sports

Going downtown

_C1_8688.JPGIf you ever find yourself in a fire or medical emergency 13.1 miles away from the nearest road, never fear: Several firefighters around here can run that distance with a helmet, an air tank and other gear weighing 40 or 50 pounds.

About half a dozen of them proved it Sunday in Fayetteville’s Hero Half Marathon, a fundraiser for the Fayetteville Firefighters Scholarship Fund and other charities and a commemoration of the many firefighters who’ve died doing their jobs. One or two hundred other participants joined them on a route around Lake Fayetteville and south to the heart of town.

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I expected to find people a couple hours later lying totally exhausted at the finish line, but most of these weirdos were talking and walking around as if it were just a normal day. The firefighters, including the first woman firefighter to complete the race, showed a little more fatigue after it all, but even they were soon joking around — after ripping off the gear.

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_C1_8986.JPGWell done, everybody. Thanks for looking.

The One Rule

_C1_6593Skateboarding, foosball, bowling, Ultimate — this was a weekend of games.

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_C1_6591For some reason, the phrase “Life’s a game” popped up in my mind while looking through this crop of photos. Do you think life’s a game? Some people put a lot of thought into the question, tackling it from a cynical or philosophical perspective. I don’t know the answer, but I do know there’s no redo button in those games (video games excluded) or in life. Whatever you do, good or bad, is a permanent part of the history that leads into every second. There’s no taking back a moment — it’s the one rule.

This fact might sound scary, but what are you going to do? Only what you can. Just don’t forget the rule, I guess. And give yourself something to celebrate every now and then.

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_C1_6714By the way, bowling alleys make great birthday spots. A dozen of us went there to celebrate my co-worker’s Big Double-3. I’m pretty bad at bowling, but the company made up for the scores.

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_C1_6759Sunday was way too windy for Ultimate, but life has its windy days, too, am I right?

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_C1_6856Thanks for spending a moment here,

Dan

Cold Light

_C1_5524The Sun returned to us today, but with a price: highs in the 20s, wind chills in the single digits and a smattering of snow, even when the Sun was shining. The sunlight and cold aren’t opposites; the northern air is so cold that those clouds we’ve had for the last month can finally drop out of the sky. I played sub-freezing Ultimate with some other knuckleheads, including a few first-timers.

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_C1_5616The evening drew on and temperatures fell; looks like it’s about 16 degrees as I type this. Still, a cloudless sky is a valuable opportunity.

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_C1_5634A full Moon, a comet and Jupiter are above us tonight. I wish I could do them justice with the equipment I have.

_C1_5643(The Moon through trees)

_C1_5654This is Orion — my first shot of a constellation. Comet Lovejoy, C/2014 Q2, is now visible from Earth near Orion’s bottom right. The Moon is bright enough to give the glare in this image and drown out the comet, but it should be dimming enough in the next week or two to see the comet with the naked eye. I’ll have to try again; this is the best I could get tonight:

_C1_5655It’s that fuzzy green thing near the middle, trailing a faint wisp, the merest suggestion of a tail. Like an eclipse, these celestial crossings, even seen through a noisy long exposure, remind me there are inconceivably huge and grand things happening beyond our little world. Remember that, will you?

Thanks for passing by,

Dan

Summer’s End

_C1_1424Fall begins Tuesday and highs in the 90s have vanished from the forecast. With summer’s end come fall sports, politics, shorter days and more pants. I tried getting a sample of these changes this week.

I’ll start with the boys surfing cardboard, above. The Razorbacks once again trounced their opponent, and a celebration for parents and families meant a bit more activity around the student union, including some singing along to classic rock covers:

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_C1_1452Also on Saturday, the opponents of Fayetteville’s anti-discrimination ordinance turned in more than enough petitions to bring the ordinance to a public vote. The law protects lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from being fired, evicted or turned away from a business because of their identity, along with a few other groups. (I took some photos outside the City Council’s vote on the law here.)

The opponents question whether such discrimination is a problem and say the law takes away from business owners’ rights. If enough of those signatures are verified in the next week or two, the vote would probably come in December or January.

These next several weeks will bring plenty more politics for us to cover, so wish us luck.

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_C1_1298All right, that’s enough news for this post. The rest I’ll devote to summer’s fading light.

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_C1_1258The Bikes, Blues & BBQ Motorcycle Rally begins Wednesday and looks to bring a few hundred thousand people to the region. Surely I’ll get at least a couple of photos from the crowd for next time, right?

Thanks for looking!

Dan