The Cadence of our world: All day, Every day

First and foremost, the next time you any of you see me, you have my permission to make me buy you a beer. Seriously. I know I haven't updated since April 1, and I feel AWFUL about it, however, I've been going a million miles an hour with a bunch of assignments. At this point, there aren't that many of you reading this ridiculously amazing blog yet, so 1) I can safely say that I'll buy you all a beer without going broke and 2) I feel THAT much worse for failing to update somewhat frequently since I know you all personally and one of you has already e-mailed me to tell me that I need to update (you know who you are, and I'll buy you two beers when we see each other next).

Anywhoooo, so what the heck have I been doing since New Orleans? Hop on board and I'll tell ya!

After making the rounds through the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parish, I photographed the first of two NCAA Division I Women's Basketball regionals in a two day span. In the first game, LSU defeated North Carolina 56-50 to reach the Final Four for the 5th year in a row. As you may or may not know (I'll forgive you if you don't), this win put LSU in the Women's Final Four for the fifth straight year...And as you may or may not know, they didn't win the title AGAIN!!! I feel so badly for this team since they've been through it all (last year they had a coaching scandal) and yet, they overcome it to get back to the Final Four over and over and over again, only to fall short. Regardless, they were super psyched to win the game as you'll see in the celebration pic of them below.

The following morning, I packed my bags and headed for Oklahoma City for the regional final that evening between Tennessee and Texas A&M. This was a game that I was particularly excited to shoot since it was a chance to photograph Tennessee's Candace Parker who was the first pick in the WNBA draft just a couple weeks ago. Boy oh boy, she didn't disappoint in the game I shot! While dropping 26 points on the Aggies, she did it with a separated shoulder...That she seperated TWICE IN THE GAME!!! It was the one of the craziest things I've ever seen and both times, she winced in pain RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! It's moments like this that make my job such a blast. Right then and there, I felt like I had won the photo-lottery that night....TWO TIMES!!! It was awesome! Anyway, Tennessee won the game and advanced to face LSU, whome they beat 47-46, then took care of business in the Finals against Stanford to capture their second straight NCAA Championship. You can click on the following links to see my colleagues' photos of the Men's and Women's Final Fours.

Since I had a few hours to spare in Oklahoma City before the game, I stopped to visit the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. If you've ever seen it, you'll agree with what I'm about to say. It is quite possibly one of the most best designed modern day memorials that I've seen. I shot a few photos at it that I think you'll enjoy and really look at for a second since tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of the bombing.

I returned to Denver on April 2nd, just in time for Rockies opening day at Coors Field on the 4th. Every year, Rockies opening day and the Final Fours present a scheduling nightmare since they're always at the same time. Over the past couple of years, I've stayed back here to man opening day since we need someone from our staff to be there for the Rockies. While I'm bummed I didn't get to shoot either of the Final Fours with my colleagues, it is nice to stay home for a little while (I'm petitioning to have the month of March renamed 'Chaos') and shoot some baseball.

Ahhhhhhhh opening day! What a day! The sun is always out with a few clouds here and there and it seems like the Rockies ALWAYS find a way to make it an exciting game...EXCEPT THIS YEAR. Man, Arizona handed it to them... For 3 straight games! They watched the Rox raise the pennant and get their rings, but came out and handed it to them for their entire stay. I think the Rox are turning it around, but it will be interesting to see what happens after last night's 22 inning marathon that sports nuts like me stayed up watching while idiotically resigning myself to the inevitable (falling asleep on the couch).

Anyway, sprinkled in this series of pics is some stuff from the hoops, the OK City memorial, and a few of my favorite from a week's worth of baseball. I'll be back soon with part two of the last couple weeks.

Until then, I'll always have a few bucks in my wallet in case I run across you and need to buy you that beer I owe ya.

Enjoy the pics.

-TSB2

I also got to shoot a portrait of Matt Holliday with his NL Batting title before one of the games against the Braves...

Tulo breaking his bat...

Mark Redman of the Rox. I love getting the ball just on their fingertips.

I've shot from this position a few times before but never thought to make this simple stock image, focused on the net...

A rare bobble by Tulo...

A young fan leaning on the Rockies dugout during pregame...

The NCAA loves stuff like this...

An overall from Oklahoma City. It was a nice arena to shoot at...

Candace after she seperated her shoulder the first time...Look at that pointy bone coming out of her shoulder! Think her teammate knows it's bad???

I had some great light at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial...

There are entrances like this at either end of the reflecting pool (as you'll see in the next pic). One has 9:01 on it, the other 9:03, symbolizing the minutes before and after the bombing...