Super Bowl Son-Day

That game was fucking weird. If not, the whole entire Sunday.

I was watching it at the De La Torre's place as I always do whenever a championship sporting event is taking place. For the past two years, I witnessed Green Bay Packers winning over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Superbowl XLV, the Dallas Mavericks getting their revenge against the Miami Heat in that Game 6 of the Finals, that crazy ass walk-off home run by David Freese of the St. Louis Cardinals that forced a Game 7 in the World Series that year, and obviously that Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals when the LA Kings shocked the universe by bringing the Stanley Cup all over the town. But this past Sunday was my second time watching a Super Bowl there, and after a long stressful month of January, just being with some homies and their families and their kids made me feel more comfortable.

As for the game, man, fuck it. That shit looked like it was commissioned and produced by a fifteen-year-old who spent his whole life playing Madden '96 off his pop's Sega Saturn. I mean, it was great to see Ray Lewis getting his second ring at his final game (which is the same way that Jerome Bettis and John Elway finish their careers). The actual game itself felt like I was watching a regular season game and that fucking 35 minutes blackout had to be fixed (as in rigged not repairable) cause, shit, IT WAS THE SUPER BOWL. At a Saints game, yeah, but not during the big dance where a over 100 million people are watching it in their 90"  Samsung (I'll get to those fools later) HDTVs that they just spent their tax refund money on. Happened right after that insane 108 yard kick off return that gave Baltimore another touchdown, which made the San Francisco 49ers way out of reach as the score was 28 Ravens- 6 Niners at that point. After the power was restored, San Francisco regained the upper hand by scoring several touchdown to get very close to Baltimore, scoring wise. But after some, literally, last minute chances to get the lead that didn't work out, the Ravens got the win, as well as the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the second time in 12 years for their first Super Bowl win. It would've been epic and much more interesting if San Francisco won, even though I don't like that city's sports teams, yet unfortunately, it didn't happen.

Unlike the previous Super Bowls that I've been watching for almost 10 years, I didn't seen to have that hyped up style feeling. Maybe it cause I'm getting older or is because the players are getting younger. I still find it coincidental that the head coaches for San Francisco and Baltimore were are siblings, which its probably another reason that garners interest for the game just like John Gruden's old team versus his new team back in 2003. The advertisements they aired this year was bullshit and predictable. All of them. There wasn't one I really saw amusement and entertainment in. Also, that Samsung Galaxy commercial they aired that day? Shit, I honestly thought that it was never going to end. No disrespect to Seth Rogen and Judd Apathow, but it was long as fuck. I thought that Samsung had to give up a shit load of money to Apple from that settlement shit last year, but it looked like they wounded up spending about 100 Million bucks for that ad now that this year's commercials are 40 Million dollars just for 30 seconds of air time.  The only best part of the whole entire Super Bowl broadcast was not the halftime show (I wish I was kidding), but Kat Dennings cleavage during the promos for her show 2 Broke Girls on CBS, who also happened to telecast this years Super Bowl (Fox has it for next year).

What sucked the most about this years game was that this was the very first Super Bowl without the late Steve Sabol of NFL Films being present at the game. Like I said during his tribute that I typed up after his passing last year, he's one the only few people in the world that has gone to every Super Bowl since the inaugural game at the LA Coliseum back in 1967, and I've seem to imagine how the film crew is capturing the game without Steve Sabol giving the commands and directions for that day as he's done in the past. I don't even know if his name will be in the credits of the Ravens Super Bowl XLVII highlight video. but I'm sure they'll do a "In Memory of" type tribute. Probably another reason why my excitement for that championship game on Sunday felt out of place.

Anyway, that's it for the recap. Yeah, I know its kinda somewhat biased but that's how I really thought about the game that Sunday. It really felt like a regular game. Thanks again to the De La Torre's as always for hosting this Super Bowl gathering. Probably the only decent thing that I did so far, while the rest of the past few weeks have been personal stuff with the family and shit. I'm just glad I went there yesterday so that I can feel relaxed and stress free for once instead of driving around from The Valley to LA and answering phone calls that you don't want to answer. The only thing now I'm looking forward to is Primitive's Spring '13 line this month and any other surprises that they have. I know I talk about Primitive alot, but its one of the only decent independent sneaker/skateboarding/apparel boutiques that I really like and I support it alot on instagram and Facebook since the store is based in the Valley, as well as their clothing. Plus, its also owned by Paul Rodriguez, a well known professional skateboarder and a son of a famous latin comedian with the same name. Click on the link on the top right to check out their goods and apparel they offer.

Speaking of Primitive, thanks again to the gorgeous Shay Maria for uploading a photo on her Tumbr page that I took of her rockin' the Air Jordan VII "Playoffs" (not Raptors) during the store's four year anniversary Barbecue last summer. That photo got reblogged and favorited over 400 times. Does this mean that I finally consider myself "Tumblr famous"?

Thanks for your time reading this. Stay blessed. 

Fifth iPhone Avenue and a tribute to Steve Sabol

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.