This Week In Chelsea Sports Photography: 24 Feb – 1 Mar

This week marked the beginning of playoffs for both basketball and hockey; thanks to wins by both teams, I had a game to shoot every day from Monday through Saturday. So yeah, this is a long post.

Monday: Basketball
In Milan’s recently-built but dimly-lit gym — why is it that several of the area’s newer high school gyms also are some of the darkest? — Chelsea defeated Milan, 76-49. In a fun coincidence, Chelsea beat Milan by 27 in the first round of last year’s playoffs, too. (That score was 63-36.)

Tuesday: Hockey
Chelsea defeated Gabriel Richard, 9-1, probably because GR’s jerseys bore a bit too much resemblance to the previous generation of Dallas Stars jerseys. If you’re going to pattern your jerseys after a professional team, follow the good example of Canton and use a real hockey franchise.

Also notable: senior Kyle George scored four goals. This makes me wonder: if three goals is a hat trick, then what would four goals be?

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Some question’s are more relevant than other’s

At a recent basketball game in Chelsea, the opposing student section displayed a sign directed at not-so-tall Chelsea senior Elliot Marshall (who contributed five points to the Chelsea victory):

As I was getting a picture of the sign, the student holding the sign turned around to talk to some of his friends; when he did so, he inadvertently displayed the back of the sign:

There are two potential explanations for the presentation of a question that has no apparent relevance to high school basketball:

  1. The sign-maker actually intended to ask the question, “Whose house?”
  2. The sign-maker really, truly wants to know about Hugh Laurie.

This Week In Chelsea Sports Photography: 10 Feb – 16 Feb

Monday: Hockey
In a game that was rescheduled due to a snowstorm, Chelsea lost to Saline, 5-6.

Wednesday: Hockey
Chelsea defeated Dexter, 3-2.  This game was notable for Chelsea’s quick response to both Dexter goals; Chelsea’s second and third goals each came within a minute of Dexter’s first and second goals.

This game was also notable for a third-period fight that resulted in five penalties:

This Week In Chelsea Sports Photography: 27 Jan – 3 Feb

Wednesday: Hockey
Chelsea defeated Huron, 6-2.

Thursday: Basketball
In an unevenly-lit gym whose darkest point was center court, Chelsea defeated Lincoln, 66-64. Also, the fire alarm went off, and nobody seemed to be alarmed, which leads me to wonder if it can’t really be called an alarm; maybe it should be called a fire ignore.

Saturday: Hockey
Chelsea defeated Kearsley, 9-1. I’ve heard of plenty of schools, but Kearsley was new to me; when I looked for answers, I found that the Kearsley school district is east of Flint. The district’s website says Kearsley is “where pride, tradition and excellence meet,” so I’m guessing there’s a good restaurant or coffeeshop there.

Two years, again

Sunday, 13 January 2008, marked two years since the death of Ann Arbor firefighter Amy Schnearle-Pennywitt. As with the day of the accident, I didn’t want the day to pass without commemoration, so I visited the grave after church.

I wasn’t the only one commemorating that day; Amy’s family members, friends and co-workers were there for a memorial service. I arrived shortly after the service ended, so I had the privilege of actually meeting a number of people for the first time (and in a few cases, reacquainting myself with people I’d met on the scene of the accident); those conversations were moving and humbling. I was aware that her family members and co-workers had read my account of the accident, but I didn’t know just how much it meant to them until I was able to meet them; I posted my thoughts mostly for me, but when I met her family members and co-workers, I learned that those thoughts ended up serving a purpose far greater than my own catharsis.

It is the hand of God that took my words — the words of someone who played the wrong sort of role in the tragedy of that morning — and used them to bring comfort to those who needed it.