Oh, what a night

While driving to photograph a high school basketball game I was following a car in the right lane of a five lane road. I wanted to pass the car ahead of me, but another car was in the left lane driving about the same speed as the car ahead of me. I was behind this car for about two miles and it was driving me crazy. The driver ahead of me was just driving below the speed limit of 50 m.p.h., and the other car in the left lane was doing about the same. We were approaching a stop light, I thought I would have to follow this slow car to my destination. Just at the last second the car merges over into the left lane. The right lane is a turn lane only. If the driver knew they wanted to go straight before the stop light, why did they just get over now and not two miles ago?

Once I was away from that slow poke driver I encountered another. The road I turned on has no speed limit signs posted. The speed limit is 55 m.p.h., but no one seems to know that. I learned back in drivers ed that if you are on a road with no sign posted it is 55. People must think because there are a bunch of homes along the side of the road it must be 45 m.p.h. Well, its not. I got behind another car and they were doing between 45-50 m.p.h. Come on, pick a speed and stay with it. While crawling behind this driver, they turn on their blinker to turn into a party store. This person almost came to a complete stop to turn right into the party store. I came to a complete stop so I didn't hit the car. While making my stop for the party store driver a car pulls out in front of me at the next intersection. The person was going slow and I immediately caught up to them. I was stuck behind this car all the way to my destination. I guess that they didn't know the speed limit either. Going below the speed limit is awesome!

I arrived during the third quarter of the JV game. I like to shoot games from the corner of the court, so I sat on the bleachers near where I wanted to shoot. Halfway during the fourth quarter the visiting teams cheerleaders all come down to near where I'm sitting to take pictures, talk, and practice their cheers. During the game they keep getting in my way, but I didn't say anything, because its only a JV game. The school that I was at has a spot on the side of the court where the cheerleaders normally stand. But since the varsity squad had about 20 girls they wouldn't fit in that spot. I heard the coach say that she wanted the girls to stand on the baseline underneath the basket or form an L shape with some on the baseline and some on the sidelines. When I photograph games that is where I like to stand. That means I would be battling cheerleaders for the sidelines. When I heard the L shape, I knew it would be in the corner that I wanted to stand. So I picked up my coat, photo jacket, camera and moved to the other side of the court to get away from the annoying cheerleaders.

Once on the other side of the court I saw that town's newspaper photographer sitting in the stands. I told him I was going to shoot on the other side but the cheerleaders were going to be over there. Once the game started he grabbed his camera and stood underneath the basket. The cheerleaders then walked over and formed their line. After five minutes, the cheerleading coach runs over to him and tells him he has to move because the girls can't move their arms during the cheers. He stood his ground and told her he was staying. The coach got mad and went to go find the Athletic Director. The AD comes down and said something to him, but he stood in the same spot. After the first quarter was over, the other photographer said something to me and grabbed his gear and left. I wish I would have heard what he said, but the music was too loud.

That incident brings me to ask this: Why does there have to be cheerleaders? During the game these girls were cheering to the court. No one sitting in the stands was paying attention to them. The only people who look at the cheerleaders are their parents and the coach. Nobody else cares. Also, why do the cheerleaders from the home school go over and talk to the visiting squad before the game? At halftime we have a routine that is killer!

It just irritates me.