COVIDIOTS at Friday Night Lights

This is from last week's initial action.

"Somehow," I don't think this is UIL-acceptable.

That said, small town north Texas? It's possible all three are first cousins.

But, if they're not living in the same household? Doesn't matter and doesn't count.

And, note both kids (even under Gov. Strangeabbott's 10-year-old exemption age) and adults behind this trio wearing masks.

COVIDIOTS.

There were students who were COVIDIOTS, too. You can see one group at the album link.

But, beyond that? Just plain idiots.

That's from an injured player on the sidelines.

That said, I took a pass from leaving my current job to go to another place with no more pay, possibly less work, but an even deeper-fried level of wingnuttery. I'm sure I could find more of that there.

#FridayNightLights — change your perspective

In photography, there's a couple of basic rules for creativity that are simple.

One is the "rule of thirds." Think of your picture as like a tic-tac-toe grid, and have the main lines of strength and action in the photo align with the two vertical and two horizontal lines. (Newer versions of Photoshop have an optional setting on the crop tool for it to show the grid when you use it.) Things like faces should be at the upper left and upper right intersections within the grid lines, without getting anal about it.

The other, that many beginning shutterbugs have heard, is "change your angle."

They hear that, and they only think horizontal angle. Or, if they do think of vertical angle, they forget it again, often because it requires more work.

Well, I was at a recent sports photojournalism seminar at TCU, and one of the presenters talked abut changing vertical angles.

For football, he said he shot on his knees on kneepads. Especially on fields with a high crown, he said he got a great perspective.

I've shot on my butt in basketball, but basketball players are smaller, and don't have the weight of pads. I'll pass on not being on my feet for football shots.

But, said presenter, having mentioned going into the stands for hoops and volleyball to change the vertical the other way, didn't mention, when possible, doing the same for football.

I was shooting Whitesboro vs Bushland tonight.

They played in Iowa Park, which is a semi-sunken stadium. (It's a slight climb uphill from the ticket gate to the stands, and you come in at the top of them, so semi-sunken would be 80 percent or so sunken.)

Having gone to the press box for first, coffee, then food at halftime of a cold-for-Texas 40-degree game, at the start of the second half, I thought, "I'm going to stay at the top for a while."

And, I got the picture you see at left, as well as others that are available for use in the Whitesboro paper.

This one is just a throwaway on quality, but you can see that if I were shooting it at ground level, it just wouldn't have worked.

So?

Change your angle.

Change your perspective.

Oh, and to riff on an earlier Friday Night Lights post? I saw a horsecollar tackle called as such tonight.

Friday night lights: UIL greed and stupidity mean participation trophies for all

The Era Hornets, thanks to various University Interscholastic League stupidities, are going to the playoffs with a winless ...

Not just district record, but winless entire season.

Great catch and great open-field tackle both. But one of four straight penalties meant it "never happened."
That, the sloppiness and more are kind of symbolic of the UIL and Texas high school football.

The Hornets and Cumby Trojans, who squared off tonight, play in a four-team District 9 Class 2A Division 2, after Campbell dropped down to six-man this year out of a five-team district.

Remember before UIL split each of the five 11-man classes into big and small schools, and sorted out the bigger and smaller ones for the split for the playoffs at the end of the regular season?

Remember also that districts with six or fewer teams just sent three to the playoffs?

Yes and yes.

But, due to greed over more and more playoff games — a greed that starts at UIL but, like Reaganomics, trickles down, now, no matter how small the district, four teams make the postseason. And, to keep small-school halves of each class from getting butt-hurt or whatever, the classes are each split in half.

I thought UIL was in Texas, where the men are men and the sheep are nervous. Instead, it acts like a bunch of those San Francisco "sissies."

Cumby and Era were both 1-1 on the season entering the game. An Era win would have made a three-way tie for second with the two of them and Tioga, and all three teams 1-1 against each other. Fortunately, Cumby pulled out a 20-8 win to prevent that nonsense on top of the UIL nonsense already at hand.

But the possibility of ties like that are another problem with a four-team district.

Update: Era lost its first-round game to Mount Enterprise by a 44-0 count.

Friday Night Lights: Keep your head up

I was covering a game between a team in a four-person district that has a guaranteed playoff spot and another that should have blown them out, but injuries (hit thin-roster small schools harder) and maybe "trap game" mindset, high school level, meant the game was in doubt until more than halfway into the fourth quarter.

The first picture should illustrate the theme. The home team, the "not good" team, in black, muffed the punt. But it still recovered.

Looking for the "big hit," which has carried down from the NFL through college to high schools, may be a partial cause of this.

It's shown more in the next picture.

Seems like the defender had a shot at a pick if he hadn't already made an early commitment to the big hit. (It's an old-barn, old-lights Class 2A field and I had to crank the ISO like hell, as far as any noise issues, but still got the ball "stopped," or nearly so.

Third picture cuts back the other way.

As it stands? A play on, I think. Looking through the lens, plus memory, plus the previous picture or two in this particular burst, if the receiver had been looking up and then making a cut inside, he might have drawn a defensive pass interference call.

