DePauw University,
from 2011 Monon Bell Classic
In a few hours, I'd be photographing the 118th meeting of DePauw and Wabash College in the storied annual Monon Bell Classic, and I could hear the distinct rhythm and beat of urban music coming from somewhere south of where I was parking. My parking spot was in a low area next to a hill north of the stadium and an adjacent recreational complex, which was west of the stadium. So I couldn't see anything south of the lot just yet.
Not being up on my contemporary R&B, I wondered whether the music was live or being piped through an audio system. I was eager to find out; it had my anticipatory juices pumping. I knew that there would be something picture-worthy in that southerly direction. All I had to do was follow the music.
The tailgating at Hanover (Ind.) College, which I had visited Oct. 22 to witness a decisive 58-7 win by the home school over Manchester (North Manchester, Ind.) College, had been spirited but modest and largely in one place -- a meadow immediately adjoining Alumni Stadium, where the Hanover Panthers play their home games.
The tailgating at Hanover (Ind.) College, which I had visited Oct. 22 to witness a decisive 58-7 win by the home school over Manchester (North Manchester, Ind.) College, had been spirited but modest and largely in one place -- a meadow immediately adjoining Alumni Stadium, where the Hanover Panthers play their home games.
The tailgating activity was a bit more intense on Nov. 5, when I made my first-ever visit to Wabash in Crawfordsville, Ind., where the Little Giants clinched the North Coast Athletic Conference championship by defeating Wittenberg College of Springfield, Ohio, 28-17.
But no tailgating I'd seen previously would compare to that which I witnessed this day at DePauw. It covered a great expanse on the campus — it was art form, even. But a quick note: I'm told that tailgating on Monon Bell Classic Day at either Wabash or DePauw is like none at any other time of the year at either school. (Unfortunately, for my trip to Wabash for the Monon Bell Classic in 2012, I was running short on time and was not able to do pregame tailgating justice. I did, however, photograph some other special pageantry that day during and after the game.)
But no tailgating I'd seen previously would compare to that which I witnessed this day at DePauw. It covered a great expanse on the campus — it was art form, even. But a quick note: I'm told that tailgating on Monon Bell Classic Day at either Wabash or DePauw is like none at any other time of the year at either school. (Unfortunately, for my trip to Wabash for the Monon Bell Classic in 2012, I was running short on time and was not able to do pregame tailgating justice. I did, however, photograph some other special pageantry that day during and after the game.)
At DePauw in 2011, tailgaters spread over several campus parking lots, and there was even a healthy section roped off for Wabash supporters. Picture opportunities throughout the lots were so voluminous that I had very little time to set aside for exploring the DePauw campus as I had hoped to do. I did grab some shots when I forced myself to pull away, but they were far too few.
Today's post is devoted largely to the tailgating and pageantry that I came across during my visits to Indiana small colleges and universities that fielded football teams in the 2010s. And for the purposes of this amalgam of spectacles, the definition of "pageantry" includes cheerleaders and fans.
Today's post is devoted largely to the tailgating and pageantry that I came across during my visits to Indiana small colleges and universities that fielded football teams in the 2010s. And for the purposes of this amalgam of spectacles, the definition of "pageantry" includes cheerleaders and fans.
The extensive imagery from the 2011 Monon Bell Classic that leads off the string of photos below is a testament to just how big of a deal it is for those two schools when they meet each other every year on the gridiron. The photographs take you from the college kids and alumni in outdoor party bliss in the parking lots into Blackstock Stadium ... to the DePauw cheerleaders, and the Wabash Sphinx Club members (in the red and white striped overhauls) and the post-game folks who helped toll the victory rings of the Monon Bell.
If you've never done any pregame tailgating, hopefully it gives you a good feel about what you might expect -- and enjoy.
And above is a shot of the two members of Wabash College's Sphinx Club who began the afternoon's long, non-stop ringing of the Monon Bell along the Little Giants' sideline (Wabash had possessed the coveted bell since winning the 2010 Classic). Down a ways you’ll see a television cameraman (the game is important enough to be broadcast regionally) behind the south end zone.
Oh … and to tidy up a tiny mystery I dangled at the beginning of this post — the music I heard upon arrival at the campus, as it turned out, was not a live performance. It was piped over a very impressive sound system within the tailgate expanse.
Above: This is one picture for which I thought I ought to offer an explanation. It's a high-dynamic range (HDR) rendering, the melding of multiple pictures of the same scene using different exposures with each of my three shots. I was curious to see if using HDR would pick up the football being tossed by these boys at multiple points in flight. As you can see, it did. I began the three-shot sequence with the boy farthest from camera in throwing motion, but still not releasing the ball. That's why you see only two balls in flight, and not three. What this image also tells you is the the Photomatix software I use to meld my HDR images does a pretty good job of reducing blur or motion when directed to do so, otherwise, you should have seen some blur in and around the arm of the smaller boy, the one who threw the ball.
Wabash College, from 2012 Monon Bell Classic
Franklin College, from 2012 vs. Earlham
Hanover College,
from 2011 vs. Manchester
Above: I photographed these empties on my walk out of Alumni Stadium at the end of the game. They were on a transformer box.
Above: A halftime ceremony honoring recent inductees into the Hanover Athletics Hall of Fame.
Wabash College,
from 2011 vs. Wittenberg
Above: The railroad tracks near the Wabash stadium served as a sort of tailgating gravitational force, aided largely by the roomy area to park vehicles. This view and that of the first two photos below is from the top of the home team grandstand.
Marian University,
2011 vs. St. Francis (Ill.)
Taylor University,
from 2012 vs. Saint Xavier (Ill.)
University of Indianapolis,
from 2012 vs. Delta State
from 2012 vs. Baker (Kan.)
St. Joseph's College,
from 2013 vs. Valparaiso
Rose-Hulman, from 2013 vs. Defiance
homecoming weekend
Manchester University,
from 2014 vs. Earlham
Trine University,
from 2015 vs. Olivet College
homecoming weekend
Next up: Chapter 19, University of St. Francis (Ft. Wayne) vs. Baker University (Kan.), Nov. 2012
Previously in Game Day Revisited:
Introduction
No comments:
Post a Comment