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Near death experiences are normal for deer on the highway, people eating lead-based paints and Paris Hilton’s acting career.

For me, they are not common… usually.

Today, a very large and very powerful high school sophomore attempted to show me  what it’s like when the lights go out and the music stops.

For the above portrait, I wanted to shoot East’s Trevon Hinker throwing  a jam down as I had seen him do a few times this season. Unlike his in-game dunks, I didn’t want him to actually touch the rim. I was standing on a very shaky 8-foot ladder holding onto the backboard with my sort-of-free-non-shooting hand, which was actually not free and very involved in the process of shooting this photo — way too close to the hoop for him to come barreling in all King James style.

So… to do this, I asked Hinker to jump in the paint as if he were dunking, but not towards the hoop to avoid a collision — a collision likely to result in minor injury (him) and major death (me).

But I guess a teenage boy in front of the girls’ basketball team loves to show how clumsy guys can be — a good life lesson for the girls and guy present.

On the first take, Hinker gravitated full force from just in front of the free throw line, sailed through the air like a button off of a fat man’s shirt and pummeled my ladder as I weakly clung to it while firing my camera. Laughter erupted and I probably spoke profanely/wet my pants. The sequence can be seen below.

Luckily, I was only shooting Hinker who hit my ladder low and not girls’ star Jazmyn Webster whose vertical has to be measured by NASA — she most certainly would have jumped high enough to put and end to my life as I know it.

Thanks for looking.

The takeoff…

The moment I realized I may very well live my final moments surrounded by high school age kids in gym shorts…

A view of the floor from the backboard after partially losing my ladder. I still like to believe that I would have back flipped from the ladder, vaulted off the wall and landed like the Dark Knight on the floor had I not been holding on like a frightened child.

The world may never know.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of Buster Douglas’ unprecedented upset over the once-believed-indestructible “Iron” Mike Tyson, I hoped something in the local sports scene would relive the glory of the unlikeliest of outcomes.

On Friday, East wrestling gave the No. 1 ranked Central Indians a go. But after East tied the dual at 21-21, the Indians lived up to their top-rated status and rolled to a 41-21 win.

On Saturday, I still had the chance for the unlikely when the No. 1 ranked East girls and crosstown rival Central faced off at Storey Gym.

The T-Birds dominated the first meeting, but I’m hopeful most of the time — or maybe just hopeless and naive — and I expected a top-notch effort from Central.

In either case, I hoped for a classic dual.

For one half, my wish for a Buster Douglas redux came true. Central came out of the locker room on fire and gave the hopefuls in attendance a reason to hope — they trailed by two at half.

Sadly, reality kicked in during the second half and the T-Birds imposed their will like Oprah on anything that can be eaten — food or not.

The bottom line — the T-Birds won 58-38.

Given the right circumstances, Central could have played two complete halves. They didn’t and they lost.

My dream of an underdog did not come true, but I am content either way.

Besides, who needs an unlikely upset to be happy? Buster Douglas beat 42 to 1 odds in an epic tale of defeat. Now, he weighs 714 pounds and wears turtleneck sweaters. For what it’s worth, winning isn’t everything, but it sure is fun.

Thanks for looking.

Nate “The Great” Marquardt is a pretty bad dude. Not legally or morally, just bad in the sense that his hands are made of iron and he can beat your dad up.

In preparation for his upcoming UCF 109 fight against Chael Sonnen, Marquardt opened his gym to the media, so sports writer Ian St. Clair and I went to Denver, watched him train and ate burritos.

If he wins, Marquardt has been told he will get a shot at the middleweight title. Though he’s heard this line before, Marquardt feels that his record and continually rising star will eventually land him in a title bout.

From what I’ve seen of his fights and training in person, the dude is a stud… and not only because he has knocked another world-class fighter out in less time than it takes to sneeze.

Marquardt is a humble family man.

His wife brings their daughter to the gym while he trains during the day, they go out to eat afterwards and they travel together.

He says his life is perfect right now.

A grounded family man is pretty cool for a professional athlete (ref. Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, the 90s Dallas Cowboys).

For someone who could undoubtedly kill most of the world with his bare hands, Marquardt is uncannily grounded. He told me that knowing he can be humbled in a split second in the octagon keeps his head from swelling.

Maybe more people should get knocked out once in a while to remember what is important.

After all, it made him The Great.

On Friday, I witnessed the greatest display of wrestling I have seen to date.

No. 4 Oklahoma State came to Laramie to duel the Cowboys (who are ranked in the national top 25 in some polls) and shellacked them 31-3.

After tonight I doubt the Cowboys gained any ground in moving up in the polls.

Though it seems like a blowout looking at the final team scores, it was actually pretty close. Six of the 10 matches were decided by 4 points or less and one match that ended by a 5-point margin was actually a fluke win for OSU’s Clayton Foster.

In front of more than 2,500 fans (the largest UW wrestling crowd ever) OSU coach and wrestling legend John Smith took his former pupil and current UW head coach Mark Branch’s version of Cowboys wrestling to task.

The ferocity of the 4-6, 111-pound Smith was intimidating. Though his tie was longer than his torso, legs and ankles, he commanded a great deal of respect. And I assume if someone doesn’t offer respect, he will put his hand down their throat and take it.

As for Branch, he is young and has a pretty good road ahead.

It was a blast to see a dual of this magnitude for Wyoming. In just his second year, Branch has a group of young wrestlers squarely in position to continue their upward movement in the national rankings in the years to come. And any ranked UW sport is pretty cool just ask… well, none come to mind, but trust me, it is probably cool.

Even if the great display of wrestling on Friday was by the Stillwater-based Cowboys, it is a pretty safe bet to say that sooner rather than later, there will be a great display put on by the Laramie-based Cowboys.

Thanks for looking.

One of the best Wyoming games I’ve ever photographed. Entering this week in Albuquerque, I was pretty sure, as were most, that Fresno State would truck the Pokes en route to a New Mexico Bowl Title. Apparently, we were wrong.

The Cowboys won a 35-28 double-overtime thriller to capture their second bowl title this decade. In scoring 35 points, Wyoming racked up their second highest total this season — the highest, appropriately enough, came in their 37-13 win against New Mexico earlier this season.

With Dave Christensen at the helm of the Pokes, I hope we can make it an annual assignment to cover a bowl game.

Thanks for taking a look.