Those Were the Good Old Days - by Mark Schulze

Soccer Team, White Horse, Yukon, 1986 - Photograph by Patty Mooney

My wife, Patty, recently had some slides digitized. These particular slides have been in a binder on a shelf since 1986 when she and I sold or gave away everything, halted our video production business, rented our house out to some tenants, and set out from our hometown of San Diego for the wilds of North America in a small Chinook camper. We ended up driving 25,000 miles in the course of nine months. Along the way, Patty took some photographs and I shot video footage to document our adventures. I'm third from the left in the above shot, the guy with the lanky blonde locks (which are sadly no more).

On this particular day, after hanging out with some newfound friends in White Horse, Yukon, Canada, the soccer team invited me to play a game. As you can tell, they were quite fond of Coke.

We have since unfortunately lost touch with these wonderful, generous and hospitable people, but here's a shout out, 22 years later. Thanks for all the great times! Man, those were the good old days!

Julie Foudy, Soccer Champion

An Interview with Julie Foudy on the USD Soccer Field - Photo by Patty Mooney

It was great to have the opportunity to shoot an interview with Julie Foudy, premiere soccer player, back in the day (2001). Unfortunately, San Diego's ladies' soccer team, The Spirit, had to vanish due to limited funding and lack of corporate sponsorship.

What was cool about this particular interview was that the key message concerned the efforts of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) to keep stadiums smoke-free by not advertising or selling tobacco products at any games and by encouraging fans not to smoke in the stands or concourses.

A second message addressed young girls, encouraging them not to start smoking. "We would never be able to run around a field kicking a ball for 90 minutes if we smoked," said Julie. "Smoking's not cool, and it's not glamorous."

Julie was fun to work with. She was very down to earth, a really good person and a great sport... even with a 2K light in her face.