Roman the Hutt
During the ELF Championship Game 2025, ZDF’s Sportstudio managed to give me one of the biggest laughs of the season. At first glance, their segment on the troubles of the ELF looked pretty slick—well produced, solid commentary, strong visuals. But then I noticed something…
Out of the three photos they used—yes, three out of three were ours!—one in particular stood out. It’s the shot of Stuttgart Surge’s Louis Geyer charging straight toward the camera. Great action, great framing. Except… if you look just a little closer, lurking in the background, you’ll spot someone in a blue shirt looking like the discount cosplay version of Jabba the Hutt.
Guess who? Yep. That unfortunate blob is me. Immortalized, in high definition, across multiple publications.
On the one hand, I’m thrilled—our pictures are getting published left and right, and that’s always amazing to see. On the other hand… wow. Nobody warned me I’d end up as an accidental Star Wars extra. You’d think someone at ZDF might have just cropped me out, right? Just a little snip, a mercy edit. But no. There I am, forever haunting the background like Jabba at a football game.
It’s the eternal curse of photographers: celebrating the success of your work, while simultaneously wishing the camera had somehow skipped over your own face.
