What makes Marion Local what it is? “We have a lot of athletes,” says 14-time state champion coach Tim Goodwin. (Press Feature Photos)
Questions about sports photography…questions about Marion Local football…and more questions about the decision to expand title opportunity to every OHSAA sport. That’s what we saw (heard) over the weekend.
Despite the pushbacks that come with publishing sports content online, there are dozens of kind and complimentary people who reach out appreciatively each week.
One of them, Randy, from Minster, even takes the time to call for public prayer for long-time writer Bruce Hooley, back at work now, but still recovering from cancer surgery that he had a year ago. Oh, that there were more people like Randy.
Publisher and editor Sonny Fulks writes the Buckeyes and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
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Another, who wrote Sunday following Saturday’s Ohio State-Indiana football game, identified himself as a high schooler from central Ohio interested in photography as a career. He asked, “Press Pros photos are really good. Any secrets, or advice?”
We do get a lot of comments on the pictures posted with our coverage of area sports, and not to make it sound like real estate, but photo editing comes with an extreme priority. In real estate they would call it…location, location, and location.
In New Testament language…many are called, but few are chosen.
But to be specific, we’re blessed with a long-time relationship with the Nikon corporation and retail companies like Roberts Camera, in Indianapolis, to have just about everything possible to make a given photo stand out.
In addition, if you’re old enough to remember these guys, you see a lot of influence from photographers from the past like Tony Tomsic (Cleveland Press), Walter Iooss (Sports Illustrated), and Malcom Emmons (Ohio State and free lance photographer), all of whom had a part in shaping my own work and style. Malcom Emmons, who in his prime was the ‘unofficial’ official photographer at Ohio State, once said that “Everyone shoots the same picture. It’s how you shoot it that sets it apart.”
“People want to see eyes and faces with the action,” – Tony Tomsic, NFL Hall of Fame contributing photographer
And to his point, the equipment necessary to shoot available light photos of sports can be very expensive – big lenses, and fast lenses, that allow you get the shot that’s close, and natural-looking. Tony Tomsic, who shot the Browns for years, and 48 Super Bowls – an NFL hall-of-fame contributing photographer – once said, “People want to see eyes and faces with the action – emotion.”
Expensive?
Modern cameras, regardless of manufacturer, have made it easier…but the ones used by top sports shooters cost as much as $6,000, without a lens!
And finally, sports photography is a life journey. No one gets good at it in a year’s time. Our guys (and gal) have decades of experience – Brian Bayless, Scott Stuart, and Lee Woolery have been working at it for multiple decades. Julie McMaken Wright is in her 15th year, and started from scratch. And another central Ohio recruit, Logan Gapen, is proving to be a fantastic young photographer.
Finally, the part about selectivity cannot be over-emphasized. You have to be able to pass over, or discard, a lot of photos – even ones you like. There’s always something better.
Many are called. But few are chosen.
The best sports conversation on earth is that which you hear in the press box at Ohio Stadium. Everything gets talked about, especially this time of year when high school football is at the zenith of its relevance and attention.
That said, there was a lot of interest in last Friday’s Marion-Minster game for the Region 28 title in Division VII.
And there’s always a lot of interest about Marion Local, who one writer from northeast Ohio calls the 1927 Yankees of high school football – a modern dynasty!
A lot or people ask about what makes Marion what it is. And how can one team from a small crossroads community become that dominant, and consistent, even to the point of beating teams like Chaminade, Wapakoneta, and Franklin – three divisions higher than Division VII?
Press Pros gets a lot of attention for its coverage of the MAC, specifically, and many of those questions are perennial ones. This football thing in Mercer, Auglaize, Darke and Logan counties has not been just a recent phenomenon.
But here is what I told someone from Mansfield Saturday, who questioned five MAC schools (Marion, Coldwater, Minster, Anna, and Delphos St. John) participating in a regional final game on Friday: “The expectations at Marion, for everything, are just higher than what you find at other schools.”
In fact, you could say the same about a host of MAC schools, where performance in the class room is even higher than what you see on the football field.
And this is frequent: “Is Tim Goodwin (Marion head coach) that good?”
Well, he is good, but even Goodwin would say that you have to have players. Players win championships. Coaches just coach. And to that point here is what Goodwin said to me following Friday’s 21-7 win over an outstanding Minster football team. “We have a lot of athletes, maybe double what we’ve had in some of our other years.”
“Are they even beatable?” someone asked.
Of course.
But when you think about it in traditional terms, there really isn’t that much unique about Marion Local. It’s a matter of kids doing their homework, respecting teachers and coaches (authority), and making the most of robust internal competition. So of course, anyone’s beatable given those three things as a starting point. The trick is…commitment to those three things as a starting point!
Then you have something unique.
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As you see in the post of our monthly ‘Reader Speaks’ column later this week, there’s an increasing number of people questioning the OHSAA’s decision to expand all high school sports to seven divisions, ostensibly for the purpose of creating more championship opportunities for schools and athletes who’ve never been there before.
But as one wrote following the volleyball tournament, “All I see is things being watered down. Four of the seven divisions (volleyball) were won in straight sets.”
And locally, Divisions VI (Coldwater) and VII (Fort Loramie) did go in three sets.
There’s also a robust discussion about the football playoffs, and how a team in the regional final round can get beaten 55-0, what Ironton did to Wheelersburg last week.
Actually, the Ironton score in the regional final was the exception and not the rule, but the regional semi-final week was another story. A lot of scores from across the state had a winning margin of four touchdowns or more.
Here is a familiar and frequent response we hear from people who write to us: “I’m paying a lot of money to see a game with a running clock.”
That’s true, along with those who contend that the OHSAA is making bank at a record rate.
The reality is that there are more games than there are athletes to compete. And of course, when you listen to Executive Director Doug Ute justify more teams and more games as simply more opportunity, who can argue, right?
My guess is…you ain’t heard nothing, yet.
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