Linfield Football practice (starts Aug. 15, 2017) and games
(first game played Sept. 9, 2017) are just around the corner. That means Ryan Carlson of Catdomealumni.com is
gearing up to cover the football Wildcats in 2017.
(Photos of Ryan with this posting by
Wildcatville from Linfield football game Dec. 7, 2013, at Whitewater.)
Here's a McMinnville N-R/News-Register
sports column from Dec. 18, 2010, about Ryan:
Carlson just loves shooting these 'Cats
His name is Ryan Carlson. If you follow Linfield College football, you probably know his name. If not, I'll bet you've seen his work.
Carlson runs a fan site that covers the Wildcats - called CatDomeAlumni.com - and gets a lot of hits. He shoots video, including highlights that have made their way to our NewsRegister.com site.
I'd love to say that's the most high-profile place they've landed, but I'd be lying to you. Earlier this month, ESPN "SportsCenter" used one of Carlson's video clips as its No. 3 pick on the "Your Highlight" segment that's growing in popularity.
The play was a touchdown run by Linfield quarterback Aaron Boehme in the Wildcats' 55-14 victory Oct. 9 at Puget Sound. Boehme hurdled a UPS defender on the way to the end zone and a 28-0 Linfield lead.
The following Monday, Linfield coach Joseph Smith was asked what he told Boehme when he came to the sideline.
"I just told him 'Let's don't do that anymore.' It was a great play," Smith said, "but I think all of our coaches went from 'Oh, no' to 'Wow.' That was quite a football play, but it's a very dangerous position to put yourself in."
In the home opener against Willamette the weekend before, Boehme left his feet in scoring a touchdown.
"Anytime you leap, you leave your feet, you're pretty vulnerable to some nasty falls if you get upended and somersault," Smith said. He noted he didn't want Boehme to make leaping defenders a habit.
"He's learning," Smith said. "He's getting better at avoiding unnecessary hits."
Hits are exactly what the play against Puget Sound generated on the World Wide Web. Carlson's video was the Play of the Week on the popular site D3Football.com for Week 6.
Did I say hits? Carlson says he had 47,500 visitors to his website in the past year.
A Linfield graduate (1998) and former football player for the Wildcats, Carlson played for Jay Locey, and Smith was his position coach.
Carlson stuck around.
"I've been following the program since I graduated and have been helping out as a volunteer for the program ever since - and just enjoy small college football more than any other level of sport," Carlson said during an exchange Friday after we learned about the video airing on ESPN.
Carlson explained his love of Division III, noting it has a tight-knit community of followers that's developed over the past decade in large part because of D3Football.com.
By following that site, Carlson said, he became exposed to other programs and discovered a fan from Mount Union running his own fan site.
Around that time, Carlson began "tinkering" with video footage and soon realized he is - in his words - a huge "A/V geek at heart."
(That's audio-visual, for those geek-challenged.)
Carlson said the spring of 2006 was his come-to-the-mountain moment with the Mount Union site.
"I thought to myself 'Why can't Linfield have their own fan site where those that love the program have another outlet to follow the 'Cats, or if they have an itch they can click on a site where they can watch some old highlights?'
"That's when I decided to start CatDomeAlumni.com."
At first, he said, the site was just some old videos, but as time and the years went on he added a blog (2007) and developed a bit of a following.
Considering he's simply a fan running his own site, it's impressive Carlson's place on the Web had 47,500 visitors in the past year.
"I'm just running a little fan site as a hobby," he said, "and it's not my 'real' job."
Carlson said he doesn't make money off the site.
"It's just a way to express my passion for two things I really enjoy: Linfield football and A/V work."
For about four years he's volunteered as the videographer for the football program, a role that includes putting together the annual highlight DVD.
Carlson said maintaining the blog and the site are enjoyable because the Linfield staff and administration are fully supportive in what CatDomeAlumni.com is trying to do - bring Linfield fans, parents, players, and alumni inside the walls of the 'Catdome.
Carlson's wife, Kelly, is also a Linfield graduate (2000). A former stand-out basketball player for the college, she is now in her 10th year of teaching at McMinnville High School.
The couple welcomed their first child in early November, a daughter named Gracie.
They live in Lafayette. That's where Carlson works at his "real job," in the operations department of a software company.
He's been friendly to the News-Register, allowing us to post his videos on the game blogs done by Whitney Bermes, who recently left the newspaper to return to her home state of Montana. By helping us, Carlson helped you.
By sharing his love of Division III football, most notably Linfield football, he's brought his passion to a lot of fans around the world ... wide ... web.
This month, ESPN gave some love to one of the best plays shot by the man whose love comes through the lens.
Look for the play on YouTube. Look for Carlson on the sideline next season.
