I saw this guy and I knew he was pretty serious

A very nice portrait, Tim!

Thanks Bengt!

Love it, Tim!  I don't know this guy, but his eyes are so striking, there is an immediate connection I feel to your model.  My only minor critiscism is that below his beard is almost too soft.  I want the texture continued there.  If it's your DOF, then you obviously can't do that, so maybe crop a little more (just below his beard) or darken it a bit so your eyes aren't drawn there because of the contrast  in textures.

Hi Kim! I took this yesterday on our monthly flickr group walk.  I saw this guy twirling a football on his finger and asked if I could photograph him.  I was shooting almost wide open to get a shallow depth of field, making sure the eyes were in focus. 

You certainly succeeded in getting his eyes to pop right off the screen.

I have always liked the look of portaits done with 8x10 view cameras with just the eyes and part of the nose in focus and the rest of the face real soft.  I am too lazy for an 8x10 but maybe someday.