So last Tuesday, my favorite filmmaker of 10 years and the head of NFL Films Steve Sabol had passed away from Brain Cancer he was diagnosed with for the past year and a half.
For those of you who stay in touch with me on Facebook, Twitter, and my other websites (like you should be doing), you'd noticed that I wouldn't shut the fuck up about his death and kept flooding other people's comment walls and feeds with a number of tributes I did to him for the past two days. I'm not gonna make this extremely long or anything, but dude was the main reason I started doing filmmaking back in high school, which then lead to photography just from watching his videos of highlights from NFL games that he and his pops have been producing and conducting for over 40 years. I first got into NFL Films when I was ready to watch Super Bowl XXXVII back in 2003 between the Raiders and the Buccaneers (the Pirate Bowl, the Gruden Bowl which that game was referred to from the coincidental storyline and relationship that coach John had with both teams).
That game didn't start until later that afternoon and I had plenty of time to kill after I woke up. I then went to ESPN 2 and saw that they were showing highlights from the past Super Bowls. Prior to this, I wasn't into the NFL as I am now (I haven't watch any of the games yet this season other than the Thursday Night Opener) and they only things I knew about the league at that time was the popular teams like the Cowboys, Raiders and the New York Giants and the only players I knew were Joe Montana, John Elway, Emmit Smith and Troy Aikman. And on top of that, I watched Super Bowls then cause it was very popular with the commercials and the halftime show. That was it. I then spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the highlights, and in every one of them, Steve Sabol would introduce each highlight by giving a synopsis of that particular Super Bowl. I thought he was some washed up high school football coach from the 80's until two years later that I realized he was the founder of NFL Films. That company is a educational tool for those who want to get into pro football from a history aspect, and I'm saying this with experience. I really liked the way the cinematographers captured the athletes up close with their sound coming from the wireless mics attached to them, along with the slow motion and the behind the scenes in the locker room.
The main purpose of NFL Films is storytelling mixed with symphony music and narration from the deep voice narrators which makes watching their highlights like a movie screening at the Hollywood Bowl. If it wasn't for Steve Sabol and NFL Films, the I would've NEVER got into pro football, or professional sports for that matter, and I would've never enrolled at Brooks Institute of Photography for that summer. Hell, I would've been 30 pounds heavier by fixing and studying computers or doing whatever my moms forces me to do after high school without ambitions. I remember when I used to cop whatever out of print VHS and DVD that NFL Films would distribute, or I would just record some of the old highlights off ESPN Classic. But in short, dude was one of the top people I looked up to next to my parents, Steve Jobs, and Ted Turner (before he sold off from Time Warner and made TBS a piece of shit station). Also, Steve Sabol was one of the only few people in existence to have gone to EVERY FUCKING SUPERBOWL in his life, including the NFL championship games before the merger. Thanks again, Steve.
Alright, so that was kinda lengthy. Not only is photography what I'm good at, but writing/typing is also my second interest as well. I've been blogging for almost 6 years already. Speaking of which, check out this one blogsite from a woman out in New York City who is giving up a week to be one of first in line to camp out for the iPhone 5 in front of the Fifth Avenue Apple Store which drops in all other Apple Stores and other cell providers not called T-Mobile tomorrow. She's been keeping readers in touch about how she is occupying her time in front of the store, and its quite interesting to read. The woman's name is Jessica, if that matters. Here's the link http://iphonewhatever.com/
Thanks for your time reading and have fun skipping work and class tomorrow by standing in lines longer than Space Mountain and the DMV for the new four inch device that Samsung does not want you to purchase.
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