I tell you, there’s nothing so humbling to the amateur photographer as trying to cover a sporting event—and I say this as one who has been humbled in every conceivable way, photographically speaking. Nevertheless, I persevere. Next up, the Pinewood Derby. We had been alerted to this stellar event by a Tiger Cub, our neighbor Tommy. So there we were at Lakeland Elementary School last Friday. It was very exciting. Remember I told you half of Elk Rapids and environs was at the Fish Dinner Fund Raiser? Well, the other half was here (and will no doubt be at next Friday’s Fish Dinner).
There were heats, and brackets, and pit crews. There were rules worthy of the Olympics and paint jobs worthy of NASCAR. Pit crews, electronic finish lines, piles of pizza boxes. There were kids, tons of ’em, more than I’ve seen in one place since Rob the Firefighter was a little guy, and boyohboy that was a long time ago. There were piles of shiny trophies, one of which went home with Tommy. It was an entirely satisfactory end to a really good day.
Torch Lake Views 
Louan
March 19, 2012
Is Tommy, the cutie ,with the crooked grin? I have found, you can’t go wrong, with a room full of Boy Scouts, of any age.
Gerry
March 19, 2012
He is. He is my favorite Tiger Cub.
Dawn
March 19, 2012
I remember these days from when my brothers were cub scouts! Oh the memories these pictures bring back…how cool that they still do this!
Gerry
March 19, 2012
I guess some things never change. We sure had a good time.
tootlepedal
March 20, 2012
I particularly like the indeterminate blue flash disappearing of the left hand side of one of your pictures. As a comment on the difficulty of grasping the meaning of life, it was unparalleled. It looked like a good time was had by all.
Gerry
March 20, 2012
It was also a comment on the difficulty of achieving stellar photos of sporting events, or for that matter, moving objects in general. But perhaps that’s the great problem with life. Everything is always in motion. It’s hard to keep up.
P.j. grath
March 20, 2012
Gerry, I think you did an EXCELLENT job! Vroom-vroom!!!
Gerry
March 20, 2012
Thank you. I had excellent fun.
shoreacres
March 20, 2012
This past weekend I was at the Rabbit Festival in Iowa, Louisiana. The similarity between that event and this one was the kids. I don’t have (or take) much opportunity to be around lots of kids, and it was pure pleasure.
It also was a reminder that there’s a difference between real families and couples who have decided it’s time to tick another acquisition off the list, but that’s a whole different discussion.
And by the way – I know a professional photographer who says there’s nothing so humbling for the pro as sports photography. He fusses continually, and he’s got equipment that costs as much as my car.
Gerry
March 20, 2012
The whole reason we love sports is that you can never be sure what will happen. There could always be . . . something surprising. Even miraculous. Capturing that at all – let alone in a visually interesting way and, um, in some kind of focus 🙂 – is a very tall order indeed.
Sybil
March 20, 2012
I love the clever way the images scroll by in the box at the top. It’s almost like being there.
Gerry
March 20, 2012
Thank you. It was more fun being there, though.