"Do you have any idea how much this crap weighs?"

Ahh, the chill, crisp air of football evening. The young photographer gathers the view - the band, the crowd, the teams warming up.
He smiles.
He gathers up his camera. His lens. His other camera. A bigger lens. A video camera. A backpack with a small lens. And some batteries. A really big lens. And another camera, just in case.
Gathering his breath...
He swears.
Do you have any idea how much this crap weighs?
This isn't the 70 pounds of a soldier's TA-50 pack and gear, the 70-pound load of a long distance backpacker or the 70 pounds of a horse's jockey, but it does get old after a while.
Seriously, I've come back from events sweatier than the players - make no mistake, sports photography can be an athletic endeavor.
And that's why I like basketball.
A newspaper photographer lives with a regular rotation of school sports, learning how to photograph them, the tricks of each game and each field.
Shooters can debate it, but I think football is tough. Walk to one end of the field.... They throw a Hail Mary.... RUN you and your gear to the other end... and then "Whaddyya mean there was a flag!" grumble grumble grumble....
And that pigskin might even get frisky and decide to come play with you. Just you. Coming very fast. Check out the blog for a picture: jderrickstar.blogspot.com.
But at least in football you have a general idea of how far (not very) they're going to move before politely stopping again.
Soccer has got to be one of the hardest sports to cover. I have no idea where the ball's going to be in five seconds. The players don't even have any idea. With one good kick it could be anywhere on the field. Or off the field. Or into me. Yes, that's happened too. Several times. Once in the... well, nevermind.
Using a smaller white ball that hurts more (when did you last see someone try to head a baseball?), diamond action is unpredictable and over in a split second and a cloud of dust. But if you know the rules of the game you can predict where the play will be, just like one of the players, and pre-focus your lens.
She's probably gonna run to first. Then perhaps second....
But if you've ever been nailed in the groin by a foul line drive, you find yourself getting rather jumpy at games.
There's a story. It's on the blog.
Basketballs don't hurt as much. I know. And shooting from behind the net, I don't have to run, I don't have to walk, I don't even have to stand.
It's all indoors and there's no heavy lifting.
And the players have to come to me. None of soccer's running all over the place, none of football's sideline pacing or baseball's quintuple plays on all corners of the diamond. If basketball players want to score, if they want to keep their opponent from scoring, they have to come to me. I know where they're going, they have to get within range and they like to do so several times a minute, separated by polite retreats.
It's just me, a camera and players flying everywhere, gracefully soaring before my lens like midair Greek statues.
But with more armpits.