Marin Catholic Football Streaks over San Marin in the Rain

Marin County | California

Here’s a quick selection of photos from Saturday’s Marin Catholic game against visiting San Marin High School. MC won with a score of 40-0. Our local paper noted that the Wildcats’ defense extended its scoreless streak to 18 quarters. The Wildcats are in first place in the Marin County Athletic League, and will close the regular season against Drake and Justin-Siena, two teams I expect they’ll trounce.

It poured off and on during the game, although this isn’t evident from the photos. What is evident is that again I picked files where faces are featured. To me, this makes the whole enterprise more interesting.

The rest of my photos are at: http://varsitypix.photoshelter.com/gallery/MC-vs-San-Marin-Ron-Greene/G0000JYXFV4uv_N4/C0000zqL5LlKEU4k

VarsityPix is a great site for people interested in youth sports.

Now back to CNN and this dreadful election season, gratefully coming to an end soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marin Catholic Swamps Novato High School

Marin County | California

Marin Catholic won Saturday by a score of 56-0. It would have been much higher if Marin Catholic hadn’t let up in the second half and if the coaches hadn’t agreed to a “running clock.”

Here’s a glimpse of the sidelines at Saturday’s game.

I don’t know these boys or what will become of them. I’m so unCatholic except for the social justice part. I wonder how many of the players are religious, and would they care if they knew I was a nonbeliever.

Last week I found myself wondering about Trump. This week I wondered about these young men and the Catholic religion. Do they really believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth? Do they really believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he’s certainly Divine? All my life I’ve marveled at how people could hold beliefs so different from mine. It seems an obvious fact of life, but still. Back to Trump.

Would I take better photos if I stayed in the moment? I don’t know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marin Catholic Football Defeats Tam 56-0 in the Heat

Marin County | California

This was my first Marin Catholic football game this season, and it was hot, I think 91 degrees. I suppose this is what I’ll remember most about the game because I almost fainted, and had to be propped up in the sideline shelter by Bill Schneider, where a kindly injury specialist mixed me her electrolyte brew. I’ve since found the stuff on Amazon and have ordered an emergency supply.

Because of the heat, I didn’t move up and down the field as often as I wanted, so I concentrated on casual sideline portraits. The truth is I sometimes get bored with action shots that all begin to look alike after I’ve examined a few hundred, but I never get bored with the varied young faces of players. Oddly, in the middle of the football game, I wondered what the future holds for them in a world where a person like Trump has a realistic shot at becoming president of the United States of America. Unbelievable. Maybe I’m still suffering from the heat and things will be better in six weeks.

 

Marin Catholic Track and Field

Marin County / California

Marin Catholic’s 2016 track season is here, and these photos are from the first two meets I attended. Don’t ask me who won. It doesn’t seem to matter when compared with the other sport I photograph, football. With football, it seems mostly about winning. With track, it seems about winning yes, but mostly about getting out in the fresh air and enjoying life with friends. There’s a lot of socializing going on.

At least, that’s how it seems to an outsider looking in.

For those of you interested in gear, all images were shot with an Olympus OM-D E-M1 camera using an Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 Pro Lens.

All the photos are at VarsityPix. It might take a bit of searching at the bottom of the page.

Anniversary in Carmel

Rica and I spent our 27th wedding anniversary in Carmel in what has become something of a tradition. I mention this immediately because I’m not the sort of person who pays much attention to traditions or anniversary dates. In fact, we chose Christmas Eve to get married to make it harder for me to let the day go by without remembering. (Actually, it’s inconceivable that Rica would allow this to happen.)

A Hindu priest married us in India. It happened this way: I had been trying to get Rica to marry me for several years with no luck. She just didn’t see the need. But I was tired of referred to her as my girlfriend or significant other. Then came a trip to India and a planned visit with Jai B. P. Sinha, Ph.D., one of my closest friends.

I first met Jai when we were graduate students in the department of psychology at Ohio State University, and without his indispensable help in a required statistics course, I would have never graduated. Since he had been so much help in the past, maybe he could once again pull off a miracle, and help me get married.

I asked Rica if she would marry me in India if Jai could somehow arrange it. The challenge apparently intrigued her, because she said “Yes!” There was one condition: “Only if the ceremony took place on an elephant.” With little hope, I wrote Jai and asked. He immediately replied. He would rent an elephant and arrange a small version of a traditional Hindu wedding and suitable party. (Real Hindu pre-wedding and post-wedding rituals and celebrations can last days.)

