Some photos mean nothing until you get some history.

Following a play in football often means a photo of nothing, an overthrown pass rarely results in a great photo. Sometimes, if it's just off a receiver's fingertips, and the result of the incomplete pass figures prominently into the game story, then the photo might be worthy.

But when the ball is so far overthrown that a coach on the opposing team's sideline catches the ball, that one is headed to the dustbin of history, as it were. 

unless the coach who catches the ball is: 1) the team's wide receivers coach, 2) makes a pretty good catch and 3) happens to have been a pretty accomplished high school football player in his own right. 

Gary Pendleton was in his senior hear in high school when I arrived at The Day in 1993, so I did not see him play. But I did remember his name from the stories on the sports pages. As a matter of fact, I remember it even better because just last year Mike Dimauro wrote a column about a game in which Pendleton played a key role

In light of all that the photo of this sideline catch suddenly seemed more compelling.