Last Saturday, we went to the Superior Dome in Marquette for the regional football championship game. The team that I cover won again, so they will be returning to Marquette this Saturday for the state semifinals.
Just thought I'd show you a shot or two I took inside the dome. (It was night when we got up there--this week's game is during the day.)
As you see, it is made of wood. It fact, it's the world's largest wooden dome (For more about the Superior Dome and a look at the exterior, look at its Wikipedia entry.)
The acoustics inside are weird. I've been to track meets there, and sometimes you can be about 30 feet from the starter's pistol and it sounds very distant. Then, you can be on the other side of the floor, and the gun makes you jump. Here's another shot.
One thing I don't enjoy about covering football games at the dome is the arena staff, who must be from the law enforcement academy or something. They keep all us news photographers about 12 feet from the sidelines--behind a broken white line. But I'm trying both to take notes on the action and get pictures at the same time, and it sure makes it difficult--especially since light from a flash disperses over distance.
For example, this shot was taken during a crucial fourth down play in last Saturday's game. Here's how I got to see it ...
Great seats, eh, buddy? Maybe I should take along a helmet, shirt and shoulder pads next time.
Now ... this Saturday's game is the state semifinals. If they win that one, they go on to the state finals, which would be played Thanksgiving Friday (Nov. 24) at 9 a.m. (our time) at Ford Field in Detroit. It would be the third consecutive Thanksgiving when I am far from home, covering the football finals. True, I'll get to visit my older son (in fact, I'd be staying with him), but just the same, I'd rather have Thanksgiving Day at home. For once.
I mean, been there, done that. I've gone down to the state finals several times. Contrary to what you may think, covering those games is just not as much fun as covering the regular season games, where you can be right on the sidelines, feel the wind, the rain and the snow, and you walk around on real green grass. Or mud. (But the mud is real, so that's OK.) Shirtsleeve weather for football is OK--if it's August or September.
I've got girls basketball district tournament games Wednesday night and (probably) Friday night and a meeting on Thursday. Fortunately, this one isn't as long as the football meeting.
One other MAJOR piece of GOOD news. My wife got a job.
She's starting at a call center that opened in town here just recently. She started training today. She'll be working just about full-time through the holidays. After that, it will slow down, but it's a national company with other big, national clients.
Jobs are very hard to find here. Small town, not much economic life. Rural area in the woods. Far from "civilization." Heck, there are 13,000 people in the entire county, and most are elderly. It's been an employer's market.
My wife had been out of work for about a year, after the motel where she worked closed due to the owner's illness. (She died over the summer, and the place is closed.) So we've been living on my paycheck ever since, and my job doesn't pay well. Plus, we had our health insurance cut back earlier this year, so I've got a lot of medical bills that need to be paid.
If she can hang on there, this will be a very good thing. We're going to have to scramble at times, especially since we just have one car, but where there's a will, etc. We both want to make it work, and that's the main thing.
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