November 22, 2007
Cameras and Catastrophes
<“You wanna make some easy money?” Dave Schwarztbaum asked me.
“How?” I asked.
“All we have to do is tape a youth football championship game. I got the job from one of the coaches in the league. We’ll get paid around twenty or thirty dollars a piece.”
I agreed to do the job. A few days later I got a call from Dave at the appointed time - 8:30. I opened my eyes and forced myself out of bed, and got the cameras and tripods. I met up with Dave and we took a taxi out to Runnemede, New Jersey.
“Are you sure no buses or trains go out to Runnemede?” I asked Dave.
“I googled it last night and nothing goes there. This place is out in the middle of nowhere. But they’re paying the cab off so it doesn’t matter to me.”
“That coach is loaded.”
“I want you to know something, that isn’t going to be here. This is actually the semi-finals, and his team isn’t playing in it. He wants us to tape the game so he knows their plays and stuff.”
I smiled and said, “So we’re spying for him, and his team isn’t even here.”
“He’s still in Miami actually.”
“Damn, this must be an important tournament.”
“If anyone asks why you’re here, say you’re taping it because you want to start a youth football league for underprivileged kids in Philly. And you wanna know the rules.”
When we got to Runnemede it was starting to rain. The event was going to be held at Triton High School. There were tons of fields that - the grass wrapped around the school and stretched in every direction. There were no signs on the fields, but crowds of spectators rimmed each field as the dozens of teams played. I turned to Dave.
“Which field?”
“Field Five.”
We looked at each other and laughed.
“Now I’m glad we got here early.”
We walked from field to field asking the age group of the teams playing. A referee was walking by and we stopped him and asked him if he had a schedule for the games. The teams were playing at 2:30.
“Dave, I thought you said they were playing at 10:30.”
“Apparently I was wrong. We’re a little early.”
And that was when the drizzle started to thicken a bit. And the clouds darkened. And it started pouring. I hunched over the video equipment, to shield it from the rain.
“All we need to do is find a restaurant,” Dave informed me.
“I could be asleep right now,” I grumbled.
After walking through the bustling town of Runnemede, we found a small pizza shop. We got some food and camped out there for about four hours. There’s a Saturday afternoon for you.
When it was time for the game to start we got out to the field, and we set up the cameras, Dave was behind the end zone, I was at the fifty yard line, shooting from the side. The first five minutes of the game were captured smoothly - and then my camera ran out of battery. I called Dave and told him.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I thought the battery was full. I gotta find a power outlet, I’ll be back for the second game.”
The high school probably had some power outlets. I ran over to it, and found an open side door. I let myself inside, and started looking around. Finally I found a band room, and I plugged in the camera. A while later the schools fire alarm went off. I have no idea why. I grabbed my camera and left before anyone could come and find me creeping around the school. I sprinted out to the field and started filming the second game.
When we were done filming we called the taxi company and got more bad news.
“We don’t pick up from Runnemede, we can only drop people off.”
I broke the news to Dave. We walked away from the high school and to a dunkin’ donuts, where(ironically)we found a couple of cops. We asked them if there was any public transportation around, and he said there was a bus stop nearby. He told us where to go.
When we finally got home Dave got a phone call.
“Who was that?” I asked.
“It was the coach who hired us.”
“He better be paying us extra.”
Dave smiled. “He said he’s going to donate the money to a charity of our choice.”
“You’re kidding.”
His smile faded. “No man, I’m serious.”
