Cape Ann Images: The Muddy Mess of Thanksgiving Football!

Why I created this......

Born and raised in Gloucester, Ma fishing gets in your blood. Surrounded by the sea, kids here have a boat almost as much as kids elsewhere have bicycles! As I grew older my fishing ambitions gave way to what's around me. Although I still "drop a line" every so often, my attention wanders to the majesty of the natural light that make this place so special. Never is each day the same. The subjects may be the same but the light from the sea & sky will morph the subject into a form of art. For that reason artists have been drawn to these shores for several hundred years, they followed the light painting and sketching these surroundings. What artists capture with paint on canvas, I attempt to capture with a click.....if I'm lucky!

I guess that's a sort of Fish'n!

Jay Albert

Jay Albert 2025 all rights reserved

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Friday, November 25, 2011

The Muddy Mess of Thanksgiving Football!

For the football purest small town high school football is in a class by itself. The squads can vary from 20 players to 80 players and though one might think a large squad school should dominate a smaller one that's not always the case. Records are thrown out for the 10:00 am Turkey Day clash as players fight for a years worth of bragging rights. I started coaching at Manchester/Essex back in 1982 and though we were undefeated and Georgetown had barely a .500 record that year, the game turned out to be a slug fest. That set the tone for my 20 year coaching career. We eventually went on to win the Superbowl that year but it took a victory over the Georgetown Royals to get there.
Times change,players and coaches change but one thing has never changed....The Georgetown football field! The amount of grand stands seems to change from year to year but that last game of the regular season has done a number on the turf. More fitting as a cow pasture than a gridiron the only thing you can count on is mud above freezing and hard as rock pot holed mine field in sub freezing weather!

This years clash had Georgetown jump out for a quick 7-0 lead. By half time the Royals clung on to lead 7-6. Both teams in a rebuilding year matched wits more with the field conditions than against each other! But in the second half the Manchester/Essex Hornets prevailed and secured bragging rights for the year 28-7.

Manchester Hornets 1982 Champion Superbowl team. Can you see my short shorts?