Who cares what’s in a hot dog? When diverse, cast-aside elements come together to make something great, why, that’s the American Way. No, you do not ask of the hot dog, the hot dog asks of you, what are you made of?”
– Miller High Life advertisement
Before I started working in journalism, I never expected to hear the National Anthem or say the Pledge of Allegiance as many times as I have, but we go to a lot of public events that begin that way, and that’s just how it is. I also never dreamed that I would eat as many hot dogs as I have, and the two often tend to go hand-in-hand since both happen before high school sporting events, and I’ve been to a lot of high school sporting events.
The hot dog thing started when I was working in Twin Falls, Idaho. I mentioned to my friend and fellow photographer, Andy Arenz, that I was going to grab a hot dog from the concession stand before shooting a Detrich High School basketball game. Andy sort of looked surprised. “Wow, I don’t
know if I would do that,” He said, or something to that effect. When I asked him why, he answered, “I don’t know, really, it just seems like it would be bad luck.” He suggested that I instead get something for the drive to the game. “Maybe Burger King,” he suggested. But not a Whopper or anything like that, but rather a cheeseburger, since they stick together well and wouldn’t fall apart as I ate and drove. Photographers aren’t really known for their healthy diets. So Burger King it was.
Now, some photographers would have chalked up my failure to get a good photo at that Detrich game to: dungeon-like lighting, zero places from which to shoot, a short time to shoot due to a late-starting game on a dark snowy night with a tight deadline. But I wasn’t about to start making excuses like that. The blame fell squarely on my Burger King dinner. When I saw Andy next and he saw my sub-par photo, all I could do was shake my head and say to him with disdain, “Burger King.” We had a good laugh. But before my next game, I had a hot dog from the concession and got a good photo. Since then — and much to my doctor’s dismay, I’m sure — I always have a hot dog before a game (I try hard not to think about how many I’ve eaten). It got to the point last year that the Ike boosters saw me coming and had the hot dog waiting on the counter for me. Sad, isn’t it?
But it seems to work, so I’m not about to risk messing it up. I think the reason it works is simple: I’m giving some support to the school — however small the purchase of a hot dog might be — before I shoot.
–Andy Sawyer
