Cool Photos from Saturday's Game

I’m not a hugger.  Maybe because I was born up north and Yankees don’t hug?  Or I’m Scandinavian; I’ve heard Scandinavian’s aren’t good at displays of affection.   Last Saturday I got in a year’s worth of hugging at the Outlaws game.  And I didn’t even mind it.  Not very much.

After nearly a full year away from the team I was reminded Saturday just what cool people gather around Lily Messina (team founder and general manager).  Players and fans alike, even the officials, even opponents – really nice people.  Many are frequent readers of my blog posts – I think some of the hugs were because of the blog.

Enough chitchat.  I have some great photos to share with you.  My three favorites for today will be near the end of this blog post.  Because I want to publish them large and to do that I have to wait until my posting is long enough to get below the sidebar so the photos don’t cover sidebar words.  Must be a better way to handle that but I don’t know what it is. 

So let’s start with some fun photos.

That's Patricia Kincheon pushing the stroller.  And
QT Preston in the foreground.  I always like
to include QT because she I love her smile.

Have you ever been to a football game where the team makes a grand entry pushing a baby stroller?  With a baby inside?  I’m pretty sure the baby is Ava, daughter of Coach Narlen Baker and his spouse, defensive linewoman, Jessica.  Ava got a lot of attention.  Well deserved, I might add.

 

 

 

I think this is Ava Baker, daughter of coach Narlen and
linewoman Jessica.  Ava got lots of attention.

 

How about a few photos of some nice people.  I’ve found Outlaws and fans to be among the nicest people you could ever want to meet.  A possible exception is on the field.  Maine Jackson and Toni Fuller may be nice at work or in social settings but you wouldn’t want to meet them on the football field.  Hint – I have photo evidence of this below. 

Ski Tejeda

One of my favorite Outlaws is Ski Tejeda, linebacker on the field, grandma and amazing hard worker off the field.  I’ve admired the level of her play from the day I first saw her.  Football is a tough sport and she’s plays it that way.  She is playing her thirteenth season as a pro football player.  Wow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love when fans notice I’ve turned the camera toward them.  I’ve never met these young ladies so I can’t give their names.  But I can tell I’d like them if we did meet.

Some Outlaw fans.  Hint to wannabe photographers -
good subjects make good photos.

 

Now for the feature photos.  First two photos were taken about a half-second apart.  The first predicts something bad is about to happen (or good if you’re an Outlaws fan).  The second shows it happening.  The sequence features two of the Outlaws all star players, Maine Jackson(#22) and Toni Fuller (#1). 

Coming from the left is #1 Toni Fuller.  Coming from the right is #22 Maine Jackson.
Houston runner #2 is in trouble.  I wonder if she knows it.

 

Football is not a contact sport, it is a collision sport.  Whew!  Glad I'm a photographer and
not a running back.

 

The next feature photo is the offense in action and features Shadana Hurd (24).  Shadana started the second game Saturday running the kickoff back for a touchdown.  Later in the game she ran through all kinds of would-be tacklers and almost made the end zone.  I thought she did make the score but the officials disagree and placed the ball on about the two yard line.  What impressed me about the photo is that Shadana isn’t all that big but she sure is strong.  I have a half-dozen shots of this run and I’ll give the whole sequence in a future post. 

This play went on for maybe tweny yards for about a ten-photo sequence of shots.
Shadana just wasn't going to be denied the end zone.  She dragged several Houston
tacklers with her.  I thought she scored; the officials didn't.  They were wrong.

 

So much to cover.  The wins against Houston qualifed the Outlaws to host the Little Rock Wildcats in the first round of the playoffs.  My next post later this week will give my analysis of that game coming Saturday, June 15.  Future posts will feature fans action photos from this weekend.  And from next weekend, too, if I manage to make it to a second game this season.