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Growing up in Central California, you were either a Raider fan or a Rams fan, with an occasional closet 49er fan scattered in there. Being a Dolphin fan was tough from 2,500 miles away, but I always had the 1972 undefeated season to fall back on. No other team could stake a claim quite like it in any of the major sports leagues.

When I made the decision to move to South Florida from California, the Dolphins were not part of the equation. But deep down, the idea of standing on the sidelines while the Miami Dolphins made another run at the Super Bowl and made history in front of my eyes was very appealing.

In the past two years the Dolphins have gone through so much turmoil, from changing coaches, quarterbacks andto having a top running back suspended for failing a drug test. Even a high first round draft pick could not separate them from the controversy that has ensued, since Ted Ginn Jr. has so far not lived up to first round talent. It seems that the Dolphins are destined for mediocrity for years to come.

But, even with all of the team’s swelling issues, no fan could ever imagine that a team that once went undefeated could fall so far that they could go an entire season without winning a game. My first Dolphins’ game of the year was a game against the Buffalo Bills. The Bills came into the game winners of three straight, and quickly recovering from a very poor start. As a fan, I felt like this could be the first win for the Dolphins on the year. As a journalist, I wanted to document that win.

As I walked out of the tunnel for warm-ups, I looked up into the stands and could not believe my eyes. I really expected there to be far fewer fans in the stands. With a team on a losing streak like the Dolphins, you would expect a half-empty stadium. It felt very good to be a ‘Fins fan, and the feeling was that this would be the day our team would get it’s first win.

From the beginning of the game, the defense played like a championship defense, shutting down quarterback J.P. Losman and rookie running back Marshawn Lynch. The Dolphins appeared to be in control the entire game. I was looking for images that were going to show a Dolphins win and a Bills loss. The Bills’ players were hanging their heads and Dolphins were celebrating. Telling the story of the game was going to be fairly easy as the mood of the game dictated my images.

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As the fourth quarter started, the ‘Fins held a 10-2 lead. A victory was looking all but assured with the way defense was playing. The crowd was into the game as were photographers on the sidelines that could sense this would be the beginning of a turnaround to the Dolphins’ season.

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Not long after though, the Bills scored a touchdown and then went for a two-point conversion. And just like that, a game that was seemingly one sided was suddenly tied. Some were whispering overtime on the sidelines as the crowd continued to roar on every play. The Bills got the ball back, with a couple of minutes left in the game and drive down into field goal range with less than a minute to play. A look into the stands and you could see the deflation of spirit. More hands were together in prayer than were pointing or antagonizing the other team now. As the kick went up through the up-rights, some fans started filing out of their seats, and others just sat there and wondered if this would be a season for the record books.

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As a journalist, I was desperately looking for images that would show the jubilation of the Bills game-winning kick and the Dolphins hard luck loss. The jubilation from the Bills team was slightly less than might be expected. Although, they had got a win, they had several injuries in a game that they were held in check for most of the afternoon.

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Back in the photography trailer, where most of the local media transmits from, there was more silence. Most of the local journalist, no matter how un-biased they are while working, are lifelong Dolphin fans. Most that still cover the team, were here for much of the glory years with Dan Marino and other Hall of Famers. Seeing the team through this year will be tough, but we will always have an undefeated 1972 to fall back on. For now we will have to live in the past to forget the present.

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An image I shot with a remote camera mounted above the tunnel the players come out of in Jacksonville - Doug Benc/Getty Images

“Hey Doug, need someone to carry your lenses or bag on the sidelines?” asks my neighbor as I am leaving my driveway. This question strikes me with humor and intrigue. Here is a former professional baseball pitcher, that won a World Series ring with the Yankees not long ago, and he thinks I have the greatest job in the world.

I have an unusual week ahead - I am covering three football games in a three day period. It’s late Friday night and I have to get to Miami and get some sleep for an early game the next day between Georgia Tech and Miami. Then immediately following that game, I have to drive to Jacksonville and stay the night to cover the Houston Texans and Jaguars game the following morning. From there it is another long drive home, get some sleep and catch an early flight to Atlanta for the Monday Night Football game between the New York Giants and the Atlanta Falcons.

Saturday morning comes quickly, and with the Miami fans, I know that I need to arrive even earlier than I do at most stadiums. Three to three-and-a-half hours before kick-off is the minimum. In Coral Gables, you better make it closer to four plus hours. The parking fills up fast and paying for a spot in the local neighborhood can become very costly.

