Sports Photography

Sports Photography is a developing field of photography. Beyond that, photographers specialize in a particular sport.

My good friend, Ilana Sochaczewski, is an aspiring sports photographer. She has captured mostly every sport, from CU Softball, to the Denver Nuggets, but specializes in snowboarding photography.

Ilana has a degree in advertising, but although her love for photography didn't earn her a degree in college, she is still pursuing it. She takes photos and writes regularly for Happy Magazine.

Originally from California, in order to continue her chosen sport, Ilana moved to Breckenridge, Colorado to be closer to the action she loves to capture. Ilana has been to snowboarding photography camps in hopes to further her knowledge as a photographer and a snowboarder. She is hopeful for starting her own women in sports magazine.

Ilana has covered...

Hot Dogs and Hand Rails	Big Bear, CA
Icer Air	San Francisco, CA
Thanksjibbing	Aspen, CO
Grand Prix	Breckenridge, CO
Winter X Games 10	Aspen, CO

Well, what does she have to say about sports photography? "I like to shoot snowboarding because it is fun to capture a moment within the speed of a trick. It is a moment that cannot be captured with the naked eye. And then there is the artistic aspect of using the snowboarder to create a work of art: something that other people could appreciate and enjoy."

Ilana has captured snowboarders such as 2006 Gold Medalist Shaun White (above) and skier TJ Schiller (below). Needless to say, Ilana has a chance to see some of the greatest winter athletes and can capture one single moment of their life (usually a great one) to share with those who could not experience it live, and those who may never make it up to the mountain.

The sport of Curling

What exactly is curling? Well, beside my new favorite Winter Olympic sport, curling is very similar to shuffle board, but on ice. Please, don't be offended, let me elaborate.

Curling consists of "throwing" eight 42-lb rocks across 130ft ice to a target. Teams consist of four players, with the Skip acting as the last thrower. Each match is called an END and a game consists of 9 ENDS (10 in tournament play).

The other three players "sweep" the ice in front of the rock as it slides down the ice in order to increase the speed. The sport is based on strategy and skill. The thrower must use proper form and yells to teammates when they should sweep and in what direction.

To win an END, the team closest to the center target gets the win and is awarded one point for each rock in the HOUSE (the target).

Currently, in the Olympics here are the remaining games you can pick up.

Women's gold medal match: Sweden v. Switzerland, 5:30 p.m. Thursday
Women's bronze medal match: Canada v. Norway, 1 p.m. Thursday
Men's bronze-medal game: USA v. Great Britain, 1 p.m. Friday
Men's gold-medal game: Canada v. Finland, 5:30 p.m. Friday

In professional curling, there is specific equpiment you must use. The most noticable are the shoes. Only one foot is the sliding foot and the other foot is the push off foot. It depends which one you prefer.

Olympic curler Skip Pete Fenson has led the USA Team to the bronze medal match Friday, at 1pm. When watching Fenson compete, he is very agressive, strategic and has no problem yelling loud for his teammates to sweep.

If you want to pick up curling, just remember you're going to have to carry around eight 42-pound rocks in your back seat. But don't forget the brooms!

Olympic Athletes: Amateur or Professional?

In the 1970s and 80s The Soviet Union's athletes dominated the gold, silver and bronze of the Olympics. Those athletes were supported by the government and required to train as if it were their job. But they still signed the required paperwork saying they were amateur athletes.

In 1986 the professional/amateur requirement was deleted from the Olympic charter to prevent the further monopoly of the Soviet athletes, allowing "all the world's great male and female athletes to participate."

Since then, we've seen professional athletes sweep the world with their predictable wins as well as no-names setting world records.

Did professionalism take over the Olympics?

Let's take, for example, current Olympic/professional athletes that make up the 2006 USA Men's Hockey Team (click to see the roster with their NHL team). The National Hockey League took a break in its season to allow its selected players into the games. Obviously the USA wanted to send its absolute best to compete with other nations such as Canada or Sweden. But is this the best way?

Men's Basketball has also sent All-Star Teams including Jordan's Dream Team in Barcelona. But what about baseball? Major League Baseball does not allow its players time off, but instead sends AAA or AA players who have not made it to the highest professional level.

Or for sports where the Olympics is "the next level," such as softball. Being on the Olympic Softball Team is the highest level you can take fast-pitch softball. They are the professional athletes, that is until the IOC voted it down along with baseball for the 2012 games.


Or Gymnastics. Everyone recalls Kerri Strug who helped the USA win the gold in 1996. Her dream was to become an Olympic Athlete. Isn't Kerri Strug exactly what the Olympics is about?

Now it’s become about drugs and which enhancements are allowed by the IOC and which are banned. Who's kicked out after four year's of training and who just slipped by with the right kind.

All Olympic athletes are required to take the Olympic Oath, now swearing against illegal substances, when it used to be about the glory of the sport.

