OK, so tonight I had a photo shoot with Nebraska football player Andre Jones. He is somewhat of a big deal on campus (he was the #4 JUCO transfer player in the country). Anyway, Gnat tagged along for the shoot to help hold my lights and just keep me motivated. It can be very intimidating to shoot a celebrity like Andre, even if not many people know who he is.


Well, the shoot started off on a bad foot when I found out that we were going to have to wait an hour until he finished lifting. Of course, Gnat and I had already been at the field for an hour. Well, while we were waiting for him, Gnat and I were discussing the different sized footballs that the NCAA and NFL use. I wasn't sure which one was bigger, so I asked Andre. The only problem was that it came out of my mouth like.....


Gay comment #1:
"Hey, do you know if there are different sized balls.....(enough of a pause for him to look around scared).. in the NFL and NCAA?"


OK, this is only the beginning to him thinking that I am gay. Because Andre has such a big mouth when it comes to press conferences, I wanted to have him putting the hush (shhhh) sign up using his finger. Well, I didn't think that it looked quite right, so....


Gay comment #2:
"Hey Dre, do you think you could push your lips out a little bit more, kind of like this (as I pretend to kiss my finger)."


By this time, we are both laughing at how gay the previous comment sounded. We shoot a couple more pictures, and then I get the bright idea to ask...


Gay comment #3:
"I know this is going to sound REALLY gay, but could you take your shirt off?"


I had gone into the shoot with a new idea that I wanted to try, but this really wasn't the time. He went along with it though. I forgot to mention that while introducing myself, I introduced Natalie as my assistant (not my girlfriend). Although I wanted to seem as professional as possible at the beginning, the idea of me having a girlfriend at this point could have really helped me out of a jam. A photo shoot that was by far my longest with an athlete (25 minutes), was also by far the weirdest of my life.