Seeing the workroom brings chills to the back of your neck. It’s damp, hot with tall counters for which there are no stools unless you have brought one from home. The smell hits you as soon as you walk through the damp corridor leading to the photo work room. You pass buckets set up to catch water dripping from the stands above you as if the rain is draining through holes in the ceiling. Of course that would be an assumption since it hasn’t rained in two days. It’s clear to me why this will be the last year of football played in the Orange Bowl, and the University of Miami will be moving to play their home games at Dolphin Stadium beginning next year.

Here I am working in the work room in the bowels of the Orange Bowl.

I break out the computer and get all me gear set up greet fellow photographers that I work with quite a bit throughout the year. Al and Walt from the Miami Herald are in another one of the small rooms located nearby. Shortly after that, more photographers begin to filter in. The Sun-Sentinel and Reuters share a space in the room I am working out of.

As the players enter the field, photographers are allowed to stand in a area so we can all capture the team’s running out of the tunnel. Once in a while you can make a nice frame of the moment. During the National Anthem, I look up and see why I was able to park so close to the stadium, the stands are as empty as I have ever seen them. It seems that Hurricane fans are not as rabid as I had thought, when their team is not very good.

I send a few frames at half-time and then the rest of my take at the end of the game. It is a fairly uneventful game with no upset and no real story line, other than two teams that are in rebuilding years facing each other. The media meal was not very appetizing and is usually avoided. But after the ESPN camera crews eat, there are leftovers for those that have the stomach. Al and Walt from the Herald do their best with the cold sandwich. I pack my gear and get on the road for a six hour drive to northern Florida for the Jaguars game the following day.

A sandwhich that sits between two Miami Herald photographers

Again the following morning, I find myself going through the same ritual as the day before. With more on the line in this game, you can sense the arriving home crowd is very excited. Walking through all the tail-gaiters, on my way to the gate, I hear those familiar words, “Hey mister photographer, I will carry your lenses if you get me a ticket to the game.” I smile and nod, without them knowing, that I would gladly take them up on the offer if it was possible. I am still a bit sore from the game yesterday. The knees ache a little, your muscles are bit sluggish, but the anticipation of another football game has me excited. I arrived early enough to do a second edit on my images from the day before.

There is a different feel to an NFL game. You can tell by the professional attitude that the NFL staff, Jaguars personnel and other sidelines officials show. This is a big game for the Jaguars, as they have only lost once and have the Colts coming to town the following week. A win today and a win next week would propel the Jaguars into first place in their division and most likely a strong contender in the AFC.

The Jaguars prevail and I transmit my images to reflect the win. By the time I leave the stadium, most fans have left and I have an easy drive out of town. I stop a couple of hours outside of town to get something to eat and rest up for my drive home. I arrive at home around 10 PM, enough time for me to fill out my weekly expenses and get them sent to my boss. Set the alarm for 4:30 AM and get some sleep.

I arrive in Atlanta in mid morning and get checked into my hotel. I avoided renting a car this time and decided to try staying near the airport and take the train into the game tonight. I get to my room and begin my second edit from the Jaguars game. I call down and get some dinner sent up and charge the batteries for my cameras.

Taking the train in has proved to be a bit more challenging than I thought it might be, but not impossible. I have to take a shuttle from the hotel, then I change trains downtown and take it one stop to the Georgia Dome. It’s nice to not have to negotiate the traffic and just step of the train and walk about 200 yards to the entrance.

The worn muscles are little sorer today than the day before. The Falcons have a very nice coffee bar set up for the media near the field, a perfect drink to begin a big game, such as this one. I picked a bad week to give up caffeine. But the roar of the crowd and the energy on the field more than gets your blood pumping and again the excitement creeps in and has me ready to go.

Like the three days prior I find myself transmitting at half-time. Only this time I need to send a few more than I normally might. With the late start, more newspapers will be on deadline and can’t wait till the end of the game for images before they go to press. The rest are sent as the game ends and again, the photographers are the last to leave. We file out of the photo work room one by one, saying good bye to each other until next game.

I touchdown in West Palm and call my wife to let her know I am safely on the ground and that I will be home soon. She tells me that my two boys can’t wait to see me, since they haven’t’ seen me since Friday night. I drive into my neighborhood and my friend spots me and waves me down. He asks how my weekend went and if I got some good photos. I tell him it went well. Before I drive away, he smiles and reminds me that if I ever need someone to help on the sidelines, he is ready and willing.

