the center of the universe

long story, so dig in.

last night i landed in the center of the known universe. i was unaware at the time.

a nice veteran photographer (henceforth nvp) sat across from me whilst i ate a gigantic hot dog in the ford field press box in detroit. wearing my kentucky sweatshirt, nvp asks if i'm really from there. he then asks me if i know where i am.

sure, sez i. i'm at ford field in detroit.

no, he sez. you are at the center of the universe. you didn't know where you were after all.

ahh...

nvp refers to ford field as such because of all the amazing sporting events that have happened in the last year on the block that ford field sits on.

there was the super bowl, the wnba championship, the world series and something else. i can't remember. alas, the center of the universe.

the center of the universe was cool, but not what i expected.

also, i spent my fifteen minutes of fame last night.

espn was also at the game i was covering and so happened to keep putting my mug on national tv. my girlfriend saw me several times and so did her cousin and brother.

also, she saw my butt at the end of the game. i ran in front of an espn camera as the players were about to do the dumping of the gatorade on the coach.

my butt stole my 15 minutes! i want a refund.

finally, i am so sick of people treating my camera like some tv person's video camera. i want you to pretend like you don't see me taking your picture.

instead, folks like to tell me that they are number one by looking straight into my otherwise good picture and giving me the ol' number one sign.

so, for those unaware of how "it" works, as soon as you look right into my camera and raise the finger up, i'm bailing. no more picture.

and the best way to get me to not take your picture is by calling out, "hey cameraman. take my picture. hey look. i've got a sign. take my picture. woo hoo. look. i'm excited. take my picture."

thanks for hanging in there.

this lady on the right wants me to know that she is number one.

the lady second from left the wants me to know that she is also number one.

dude on the left wants me to know that he, also, is number one.

let's face it. we can't all be number one.

i lied. this guy second from the right isn't number one. he's a gangsta.