Friday Night Lights was Friday Night Bugs

A weak cool front that didn't do half of what weathercritters had predicted in advance left North Texas semi-muggy and plenty of weather unsettled as late summer still refused to give way to fall for this week's Friday Night Lights?

Result?

Massive amounts of moths swarming stadium lights, and even more big black crickets on the ground, on people's backs, in people's hair and under people's shirts.

Yours truly was covering Era vs. Tom Bean.

Halftime fun had more entertainment from a kid about 4 years old, a young girl, trying to kill crickets with pom-poms than anything on the field. (Note to Tom Bean's band: No, you're not worth 7 minutes plus of airtime at an away game. Band teacher, train your drum majors to do a shorter program. Seriously. I'm not a sports editor geek guy; this is just common courtesy.

Era itself is an interesting place.

A few years ago, whether via a bond or cash in pocket, the school district sprang to replace grass on baseball and softball fields with turf.

Football field? Still grass.

The mouthpiece at left attests to that. Was it bug-free? Given the amount of crickets on the field, not for much longer than when I took this photo, I'm sure.

And, in an even bigger oddity in general in 2019, still no play clock behind the two end zones.

Anyway, the game was a small-school run-heavy event. Even with the time greed by Tom Bean's band, game was over before 9:45.

Small-school football also means small-school reffing.

I don't expect these refs to be close to perfect, unlike the first-year coach of S and S, who fancies himself a junior Mike Leach.

I do expect them to be reasonably OK, at least.

How this tackle at right wasn't flagged as a horsecollar, when UIL has had them verboten for several years and toughened its rules two years ago, I have no idea. But, it wasn't.

Anyway, it's before midnight, I've got photos edited, and we're off to another week.

And the weathercritters are saying the high for next Friday's tilts will only be in the 80s, err, 60s! We'll see. And, no, I do NOT need it to hit a flat 40 next Friday night.

Friday night lights, Week 4

I didn't blog immediately after Week 1, but I wanted to add a few thoughts.

First, back to Week Three.

It was Friday the 13th, and superstitions and belief in luck as a metaphysical issue aside, it was lucky for some teams and unlucky for others, complete with a Friday the 13th full moon, with high clouds and a humidity haze from Texas' normal September late summer being stronger than normal, diffusing that full moon just a bit.

A night like this, especially in small towns, makes one realize how high school sports can be somewhat of a community unifier. It's still not a perfect one, and high school sports, above all football, is still overvalued in Texas. It also makes one realize how rare African-American players can be in small towns west of I-35, for Texas history reasons.

Second, on to Week Four.

I'm getting the remaining rust knocked off my photo eye, and off my note taking fingers as well.

The picture at right is a leftover, compared to what we'll be running in one of the newspapers in our group.

This was Ponder (red) hosting S and S. (Officially spelled with an ampersand, but since Blogger still can't or won't render ampersands, I have to type that out.)

First, great stadium for a small school for shooting. In the first quarter, with some sunset light augmenting the stadium lights, I was shooting 1/400 at 1600 ISO and that was no underexposure on my 100-300 4-5.6.

I dialed down to 1/320 after that, and shot that the rest of the game. I was getting some underexpose on long shots or in end zone areas, but nothing huge. I never went above 1600.

Second, an issue.

As in, an issue.

I wrote a newspaper column about this more than a decade ago. It was, IIRC, at a basketball game, not a football one, but as even more people may be at the football game, applies there, too.

High school sports events do NOT need "booty music" played over the stadium or gym PA system. It's age-inappropriate. IMO, it's age-inappropriate for high school, and certainly for any younger kids in attendance.

And, I don't just mean "urban contemporary" (which is what I'd classify this as) or hip-hop. There are rock and country songs that are also "booty call" music. It's inappropriate not only on ages, for sexualizing high school kids more than they already are, it's also generally sexist music.

In my Week One Friday Night Lights, I didn't name Lindsay as the school getting titty baby over its grass field getting rain-soaked, as I am now, but ... Ponder? You need to fix this.

Third, another issue.

I understand a certain amount of "working the refs," but ... I also know it goes overboard at times. S and S's new head coach was ridiculously vocal compared to Ponder's, and this was before the score was even close to the 41-7 final. Chillax, dude.

Texas Progressives talk Harvey, Howie Hawkins, Friday Night Lights and more

It's September, which means across north Texas, the season is transitioning from what this blogger knows as the end of "high summer" per the five climatological months of summer the area has to the month of "late summer" that is September. That said, the transition doesn't appear totally smooth, as 95-plus has returned to the area.

And, while the games actually happened in August, the transition to late summer was accompanied by the start of Friday Night Lights. Your blogger, after a few years absence, was back on the sidelines with a few observations about games while shutterbugging.

With that, hopes that you didn't have to work on Labor Day, and hopes that America gets real unions, let's dig in.


Texas politics

At the Observer, Justin Miller notes Greg Abbott still doesn't want to own up his part on fueling anti-immigrant rhetoric. One thing that would make this even better? A folo story asking the likes of Rick Perry and other Texas Rethugs no longer holding state level office if they'd care to comment on Abbott and Danny Goeb. At the Dallas Observer, Stephen Young has similar thoughts.