On June 12, 2006 at the FIFA World Cup in Germany the face of Australian soccer changed forever. In a match between Australia and Japan at the Fritz Walter Stadium on June 12, 2006 in Kaiserslautern, Australia looked down and out but with minutes to go Tim Cahill secured a win for the team with two memorable goals, and John Aloisi sealed the result with a scorcher minutes from time. The Socceroos had created history not only by scoring a goal in the World Cup but, they had also won their first ever World Cup game.  Fast forward 12 months and the Socceroos are now highly fancied to take out the 2007 Asian Cup.  With some new faces and Graham Arnold as coach the team arrived in Singapore on the 21^st of June in hot and humid conditions to acclimatise before heading to Thailand for their first group match against Oman.  The Australians took on Oman in a tough fought match with Oman scoring the opening goal and putting the Socceroos under pressure.  A lot of time wasting by Oman didn’t help the Socceroos, but second half substitute Tim Cahill came to the rescue only minutes from time to score and level the scores.  Australia next plays Iraq on July 13th.

74987934, Robert Cianflone / Getty Images Sport

75271105, Robert Cianflone / Getty Images Sport

How wet was it? Charles Tillman of Bears tackles Joseph Adai of the Colts as Chris Harris of the Bears gets blocked and the water files in Super Bowl XLI. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

“I wanted to see what it looked liked, because I obviously don’t know what it feels like. I have a completely different feeling inside. Disappointment is my personal trainer.”

—Chicago Bears cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman on why he stayed out on the field to watch the Colts celebrate winning Super Bowl XLI

There are a good deal of telling statistics from Super Bowl XLI that give you the story of the game in a nutshell. The Bears: 4 fumbles, 3 lost. Total first downs: the Colts 24, the Bears 11. Net yards rushing: the Colts 191, the Bears 111. Gross yards passing: the Colts 247, the Bears 165. Time of possession: the Colts 38:04, the Bears 21:56. But the statistic that we heard after the game is one that was hard to believe: it had NEVER rained at a Super Bowl game. Forty years and not one single, stinking shower.

Mother Nature made up for her delay at Super Bowl XLI. It rained. Buckets. A downpour the entire game.

An electric 92-yard kickoff return by Devin Hester of the Bears on the first play of the game gave Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri a taste of the wet turf. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

There are two natural enemies of a sports photographer. Soft drinks…and rain. Actually, I would venture to guess that soft drinks are EVERY photographers’ enemy. Once they spill on your gear or computer, you’re ruined….and so is the gear. Rain is truely the enemy of the sports photographer and unfortunately we all surrendered to the weather last Sunday. By the end of the first quarter, all of us were soaked. Our camera gear was soaked. The $600 worth of Gortex outerwear and boots were soaked. By half-time, our clothes under the Gortex were soaked. By the fourth quarter, my brain was soaked and we were all getting chilled as the temperture dropped. OK, it dropped into the lower 60’s probably, but that seems cold when you’re wet. Cameras shut down. Wet CF cards wouldn’t format. Water on our lenses kept pictures from being sharp and clear. I changed my mind about last years’ Super Bowl in Detroit, which I’ve often trashed. Indoor stadiums and Super Bowls. Even in Detroit, that was sounding great.

Once the final frames were taken on the field, photographers ambled into the stadium to try to dry off. What a joke. There was no hope of getting dried off…for days.

Now that I’ve been home a few days and can decompress from the weekend, I’ve decided a couple of things. First, this past Sunday has made it to my “Top Three Worst Days” to shoot. (A football game in Lincoln, Nebraska the day after Thanksgiving in the mid-90’s in rain, sleet and snow and a NFC playoff game between the Packers and the 49ers in Green Bay in 1996, also in the rain, lead my list. These games take 1 and 2 because in both locations, it was far colder.)

Secondly, going in, I had only “cautious optimism” that the Bears were actually going to win the game. The team had a great season and the playoff games in Chicago were exciting. I’ve shot enough Colt games over the years to know that Peyton Manning is indeed a Hall of Fame quarterback and this year, their rookie running back, Joseph Adai, really impressed me. After after a day like Sunday, I was more relieved that I got out of that weather than anything else. Monday evening, at home, warm and dry with my wife, son and the dogs, was the cure-all for a Bears Super Bowl loss. Plus, my wife had turned off the indoor “rain machine” we had installed when we moved in.

I’m going to coninue to support Mr. Split Personality, Rex Grossman. No Bear quarterback had ever started every game of an entire season. It was essentially Grossman’s first full year starting at quarterback. Peyton Manning, in his first full year at quarterback for the Colts, was 3-13. The Bears, thanks to Rex and in spite of Rex, were 13-3 this season. And Rex took more crap from Chicago fans than any athlete I can remember. Even more than…Dave Kingman. He just didn’t deserve it. The defense lost Super Bowl XLI, not Rex. When your team is behind, a good quarterback wants to try and make some big plays that get his team ahead. Sometimes the results are less than hoped for, like on Sunday.

