The Super Bowl: Jack's Take

Jack MacDonough sent us some pictures from Dallas. A picture Jack took...

...and Jack taking the picture. Leica S2, 35mm ƒ/2.5 Summarit-S ASPH lens. (Fans were not allowed to bring lenses more than six inches long into the Stadium.)

In the top picture, on the Jumbotron, from left to right: Packers CEO Mark Murphy; Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl 45; former Steelers quarterback, four-time Super Bowl champion, and current Fox TV personality Terry Bradshaw; and Packers Coach Mike McCarthy (a native of the Pittsburgh area who grew up rooting for Bradshaw's Steelers).

The matchup was a good one for diehard football fans. The Steelers have the most Super Bowl wins (six), and the Packers have the most NFL Championships (13, including the first two Super Bowls and one more following the '96 season). In an ESPN poll rating the rabidness of NFL fans, Steelers and Packers fans ranked #1 and #2 respectively.

Two of 42 Fox television cameras.

A pass play on the 42 yard line is repeated in real time on the Jumbotron above.

A detail from the shot.

Packer fans wait in line to get into Cowboys Stadium in Dallas before the game.

It's at least possible that there are Packers team owners in this picture. For those who might not know, Green Bay, with 102,000 people in the last census, is by far the smallest American city with a major sports team, and the Packers are the only major team in American sports that is owned by the public. At last count there were more than 111,000 shareholders. The team is non-profit, and no dividends are paid to shareholders—excess funds (and any proceeds should the team ever be sold) go to charity.

Such an arrangement would violate NFL League rules today. But the Packers are "grandfathered in."

Mike McCarthy and players after the game.

If you missed the game, the Packers, who won 31–25, never trailed, but it was close several times and came down to the Steelers' last possession. A good game if you didn't have a horse in the race. And if you did, well, I saw a public service announcement earlier in the day the said there's a spike in heart attacks during big football games in the cities whose teams are playing.

Super Bowl ring from the last time we won, after the 1996 season.

Big thanks to Jack for sharing these with us. Here are some more. He's planning to put up a few mega-panoramas in the next few days; I'll let you know.

Mike

ADDENDUM for our international friends who have never watched American football: a Super Bowl ring is not just a fashion trinket. Since only members of the winning organization get one, it's one of the most coveted prizes in American culture, never mind American sports. They're more rare than Academy Award Oscars.

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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by CharlieH: "That screen is just incredible. I am dying to see the remote."

Mike replies: Charlie, the remote is called a NOC (network operations center). You can see it here."

Comments

[Mike Plews]

Nice game but did you see the hit a sideline camera guy took?
Does a blue vest mean he was with NFL films?
In any case it looked like a pain that will linger.

[Mike Johnston]

"did you see the hit a sideline camera guy took?"

Mike,
Yeah, that would have broken a monopod. I think they said he was a sound guy. Probably sore this morning, and I hope nothing worse.

Mike

[Herman]

For photos regarding college sports, see www.efn.org/~hkrieger/sport.htm

[Andrew]

Six inches! What would you take? This might be a good time to have a m43 system but I do not know what you get for 6". In my arsenal, the Canon 70-300 DO (with zoom lock applied :-))would be OK.

Andrew from Addis

[CharlieH]

That screen is just incredible. I am dying to see the remote.

[Ken Tanaka]

Congratulations to the Packers. They played an excellent game. Aaron Rogers doesn't have the kind of public persona and flashy ego that will ever make him Bradshaw (perhaps mercifully) but he's quickly earning a place in the pantheon of top quarterbacks.

For a change the game was actually much better than the ad parade, which was mostly frat-boy silly with sprinkles of mindless tastelessness (Groupon). And don't even get me started on Fox's flag-waving, faux patriotic pregame show. (That set-up piece with President Obama was such poor taste and judgment, regardless of your politics, that I just turned it off.) Even an hour of it was enough to make my blood boil and stomach sour.

