So that just happened

I'm off for the day - kind of.  I'm working but not working - monitoring e-mail and phone from the house.   Since I'm here I'm out in the back of the house getting a load of laundry going when I get told to grab a camera as there is a hawk sitting in one of the trees out in the back yard.  "OK" says I.

Sure enough - Mr (Mrs?) Hawk out in the back yard.  :)

Click the photo to view it larger | Click here to view it full size

NV Pee Wee Football at Candor

The 11 & 12 yr old A's SCORE!!!

...  'er, scratch that - THEY WIN!!! 

Touchdown!!!!!  First score of the year for the A's | Click on the photo to view it larger

I could have gone out to Jasper for round 13 of the 2014 WNYOA Summer race series, or I could have "stayed home" and simply gone out to Candor to watch and shoot the mini Cardinals football games.  The races would have equated to 4+ hours of drive time round trip, a tank of gas, gate fee, chow, getting gear all dirty, etc ....    I opted to stay local and go to the football games.  :)

Honestly ...  I left the house a little on the late side and had figured that I might miss some of the C's game.  (back track)  I had read / heard via facebook that the field where the kids were going to be playing was sort of "hidden".  Ummmm -- yeah.  If you ain't a local you ain't gonna find this stealth field.  I did eventually discover it and got on scene shortly before the half.  Still being honest ...  Valley's little ones - they were asleep at helm.  Let's just say that they didn't play very well and the score reflected that.  :(  The 2nd game of the day was the B's (9 & 10 yr olds).  This was, actually in pure football speak, a "good game".  It was a snoozer from my point of view as a guy with a camera.  It was a defensive struggle as neither team scored in the 1st half.  Candor did put some points up on the board in the 2nd, and then they put some more up again and that game was pretty much done - the Tigers won it 13-0.  The game was actually better than the score reflects.

And then there was the A's game . . . !!!  These kids have had a tough season so far.  Coming into this game they hadn't won one yet.  They hadn't even scored yet.  Yeah ...  but plucky as they are, they keep coming back, and they keep trying!  Twice in the first half of play they got good offensive movement going and managed to get the ball down the the 10 yard line.  They were doing it - they could move the ball against this opponent.  Twice they got stopped short of the goal.  And twice the home team scored.  It was 12-0 going into the half.

Sometime late in the 3rd, or maybe it was even into the 4th ... it happened.  Valley #34, the Spoonhower kid got loose and burst into the end zone!!!!  TOUCHDOWN!!  SCORE!!!!!  The Valley side would have been happy to leave right then and there - that alone was a victory!  But hey - there was still plenty of time left in this game - and now that these kids had had a taste of scoring guess what....?  They wanted more ... !  The kids were pumped up now and boy did they stiffen up on D for the ensuing change of possession.  They shut Candor down - 1,2,3 - you're out - give us that ball back!  A couple of plays go by, some yards gained, need to get the 1st down and keep this possession alive - we're only down by 6 ....   Valley's QB steps back and he floats the ball up (pee wee's just can't rifle it -  they just can't - not physically able to ... lol! ) and one could almost hear the collective inhale and dead silence on the Valley side of the field.  A WIDE OPEN Kalpokas kid (#3) is there and CATCHES it and takes off!!!  The Valley side of the field is going berserk.  The other side is stunned.  Kalpokas runs it in and we got us a TIE game with 5 or so minutes left in regulation.

We got us a game now ... :)

The kids were jacked after the first score when they had to play D.  They were ultra jacked now - they knew that they HAD to get the ball back and they HAD to score one more time to secure this win.  Candor has a big weapon that wears #20.  Valley's D swarmed him, and the Tigers entire line in general like angry bees and again - 1,2,3 - you're out!  "Give us that ball back!!"  With less than a minute or so left on the clock Valley's A team marched the ball down the field and one of the kids was able to rumble it over the line to grab the lead.  They put an exclamation mark on it by converting on the extra point via the #42 of the Tompkins kid to take a now 19-12 lead.  There were 8 seconds left on the game clock.  The Cardinals shut down the last Tigers possession and erupted in triumphant joy at having not only scored for the first time this season, but coming from behind to take a wild win!

I'll have pics from all three games up at the galleries in a day or two ..  stand by!

NV Varsity Football - Cardinals Reign Supreme over Whitney Point

Big doin's in The Valley today!!  It's Homecoming weekend and around here, this is a big deal.  A really, really big deal - parades and everything - it's fun!  Valley's Varsity football team played host to Whitney Point's Eagles in a bird on bird smackdown in the birdcage.  This was no smackdown though - this was domination defined as the home team blew the visiting raptors away and kept them totally grounded.   Valley crushed WP 61-6.