Rex Grossman of the Bears recovers his own fumble before being sacked by the Colts defense. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning and coach Tony Dungy celebrate with the Vince Lombardi trophy….in the rain. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)Sorry, “Peanut.” My personal trainer is my 20-month old son. Disappoinment? Dude, ask any Cub fan about disappointment. Their litany is endless. And like the Cub fan, we’ll just say “wait until next year” for another Super Bowl, another six-months of Rex bashing and yet two more chances for Brett Favre to beat the Bears’ butts.

Here are some photographs, some as yet unseen, from the day at Super Bowl XLI:

In the transmitting trailer before the game, contributing photographers (from L) Eliot Schechter and Brian Bahr go over shooting positions with Brandon Lopez, sports director of photography, while staff photographer Donald Miralle (far right) chats with editors Chris “I missed the flight” Chambers (middle) and Christian Peterson. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) In the bowels of Dolphin Stadium, Getty Images employees (from L to R) Bob Covington, Michael Heiman and Scott Halleran oversee the ingesting of CF cards after the game. (Doug Benc/Getty Images) Hey, Prince…you might have fooled the NFL during rehearsals for your half-time show, but you didn’t fool any of US with this see-through panel. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) Head coach Tony Dungy of the Colts is carried by fellow coaches and players following the Super Bowl victory. (Donald Miralle/Getty Images) Offensive lineman Roberto Garza of the Bears walks off the field past the confetti after the Bears lost to the Colts in Super Bowl XLI. (Nick Laham/Getty Images) Robert Mathis of the Colts goes airborne for a shot at Bears quarterback Rex Grossman. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) Muhsin Muhammad (L) hugs Cedric Benson, who injured his knee late in the 1st quarter, in the closing moments of the game. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) Members of the Indianapolis Colts reach to touch the Vince Lombardi trophy following their win at Super Bowl XLI. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) Getty Images staff photographer Doug Pensinger littered his hotel room with wet clothes and camera gear following Super Bowl XLI. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Scott Halleran stands on the field during 2007 Media Day. (Photo by Michael Heiman)

Marvin Harrison #88 and Dwight Freeney #93 of the Indianapolis Colts answer questions during Media Day. (Photo by Michael Heiman)
Tuesday at the Super Bowl is media day where both teams are offered up to hundreds of TV crews, still photographers and reporters. The top 10-12 players are placed into podiums on the field with the rest of the players looking bored and doing radio interviews. A large mob of media surrounds the head coach and the quarter back from each team and pepper them with questions and photograph them from every angle.

The group of four of us left the hotel at 8 AM to make our way to Dolphin Stadium for the 10 AM start. Two photographers, Doug Benc and myself joined editor Michael Heiman and our hard-working logistic person Deborah Dadlani for the 30 minute trip north to Miami Gardens. Deborah might have the toughest week of anyone in our group. She will spend the week juggling editors, sponsors, photographers, clients and NFL requests.

A member of the latin press interviews a member of the Chicago Bears. (Photo by Scott Halleran)

The Chicago Bears take the field first at 10 AM. Doug and I leave our field level workroom to make frames of Tank Johnson, Rex Grossman and the coach Lovie Smith first and then roam around looking for features and fun pics of the other players. Thirty minutes in, Mike picks up cards and starts sending pictures around the world. The last play-off games were several days ago, so websites and newspapers are eager for fresh images. We take frames of big name players on podiums, puppets, back-up players using handy-cams, pretty anchors flirting with players and the crew preparing the field. We have a quick break for food and get ready for the team in white and blue at 12:15.

Grounds crew members put the finishing touches on the Indianapolis Colts end zone during Media Day (Photo by Scott Halleran)

The Indianapolis Colts walk onto the field and we leap into place to get Peyton Manning and their coach Tony Dungy to start. This is the first time two African American head coaches will face each other in the Super Bowl, so they are a very big part of the game story. We get a nice set of pictures and head onto the field to take a team picture for the Colts. On the way out we get a few nice snaps of the key players and the owner and I even help Peyton out with a few pictures on his own camera. We drop by the trailer compound and work on a few last minute communication issues, then back to the beach to rest a bit before a night on Ocean Ave. We had a good first day and our week is off to a solid start.

Scott Halleran takes a team photo of the Indianapolis Colts during Media Day. (Photo by Doug Benc)