Generally, I think I'm just outgrowing the Super Bowl, and perhaps football in general. This might have been my last to waste time watching.

But I'm glad the Packers won. I'm sure it made my cheese-head in-laws happy.

[Nico Burns]

A non-profit football team is against the rules?? That really is ridiculous!

[charlie]

"did you see the hit a sideline camera guy took?"

Mike,
Yeah, that would have broken a monopod. I think they said he was a sound guy. Probably sore this morning, and I hope nothing worse.

Mike

Yeah, that would have broken me in half.

Charlie

[Patrick Perez]

Wow! The S2's web res photos are beautiful!

Patrick

[KeithB]

I have always wondered about the "6 inches long" rule. Is that extended? my 70 - 300 mm extends from about 6" to 11" or so. Is that allowed?

(When I an getting them in, I make sure to have the lock on!)

I know that my 150 - 500 is right out. 8^)

Also, tripods/monopods are usually out, too. Though you might be able to camoflage one as a cane or crutch.

When I attended a Bruce Springsteen concert in the '80s I was in the bathroom when a man in a wheel chair called me over for assistance. He was struggling to pull something out from behind him. I went to help fearing it was drugs or a weapon. It turned out to be an SLR with a long lens! I had no problem helping him with that!

[Karl Knize]

Do you have one of Usher wearing his diaper-drawers? Where's the good 'ol, broken down Who when you need 'em?

[Jeff]

@ CharlieH...just to give you a perspective on how big that screen is...http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/10381/593489.html

[JackM]

The huge video screen above the field is a wonderful addition to watching the game for the fans. It transforms the viewing experience. It also provides a wonderful element in a wide-angle shot. I look forward to making some panoramas in huge scale. I have the resolution to create a nice "you are there" landscape. My laptop was choking on doing the large file Panorama merge I plan to execute when home. No point in trying to compete with the sports photographers in taking action shots, but it was fun to see what 180mm could do, thanks to the loan of the 180 lens from a friend Kurt K. The lens was 5.95" so under the 6" restriction. No camera bags were allowed. I carried the extra lens in a jacket pocket. If they didn't approve of your equipment, you either left your equipment behind or missed getting in. Well, back to normal landscapes.

[Yger]

I wonder what keeps American football from the world recognition? Despite the easiness of global communications it remains a local American event. Why does it leave everyone else cold?

[Marc Rochkind]

"They're [Super Bowl rings] more rare than Academy Award Oscars."

I don't think so. Everybody on the team gets a ring, including coaches, practice squad, and even office staff.

There are only about 30 Academy Awards per year.

[Reg Paley UK]

JUMBOTRON!!! was there another one on the other side of the ground?

[gene Hoefel]

Jack you are seen at all the best places. did you catch my son in law Michael North on the stand after the game handing over the keys to the chevy convertible to Rodgers?

All the best
Gene

[Mike Johnston]

"'They're [Super Bowl rings] more rare than Academy Award Oscars.' I don't think so. Everybody on the team gets a ring, including coaches, practice squad, and even office staff. There are only about 30 Academy Awards per year."

But the Oscars have been awarded for much longer. And there are more than you think: 24 categories, 5 special categories, and multiple winners each get their own Oscars (you've seen those scrums of half a dozen producers or three writers on stage all waving their statuettes around). You might be right on an annual basis, but I think it would be close.

Mike

[Mike Johnston]

"I wonder what keeps American football from the world recognition? Despite the easiness of global communications it remains a local American event. Why does it leave everyone else cold?"

Yger,
A. It's a surprisingly complex game that originated when America was much more isolated from the rest of the world than it is now. B. You'd suck at it. We'd kill you. In America 1.8 million people participate in football, starting as young as 4. C. You don't actually want it. It's a barbaric game that really ought to be outlawed if it weren't so central to our culture. (What can I say--it's our bullfighting.) It leaves many of its practitioners crippled or brain-damaged, and numerous people have died playing the game--including, every year, a few schoolchildren. Like sumo wrestling, it routinely shortens the lives of many of those who play it professionally. Has anyone ever wondered why they don't televise crowd shots during the Hall of Fame ceremonies? It's because at the front of the crowd there are several rows of older players in wheelchairs.

