Prom Season

There were two proms at the Salt Palace Convention Center Saturday night. That's where I found Flame, Alexus and Paris. Alexus said "I hope FOX 13 is here again this year - I want to say "It's Runge time!"

Victims of the Jazz Bear

The Jazz Bear singled out Kylie Powell, South Jordan, and blasted her with silly string three different times during the Jazz 37 point route of the Portland Trail Blazers Monday night. Later he came back with a fire extinguisher. Next he truned the extinguisher on NBA referee Bernie Fryer.

0-0

I photographed my first Real Soccer game of the season, it ended in a 0-0 tie. Are there any other sports that still end in a tie?

Staffer photos

I have been digging through my archives lately for photos of old Tribune employees for a slide show for a going away party for Tribune veteran Jazz writer, Phil Miller. When I first started at the Tribune, my Photo Editor, Tim Kelly took great pride in his "Staffer File." He had a huge collection of photos of Tribune and Deseret News employees, dating back many years. Some were funny pictures others straight portraits, but each one became more valuable as the years went by. I started saving staffer prints in the black and white days, but I have I've gotten out of the habit of shooting my colleagues the past few years. This photo of a local AP photographer at the Real game, it is the start of my new collection.

Adidas Superstar

The Adidas Superstar basketball shoe has been around for 35 years. I got my first pair of Superstars when I was in Jr High. My parents drove to Wolf's Sporting Goods in Salt Lake to get them. Although BYU Basketball players were wearing them, they were not available in Provo. Two of the best sports writers I have known were lovers of the Adidas Superstars basketball shoe. Tribune veteran NBA reporter, Phil Miller was one of them. In the 20 years I have worked with Phil, I don't recall seeing him wearing any other shoe. Miller left the Tribune this week, to work for the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, covering the Minnesota Twins.
My late college friend Robes Patton wore nothing but Adidas Superstars. From his days as sports writer at the Daily Universe at BYU, to covering the Miami Heat for the Ft Lauderdale Sun Sentinal. Robes died of cancer in September 1998. He was buried wearing his all-white Adidas Superstars. I recently came across a polaroid I took of one of Robes shoes on my last visit to see him in Florida, in 1998.

Choir Boys

My daughter is in a Children's Choir. The choir kids are well behaved most of the time, but not last Tuesday. I am on the parent board, I got this e-mail from Harold the Choir director:

Dear Parent Board:

Here is what I gathered from talking to some children who witnessed what went on during the rehearsal Tuesday. (the names have been changed to protect the innocent)

* Skip was goofing off to start with. He was touching and poking others. He told Billy that if he touched him for 10 seconds, then Billy would become gay.

* Billy was distracted and offended. He fought back.

* The Finklestein boys tried to quiet all of them. Then Billy got even more upset because he knew he didn't start it, and it looked like everyone was blaming him instead.

* Harold tried to quiet Billy because he was hitting both the Finklestein boys and Skip. At that time, Harold didn't realize Skip was the cause of all this commotion. All he saw was that Billy was mad and getting out of control.

* Billy had enough. He stood up and left because he couldn't deal with Skip anymore.

Skips dad Frank sent an e-mail the next day saying Skip feels he is being picked on, because all the boys were fighting -- not just him.

Hat in the road

I was riding the Cabriolet (open air Gondola) to The Canyons Ski Resort, when a gust of wind whipped the hat off my head. It landed in the middle of the street below. Aliyah gave me the Nike hat last year for my birthday, it's my favorite hat, I wear it all the time. There was no way to stop the Cabriolet, so I had to ride it to the top, where I photographed the islands of melting snow at the base of the ski resort. It was nearly an hour before I got my photos and rode back down. The hat was still there, and it was in pretty good shape, with the exception of a few tire marks.

James Olsen

James Olsen, a high school friend of mine died of Cancer last Thursday, he was 49. I first met James and his brother Don, when I was in the 5th grade. They challenged Doug Dowdell and I to a two on two basketball game at Provo High school one Saturday morning. They beat us badly, neither one seemed to miss a shot. James played football for Provo High, he coached football at Timpview high, and remember James as a referee at Jr. College football games I was photographing. James always had something funny to say, no matter what the occasion was, He had season tickets in the South end zone for BYU football. I don't remember a football game in the past decade that I didn't hear James hollering my name as I photographed a game in the end zone. When I found out he had died, I went through my archives, and found a picture of James from the BYU -Airforce game in October 20, 2001, smiling in the crowd as always. I'll miss that smile next season.