( Click on the photo's to view them larger )

This Newark Valley team has really turned into a well rounded squad with multiple players stepping up and contributing to the effort on both offense and defense.  Admittedly I was a little concerned after the 1st game loss to Tioga that Valley looked a little overly dependant on team captain and QB, Vinnie Darpino.  Vinnie is an exceptional player and has demonstrative leadership ability, but one man does not make a team.  This team, right now, appears to be gelling and is in fact a solid looking, cohesive *team*.  Todays win moves the team on to a 3-1 record on the season now - and all three wins have been huge.  The team goes on the road next week to a local perennial powerhouse in Section IV football - Chenango Forks.

I got quite a number of photo's from the day that will be going up to the galleries over the next couple of days - but in the meantime I thought I would just get these out chop chop.

*****  Go Valley!!! *****

NV Pee Wee Football vs Apalachin

Tough day in Cardinal-ville ... 

Well ....  the visiting Raiders did just that.  They raided the birdcage and went back home with 3 W's on the day.  Tough one for the home team crowd.  The little ones (C's - 7 & 8 yr olds) played their opponents pretty tough in the 1st half but kind of ran out of steam in the 2nd.  The B's ...  :(  they kinda-sorta ...  well - no good way to put it - they got killed.  The 11&12 yr old A's - God bless 'em. They are seriously under manned with only 13 or 14 players in total on the entire team so you know what that means - these kids are playing, almost non-stop, both offense AND defense.  The visiting Raiders by contrast are HUGE both in physical size, and in numbers - they must have had easily 30+ players on their side of the field.  They are also the #1 ranked team in the state at present for the age division.

Anyway -- congrats are in order to the visiting Apalachin Raiders.  I have to score some dinner for myself but figured I'd get this out real quick with a couple of grabs from each of the three games.  All of the keepers will be going up to the galleries over the next day or so.  Click on any of the images to view them larger.

NV Varsity Football - vs Tioga

Whoo hoo!  It's Football Season!!  | Click the photo to view it larger

...  and the HS Football season is underway!!  Valley's Varsity Squad hosted cross county rival Tioga today at the Birdcage and ... lost.  Had the game ended at halftime ... the Cardinals would have won - but as everyone knows games don't end at the half.

Valley lost the coin toss but got first crack at offense as Tioga opted to defer its winning possession till after the half.  This would prove to be a premonition in hindsight - but back to present tense. Valley senior, team captain and QB, Vinnie Darpino wasted zero time with the opportunity and immediately electrified a well attended home opener and got everyone in the house cheering when he zigged and zagged his way through Tioga's D on the very first play of the game and grabbed a real quick 6 points.  The PAT was no go -- with less than a minute into this one the Cardinals were up 6-0.

Valley's Darpino got loose on the opening play and put Valley up on the board early | Click the photo to view it larger

The home side of the crowd was stoked with the early score  | Click the photo to view it larger

( I'm rusty having not followed any football to this point in the year -- I'll have to get back into practice of keeping track of the game so from here on out ..  pretty much just synopsis and opinion. )

Tioga Tigers Jesse Manuel runs the ball during the Tigers victory over hosting Newark Valley | Click the photo to view it larger

Tioga really hurt themselves pretty badly on their opening possession with nervous twitches on the line that kept drawing false start flags ...  they literally went backwards by about 25 - maybe even 30 yards.  Ouch.  Mistakes and inconsistent play would hamper the Tigers throughout the half and the hosting Cardinals would capitalize on this.  Early in the 2nd quarter Tioga ( I'm thinking the #7 of Jesse Manuel ) found the end zone and tied it up 6 all.  The PAT was no go.  Headed into the half and with time running down on the clock, Valley was driving and senior Blake Novi wound up with the ball.  I don't think he got in - I think he came up just a yard or so short (?) - but anyway - Valley did score one more time taking it to a 12-6 lead going into the half.  PAT was no go - this was not a day for field goal kickers ...

Valley senior Blake Novi dives for the end zone in a scoring drive for Valley | Click the photo to view it larger

...  until the start of the 2nd half.  As mentioned earlier - Tioga won the coin toss but deferred on the opening possession until the 2nd half.  Less than 2 minutes into the 3rd they scored paydirt AND did convert on the PAT.  Tioga went up 13-12 and would never look back.  Tioga's game really opened up in the 2nd half of this one and they simply out played the hosting Cardinals.  They demonstrated a depth at running backs with a burly senior #3 Brad Jump, and the aforementioned #7 of Manuel.  Thier O line created lanes that these two exploited on a number of times.  The tigers QB, senior #2 Sam Burn - well - he burned the Cardinals on a few plays as well.

