Every sports season here at The Gazette we honor the area’s top athletes with a special section that has a theme in an effort to capture the greatness of their athletic accomplishments.  It was my turn for this year’s winter athletes and I really wanted to do something that stood out.  I have been contemplating pairing great athletes with great albums for some time now.  I knew a project like this would resonate if it was done right.  I also knew their might be some resistance (it is rock and roll after all) but I had a gut feeling that readers would respond positively.   By combining photography, these great athletes and some of the greatest album covers of all time I knew I could create a winning combination.  Sure enough with this special section, I have received the more positive response from readers than anything I have done during my time at The Gazette.  I think readers of all ages appreciated stepping back a little in time to ponder how much fun it was to look at an album cover.  The athletes all seemed to have a lot of fun with the photo shoots and now know what people my age have known all along.  That rock and roll rocks! Brent Schwarz of Lewis-Palmer posing for the cover of Led Zeppelin IV 

Christina Whitelaw of St. Mary's posing as the boy on U2 War.