High School State Championship Basketball. Glens Falls, NY March 2012

“Hoop Dreams Shattered in a Game of Inches Played 200 Miles from Home…” 

My thoughts on covering the New York State HS Basketball Championship Tournament last weekend, March 15 – 17, 2012. Finally getting around to recapping my weekend (albeit shortened) up in Glens Falls, NY for the state basketball championship tournament. We had two teams from our coverage area up there playing in their respective “Final Four” Semi – Finals games last Friday. The trick for me to handle the tough scheduling of the games (first game between Livingston Manor and Madrid – Waddington at 11:30AM and the marquee game for us, Burke Catholic against Watervliet was an 8:30PM tip off, with Burke Catholic looking to repeat as the Class B state champion no less.) For me that meant hopefully getting to the arena night before (Thursday) to install my set of full arena strobes and try to get a good night’s rest before the long day on Saturday. This trip would mark the fourth time I’ve covered the tournament up there, so I’ve become pretty familiar with the logistics of the old arena about an hour north of Albany. As it turned out, I made it to the arena around 7PM (right on schedule) on Thursday and was pleasantly surprised that the venue was still set up for hockey. In fact there was some sort of organized league playing through the evening. Once I ran into the head of maintenance for the building, he couldn’t have been nicer after I explained to him that I’d been coming up for the tournament the last few years and would like to install my strobes that night. He asked for specifics and I remember thinking he was just testing me to see if I truly had worked in his building like I said I had. We exchanged barbs throughout Saturday about who spent the most time in the ancient hall. That’s another part of the business – building relationships that allow you to make the kinds of pictures you need to. Or at least want to.

Leave a Reply