Tioga senior and QB, Sam Burn and the rest of the Tiger's team really came to life and played well in the 2nd half  | Click the photo to view it larger

This was a game of tides ...  the Newark Valley Cardinals rode the tide in the first half, the visiting Tioga Tigers rode it for the 2nd half.  They rolled too winning this one going away 25-12 in the end.  Congrats to the Tigers on their season opening win in, what can be a tough place to win in, Valley's Birdcage.  Hopefully NV will grow and learn from this tough loss and use the experience and knowledge gained as they stay home and host Elmira Notre Dame next week.

There is a full gallery of game day photo's available at the galleries right here.

*****  GO VALLEY!!!  *****

Big & Bad ... and Oh So Cool

I saw this bad boy on the way home from work earlier this evening / late afternoon. How cool is he?

(?) ... route 26 - Otselic / Pitcher'ish ... somewhere in that area (I think).

Click the photo to view it larger | Click here to view it full sized (1800px)

Click the photo to view it larger | Click here to view it full sized (1800px)

WNYOA Rd. 10 - Thunder Ridge

OK ...

So some of you know that I come from the cycling world - as in road cycling.  ( bicycles )  Every couple of years we as mere mortals get to see Olympic athletes who are at the peak of their respective sports perform on the boob tube.  One of those summer sports is obviously cycling.  I'm sure many of you have seen cycling on the velodrome - most likely on TV - but some of you may have actually seen actual velodrome cycling in person too as there is a world class facility in Trexlertown, Pa.  I've ridden that velodrome myself - never competed or raced there - but I have ridden it.  Where, you might ask am I going with this?  Bear with me if you will...

Steiner and Scutt grabbed the 1st, and hopefully last, unknown start style holeshot  |  Click the photo to view it larger

One of the velodrome events that they have is called "The Unknown Distance Race".  Ummm - yep - it means exactly what it says.  The race might be 10 laps, or it could be 100.  The race officials, via sponsorship, throw in prize laps (primes as they are called) to spice up the race - ie: a bell rings and an announcement is made - "The winner of the next lap pockets $50.00 cash... !!!".  This keeps things interesting and makes for some strategy as obviously the winner of the overall event takes home the biggest prize.  But not knowing when the race ends ...  do you kill yourself for the $50.00 and hope they don't ring the bell (white flag) now that you're toast?  See - makes it interesting.  :)

Thunder Ridge decided to invent the "Unknown Start" today for the big bikes.  Yeah - that definitely added some spice to many a spectator up at the top of the hill, and from what I heard even several of the racers and sweepers.  We're all hanging out, just talking and shootin' the breeze when all of a sudden ( BRAAAAAP!!!! ) here comes the frickin' AA line ripping up the hill at, like, a kabillion mph!!  Holy crap!!  Everyone is bailin' and backing off and trying to get outta the way ...    yikes!!

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Umm -- promoters for events 11-15 - please don't do that again.  We, as spectators and shooters - we're boring - we'd just assume know exactly when the race is going to start, thank you very much.

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Maryott fought hard for this one and it was evident that he was stoked about it at the end as he was pumping his fists celebrating his win as he came through scoring taking the checkered flag  |  Click the photo to view it larger

So -- seen above,  Marcus Scutt and Jim Steiner Jr., these two grabbed a couple of good hands full of throttle and fed the rest of the AA line their roosts!  Scutt ran out of gas (literally) and didn't have quite the finish he was hoping for.  I'm not sure how Steiner made out.  There was a heck of a race happening between the two big dogs that were present today though with Bouwens and Maryott going at it.  Bouwens had the early lead, only to lose it to Maryott who established a pretty good gap for a while.  "The Bat" fought hard and closed the gap and was knocking right on his targets tailpipe through the closing lap.  Maryott demonstrated why he is running the #1 plate for the series at present as he successfully held of the hard charging Bouwens for the win.

Ben "Batman" Bouwens could only look on as he came home in 2nd  |  Click the photo to view it larger

The Big Quads - oh boy!!  They are - well - they're the Big Quads.  The start for them was (fortunately) very well telegraphed by the starters and race staff - no surprises in that department.  The racers themselves ... c'mon.  Those of you who attend these races already know - they create their own brand of excitement and this start was not to disappoint!  There was some wild and crazy goings on and a couple of "interesting" line choices made.  A couple of crashes but fortunately no serious injuries (that I'm aware of).

