It pretty much landed in my lap

November 24, 2014 9:50 AM

I’ve been watching Odell Beckham practice similar one-handed catches for the past several weeks. He caught half a dozen in practice before Sunday’s game, and had an amazing one-handed fingertip catch in practice several weeks ago. So he was definitely on my radar screen. Today I was making a point of keeping track of where Beckham lined up, so I would be ready. -- The New York Times interviews photographers about how they themselves caught this incredible catch in the Giants game last night.
posted by Potomac Avenue (42 comments total)

Okay, earlier today someone came by my boss's office and found he was out - he'll be out for the whole day, and when I asked to take a message, she only said "tell him I just wanted to see what he thought of That Play in the Giants game last night, he'll know what I mean."

And now thanks to this, I think I also know what she means.

Hah, Metafilter is helping me with MY JOB!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:58 AM on November 24, 2014 [6 favorites]

That catch defied physics. Too bad Eli choked and cost the Giants the game.
posted by Renoroc at 10:02 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

deadspin has a nice animated GIF and video of the catch
posted by exogenous at 10:03 AM on November 24, 2014 [4 favorites]

Sticky Football Gloves
posted by StickyCarpet at 10:03 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Odell Beckham Amazing College Football Kickoff Catch
posted by Golden Eternity at 10:04 AM on November 24, 2014 [3 favorites]

What a great play.

I'm a photographer and although I haven't shot an NFL game in a while, covering them was always so much fun. It's such a great feeling to nail a moment like this.

Guaranteed that any photographer who missed that catch is having a bad day.
posted by girlmightlive at 10:04 AM on November 24, 2014 [3 favorites]

I love the Spanish color guy on the Deadspin link. He just says "no, no, no, no, whoa whoa whoa, no, no no"
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:06 AM on November 24, 2014 [5 favorites]

My favorite part is when he does the "Well, What Is It?" gesture after the catch.
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:10 AM on November 24, 2014

Guaranteed that any photographer who missed that catch is having a bad day.

You mean this guy?
posted by pb at 10:11 AM on November 24, 2014 [14 favorites]

StickyCarpet: Sticky Football Gloves

The photos for the stickiest glove reviewed are pretty unreal.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:16 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

I could watch that gif all day. What an amazing catch - and he had full control of it the whole time, AND he was being fouled on the play.
posted by Elly Vortex at 10:19 AM on November 24, 2014

I'm a Patriots fan, so it's pretty hard for me to praise an amazing catch by the NY Giants, but, yeah, that was the best catch I've ever seen.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:20 AM on November 24, 2014 [3 favorites]

Invisible Green Time-Lapse Peloton: "How do they pat each others' buttocks with those sticky gloves?"

Very carefully.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:20 AM on November 24, 2014

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
posted by chavenet at 10:21 AM on November 24, 2014 [6 favorites]

The football's like a one-man cold to Odell Beckham. Odell Beckham's the only man catchin' it, Odell Beckham's the only man comin' down wid it.
posted by fuse theorem at 10:24 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

"Guaranteed that any photographer who missed that catch is having a bad day."
"You mean this guy?"

Not to, you know, try to intentionally break the funny, but I'm positive that guy is actually getting the shot. He's moved his two telephoto lenses out of the way and has brought a wider-angle lens up to the correct level, it's pointed at his subjects, and his finger is on the shutter button.

If you know your gear and the situation you don't necessarily have to have your camera up to your face to take a good photograph.
posted by komara at 10:36 AM on November 24, 2014 [7 favorites]

...I'm positive that guy is actually getting the shot.

Yeah, after reading a bit more about it he did get the shot.
posted by pb at 10:38 AM on November 24, 2014 [10 favorites]

Yeah I'm relatively sure that guy is interviewed in the piece I linked. He switched lenses AS the ball was in the air. If that's him, the shot he got was essentially as badass as the one he was shooting.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:39 AM on November 24, 2014

Ah nevermind, pb's link makes it clear it was a different guy. But he still got a decent one off!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:40 AM on November 24, 2014

He switched lenses AS the ball was in the air.

That's incredible. So, uh, that's why both the photographer and the player are professionals.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:41 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Well damn. It's still a damn good shot. I would love to see the EXIF data on that shot to see what he was in control of, and what was on auto.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:42 AM on November 24, 2014

Here's the quote, from...

