National League Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey throws a knuckleball to a New York Yankees hitter

Congratulations to R.A. Dickey for winning the 2012 Cy Young Award. I like guys like Dickey, who exceed expectations and don’t have a ridiculous salary. He has never made more than $4.3M in a season. Once a guy starts making $10 or 20 million a year I have a hard time liking him.

I saw Dickey play at the end of his improbable run in late June. From May 22 until I saw him pitch at home against the Yankees on June 24 he started 6 games and was nearly perfect during that stretch. He not only won all of those games, but he only gave up 1 earned run (in the first game) and was averaging more than 10 strikeouts a game. Unfortunately for the Mets, the streak ended the night I was there and he gave up five runs to the Yankees. He was never quite that good during the rest of the year, but he was plenty good enough to win the Cy Young Award on the season, given to the best pitcher in the league.

Posted on November 15th, 2012 under Other. Tags: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, baseball, mets, new york, nikon d7000. Comments Off on 2012 NL Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey

I thought this sculpture by Berndt Notke was pretty cool from the above angle as it looks like Saint George is actually riding a dragon, Harry Potter style. Actually he is on a horse slaying the dragon as you can see from a different angle below.

This sculpture is mentioned at the beginning of The Girl Who Takes An Eye For An Eye.

The church in Stockholm, Sweden in which you can find this work of art and the description photographed above goes by many names including Sankt Nikolai Kyrka (Church of St. Nicholas), Storkyrkan (The Great Church), and Stockholms Domkyrka (Stockholm Cathedral). Not many actually go to church in Sweden anymore for their original purposes as less than 20% of the population believes in god and far fewer attend a church. Most churches are mere museums and historical curiosities at this point. I wonder how long it will take for that to be true in the USA?

Posted on November 14th, 2012 under Other. Tags: Nikon 18-200mm VR II, nikon d7000, stockholm, sweden. Comments Off on St. George and the Dragon – Storkyrkan, Stockholm, Sweden

Posted on November 12th, 2012 under Oregon. Tags: autumn, eugene, nikon d7000, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens for Nikon. Comments Off on Autumn on the University of Oregon campus

A little different perspective compared to yesterday’s photo, although both photos were taken from the same seat in the Knight Arena. Alaina is the star of the University of Oregon Women’s Volleyball Team. She is also the current Miss Oregon, having won the title in late 2011.

Posters of Alaina Bergsma were being given out at Sunday’s game.

Posted on November 6th, 2012 under Oregon. Tags: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, eugene, nikon d7000, sports photography, volleyball. Comments Off on Alaina Bergsma of the Oregon Ducks

Today’s photo was from yesterday’s Standford-University of Oregon women’s volleyball match in Eugene. Stanford won in three straight sets and will retain their #1 ranking. The Ducks, with their loss to California on Friday night as well, will likely fall in the standings from their #2 perch.

Posted on November 5th, 2012 under Oregon. Tags: eugene, nikon d7000, photomerge, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens for Nikon, volleyball. Comments Off on Matthew Knight Arena panorama