ChimpersCage

What a weekend. I'm ready to sit back and enjoy someone else's work. NFL will be on later. Friday night football took me to Colfax for the Mustangs hosting the Raiders from Iroquois West. It was a better game than the score showed. Each team started the game with no wins on the season. Ridgeview remains winless. One thing I guess I missed last season that I noticed this season is the lack of cheerleaders for Ridgeview football. Come one come all, let's get that tradition restarted. Colfax needs to fill the stands as well. The only downfall last Friday night was the aphids, but surely you can put up with those while supporting your team. Heck, they don't even sting! Saturday, Illinois State honored 2 of the best that ever graced their sports program, Will Robinson and Doug Collins. If your too young to remember their story, check it out. Will was the first black head coach in any NCAA DIV 1 program. Doug of course is now a broadcaster, but he was also a 4 ti...

Last night was more volleyball. The Cougars of SIU-E were sent packing in 3 sets by the local ISU Redbirds. Some of the action is captured below. 20090915 SIU-E v Illinois State - Images by Alan Look

20090911 Decatur MacArthur v Normal West - Images by Alan Look Seems like I get to shoot this match up every year, same this season. Shooting all the time, it's often hard to get a real feel for the game. This one was no different, but I did get a sense of lots of missed opportunities for each team. The offense on each side got over 30 points, and the defense of the wildcats seemed to have a lot of highlight, but they were also spotty enough to let the Generals past them one too many times as the Generals came out on top this game.

Friday night the action at Hancock began at 4pm with intercity foes Uhigh and Bloomington Central Catholic at odds on the gridiron. The Saints of CCHS came out on top at the end of the 4 quarters 33-7. The defense of the Pioneers of UHS looked good getting a number of sacks, stops and blocked passes but they just couldn't outlast the toughness of the Saints. Then it was on to the half of Intercity played under the lights, the Normal Community Ironmen matching up with the Raiders of Bloomington High. The Iron heated up and struck first high stepping into the north endzone and following up with a PAT. In the 2nd half, the Raiders botched a field goal attempt by not getting the ball down. THe handler picked it up and the Raider scored a TD instead. The score at the end was 21-14. Between games the athletic directors awarded a participation plaque to Sandy Adams of YouNameItSports. A big thanks to the weather Gods, temp and sky were wonderful. 20090904 Intercity Football - Image...

Volleyball season has started. I spent most of my time this weekend shooting the Redbird Classic - a 3 session (6 matches) affair between the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts, the Runnin' Bulldogs of Gardner Webb, the Mavericks of University of Texas - Arlington, and the host school Redbirds of Illinois State. It's always difficult for me to tell who exactly won, especially this year since I only made it to the Friday and Saturday evening Redbird games. Fridays was a little lopsided with the Redbirds sweeping the Runnin' Bulldogs in 3 sets and in fairly handy fashion. The Saturday afternoon game I heard most online and the Redbirds and Mavericks went 4 sets and the Redbirds came away on top. Saturday evening the 'birds fell to the Golden Eagles in 4 sets. The birds took the 1st set on Saturday evening before falling flat on their feet the last 3, often passing on in bound balls they thought were out thus giving the points to the GE's. 2009 Redbird Volleyball Clas...

LeBron James stopped at the Corporate Headquarters of State Farm Insurance today for a stop on his United Way tour. Kids from one of the local community centers were there to shoot some hoops with him. The 4 story atrium was a packed house with a make shift basketball court taped off on the floors. Baskets were compliments of a local university. No, I didn't switch from still images to video, but I am expanding! Be kind, I don't have any video software editing capabilities, this is the raw stuff. LeBron at State Farm for United Way - Images by Alan Look

August a month that is normally one of the most hated in central Illinois for it's terribly hot and humid weather has finally arrived. But wait! There is some redeeming qualities for the month. School starts. After the hustle and bustle the first 2 weeks, it's off to the books and classrooms for the anxious and sometimes frustrating tots, leaving the stay at home moms time to meet at the local coffee shops to muse about the upcoming school year, summers vacation, and the start of the holiday season (maybe a little early to mention that)without the whining and crying of all the teens and little ones. For all the working class, it's time to concentrate on those upcoming projects and other items that have been neglected during the summer when family vacations, a few rounds of golf or tennis matches were sprinkled in between the days taken off for home repairs and lawn work. My student is back to college. It's been good to have him home, but it's always good to ge...