His name is Ryan Carlson. If you follow Linfield College football, you probably know his name. If not, I'll bet you've seen his work.
Carlson runs a fan site that covers the Wildcats - called CatDomeAlumni.com - and gets a lot of hits. He shoots video, including highlights that have made their way to our NewsRegister.com site.
I'd love to say that's the most high-profile place they've landed, but I'd be lying to you. Earlier this month, ESPN "SportsCenter" used one of Carlson's video clips as its No. 3 pick on the "Your Highlight" segment that's growing in popularity.
The play was a touchdown run by Linfield quarterback Aaron Boehme in the Wildcats' 55-14 victory Oct. 9 at Puget Sound. Boehme hurdled a UPS defender on the way to the end zone and a 28-0 Linfield lead.
The following Monday, Linfield coach Joseph Smith was asked what he told Boehme when he came to the sideline.
"I just told him 'Let's don't do that anymore.' It was a great play," Smith said, "but I think all of our coaches went from 'Oh, no' to 'Wow.' That was quite a football play, but it's a very dangerous position to put yourself in."
In the home opener against Willamette the weekend before, Boehme left his feet in scoring a touchdown.
"Anytime you leap, you leave your feet, you're pretty vulnerable to some nasty falls if you get upended and somersault," Smith said. He noted he didn't want Boehme to make leaping defenders a habit.
"He's learning," Smith said. "He's getting better at avoiding unnecessary hits."
Hits are exactly what the play against Puget Sound generated on the World Wide Web. Carlson's video was the Play of the Week on the popular site D3Football.com for Week 6.
Did I say hits? Carlson says he had 47,500 visitors to his website in the past year.
A Linfield graduate (1998) and former football player for the Wildcats, Carlson played for Jay Locey, and Smith was his position coach.
Carlson stuck around.
"I've been following the program since I graduated and have been helping out as a volunteer for the program ever since - and just enjoy small college football more than any other level of sport," Carlson said during an exchange Friday after we learned about the video airing on ESPN.
Carlson explained his love of Division III, noting it has a tight-knit community of followers that's developed over the past decade in large part because of D3Football.com.
By following that site, Carlson said, he became exposed to other programs and discovered a fan from Mount Union running his own fan site.
Around that time, Carlson began "tinkering" with video footage and soon realized he is - in his words - a huge "A/V geek at heart."
(That's audio-visual, for those geek-challenged.)
Carlson said the spring of 2006 was his come-to-the-mountain moment with the Mount Union site.
"I thought to myself 'Why can't Linfield have their own fan site where those that love the program have another outlet to follow the 'Cats, or if they have an itch they can click on a site where they can watch some old highlights?'
"That's when I decided to start CatDomeAlumni.com."
At first, he said, the site was just some old videos, but as time and the years went on he added a blog (2007) and developed a bit of a following.
Considering he's simply a fan running his own site, it's impressive Carlson's place on the Web had 47,500 visitors in the past year.
"I'm just running a little fan site as a hobby," he said, "and it's not my 'real' job."
Carlson said he doesn't make money off the site.
"It's just a way to express my passion for two things I really enjoy: Linfield football and A/V work."
For about four years he's volunteered as the videographer for the football program, a role that includes putting together the annual highlight DVD.
Carlson said maintaining the blog and the site are enjoyable because the Linfield staff and administration are fully supportive in what CatDomeAlumni.com is trying to do - bring Linfield fans, parents, players, and alumni inside the walls of the 'Catdome.
Carlson's wife, Kelly, is also a Linfield graduate (2000). A former stand-out basketball player for the college, she is now in her 10th year of teaching at McMinnville High School.
The couple welcomed their first child in early November, a daughter named Gracie.
They live in Lafayette. That's where Carlson works at his "real job," in the operations department of a software company.
He's been friendly to the News-Register, allowing us to post his videos on the game blogs done by Whitney Bermes, who recently left the newspaper to return to her home state of Montana. By helping us, Carlson helped you.
By sharing his love of Division III football, most notably Linfield football, he's brought his passion to a lot of fans around the world ... wide ... web.
This month, ESPN gave some love to one of the best plays shot by the man whose love comes through the lens.
Look for the play on YouTube. Look for Carlson on the sideline next season.
(Written by Carl Dubois, who was McMinnville N-R sports
editor at the time this ran in 2010.)
::::::::::::::::::::::::
LINFIELD FOOTBALL 2017
SEASON
--Linfield football team practice
begins Aug. 15, 2017
--Linfield first game of 2017
season: 7 p.m. Sept. 9 in Orange,
Calif., vs. Chapman
--Linfield first home game of 2017
season: 1:30 p.m. Sept. 16 vs. UMHB
Linfield Football 2017 schedule:
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Read more about Ryan Carlson:
Cathomealumni links:
