A good football game in the WAC
I was assigned to shoot the Idaho Vandals at the San Jose State Spartans on October 10th. US Presswire wanted me to shoot Nathan Enderle, Idaho’s quarterback (pictured above). This turned out to be a great game with several lead changes and the it wasn’t decided until late in the fourth quarter. It was also a good opportunity to shoot some stock of players that don’t usually get as much exposure as other BCS conference teams. One of the things I recall was the the light really died off quickly from late afternoon to night and Spartan Stadium is a pretty dark place to shoot at night. The sidelines were pretty tight space-wise behind the benches and I was prevented from moving behind SJSU’s bench by the security guards. I had to walk all the way around, behind the much friendlier Idaho bench to get from one end zone to the other. I was also asked four different times for my credentials while on the field, despite that it was hanging around my neck for the world to see. The field security was pretty odd, but everyone was super nice including the SID staff up in the press box. Idaho won the game 29-25.
More photos from Idaho at San Jose State
20091010 – Idaho at San Jose State (NCAA Football) – Images by Jason O. Watson
San Jose Sharks NHL Home Opener vs the Columbus Blue Jackets
The San Jose Sharks hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California on October 8th. This was my first NHL game shooting, and the first since I watched the NY Islanders play the Pittsburgh Penguins at Nassau Coliseum over a decade ago. I was impressed with the crowd – it was the home opener for the Sharks and the 17,000+ fans were certainly very much into the game. This game pretty much had a little bit of everything – lots of goals (the Sharks won 6-3), a hat trick by Dany Heatly, a couple of good fights in the second period, and a penalty shot (where Heatley netted his third).
I shot the entire game from above in one of the video booths, almost entirely with my 400mm f/2.8L. The Sharks are reconfiguring their ice level photo sports, and There were only three holes to shoot from and they were quickly taken by other shooters. All in all, very fast paced and a lot of fun to shoot.
More images from the Blue Jackets at Sharks game
20091008 – Columbus Blue Jackets at San Jose Sharks (NHL Hockey) – Images by Jason O. Watson
Washington at Stanford – NCAA Football
In my short time shooting PAC10 and WAC football, I’ve noticed a couple of key differences from the ACC, Big East, etc. The first, the weather — it’s almost always 70 degrees and awesome outside in Palo Alto. Second, there’s a ton of offense — or put another way, there often is lot less defense (i.e. no 7-5 UVa v UNC games). This second observation roughly held true as Stanford upset the Huskies 34-14 in front of the home crowd. Washington entered the game ranked nationally in the polls after defeating then #3 USC the week prior. Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck (pictured above scoring a touchdown on a boot leg) and running back Toby Gerhart (below) dominated the game for the Cardinal. The recently renovated Stanford Stadium is a great place to shoot — especially with the stadium only a mile from my apartment 
More images from Washington at Stanford
20090926 – Washington at Stanford (NCAA Football) – Images by Jason O. Watson
Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics – Major League Baseball
The above image is of Oakland Athletics infielder Daric Barton (10) sliding into home plate during the second inning against against the Texas Rangers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on September 22, 2009. This was my first major league game — after shooting several years of NCAA baseball, it was nice to cover a late season MLB game. The A’s dominated this one, and won 9-1 — pretty much eliminating the Ranger’s hopes of a wild card playoff birth.
20090922 – Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics (Major League Baseball) – Images by Jason O. Watson
San Jose State at Stanford – NCAA Football
The nice thing about early season evening / twilight games is that there are often a few select spots in the stadium where late afternoon sunlight sneaks through the stands and on to the field. This image, taken on September 19, 2009, of Stanford fullback Owen Marecic (48) being tackled by San Jose State Spartans linebacker Travis Jones (14) and defensive end Carl Ihenacho (95), is one such example. The light here doesn’t even hit the field, but is just enough to highlight Marecic. Pretty cool. Here’s another example with Antonio Appleby from the 2007 season when Virginia played at NC State:
In the Stanford / San Jose State game, I was pretty impressed with how Stanford handled the Spartans. Definitely a different crowd atmosphere than what I’m normally used to. Stanford’s band has certainly taken the eclectic pep band genre to a new level and the students, while fully into the game, seemed a little more civilized and polite than the alcohol-fueled student sections at certain ACC and SEC schools. Regardless, Stanford won easily, 42-17.
20090919 – San Jose State at Stanford (NCAA Football) – Images by Jason O. Watson
Boise State at Fresno State – NCAA Football
The #10 ranked Boise State Broncos came to Fresno State for a Friday night NCAA football game under the lights. This was my first game since moving west, and I drove the three hours from the Bay Area for this game. Really glad I wore shorts because it was over 100 degrees at kick off (6pm). Fresno State really loves their Bulldogs and it was a lot of fun to shoot this one as there was absolutely no defense on either side of the ball (Boise St. won 51-34). There were multiple 60+ yard touchdown runs on both sides and lots of pyrotechnics whenever Fresno St. scored. Cool stuff.
Gallery of images from this game
20090918 – Boise State at Fresno State (NCAA Football) – Images by Jason O. Watson
