Sports
Spectators (Dean St. Playground Prospect Heights)
03.08.13 | 23:03 •
Watching the Conrad Mcrae Youth League basketball tournament from the top of the homeplate fence.
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Super Soccer Stars (Fort Greene)
26.05.13 | 22:18 •
Almost Done (Prospect Heights)
04.09.12 | 23:07 •
Less than 3 weeks until this giant 18,000 seat stadium opens down the street. Nets part-owner Jay-Z will play the opening concert on September 28.Though OWS is pissed at Jay-Z for many reasons, he is not even in the 1% of ownership of the Nets (<1% compared with Russian billionaire Prokhorov’s 80%).
Good or Bad Photography?
08.07.12 | 23:16 •
Photo by Joe Klamar
Quite a controversy has developed around photojournalist Joe Klamar’s photographs of the U.S. Olympic Team heading to London next month. With less than heroic poses and little to no retouching or any of the slick lighting that we’ve come to expect from Olympian portraits, Klamar’s photos got a lot of pummeling by amateurs and pros alike. Some even accused him of mockery and anti-Americanism. And many said that an amateur could have done a lot better. After lots of speculation as to the photographer’s motives, he finally spoke up, revealing that he was unprepared for a studio shoot and thus had to wing it, borrowing another photographer’s seamless and extra strobes and coming up with a new pose every three minutes. After perusing the comments to some of these articles, I realized that I was definitely in the minority: I find these portraits very realistic depictions of ordinary humans with extraordinary skills who are not pretending to be monumental. There’s an intimacy and vulnerability and playfulness you don’t find in most sports portraiture these days and I really like it. Read about it here, here, here, and here.
Barclays Center Cometh (Prospect Heights)
05.06.12 | 22:39 •
Mr. Rathner’s British bank named arena is now about 3.5 months from completion. Across the street, at a Modell’s sporting good store (also on the Atlantic Yards footprint), sits a giant inflated t-shirt welcoming the team (owned by a Russian billionaire) and introducing the latest logos and Adidas t-shirts already available at the “official sporting goods retailer of the Brooklyn Nets.” Never a supporter of this vast and ill-thought project, I can’t say I’m eager to see how traffic and life in Prospect Heights will change come opening night, which will feature Jay-Z, a part owner of the Nets.
NYC Marathon (Park Slope)
07.11.10 | 23:50 •
I wasn’t really prepared to take any pictures, so I didn’t have any good long lenses with me, but we did get a nice view of the elite runners hitting mile 9 at the end of 4th Avenue near Hanson Place. The women above and below. Edna Kiplagat, the Kenya winner, is in the pack, but hard to see.
Ethiopia’s Gebre Gebremariam, the runner closest to the camera in green, was the men’s winner, finishing in 2:08:14. He took home $170,000, which makes for a nice wage of $79,542.50/hour. Not bad. Despite the freezing weather, it was very inspiring to see the runners, especially the handicapped competitors, some pedaling with only one hand, so warmly spurred on by so many fans.
Argentina vs. Mexico (Prospect Heights)
28.06.10 | 17:50 •
Forget Carbon Fiber Bikes...
03.06.10 | 22:55 •
My Road Bike Has a New Life
29.03.10 | 23:14 •
Above is Joe Nocella holding my early 90s vintage Bianchi Premio frame with a new set of wheels and drivetrain. Joe runs 718 Cyclery, a one-man shop on the edge of Park Slope which specializes in refurbishing old bikes and fixed-gear conversions. He’s unique in that he calls his upgrades collaborations, which they truly are. All aspects of the conversion were discussed, and though I wanted to go exclusively fixed gear, I knew that since I’d probably be riding with Max occasionally, it was better to opt for a flip-flop hub, with fixed gear on one side and a singlespeed freewheel on the other. I highly recommend Joe if you’re in the area and tired of the attitude and incompetence at local bike shops. Joe is honest and fair and he stands behind his work. If you’re into bike porn and want to see his blog posting on my conversion, go here. And of course the most important thing to report is that the bike rides great--smooth, silently, and with total harmony. I’m very happy.
Youth League Basketball (Prospect Heights)
11.07.09 | 22:59 •
Handball (Chelsea)
23.04.09 | 22:11 •
