alittlenews

Alabama’s annual family feud between The University of Alabama and Auburn University is now in the books.  It was a classic Iron Bowl game.  Alabama, ranked second in the nation in the BCS, rolled in to face unranked Auburn in Auburn.  The Iron Bowl is an amazing game in any year no matter how good or bad the teams might be.  This season, the first under new head coach Gene Chizik, Auburn has played great and played poorly.  Friday they played great.

Auburn kicked to Alabama to open the game, held Bama then took the ball and scored a quick touchdown.  Auburn then caught Bama off guard with an on-side kick which Auburn recovered leading to another quick score.  Before you knew it, the under dog was dictating to the second ranked team in the nation.  Then Alabama woke up.  Sort of.  Bama answered with a pair of touchdowns before half-time to even the score.

Second half was every bit of exciting as the first half with Auburn again scoring first.  Bama kicker Leigh Tiffin added a couple of field goals but Auburn still led 21-20 with only eight minutes and change left in the game.  That is when the second ranked team in the nation took over.  Led by quarterback Greg McElroy, the Crimson Tide marched steadily down the field chewing up yardage and time on the clock.  Then I knew Bama was going to win.  With just over 8 minutes left on the clock I made a picture of the scoreboard as a sort of marker in my images.  Alabama ground its way down the field finally ending up inside the Auburn five with a third and goal with about a minute and a half on the clock.

Like everyone else in the building, I just knew that Alabama was going to run the ball up the middle.  If they scored, fine, but if they didn’t they would be set up for a field goal to go ahead and Auburn would have about one minute and one time out to try and win.  I positioned myself so I could see Tiffin’s face when he kicked the game winner.  Then to my utter surprise, and apparently to the surprise of everyone else in the stadium including the Auburn defense, McElroy faked the middle hand off and sprinted out to his right finding running back Roy Upchurch in the right flat all by himself.  Upchurch raced into the end zone and Bama had a lead that would force Auburn to try to score a touchdown and not simply go far enough for a field goal try.  This sealed Bama’s victory.

Great game unless you were me.  I was out of position for every touchdown except one.  The game winner happened on my side of the field but I was up near the 25 yard line setting myself up to shoot the field goal I had anticipated.  Instead of a really nice picture, which Mark Almond from Birmingham News made, I got a lame photo of Upchurch just after he caught the ball.  Then to my complete chagrin, the entire jubilation after the touchdown was blocked from my view.  I literally missed the whole thing.  Maddening!  But it was that kind of day.  I was so out of position on Auburn’s touchdowns that I was literally 100+ yards away when they scored.  No joke.

The story of game was Alabama.  Sorry to all you Auburn fans but if Alabama lost then the story was not that Auburn won but that Alabama lost.  If Alabama won the story was that Alabama made it through to the SEC Championship unbeaten.  Unfortunately for Auburn fans, the Tigers were merely the foil and not the primary combatant. I know that chafes the Auburn folks but sometimes that is just the way it is.  The point is that I was positioned to cover Alabama’s defense meaning that I was behind the Auburn offense which put me behind the back of the end zone.  Two of the three of Auburn’s TDs were long plays that caught me far, far away from anything meaningful because I was shooting to cover Alabama.

That is the trick when covering a big game like this one.  You have to decide before the game starts what is the most important thing and go with that.  I couldn’t clone myself to be on both ends of the field so you have to know there are some photos you are going to miss.  I anticipated a one-sided Alabama victory; therefore, I positioned myself to cover that.  Auburn decided not to play along with my scenario.  This threw  a monkey wrench into my coverage and frustrated me all day long.  Because the game stayed close I had to stick with my plan.  Even doing that I missed almost every touchdown or got nothing more than a record shot from them.  I had photos of all three Alabama touchdowns but none were impressive photographically.  That is the way it goes some of the time.  You just have to hang in, read the game and try to make adjustments on the fly.

I shot the game with the Nikon D3, Nikon D2H and the 300 f2.8, 80-200 f2.8 and the17-35 f2.8.  I leaned most heavily on the D3 for obvious reasons.  I yearned for longer glass but there was nothing that could be done about that.  I spent a lot of the game sprinting behind the bench from one end of the field to the other trying to stay in position to shoot with the shorter 300.  That would be a 50 yard sprint loaded with gear multiple times during the game.  I know, I know, don’t cry for me.  I was shooting the Iron Bowl.  Still, I am getting older and 50 yard sprints are a long way in the past.

The slide show included with this post shows you the action photos that I actually transmitted and a secondary edit I did today for our follow up stories so the total output from the game will probably be around 50 action shots and maybe a dozen feature type shots and I really took it easy on the features this year.