Let's take the Olympic Games back to what they are supposed to be: competing for the love of the sport, showing your dedication to something you love and representing your country, making yourself, your family, your country proud.

Sports Announcing: my new love!

One of the best things about being in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado is the chance to take Sports Announcing. Yes... it is really a class! It's taught by Larry Zimmer, the voice of CU Football and former play-by-play for the Broncos (just to name a few).

Our class meets once a week in a classroom where we learn new things and listen and anaylze our previous broadcasts. The rest of the time we attend basketball/hockey/baseball/lacrosse or other games.

Sports Announcing isn't all about getting into games for free and sitting in great seats in the media section (although that is a plus). It's about entertaining your listener while keeping them informed and interested.

The first thing they teach us is PREPARATION. It's pretty obvious anyone would do a horrible job if they didn't know the players and their numbers. But it's about more than that. You have to fill the time. You have to talk about Richard Roby's fourth career double double, or Jackie McFarland playing against her older sister at K-State. Do you ever sit there listening to a game on TV or radio and hear something you didn't know? That's the color's job. That's what you have to find out. It's all about PREPARATION.

I did my first LIVE TV game for CU Women's Club Hockey this past weekend. TV was different because there is replay, commercial breaks, a monitor to worry about and a side-line reporter. I still had fun. I found I am more comfortable on TV as a sports announcer than an anchor. I did my second LIVE TV appearance yesterday as sports anchor for CU's campus newscast. I was more nervous reading info than looking at a game and telling you what's happening.

Women's basketball was a blast to do. I did play-by-play and I was quite impressed with myself. I had taken the time to memorize the players names/numbers on both teams and had done COLOR reserach as well. As they say... it was all about preparation!

If you can't catch a broadcast live on TV on SCOLA, channel 63 in Boulder/Denver, then you can click on the radio games below to listen to my broadcasts. I hope you enjoy listening as much as I love talking!

Women's Basketball 2/8/06 vs. Kansas State

Men's Basketball 2/4/06 vs. Kansas State

Do you Canasta?

Canasta is a South American card game, originating in Montevideo, Uruguay in the 1940s. By 1950, it was so popular it almost replaced Bridge. There are two types of regular Canasta: Classic Canasta and Modern American Canasta. There is also Canasta Caliente, which adds two additional cards worth -100 points (which is for more advanced players). It's best to familiarize yourself with the rules of Canasta and playing the game. You have to get in the game to understand it.

But, I'd like to introduce you to the newest form of Canasta out there: Hargrove House Rules. My family has been playing Canasta for over three years. We have taught many people the game, including the 2005 CU Softball Team, close friends, other relatives (besides the five of us) and on lookers. But, more recently, there is a group of us known as THE CANASTA. It includes myself and my sister, the founders of the group, along with Bryan, Scott, Katie, Marissa and Tommy. Granted not 100% of THE CANASTA is available all the time and currently only 5 can really play regularly. But, none the less, we are THE CANASTA.

Take a look at one of our rules: we incorporate Modern American Canasta rules with a few additions and variations. For example, in Modern American Canasta, going out concealed is not playing a single card until you can go out and you must have a canasta. You earn an additional 100 points for your efforts and you surprise the opposing team with possibly a handful of negative points. But in House Rules, going out concealed is simply going out with with a canasta. You can contribute to your team's melds and you are granted 1,000 points for your clever strategy.

Take last night's match-up: Hargrove sisters, Alysen and Robyn vs. AC, Bryan and Scott. We had just discussed the 'going out concealed' addition when the following game the Hargrove's had over 320 points melded, but no canasta. AC had maybe 100 melded, but nothing serious. Then out of left field, Bryan goes out concealed with a canasta of queens. He left me with a caliente in my hand and put AC up by 1,200 points.

You thought that was good.

The very next hand it was the exact oppoiste: AC melded a lot of points and Robyn and I had nothing. After about six rounds, Robyn asks (which is required in all forms of Canasta) "Want to go out?" Of COURSE I DID! She went out concealed with a canasta of sixes putting us within 200 points.

In the end, as this was a rematch from last week's Hargrove sweep, AC ended up beating us with a total score of 5,325 to 4,875. The series is now tied at one each for AC vs. Hargrove.

Game 3 is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, February 18 in Ft. Collins.

Superbowl XL

The BIG story is about BIG BEN. At 23 years, 11 months and a few days, Ben Rothlisberger is the youngest Quarterback to win a Superbowl (Dan Marino, the youngest to play in a Superbowl).

Shaggy Ben finally got rid of his beard after he had grown it since the loss to Cincinnati in October.

He let David Letterman shave it on The Late Show Monday night.

Despite his desire to get rid of the 'good luck charm,' the city of Pittsburgh formed a website, pledging allegiance to his beard. Check it out: http://steelers.redcolony.com

I guess all you can do is, congratulate the guy, celebrate and prepare for next year’s season.