"Adam Hunger, contributing photographer for USA Today Sports

As the play unfolded, I wasn’t expecting the play to come my way as Manning was looking only to the other side of the field. He then, as I remember it, suddenly threw a long pass in my direction. So as soon as the ball left his hand, I stopped shooting with my long lens and picked up my camera with my short lens on it to get the catch that happened essentially right in front of me."

This is the shot he got.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:44 AM on November 24, 2014 [5 favorites]

deadspin has a nice animated GIF and video of the catch

There's a guy in the righthand side of that gif whose slow-mo astonishment is just hilarious
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:45 AM on November 24, 2014

This is the shot he got.

That photo highlights that it's really the sticky glove, not Odell, that's the amazing thing about this play.
posted by Dr. Send at 10:46 AM on November 24, 2014

yes - the gloves are amazing, but if it were the glove and not the player, all receivers would be making catches like this and they very much are not. even after the catch he has to keep control and get it cradled against his body while dealing with the after math of the pass interference and the force of the ground under him - the glove certainly isn't doing all of that for him.
posted by nadawi at 10:51 AM on November 24, 2014 [11 favorites]

Yeah and a 720 snowboard jump is all the fancy board *eyeroll*
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:55 AM on November 24, 2014 [5 favorites]

He switched lenses AS the ball was in the air.

Slightly technical but important detail: He switched cameras, not a lens on a single camera body (which takes comparatively forever and would have been amazing). Most sideline photographers wear two cameras around their neck and switch between them as needed. You can see that he has two camera bodies in this picture on Twitter.

I really loved this article; it emphasizes that photographers need to know sports and not just photography. The photographer quoted in the FPP has been setting himself up to get this shot for weeks; it wasn't luck at all.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 11:06 AM on November 24, 2014 [4 favorites]

The photographer quoted in the FPP

*herself. :D
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:15 AM on November 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

A FB friend who played wideout in college called it a video game catch. Except if you had done that in Madden people would say the game was being unrealistic.
posted by graymouser at 11:21 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Forget that Deadspin GIF. Try this HTML5 one.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:26 AM on November 24, 2014 [6 favorites]

*herself. :D

SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET

also i meant to link to this photo of the sideline guy with two cameras before
posted by Snarl Furillo at 11:34 AM on November 24, 2014

That's a great GIF, JoeZydeco. It really hammers home the way the TV camera angle made the catch seem like a special effect. He's running along, inches from the sideline, appears to lean several feet over the sideline to catch it, and still somehow comes down well in bounds? It's like a non-Euclidean catch or something.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:36 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Also, watch the ball as he's crossing the plane of the end zone. He almost lets the ball out of his hands and then quickly grabs it again. Maybe the gloves weren't that sticky after all?
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:36 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

If New York could have had this amazing catch and managed to hang on and beat the Cowboys, I could have almost forgiven them for this season. Almost.
posted by dances with hamsters at 11:38 AM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

That photo highlights that it's really the sticky glove, not Odell, that's the amazing thing about this play.

And he probably couldn't have even gotten to it without cleats! I mean, come on!
posted by Navelgazer at 11:42 AM on November 24, 2014 [7 favorites]

C'mon, man!
posted by futz at 12:01 PM on November 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

I was at the game last night and I'm probably not the only person who almost looked away, assuming there was no way in hell he was going to actually catch that. I've been going to games since I was just a kid and don't know that I've ever seen anything like it.
posted by JaredSeth at 12:02 PM on November 24, 2014 [2 favorites]

Incredible catch. Also extremely skillful is the ability the players have to make an instant change of momentum in order to leap over a fallen player to avoid spiking him.
posted by Cranberry at 12:44 PM on November 24, 2014

I don't know much about American football, but from what I see: it was a really good catch and it's a shame he fell over. I hope people didn't shout at him afterwards. That guy who threw something at him was just mean. Also, his pants are too tight. It's a bit embarrassing, actually. Would it be OK for him to wear other pants while those ones are altered or whatever?
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:19 PM on November 24, 2014 [5 favorites]

An amazing play. I had to wait for the replay to be sure I'd seen what I'd thought I saw!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:01 PM on November 24, 2014 [1 favorite]

Also, his pants are too tight. It's a bit embarrassing, actually. Would it be OK for him to wear other pants while those ones are altered or whatever?

The tight pants are part and parcel of Beckham's extraordinary ball control.
posted by chavenet at 1:52 AM on November 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

That guy who threw something at him was just mean.

I was pretty impressed with the ref for going ahead and throwing the flag, instead of just saying "shit, y'all can't even break the rules and stop that."
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:49 AM on November 25, 2014 [1 favorite]