Photos copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  These photos are for the viewing pleasure of this audience and may not be reprinted or reused in any fashion without written consent by the copyright holder and the athletic governing bodies.  So look but don’t touch!  The opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

You guys seem to really have eaten up this Iron Bowl stuff.  So shamelessly playing to your interest, I thought I would share some Iron Bowl memories with you.  This was my fifteenth football season in Decatur and during that time I think I have covered eleven Iron Bowls.  I have worked with a variety of other photojournalists in that time beginning with my current boss John Godbey.  That list includes Scott Trigg, David Higginbotham, Dan Henry, Emily Saunders, Jonathan Palmer and most recently Deangelo McDaniel.  I must be pretty tough on co-workers ehh?  And I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone.

How about a list of my Iron Bowl goofs.  Oh yeah, this could be a long list.  My very first Iron Bowl was in 1994 and was at Legion Field.  I was still in my first year at the paper and was shooting with John Godbey.  John’s sister lived in Birmingham and he was going to shoot the whole game and process at her home.  I was to shoot the first half, take all the film for both of us and head back to Decatur to process that take.  I shot and scooted without remembering to get John’s film.

That was a minor SNAFU compared with the 1996 Iron Bowl also played in Birmingham.  Scott Trigg was my partner for that game and it was a night game in Legion Field.  Scott was shooting the first half and leaving with our film to go to his girl friend’s home just outside Birmingham.  I would shoot the whole game and then run over as soon as possible after the game with my film.  It is somewhat traditional to get a photo of the coaches at mid-field after the game but I decided not to so I could beat as much traffic out as possible.  As soon as the buzzer sounded ending the game I dashed to my car and busted out of the parking lot as fast as I could go.  I got to Scott’s girl friend’s home and his first question was, “Did you get Stallings at the end of the game?”  It was only then that I found out that Coach Stallings had announced his retirement during the post-game press conference.

During the 2000 Iron Bowl no one scored a touchdown.  I believe the final score was Auburn 9 Alabama 0.  Neither I nor David Higginbotham bothered to send a photo of the field goal kicker who was the only person to score.  That Iron Bowl was also the coldest I have ever been.  The game began with sleet and progressed to an extremely cold rain.  My thermal gear was all soaked by half-time and I had no other coat to wear in the second half except a thin, vinyl rain coat.  I nearly froze.  (Don’t laugh out loud there Corey.)  I spent more time shivering during the second half than I did shooting.  This was also the infamous Bear hugging incident where Dave found a larger than life sized Bear Bryant statue carved from a tree and spent a little time hugging it.  Needless to say, there is now a restraining order against Dave filed by the spirit of Bear Bryant.

I have also had a hard time keeping up with monopods at the Iron Bowl.  I lost my second one at this year’s event.  I have no idea what happened to it.  I left my personal monopod beneath the hedge at Auburn a few years ago and have never seen it since.  Weird, I know.  At least it is not long glass I am losing.  Oh, and lest I forget, there was the photo of Jerraud Powers, the guy from Decatur, making a key interception in the 07 Iron Bowl.  It was only the play that kind of turned the game.  No big deal right!  But, I had the photo, toned it and then saved it in the wrong folder and never transmitted it.  Yeah, fun times.

I do have good memories too.  It is always a great pleasure to get together with a lot of other shooters in the state.  There is some really good talent in that photo work room.  We also get together after the game for the annual Shrimp Boil.  I didn’t hang around this year but the Shrimp Boil is usually hosted by the group from the Mobile Press-Register and it is a great social time.  There is a lot of good natured verbal jousting and some excellent fellowship.  Oh yeah, it is great to cover the biggest game of the year in Alabama.  This is the year round game.  It never really ends, it just kind of morphs into mythology and begins again the next November.  To be part of that legendary game is just really cool. Every now and then I even make a picture worth publishing so over all, the Iron Bowl is really great experience.

By the way, did I mention that when the Auburn Tigers win at home they run down to Toomer’s Corner and roll a huge tree there with toilet paper.  I guess everyone to his own thing but that just seems a little weird to me.  I guess it beat setting police cars on fire and vandalizing property like some of our brethren in larger cities do when their team wins.  Well, let me leave you with a big Roll Tide since Bama won this season and , yes, I do have loyalties in this game but only when I am sitting home in my living room watching on TV.  There is nothing more annoying or out of place than photographers being fans on the sideline.

There you go then, some memories good and bad of Iron Bowls past and still looking forward to Iron Bowls future.  My fondest wish for future Iron Bowls is that both Alabama and Auburn go into the game unbeaten.  It’s always nice to have a little something on the line.

Photos copyright Deangelo McDaniel and Gary Cosby Jr.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

The annual Iron Bowl is in the books and it could be called the retribution bowl as Alabama vented six years of frustration on Auburn with a 36-0 pounding.  The game was played in a continual mist of rain, not bad rain but enough to be annoying and enough to make you keep rain covers on your gear.  That’s no big deal except it makes you have to focus on routine maneuvers with your cameras.  It could have been much worse.  It could have been cold for one thing and it could have been really raining.  The only real side effect was the weather made a day game look a lot like a night game.