The Big Quads start - yep - it was a wild one at times!!  :)  Whoo hoo!!  |  Click the photo to view it larger

There will be many pics from the event getting posted up to the galleries and facebook over the next couple of days - standby!!

-=- jd -=-

NASCAR at Watkins Glen Weekend

This was my "the shot" for the weekend.  Marcos Ambrose won the Zippo 200 Nationwide Series race on Saturday. |  Click on the photo to view it larger.

... so we (wife & I) "did a NASCAR thing" this past weekend.

Sort of.

We went out on Saturday mid-day'ish ...  not really knowing what to expect and sort of just on a recon type thing.  Back track just a bit.  I'm not necessarily a "NASCAR fan".  I enjoy watching it for the entertainment value that it can sometimes provide - but a fan?  'Eh ...  that'd be a stretch.  Formula 1 on the other hand.  A Fan.  Definitely a fan.

Coming into town Saturday Kyle Busch's team had a car parked in front of a local grocery store.  ( wife had to get something...  )  Obviously good publicity for the team and the event.  Assumption is that this was likely a testing / backup car in the event that the actual race car got smashed up. | Click on the photo to view it larger.

So anyway ...  not being a hard core type fan of the sport per se we didn't really know what exactly to expect.  Again - just sort of feeling it out and seeing what the tickets and passes that we had were going to offer us.  The access that we had was actually very nice - and come Sunday we could do a "Fan Walk".  Now I didn't know what a "Fan Walk" was but we could do it on Sunday.  Turns out that the fan walk is where you can walk right out onto the race course and wander around down in pit lane prior to the race.  This allowed for up close viewing of the racers pit crews and, eventually, the cars as they were brought out and parked prior to "Racers Start Your Engines!".  The fan walk was kind of cool - definitely a nice plus.

As captured from Sunday mornings "Fan Walk".  Spare tires are at the ready in Jeff Gordon's pit box.  I had to specifically get his tires for my wife.  She "loves Jeffy".  <grin>  I asked her if she wanted to touch his tires.  "These are the actual tires that he might use during the race.... " I told her.  She gave me the 'you're such a dork' look.  :) | Click on the photo to view it larger.

I once again very quickly, and frustratingly, was reminded how much I dislike being a "regular person" getting banished off to the far edges of periphery.  Translation:  I used to be a U.S. Navy Photographers Mate back in the middle 1980's.  My ID card, and the fact that I worked in the photo lab was synonymous with being "Press".  We, those of us from the photo lab, could go damn near *anywhere* at any event on any U.S. military base.  That - as a photographer - is the cats ass.  I miss those days.  I really, seriously need to get credentials so that I can get to the good spots for shooting events.  {sigh}  It is what it is though - I was fortunate enough to be offered a nice pair of tickets to the event (twist my arm you know ...) and had an opportunity to go to one of the bigger sporting events in the state.  So we did.

The fire rescue folks actually had some of the better seats in the house for viewing.  I felt kind of bad for some of them though - must have been hotter then hell sitting in that truck wearing what appears to be full gear.  I wanted to get on top of the truck and snipe off of it.  <grin>  No - I didn't inquire.  |  Click on the photo to view it larger.

Back to Saturday:  We arrived right as qualifying was coming to a close for "the main event" on Sunday.  I just missed getting a shot of Jeff Gordon on his qualifying lap that landed him in the #1 position.  I did grab a shot of Jimmy Johnson though and then ... that was it.  Wife & I kind of looked at one another and were like - "... guess we were a little late for qualifying.  Yeah - but Jeffy is on pole!" ( she said - she's a Jeffy fan ...  )  We scored some chow and hung out until the Saturday race started - the "Nationwide Series'.  It's like the under card fight prior to the main event on Sunday - but sometimes the main event guys race in it too.  Not really sure how else to describe it.  So the race starts.

Jimmy Johnson right at the closing seconds of Saturday's qualifying for Sunday's main event.  Jeff Gordon had just gone by seconds earlier securing the pole position.  We had literally just gotten there and, naturally, I missed that shot.  {sigh} | Click on the photo to view it larger.