I wish I had a photo of Rica’s expression when I told her, undoubtedly shock, but as a person of her word, she began making plans for the trip. There’s more to the story but I’ll stop here.There was one change worth noting. We exchanged wedding vows while sitting in a Hindu altar constructed in Jai’s front yard, not on an elephant. A friendly lady elephant did give us a ride to the Jai’s home on his university campus, a sort of mini wedding procession. I’m not sure if she even stayed for the ceremony. Maybe. Rica was a good sport about it. Twenty-seven years and she’s still the best.

1988 Jai Sinha rented an elephant and arranged our wedding in Behar, India. Jai invited his friends from his university, and almost two hundred came.

When in Carmel we often stay at Mission Ranch, once a dairy farm.

You can see what attracts us to the Sunday brunch.

We arrive early to get first crack at our favorite treats.

We put aside our diets while in Carmel. At least I do.

 

 

It rained lots while in Carmel, but the coastal views were beautiful as always.

 

 

 

We spent much of our time at Point Lobos, just south of Carmel.

 

The birds were cooperative at Point Lobos, and Rica took some terrific photos with her new camera.

 

 

 

The Carmel beach was covered with seaweed.

We had dinner at the Cypress Inn, a boutique hotel in Carmel owned by Doris Day.

The Cypress Inn is renowned for its dog friendliness.

 

Another happy anniversary with Rica.

Marin Catholic Defeats Fort Bragg

The Marin Catholic Wildcats defeated (49-0) Fort Bragg in the North Coast Section Division IV quarterfinals last Saturday.

As usual, the Wildcats were outstanding. Fort Bragg coach Roy Perkins complained that playoff officials unfairly forced his team to play Marin Catholic, a team that according to him should have been assigned to a different and stronger playoff group. “We’ve got a kid with a broken leg and a kid with a knee injury because we are on the field with a team that we should have never been on the field with.” (Marin IJ, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015) I found it interesting that a high school coach would be so openly critical of another team, even blaming Marin Catholic for a broken leg.

These are some of the photos of the game, taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M1, using an Olympus Dot Sight. I had never heard of this gadget until a couple of weeks ago. It allows a much wider view of the playing field. A second advantage is that the photographer has an uninterrupted view of the action, unaffected by blackout (flicker) when shooting at 10 frames per second.

The Wildcats will host Moreau Catholic in the semifinals this Saturday.

Many more photos are at VarsityPix.

 

More Marin Catholic Football Photos

The Marin Catholic football team won its last two games by large scores: 40-0 against Drake and 55-7 against Tamalpais high school. Here are some of the photos, again shot with an Olympus OM-D E-M1 camera and Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 lens.

I only mention this because pundits never recommend this combination for sports photography. But as you see, it can work. I only wish I had better sun.

More game photos are at VarsityPix.

Marin Catholic Defeats San Marin and Justin Seina

Marin County | California

Here are a few photos from Marin Catholic’s last two football games. The Wildcats beat San Marin 41-7 and Justin Seina 26-8.

I normally use a Nikon D4 for sports, but last week decided to try my Olympus OM-D E-M1. The Nikon was feeling heavier and heavier as I’ve been getting older and older.

I put an Olympus 40-150mm F2.8 lens on the camera and took my chances. I didn’t know what to expect because commentators don’t recommend this combination for sports. I was surprised by the number of in focus images.

Marin Catholic plays Drake this Saturday, and I’ll try the Olympus again. Hopefully, my luck will hold out.

As always, many more game photos are at VarsityPix.com.

Marin Catholic Opens 2015 Football Season

Here are some photos from Marin Catholic’s first two football games this season. The Wildcats lost their first game to Cosumnes Oaks 0-20 and defeated Menlo-Atherton 42-3.

Marin Catholic plays St. Ignatius this afternoon in San Francisco. Sadly, I won’t be there because I’ve found it increasingly difficult to drive in heavy traffic.

Bill Schneider with be covering the game for VarsityPix, and as always he will post many excellent photos to his website.

The San Francisco Zoo

Rica and I visited the San Francisco Zoo Tuesday, and I thought this was a good place to try my new Olympus 40-150mm telephoto lens with a 1.4 teleconverter. This combination provides a maximum focal length equivalent of 420mm, a good reach for sports photography. The Marin Catholic High School football season begins soon, and my thinking is that if this combination can reasonably compete with my usual Nikon D4 setup, I’ll have much less weight to lug around of the sidelines.

The results seem promising as you can judge from these photos. My only concern now is whether my little camera’s continuous focus can satisfactorily track football action. From what I’ve read, this Olympus combination won’t come close to my Nikon D4’s performance, but we’ll soon find out. Marin Catholic opens its season against Cosumnes Oaks on August 29th.