Brandon "Champ" Champion, a Cadillac senior, is known for his love of sports.
"Brandon is football," said John Manzo, Clinton Township junior and friend of Champion.
On Saturday, Oct. 1, Champion went out to watch the Central Michigan-Northern Illinois football game at Kelly/Shorts stadium with his roommates and friends. After about an hour drinking with his friends in the tailgate lot and passing out Monster energy drinks to other tailgaters, Champ strolled into the stadium with his arms around his friends' shoulders, straight down to about the fourth row in the student section.
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| Brandon Champion, senior of Cadillac, watches the Central Michigan-Northern Illinois football game Oct. 1 at CMU's Kelly/Shorts stadium. |
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| Brandon Champion of Cadillac, right, and his friend Shonda Smith of Detroit cheer for the Chippewas in the Oct. 1 Central Michigan-Northern Illinois football game at Kelly/Shorts stadium at Central Michigan University. |
The smile never left his face, despite the chilly wind and small student section present at the game. He cheered with his friends, danced to the music and never quite stayed in one place during the game.
His friend, Detroit sophomore Shonda Smith, looked up from the game at one point to find neither Champion nor his roommates around her.
"They'll be back," she laughed. After about 15 minutes, she realized the boys were in a completely different row, two rows back. Once Champion saw her, he squeezed between other students to come to her level, only to leave again after about five minutes.
Champion and his friends left the game at half time to watch Michigan State football from his apartment at Lexington Ridge, U12.
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| Cadillac senior Brandon Champion throws his arms out in exasperation while watching Michigan State football on Oct. 1 at his Lexington Ridge apartment, U12, in Mount Pleasant. |
Not only does Champion watch football, he also plays on two Intramural teams; he plays quarterback for the co-ed team the Honey Badgers and is also a part of an all-male team.
"I'm like a die-hard sports person," Champion said with a large grin while describing himself.
He also covers soccer for the student paper, Central Michigan Life.
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| Quarterback of the co-ed Intramural flag football team the Honey Badgers, Cadillac senior Brandon Champion runs with the ball on the cold Oct. 3 night game at Central Michigan University IM fields. The Honey Badgers lost 19-12. |
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| After a game of Intramural flag football, the Honey Badgers team's quarterback Brandon Champion, of Cadillac, looks over the Central Michigan University IM fields. His team lost in the 19-12 game. |
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| Brandon Champion and Ashley Scheetz walk away from the Central Michigan University Intramural fields after the co-ed flag football team, the Honey Badgers, lost a game Monday night, Oct. 3. The final score was 19-12. |
After his co-ed IM game on Oct. 3, Champion headed away saying he was mad they had lost 19-12. He went home to watch baseball on TV.
~JD
I'm so happy to see this story in full. I was eager to see what you would come up with. I enjoy seeing your subjects fascination with football, allowing me to understand why he is called the "Champion" by his fellow flag football teammates. Your 1st and 2nd images are quite similar seeing as they both are takin place at the CMU Football game. Although I am a sucker for reflections, I would pick between the two. I really love your scene setter with Brandon watching football, again you really get an understanding of how football takes part in his every day life. I love the action photo you ended up choosing, great focus and lighting. Don't forget about your captions, remember the date, time and place!
ReplyDeleteI love the opening photo; I'm a sucker for a good sunglass photo. I think you really captured how football is a huge part of Brandon's life. I like you you have such a variety of pictures, not just him playing. Good work!
ReplyDeleteHands down, I think this is some of your best work. Right off the bat the first two photos really draw me in, and you did a good job of catching that action in your fourth photo. Good Stuff!
ReplyDeleteI love the photo where the light post is acting as backlight. The steam that's coming off of the subject really sets the mood to it. Great job showing his life in outside of his sport.
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