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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2004-07-07

Winner take all
Thanks to Canon, the cool box-of-goodies sent to the winner of the monthly "Shooter's Choice Award" just got even cooler.

By Grover Sanschagrin, SportsShooter.com

The new-and-improved goodie-box includes these numbered items. (See the story for the nifty descriptions.)

Is it the fame? Or maybe it's the instant respect among your peers? Perhaps you want to load up your resume with impressive stats? Or are you one of those people who claims that just the "satisfaction of winning" is enough for you.

Yeah, right. We know what it REALLY is. The prizes.

As if winning a Canon 1D Mark II wasn't enough of an incentive, Canon (and our good friend Dave Metz) is continuing to make sure that we've got plenty of sweet prizes to give out.

Each month, the winner of the SportsShooter.com Clip Contest "Shooter's Choice Award" will receive a big box of stuff again this year. (Just like last year, except the contents of the box are different in year #2.)

What's inside?

1) A CompactFlash Card Wallet: I scored one of these last year, and it's my favorite item in the whole goodie-box collection. It holds 6 CompactFlash cards, and has room for a full PCMCIA card too. It zips up to prevent your cards from flying out - which is handy if you actually want to KEEP your cards. (Studies indicate that losing perfectly good CF cards "completely sucks.")

2) A Air-blower: Cats HATE this thing. And I have confirmed this. If you win this, do not use it to blow air onto a cat's face. They just don't appreciate the sudden burst of air from this particular device. I suggest you use this to blow dust off of non-living things, like cameras and lenses. Besides, I'm pretty sure that this is what it is designed to do.

3) Flashlight: Last year's goodie-box included a flashlight too. This one is a big improvement over last year's model. It is built better, looks cooler, and is brighter. Roommate Jack Gruber declared this his favorite items in last year's box. This comes with batteries pre-installed for no extra charge!

Raincoat!

4) Cool Computer Accessories: These two items come in a little zippered case (which is not pictured here). One is a super tiny USB laser mouse on a retractable cord. The other is a tiny 4-port USB hub. Both items would come in very handy for me, except that there's no chance in Hell I can win this stuff since I stopped shooting in 1994. (Maybe we can have a "10 Years Ago" clip contest?)

5) Canon Pen: This pen has a little string to tie around your neck so you always have the ability to get someone's name for that all-important caption. However, and interestingly enough, although cats do not like item #2, they DO like the string attached to this pen.

6) Canon - PowerShot SD10 Digital ELPH Deluxe Kit with Case: Not kidding. Seriously. Yes, I mean it. This baby has a list price of $349. and it's in the goodie-box for free. (Once again Canon/Dave: THANK YOU!) When these things arrived I had to "road test" it, of course.

Monopod Cushion!

This camera is smaller than the famed "Spy Camera" that Bart Simpson used to get Homer into trouble with Marge. (Remember that episode? Classic.) Bart got his through some ad in the back of a comic book - but all you need to do is win a "Shooter's Choice" Award! It's actually smaller than my cell phone (which is small), boots up very quickly, has a cool autofocus system in it, has a 4.0 megapixel CCD, and feels really solid in your hand. This little thing is a really cool item to have in your pocket when you're not "on the clock."

Hey Brad - good luck getting this thing back from me. (I used the "Hey, I need to shoot a picture of it for THIS STORY" excuse, which he totally fell for. Nice.)

Check this thing out:
www.sportsshooter.com/gear_profile.html?id=112

But wait... that's not all! (Maybe I should do a little Infomercial Video spoof?)

Other things included in the goodie box include:

- A plastic rain coat. Throw this thing in your car and forget about it - until the day you find yourself in a downpour without a rain coat. Then, WHAM - look who is all prepared! YOU, the "Shooter's Choice" winner!

Camera Wrap!

I asked mi amigo Gruber if he had any ideas on how I could shoot a picture of this thing for this story.

"Put it on go out in the backyard," he told me. "I'll spray you down with the hose and we can take some pictures."

Uh, yeah.

- A monopod cover/cushion. This item was in last year's goodie-box too. Proper use of it will keep your monopod from hurting your shoulder as you carry that massive lens across the field as you sprint past/around those evil TV cable pullers.

- A camera wrap. Actually, I am not sure what it's actually called - but I got a nice live demonstration on how the hell it works from Sir Gruber. It is made of sturdy cloth, and it wraps perfectly around a Canon 1D body - adding a layer of protection for when it is packed away in your bag.

Fanny Pack/Belly Bag!

- A fanny pack. Or is it a "belly bag?" I guess it can be either, depending on how you wear it. This bag will clip nicely across your waist, and will probably old a lot of stuff. Maybe even important stuff!

And finally --

- Of course, there's also the "satisfaction of winning", which is the single most important thing - better than any prize, right? Right? RIGHT?!

Didn't think so.

Thanks (again) to Canon for being so cool and supportive of SportsShooter.com.

Good luck to everyone!