Also at the Observer, Michael Barajas says that the LegisLater eliminating mobile early polling places will suppress early vote numbers, but by how much?

At least eight people were killed by a mass shooter in Midland-Odessa. Wingnut Legiscritter Matt Schaefer couldn't wait to Tweet that he would oppose any new gun laws. That's as new bad gun laws took effect Sept. 1. Three of the worst? Churches now have to post gun-free signage if they want to be gun free, just like any business. Frankly, I'm wondering if that's a First Amendment issue. Second? Apartment owners and other landlords can't ban guns by renters. Third? Foster homes can allow guns.

John Coby drags Rep. Matt Schaefer for his gun worship.

Green Party prez candidate Howie Hawkins will be in Dallas and Houston in days ahead. Dallas is 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at 2 Guys from Italy, 11637 Webb Chapel Road. Unfortunately, as an afternoon not evening event I may not be able to get there. We'll see. In Houston, he'll be at the house of Don and Laura Palmer, 5402 Bent Bough Lane, Sept. 9. I have a separate piece offering up my take on Howie's controversial-to-some Russiagate comments.

Off the Kuff checks out the Bitecofer Model, which suggests that quite a few Republican-held Congressional seats in Texas could be flipped in 2020.

Rosemary Kowalski eulogizes Lila Cockrell, former Mayor of San Antonio.

Dallas-Fort Worth

The Guardian says RIP to James Leavelle. Who? The Dallas PD detective handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when Jack Ruby shot him, that's who. And, from the memoriam piece, it's clear he believed Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. He was almost surely the last living person with some degree of significant connection to the assassination. The NYT has more. Here's the Sixth Floor Museum's interview history. Kind of laughingly, the Snooze, whatever story it has, doesn't have it pop up in the first page of Google search results. (A 2010 story on his 90th birthday did.) When I limit the search to the last week, ditto. That said, the Observer has nothing up, either. Oy.

Jim Schutze wonders what the hell is behind soaring appraisal values in the neighborhood of South Dallas. Before he even mentioned it, I was wondering if, beyond general development issues, the new management contract for Fair Park was part of it. Like him, I hope the old black residents there don't get screwed.

Stephen Young rolls his eyes at the Engage Texas tactic of politicizing DPS parking lots in the Metromess and elsewhere.


Houston

While I never met him, he occasionally commented on this blog. I join David Bruce Collins and Brains in saying RIP to the blogger known as Harry Hamid, IRL an HIV/AIDS legal support lawyer.

Houston is hosting an Extinction Rebellion event Sept. 8.

The Texas Signal reports from a Houston town hall on health care. Per Brains, the Chronic might have a better take on the popularity of M4A vs the unpopularity of Lizzie Fletcher's Obamacare-plus or whatever.

Harvey 2nd anniversary

Grits wonders how long before people actually get money for home damages, especially home buyouts if needed.

The Observer follows by wondering how many more disasters might hit before that money is all delivered. 

National

SocraticGadfly is disgusted that Christmas Creep is now apparently "officially" being preceded by Halloween Creep.

The Texas Observer writes the kind of story that used to piss off Bernard Rapoport and have him threaten to stop funding it. This time, it's a puff piece about Bob on a Knob O'Rourke's "last chance" for the 2020 presidential nomination, which contains inside it a puff piece about Beto's 2018 Senate campaign.

Per the latest shooting, one of the gun loopholes that needs to be closed is buying imported assault rifles. The law needs to be rewritten tightly enough to eliminate executive agency "discretion" in its interpretation.

Therese Odell is loving the Trump/Fox News slap fight.

Juanita keeps calm in the face of that DARPA announcement.

Friday night lights, Friday night high jinks

As you perhaps prepare to head to your local high school football game, here’s a few of my reflections from this year’s high school football, and specifically from games I’ve covered here in the state of Tejas.

At Irving Oct. 10, the homecoming queen candidate said she enjoys “texting”; an underclassman prince candidate said he enjoys “eating.” Ahh, the future of American education. May she can text him on her Chinese-made cell phone to meet her for dinner at a Chinese restaurant, for them to keep each other blithely unaware of America’s future being sold out to… China.

Has any high stadium scoreboard ever sold out its ads? Why don’t school boards refuse to buy scoreboards unless they sell out spaces? And, does that video scoreboard really necessary for media students to learn? I think not. I think the Cedar Hill School Board probably did blow $500K this summer because boardmembers didn’t ask themselves Questions No. 1 as a rhetorical question, didn’t even consider Question No. 2 (has any school board, or do boards now have “scoreboard envy”?), and didn’t ask themselves Questions No. 3 as a rhetorical question either.

Does a high school halftime ever get over on time at a homecoming game? Of course not.

How many band parents would stroke out if only the home team’s band played at halftime? (“Billions and billions,” to quote Carl Sagan.) But, in New Mexico, in my high school youth (band member as a freshman), we stayed home on Friday nights the Gallup High School Bengals football team was on the road. What was it like in Texas about 30 years ago?