Mike

[Paul Byrnes]

So that screen answers my question - why do the players spend half their time looking at the stars? Apologies to Bette Davis. For the record, having no allegiances, I went for the Packers. TOP readers kinda have to.
PAUL

[David Bostedo]

"JUMBOTRON!!! was there another one on the other side of the ground?"

Yes...and two somewhat smaller ones at each end for the fans seated behind the end zones.

[Murray Lord]

The six inch rule is an interesting one. Apparently here at the Sydney Cricket Ground it's a 200mm rule. Teleconverters are presumably OK.

And re why the game doesn't take off in the rest of the world, I reckon it's because the rules are so complicated that the casual observer who sees it while flicking channels on TV just can't understand what's going on. At least with something like soccer it's pretty obvious what everyone is trying to do.

[Dennis Ng]

It was argued over the large format forum whether you saw a full plate, 4x5 or 8x10 camera in one of the car commercial in Superbowl. Any confirmation what model is that?

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=71977

The commercial can be seen here (you have to click a few to find the one with many people running in front of an office building, starting with a mobile phone larger than a brick.)

http://www.hyundaisuperbowl.com/

[children and divorce]

My heart was with Pittsburgh, but my brain said that the Packers were going to pull it off. I gave them a 7 point spread .... and they win by 6. Sighhh .... I confess .... I am lousy at betting. Anyway .... too much beer and too much football .... I am going to sleep. Regular blogging will return early tomorrow morning.

[Patrick Perez]

Curse you, html! My comment above about S2s making fine web cams was made with tongue firmly in cheek, as evidenced by the [ g ] I included. Instead, it came across as a snarky shot, which it wasn't.

Patrick

[Anthony]

Now the Superbowl is out of the way, we can get on with some _real_ football.

Unfortunately for the rest of the world it’s even less widespread than American Football, really only inhabiting the 2nd (Melbourne), 4th and 5th (Adelaide and Perth) biggest cities in Australia (although Sydney and Brisbane do both have teams in the Australian Football League, they just generally prefer that heathen game, Rugby League).

You might know some Australian footballers. They generally use NFL punting duties as a nice retirement fund (Darren Bennett, Ben Graham, Saverio Rocca etc)

You might also note that padding is not used. I guess probably because the biggest player in the AFL is only 7ft and 300lbs, and the average is closer to 6’3” and 200lbs, so they’re generally pretty puny by NFL standards. Still the ‘contested ball’ takes a bit of courage to win, because if there’s two 200lb guys colliding head to head, at pace, without helmets, to try and get the ball off the ground someone is a good chance to get hurt.

I know it’s ‘our bullfighting’ as you say, but you really should check it out. It shares one thing with American football that puts it ahead of that other football code that people seem to like. That is that you can have a highlight anywhere on the ground, and those highlights often make for great photos (apologies for my lack of links).

Oh, and I do enjoy the Superbowl (a pity it’s on when I’m at work – Monday morning, if you could get it moved to Saturday night your time next year that’d be appreciated :) ). Congrats to Green Bay.

[amcananey]

They need to color-calibrate the screen.

[Jim McDermott]

If Fox were doing the coverage, how can you have any faith that what you saw was the truth?

[Jim McDermott]

Anthony - Aussie Rules? Men in hot-pants, that's just not right

[J Ho]

Much, much more rare than either a ring or an "Oscar." http://trophiestrophy.com/trophies/borg-warner-trophy/

[Chris Taus]

All due respect to Pittsburg.­....The Curtain fell.....a­nd revealed a true All-Americ­an team winning the Big Game last night!

Green Bay Rocks!!!!

[Mike Johnston]

Dennis,
Oren thinks it's an Eastman #1 5x7--
http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/ekc/1.htm

Mike