, there was no question who you root for – it was either the mighty Iggles or you were a communist. Or worse, a Giants fan. I’m not quite as hardcore as my brother though and I am actually kind of excited to see what this year holds for McNabb & the Skins. I guess it can’t get much worse!
Redskins 27, Broncos 17. Wait. What? Seriously?
I went to FedEx Field yesterday expecting to see the Redskins get slapped around by the Broncos. I didn’t really care one way or the other being, you know, an objective journalist. Deep inside my heart of hearts though, being from PA, I root for the mighty Iggles and seeing somebody, anybody slapping the Redskins around brings me a bit of joy. Except Dallas. $%@# Dallas. Plus, seeing how badly they can lose was getting kind of interesting. Lo and behold, the Skins actually weren’t playing too badly and better still, I was in a good position for most plays. Except of course for the game-winning TD by Ladell Betts. I was on the left, he went right. It happens. I guess in the scheme of things, yesterday was a weird day in football – Bengals beat the Steelers, Skins win. The Pats going for it ( and failing) on 4-and-2 on their own 28-yd line. What’s next? Cats & dogs living together? Mass hysteria!
Redskins vs. Bucs
Washington Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss (89) celebrates his third-quarter touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at FedEx Field in Landover, Md. on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)
I covered the Redskins win over the 0-4 Buccaneers yesterday at FedEx. Going into halftime, I was pretty sure the Bucs were about to snap their losing streak but I guess Jim Zorn worked some kind of Zen mind trick in the locker room and it turned into a game a play into the third quarter. For much of the season I’ve been shooting kind of loose with a 300mm. Yesterday I decided to break out the 400 and spent a lot of time shooting with a 2x teleconverter. While that gave me some reach downfield, it made it a bit more difficult to focus and when things got close, it was way too tight and I missed a few pictures. So, next time, maybe I’ll use the 400 again but no teleconverter. Anyway, here’s a selection from the game…
It’s a ‘W’ but just about the ugliest I’ve seen!
I covered the Redskins/Rams game at FedEx Field on Sunday. It was an ugly game; the ‘fans’ started booing their own team fairly early on and there were a bunch of empty seats but the light was ok, particularly if you were working from the St. Louis sideline. Not to mention it was a little less crowded there as well.
Here’s one of my favorites but click on the image to see a slideshow from the day.
NFL Week 1: Redskins at Giants
My first NFL game of the season was a long day. One of the reporters and I left FredVegas at 8:30 am for the 4:15pm game in East Rutherford, anticipating at least some traffic. As it turned out it was a smooth ride all the way to the stadium. This was my first visit to Giants Stadium. The photo workroom was cramped and with all the Jersey and New Yawk accents flying around, it sounded like something out of the Sopranos or Goodfellas. Which to me was kind of comforting being from outside Philly. Sometimes the yalls, drawls and bless-your-hearts get to me after a while.
Aside from nearly getting run over in the first quarter, the game itself was pretty tedious with no real great plays. Of course the one play that really mattered happened when I decided to put some faith in the Redskins offense and moved ahead of the line of scrimmage. Had I stayed where I was, I would have been in a decent position to get the Giants stripping the ball from QB Jason Campbell and running it in for a TD. Though a little while later I was in a good spot for kicker Hunter Smith to score a TD after a fake field goal play.
Anyway, it was a mediocre game with mediocre pictures. After I filed, I went up to the press box to wait for the writers to wrap up. We were the last ones there and when we finally left, it looked like a nuclear bomb went off in the parking lot. Piles of charcoal, broken bottles, abandoned grills and our car. It didn’t appear anybody left any bodily fluids on it, unlike our last trip to cover the Eagles/Skins. So we hit the road, finally getting home close to 4am. Long day but an enjoyable one.
Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell #17 fumbles the ball in the second quarter against the New York Giants at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)
Washington Redskins punter Hunter Smith runs into the endzone for a touchdown following a fake field goal in the second quarter against the New York Giants at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)
The following photo isn’t really that great a picture but it beats the photo of the actual touchdown. I sent the horizontal version but I cropped to a vertical just to see and now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have sent the vertical instead. What say ye?
New York Giants wide receiver Mario Manningham #82 celebrates with guard Rich Seubert after Manningham scored a touchdown against the Washington Redskins at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009. (Mike Morones/The Free Lance-Star)
Anyway, so there you have it – Week 1. Clearly I’m shaking a little rust off so we’ll see what happens this Sunday at FedEx Field.
Redskins vs Steelers
I spent yesterday at FedEx Field in not-so-sunny Landover for the first home game of the Redskins’ season. Surprisingly they won but I wasn’t there to see it – I bailed early as my deadline had come and gone, I was having a hell of a time sending pictures out and well, it is FedEx Field which is a notoriously unpleasant place to work.
I’m pretty sure it is the only venue in the NFL where you have to pay for an internet connection. They put out some hot dogs that look like they are left over from last season though I should give them a little credit – this year they put warmers under the trays! The sidelines are really tight as they want to maximize space for seats and unless you pay for a parking pass, you have to park at a demolished mall and ride a bus. This year they said buses will NOT run for the hour or so following the game in order to wait for fans to clear out. So, had I stayed I would have been there till about 12:30am. No thanks. Not for a preseason game, anyway. Before this degrades into an angry rant, here are a few photos from last night’s game:
Pretty standard pictures but I felt like I was getting back up to speed. It can be easy to forget how fast the NFL is compared to other levels of football. Plus I’m used to shooting with a 400mm lens and ours is in the shop so I went with a 300mm. plus it is easier to handle with rain covers. It does force you to position yourself differently though and it was kind of a nice change of pace. At this point I’m not sure if I’ll be back for the Patriots game next week as I think Friday is the start of the high school season so we’ll see…
