Two More Games; Future of this Blog

The Outlaws are having a great season. 

Impressive wins against Tulsa and the Lone Star Mustangs. 

A close and as yet undecided game against the Houston Power.  The first game at Houston was cut short because of weather and will be settled June 8.  They'll play the final five minutes of that game before playing regularly scheduled contest.  Houston has a slight lead but my money is on the Outlaws to record two wins on Saturday June 8.

The Outlaws lost twice to the Dallas Diamonds.  Everybody loses to the Dallas Diamonds.  They are among the top teams in the league, likely to play in the league championship game. 

Two games left to play, plus the final five minutes of that Houston game.  This weekend they're away at Zydeco, somewhere in Louisiana.  Then June 8 they're home against Houston.  The Outlaws could wind up with a 6-2 record.  A serious improvement over last year's 1-7. 

You won't want to miss the Houston game.  If you can travel, the Zyedco game should be fun, too.

I won't be making the trip to Louisiana.  Maybe I'll make it to the final home game of the season. 

Maybe.

This blog has been neglected in 2013.  I've been distracted by some family responsibilities and I haven't been to a single Outlaws game.  Or practice.  I missed the tryouts. Much as I love football, I just haven't had time.

Now my family projects are mostly complete and I'm ready to go back to blogging and writing and shooting photos.  But I don't have current material for this blog.  If I make it to the June 8 game, I'll have a lot of action photos but probably not enough to keep the blog going until next season.

Unless I focus on profiles.

Justine Wolfanger

I've never met Justine Wolfanger.  She played for the Outlaws in at least one season, 2009, but I'm pretty sure more.  As with many of the Outlaws, Justine is one of my Facebook friends.  Though I haven't met her I feel as though I know her just because of her Facebook posts.  She is amazing!  Most recently she backpacked in some mountains, sleeping in a tent.  She has participated in marathons.  She has done whitewater rafting.  She did something called the TransRockies Run in 2012.  Just visiting the photos on her FB page wears me out. 

This blog started with a series of player profiles I wrote for the Outlaws website.  My theory was that if people got to know the players, they'd come to the games and support the team. As the team grew in popularity, my career as a photographer of professional football would grow, too.  I believed that women who play football might have interesting lives.  Might be interesting people. 



I haven't met Justine, #88, but I can tell I'd
like to interview her for this blog.

Like Justine Wolfanger. 

Lily Messina

Like Lily Messina, whose Facebook posts are just as amazing as Justine's. She hunts hogs, runs marathons, keeps the Outlaws playing.













Ske Tejeda, #8

Like Ski Tejeda who is still playing her eleventh (I think) season and who was a cop in Dallas targeted by some bad people who shot bullets into her home.

Cookie

Like Cookie, Outlaws quarterback who is working full time and on the deans list at college.

Malia Capers-Cristobal

Like Malia Capers-Cristobal, who impressed me with her dedication to make the team while battling to lose weight (I identify with that).  She is one of the Hawaiian sisters, whose mom just got her college degree, and Malia has remarkable stories to tell about her life here and on the Islands.



The blog evolved into a photo blog and is as much about football in general as about individual players.  To keep it going requires my going to games, and there's only one home game left this season.  It requires interviewing players.  I have a lot of interviews in my files but most are of former players.  I haven't kept up, haven't interviewed current players.  I've interviewed Malia and just need to do some follow-up before I can post her profile. 

Right now I'm debating.  Do I have the time, and more importantly, the energy?  To set up meetings at Starbucks, to interview, photograph, edit, post?  And do I have enough material?  And will there be an audience for a blog about football published in the summer months?  Should I change the focus from the Austin Outlaws football team to interesting people in general?

I don't know. 

Let's see if I make it to the June 8 game.

And I'd love input from anyone who visits this blog.  What do you think?