Football Friday: A Little Too Close to the Action

Friday nights, as our photographers head out to cover their games, I always try to say two things to each of them. One is, “I hope you get some touchdowns,” and two is, “Be careful.” The being careful part, of course, covers driving to and from each game. But it also means to watch it on the sideline.

Most of our Football Friday video comes from our photographers standing on the sidelines to cover the action. They want to be as close as they can to what’s happening, and it’s also kind of a badge of honor to shoot from there. It’s hard work and really highlights the photographer’s skill.

Shooting creative video from the sidelines was a trademark of the famous “Jelly Roll” Jay Jennings, who helped us create Football Friday back in 1981 and who was and still is one of the best there is.

One of the hazards of working on the sidelines, though, is that there is a chance a photographer may be so caught up in the action that, all of sudden, the action comes right over to where he or she is standing and, boom, down they go in a heap.

Imagine standing there without protection, concentrating on what’s happening on the field, and suddenly some heavily padded, large young men come crashing down on you at full force. Not so pleasant.

I remember way back in 1986 when Jeff Gravley was just starting out and was our sports photographer. Before he became a great anchor, Jeff was also a great photographer. He was on the sideline of the playoff game between Fuquay-Varina and Ahoskie when he was taken out by both a receiver and a defender. Jeff was OK, but the camera was in pretty bad shape. Going all the way to Ahoskie to get creamed made for a sore trip back to Raleigh.

I think a young Jeff, who had been a high school quarterback and had taken some hard knocks in his day, was much more concerned about the station’s very expensive camera and management’s reaction to its demise than he was about his physical well-being.

Then, about a decade later, former Wilson bureau photographer-reporter Brian Bowman was hit hard and broke his leg. Brian was such a trouper that he went on and videotaped his second game in a great deal of pain and without knowing that his leg was broken. I don’t think he ever worked the sideline again.

Last Friday night, my longtime producer, Brad Simmons, was on the scene at the game between Smithfield-Selma and Holly Springs. He had just stepped up and started to tape when three players bowled him over.

Now, Brad is a big guy. At 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, Brad is as big as most of the players, and he was OK, but the camera was a mess. We showed the collision on Football Friday, and a thoughtful Coach Hynus at Holly Springs e-mailed me to see if Brad was OK and to say they had a good picture of what happened if Brad wanted to see it.

I think we would all like to see that one from a different angle, just to see how it all took place. As for Brad, he shook it off and was on the sideline again the next day for the State-ECU game.

So we love for our guys to get close to the action, and that’s where they want to be. It is fun work and our guys will tell you that. But sometimes the action does get much too close for comfort.

Yeah, it’s very easy for me, sitting back here in the office, to tell those at the heart of the action to be careful.

Now to look ahead instead of back. The weather’s not looking good for Friday. Here we are in the middle of a horrendous drought, and we need water, but if Greg Fishel’s forecast holds true, this will be the fourth Friday of the season that has been hit by rain.

We still plan, though, and right now we hope to cover 27 games involving schools from 23 counties.

Here’s what we’re looking at:

North Lenoir at Goldsboro

Wilson Hunt at Southern Wayne

Southern Nash at SouthWest Edgecombe

Rocky Mount at Wilson Fike

Panther Creek at Cary

Cedar Ridge at Northwood

West Johnston at Smithfield-Selma

Southern Lee at Harnett Central

East Wake at Garner

Holly Springs at Southeast Raleigh

Durham Hillside at Northern Durham

Person at Durham Jordan

Middle Creek at Athens Drive

Apex at Fuquay-Varina

Millbrook at Wake Forest-Rolesville

Wakefield at Broughton

Eastern Alamance at Oxford Webb

Roanoke Rapids at Bunn

Northampton West at Louisburg

Scotland County at Hoke County

Douglas Byrd at Jack Britt

East Duplin at Clinton

Hobbton at Lakewood

Gray’s Creek at Triton

Union Pines at South Johnston

E.E. Smith at South View

Pinecrest at Westover

We’ve known some schools that have postponed games because of a forecast only to find out that they really could have played. So coaches, don’t forget that while the weather guys are good, it’s not always an exact science.

As always, here’s the number to call in your scores: 1-888-472-9725. It’s the best way to ensure that your score gets on Football Friday.

Hope there will be games on Friday. Playing in the mud can be fun.