Missed Call…Missed Moment
by Tim Webb
March 6, 2010
I’ve been covering the 11th Region Basketball Tournament for the Lexington Herald-Leader this week. For any sports photographer who loves to cover sports, the biggest shot you can ever make is the photograph that captures THE moment. The decisive moment. The game changer. That one moment in time that defines the game.
For me, that moment came at the end of the Henry Clay/Franklin County game Wednesday night, in the opening round. After trailing most of the game, Franklin County came back in the fourth quarter and was down by one point, and with the ball, with 10 seconds to go. I positioned myself under their basket with a short lens (17mm-55mm). They threw a hail mary shot with about two seconds to go. I got the shot of the hail mary, but it was an air ball that only hit the backboard. When it hit the backboard, I thought the game was over and pulled my camera down to run out on the floor to capture the celebration and dejection. As soon as I let my camera down, it was rebounded and put back in before the buzzer went off.
I couldn’t believe what I’d done. I live for capturing the moment in sports. But I missed it, when it was only six feet in front of me.
As it played out, Franklin County thought they had won, because it clearly went in before the buzzer sounded. So my first shot was of the Flyers celebrating on the floor, and then it became apparent that the refs had waived off the basket. The emotion on the floor did a complete 360, they went went from the joy of winning a come back, to feeling cheated.
Ultimately, I captured the drastic turn of emotion, but I was still kicking myself for missing the shot that would have settled the debate.
Franklin County danced on the floor after thinking they had won the game at the buzzer…
only to find out the refs had waived it off.
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