Ellie P. Campbell Photography

Yesterday we went to the Bucs-Jets game in Tampa with Larry & Erin (see their wedding here and Erin’s blog here) and Dan & Sharon. Dan scored some pretty ridiculous seats (50-yard line, 2nd row behind the Jets bench), so I brought along my camera and favorite lens (below) to help keep myself focused on the game (I have the tendency to space out and watch the crowd and all surroundings more than what’s happening on the field/court).

Canon 70-200 IS L series

Well, my lens might have caught the eye of the 6-year-old and his dad seated behind us (“That is BIG!”), but these guys sure did make me feel like a wuss:

Anyway, I snapped some shots at the game, even though I could see why those beastly zooms have their place in sports photography. My 200mm couldn’t capture the up-close-and-personal stuff, but it does illustrate how sick our seats were!

Jets Coach Rex Ryan getting grouchy with a player:

Dan & Sharon saying hi from their seats:

“Hey Mom – Can I call you back? I’m sort of busy…”:

So many injuries…

Some cool catches:

Our depressed Buc fan neighbors left, so Dan & Sharon joined us in our row:

And a bit of mayhem at the end of the game with a few wild Jets fans. The guy in the #99 Gastineau jersey was shouting, “I’ve been a Jets fan for 30 years! You’re 66 years old (to the coach); you haven’t won anything!” and “You’re SUPPOSED to win this game!” and also yelling at one of the players for injuring himself last week. Strangest fandom ever during a blowout win. One nearby Jets fan mumbled, “I never thought I’d have to take out a Jets fan…” And another made the guy apologize to his children for his foul language. I took this shot after we scooched down a few seats away from them out of fear:

And then we took the token shots of ourselves (our pink faces are a combination of the sunlight reflecting off of the red seats and our being toasty from the shocking 85-degree mid-December heat):

Larin:

Thanks for a great first experience at Raymond James Stadium! (Can’t really beat it, unless Brady’s right in front of us instead of Clemens, the Jets’ QB.) Congratulations, Dan & Sharon (and Jets fans), for the 26-3 win.

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