*** LOUD ***  Mind you this was not unexpected but these things are *ridiculously* loud.  This is where I was quickly frustrated with the 'quality' of photo's I was going to be able to grab.  (NOT)  See comments above re: not being able to get into good positions.  I started shooting the race trying to find clean views, any clean views, that I could find and quickly figured that there basically weren't any (that I had access to) and that the one singular spot where I was able to kinda-sorta get shots became tiresome very quickly.  I lasted about 10 laps and was bored out of my skull.

Sunday - the place was a zoo.  It was crazy crowded and just tiresome even trying to simply move.  We could not (quite literally) get out of there fast enough.  | Click on the photo to view it larger 

We left and came home.  I mowed the lawn and played with the dogs.  We were on the fence re: going back up on Sunday, but ultimately decided that we would.  I / we knew that Sunday's main event "Sprint Cup" series race was going to be a zoo.  That's an understatement.  There must have been at least twice as many people than there were on Saturday.  The event, like greedy ass airlines, oversold access to the hospitality tents, the race was closing off previously accessible walking routes to and from the viewing area's and forcing hordes of people to walk long distances to get back to their seats.  It was just ...  irksome.  And slow. (masses of bodies all trying to move from point a to point b)  And hot.  By the time that we finally got back to the tented area where we planned on grabbing some lunch and watching the race we were done.  Again - the hospitality area that we had access to appeared to be overwhelmed with the sheer number of bodies that had invaded it.  There was literally no place to sit and eat.  There was no way in hell that I was going to be able to get anywhere near the one little spot that I had discovered yesterday to kinda-sorta get actual race pics.  This was still about an hour or so before the race was to get started.  We bagged it and decided to call it a day.

This was kind of a fun one from the Sunday "Fan Walk" thing.  I told this pit crew guy that he had basically just committed his driver to winning.  I think he crashed out.  | Click on the photo to view it larger

I guess I'm kinda ok with having gone - it wasn't all "bad".  I have a small gallery of photo's that I grabbed from both days up - check them out here.   Feel free to grab any if you're a fan of any of the racers that I may have grabbed.

Gallery is here if the linked text doesn't work for some reason -- http://galleries.jdanvers.com/nascarwg14

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I should have gone to Unadilla though for the MX Nationals.

Yep ....  that woulda been cool.

-=- jd -=-

WNYOA / Round #9

AA / Pro class speedster Nick Davis won the premier event of the day on the bikes.  Ben Bouwens grabbed the holeshot but could not hold off the #87.

...  been a while since I've updated my blog.  My bad - I need to be better and more pro-active about it but, frankly, I spend more time in social media - namely facebook - posting there.  I get damn near real-time feedback from there.  This is easier though when cross posting to multiple groups - I only have to upload the article and pictures once and then reference the link back to here.  I gotta get back into that practice.

+++ ANYWAY +++ 

There was a race today!!  Round #9 was held today out at the Tall Pines ATV Park way (way) out in God's Country in the hills above Andover, N.Y..  I had decided the night before that I probably wasn't going to make it out there for the early morning youth races - I would have had to get up at the crack of dawn in order to make it on time.  Based on the weather conditions - kinda glad I didn't.  The place was socked in with fog and an on and off again drizzle ..  that only got worse as the day wore on.

Race promoter Scottie Rich was all over the place today.  He gets around pretty good for being (as he told me when asked "How you doing?") ".. all broken up."  Also when asked ".. you gonna be back for the winter series?" he looked at me with a "Damned straight... " kinda look and answer.  Winter series racers - you've been warned.  ;)

Now this was different, and pretty darned cool too.  Brian Robarge laid down a little "Hendrix'ish" action playing the National Anthem prior to the start of the Big Bikes!  How cool was that?!  :)

Big Bikes - you guys win today!!  Last week, due to having to work I was only able to shoot the Big Quads.  This week, due to being a wuss, I only stuck around for the Big Bikes.  I went back to my car shortly after the bikes race was over for some chow, change batteries, dry gear off, etc ...  while eating the steady rain that had been falling all day long got "steadier" - and harder.  It didn't take a lot of convincing myself that I'd had enough.  I'd had fun mind you, and (I think) I got some decent grabs on the day - but I was NOT going to go back out  there to shoot the lunatics, 'er I mean, Quads.  Nahh .. sorry guys and gals.  Not today.  To wet, to sloppy, to much electronics on me.

While "The Bat" Ben Bouwens, grabbed the holeshot, it was the 87 lurking just to the left in the orange and blue of Nick Davis who took the win.  Bouwens would hang on for 2nd on the day.

Here are a couple to get us started - there will in all likelihood be pics getting to the WNYOA pages on facebook in the coming days too.