More Than Football

"Free safety Ryan Clark #25 of the Washington Redskins tears up during the national anthem before playing the Philadelphia Eagles at FedExField on December 20, 2014 in Landover, Maryland."

It's quite rare to see pregame emotions from superstar athlete.

Shooting for Getty Images, as the national anthem was starting to be sung, I worked my way down the sideline and found myself behind two Washington Redskins players before kick-off against the Philadelphia Eagles.

One of those players was free safety Ryan Clark. The two were just on the outside edge of the bench and I debated whether or not I'd be able to get closer and in front of them by stepping on the field, but I decided to play by the rules and stay behind the yellow lines.

I didn't really attempt to make any pictures at first because I could only see the back of the heads of the two players. But I grabbed my lens and pointed in the direction of Clark thinking in anything could happen in terms of pyrotechnics or something related.

As Clark turned near the end of the anthem, I could see a tear streaming down his face and a small grimace. It was obvious he was visuablly moved by something.

No one likes to document sadness, but it's our job as photographers to document what we witness. I still don't know what brought on emotion, and it could literally be about anything.

Yet it's always a positive reminder to myself and viewers that these superstar athletes are no different from ourselves and are indeed human.