Good morning and Happy St. Patrick's Day to each of you. I should say, from the get go that if anyone says anything remotely racist to me today, on the order of say, "having some green beer today Paddy?" I plan to rip their liver out and eat it. Just saying...

There are some great pix from the Blackhawk Cup final at the United Center available this morning over at Jane's blog and at the chitowndailynews.org. There is an even better story about how we got those pix.

By now I think there should be a realization that Jane is a damn good sports photographer. She often stays up till 1 AM to edit and submit pictures to you for consideration. Last night, for example, I believe she finished up at 1 AM with the final pix being sent to the paper at 12:30 AM. What isn't realized is that she spent the afternoon in the ER having suffered from an allergic reaction to a medication prescribed for an infection.

As we were sitting there in the ER she was insisting that I call the United Center to be sure they don't pull our press passes for the games that night, "we'll be late... tell them we'll be late." I'm sitting there thinking "sure, we'll be late."

It ends up we were about ten minutes late. She got out of the ER, went home, got her kit and headed to the UC. There were no issues photographing the first game (women's); neither the audience nor the press care about that game. At the start of the second game we had a confrontation with another photographer. I should note that first, the glass at the UC is in terrible condition. However, holes have been cut in it to allow access to the ice by photographers. There are only a limited number of these access points, however. We'd snagged one by shooting the first game.

I was taking care of Jane, getting her water and food. Because she had an IV at the ER she was full of fluid and had to take frequent WC breaks. During one of these breaks I was approached by two agency photographers. They said they were "from the schools" and we'd have to move.

We did move, but had a few words with them. It isn't clear now and it certainly wasn't clear at the UC if we should have been forced to move by people who were not associated with the press or the schools but may have been associated with the athletic association and misrepresented themselves to gain a hole. One of the key reasons we had to move? We weren't "professionals."

By that I think they meant several things. First, of course was a slap at being citizen journalists. The second was that Jane's equipment (two Canon XTi and a Fuji) weren't "professional" level.

The fact is that I'd compare what each of us got at the UC to anything they got. (I looked at the web site for the athletic association. If that is their pix, they are good. But we get as good a shot without access. The picture of the kid in green, the picture of the losing goalie and some of the action shots required patience and an understanding of the game, which we both have. Several were from the stands. It also requires an attitude to fight for our rights, which we did about the hole; which Jane did by coming in after being in the ER.

Those two jerks? They got their professional shots and left sometime before the second intermission. They didn't need to be around for the money shots of the kids in the midst of victory or defeat. I guess, if I had anything to learn from them, it would be that professionals don't care. On to the next gig.

Not to nag, but professionalism isn't about equipment, being paid or having credentials. It is all about attitude.