Those of you who watched the Superbowl for the commercials, how about Bud Light? Just in the first quarter they had three memorable ones...

The one with the guys being chased by the bear and guy #1 offers the bear a Bud Light and his friend runs by and takes it, leaving guy#1 to fight the bear.

Or the one with the revolving refrigerator full of Bud Light?

Or the one where the guys go on the roof with their toolboxes acting as a cooler to “clean the gutter” or “repair the roof” and the one guy actually is repairing the roof and falls through.

I laughed. Whatever your reasons for watching the Superbowl, it was as an entertaining show/game with something for everyone.

Superbowl XL Highlights
Ben Rothlisberger	youngest QB to win Superbowl
Steelers	1 of 3 teams to win 5 Superbowls (49ers and Dallas)
Bill Cowher	WAS the longest tenure coach without a ring

Credibility

My good friend Miranda recently played a coed intramural soccer game. She plays Division III softball and lettered in volleyball, basketball, track and men’s golf in high school. She is quick on her feet and will sacrifice her body to make a play in any sport. She is a deserving competitor. Yet, when she went to play intramural soccer a couple days ago (remember this is college recreational sports here) a guy on her team would not pass her the ball when she was open, help her on defense and made comments about the other team’s women. What does it take to get some credibility? Does she have to score a hat-trick and then make amazing saves in the goal the second half? How can women compete with men and get the credit they deserve?

Not all men/women are like that. Miranda and I and three other ladies from our softball team joined up with some of our guy friends to form a dodgeball team. We called ourselves “Throws like a girl” because all the girls on our team could throw better than most of the men on the other teams. Instead of the minimum 2 girls and 5 guys, we played 4 and 3 or 3 and 4 each game. We utilized our players based on their strengths as players, not based on gender.

It’s not just in coed sports either. Take a look at the world of professional sports. It doesn’t take an idiot to see that it is male dominated. The only televised female sports that come to mind, not including the Olympics, are college basketball and skiing/snowboarding. After college, women have to throw in the towel or play in slow-pitch softball leagues or coach a team to stay involved in sports. But men can play minor league baseball or arena football and those are non-major professional sports. There are so many women with the same skill level in their respective sport that should have the ability to continue at a semi-professional level.

Maybe some men are scared of athletic women. But, for the record, athletic women does not equal lesbian. Some men may be intimidated by a woman who is more athletic than they are. There’s nothing wrong with that. A lot of women are smarter too. But it’s not about men versus women or women versus men. It’s about giving credibility when it’s deserved.

When Miranda was on the men’s varsity golf team in high school, she usually finished in the top three and was supported by the guys on her team. But when she went to tournaments, the opposing teams were the ones to give her looks. Remembering the situation, she said, “I wanted to be seen as an equal” and not as the girl on the team. Miranda is a good golfer. That’s what she wanted to be known for, not known as the girl on the guy’s golf team.

It may not be the number one issue in sports today, but it is still a problem for female athletes--getting the recognition they deserve. If you see a great catch, or incredible lay-up or just some good overall performance, whether the athlete is male or female, I hope you can give them a pat on the back.

Instant Replay: Friend or Foe?

Instant replay has affected professional sports since its introduction in into the NFL in 1999. But is the newest technology in the old sport of football a blessing or a curse? Some may argue the digital technology used in the NFL and NHL to assist officials causes them to be lazy.

Try to recall this situation: Broncos and Patriots, 2005 play-offs. That hits close to home for a lot of us and conveniently, we appreciated the call…Patriots on their own five-yard line, third and goal. QB Tom Brady throws an interception to Champ Bailey, who returned the ball 100 yards to the Denver 1-yard line. Patriots’ tight end Ben Watson had appeared to knock the ball loose through the end zone, which would have resulted in a touchback and giving the ball back to Brady at the 20-yard line. The officials called Bailey down at the 1 yard line. But, the play was challenged.

Conveniently the entire system of instant replay was unable to assist their call and thus the officials were forced to stick with the call on the field. As an official, you can’t expect to make every call the right call. You are human. Wait, that’s why they initiated instant replay… because they don’t trust judgment calls anymore. Is it necessary to have a camera make the final call in hockey and football? Or can we just stick with the traditional players and traditional officials? Why not have instant replay for every sport?

Officials and their controversial calls add to the excitement of sports. Does Joe Torre get a chance to throw out a flag when blue calls Jeter out a second when he clearly slid under the tag? George Karl doesn’t have a chance to argue over a foul called on Marcus Camby. The game is played on the field and called on the field. A player can’t change what he did, but thanks to instant replay, an official can.

The addition of the replay system created new rules and new requirements for the games of football and hockey. It changed the sports. If it was allowed in baseball or basketball, it would interfere with the game and ruin it.

If it weren’t for instant replay, fans would still have excuses to shout at the refs “what are you blind?” or “are we watching the same game?” Is that what kind of game you want to go to?