This Iron Bowl marked the completion of two very different season.  For Alabama the game marked the completion of a 12-0 regular season and sealed the number one ranking going into the SEC Championship where they will play Florida which is probably the hottest team in the nation right now.  For Auburn it marked the merciful end to what can only be the worst year in the Tommy Tuberville era.  Auburn’s offense was the worst major college offense I have ever seen.  They could not move the ball much less score points.

So the big game was not so big this year with Auburn being so low coming in but it was still the big game in Alabama as it is every year.  I covet this game.  I want to be there because I know all the best shooters in the state are going to be there and, of course, in a big year like this one for Alabama Sports Illustrated is going to be there.  So yeah, I want to be in that mix to test myself against the best in the state.  And this year, I think I had my best Iron Bowl, especially in terms of peak action photos.  A lady at church this morning said, “God really put you in the right place all day didn’t He.”  I couldn’t agree more.  I also got a nice photo of Rolando McClain celebrating which was one of my goals.  Rolando is a graduate of Decatur High so he is a homegrown product and the starting middle linebacker for the Tide.  Another Decatur High grad, Jerraud Powers, plays corner back for Auburn and he is one of their best defenders.  Clearly, getting good photos of those two was something I wanted to do.

Deangelo McDaniel, one of the Daily’s reporters who is also a photographer on the side, went to the game with me after my photojournalist co-worker Jernomio Nisa became ill at the last minute so Deangelo and I shot the game together.  It is always great to have two shooters at a game like this because if one of you miss something the chances are the other one will get it.

I used a Nikon D700 and 400mm f2.8s that Nikon Professional Services graciously loaned to me.  That camera is the little brother to the D3 and it rocks just about as much as the D3 does.  I shot most of the second half at ISO 4000 and it was sweet, noiseless and wonderfully sharp.  The only thing I lacked was the battery grip that gives the camera 8fps.  I can’t say enough about the performance of this little full frame wonder.  It was a fantastic camera.  Many thanks to NPS for the loaner.  They have helped me shoot many big games over the years.  Without their assistance my photos would have been nowhere near as good as they were.  The other gear I used was a Nikon D2Hs and 80-200 which I barely touched.  The 400 was just perfect on the full-frame D700.  For the post game stuff, I shot a 17-35 f2.8 on the D700.  I have never used a flash for the post game stuff.  I like the stadium light and there is enough light I don’t really need to supplement.

Photos copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

The 2007 edition of the annual Iron Bowl between Auburn and Alabama has been laid to rest and for the next 365 days the Auburn faithful will taunt the Alabama loyalists much as they have for the previous five years. I don’t know if Auburn has ever dominated this rivalry as they have during the last six seasons but they have certainly done well during the Tommy Tuberville era. Coach Tuberville is now 7-2 against Alabama and I think the Tide is now on at least their fifth coach during that run.

This was the first time that Bama’s new head coach Nick Saban faced the cross state rivals. When he was hired, Alabama fans were just a bit too pumped up. I never believed that the Tide would do better than 8-4 this season. As it turns out they ended 6-6 much to the disappointment of the Tide nation. I believe that the Tide fans felt like by paying the $4 million a year to Saban they were guaranteeing a national title and certainly a regular whipping of the Auburn Tigers. Oh well, there is always next season.

This Iron Bowl was the most poorly played Iron Bowl I have covered. I have done Iron Bowls were one team did not play well but I have never shot one where both teams could only be kindly termed mediocre. Neither team played very well and the 17-10 score did not really reflect the actual game. From the start, Auburn appeared to be the better team while Alabama just looked like a team that lost last week to Louisiana Monroe. The Tide just muddled along not doing much. The Tigers, after their opening drive, just muddled along not doing much. My co-worker Jonathan Palmer and I covered the game for The Decatur Daily and we had a decent night of photography. You can see a complete slide show of our work at The Decatur Daily website.

We both were able to come up with 400mm f2.8 Nikkor lenses that were so nice I can’t even begin to tell you the pleasure of shooting the game with them. I have never had an complaint about Nikon lenses. It is their bodies that cause me pain. But this lens is a magnificent piece of photographic heaven. If you ever can use this lens you will see what I mean. Unfortunately, we both have to give them back all too soon. Jonathan borrowed his from a Decatur doctor who we frequently shoot beside on the sidelines of our high school games. I got mine from Nikon Professional Services. If you are a pro, make sure you join NPS or Canon Professional Services. When you have to have something for a job, these guys are fantastic.

I am including several of my favorites from the shoot along with this post but be sure to visit the slide show.

Photos copyright The Decatur Daily. The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily express those of my employer.