Throwback to the Future

CATEGORY - OSINT

TL;DR

What date was Anthony McConnolly's "throwback" photo taken? After researching his X (Twitter) account, performing a reverse image search, and identifying key details, I concluded that the photo was taken during a game between the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium on October 22, 2023.

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Solution

Step 1: Investigating the Challenge

Since the challenge is about Anthony McConnolly, I decided to browse through his X (Twitter) account Anthony McConnolly (@antmcconn) / X to find the throwback photo. After a bit of scrolling, I came across this post:

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Step 2: Analyzing the Photo

After finding the tweet with the photo, I looked closely at the caption. It said:

"#throwback to the 2023 season. The MVP still can’t beat us when we’re at home."

• The use of "2023" clearly indicates that the photo was taken in that year.

• The word "season" suggested that it was a football game, not just an exhibition.

Next, I performed a reverse image search to see if the photo was used elsewhere on the internet. Here are the results:

Although the reverse image search didn’t yield any exact matches, I noticed some related search terms that might be useful: "Gillette Stadium" and "New England Patriots." I saved these names for later reference.

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Step 3: Identifying Clues in the Photo

Upon closer inspection of the photo, I noticed another clue:

It seemed to feature another team logo, so I decided to look it up. After searching for the name visible on the uniform, I discovered the second team: Buffalo Bills.

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Step 4: Confirming the Teams

To confirm that these were indeed the correct teams, I did some cross-referencing. I examined the uniforms of both teams. The Buffalo Bills usually wear white uniforms, while the New England Patriots wear darker ones.

Note: I am not sure about who the players are in this photo, as I was mainly trying to match the uniforms to confirm the team identities. If I made any mistakes regarding the players, I apologize.

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Step 5: Finding the Game Date

^{Note for the image above: I’m not entirely sure who the players are currently wearing these uniforms. I’m just trying to match the uniforms to see if the designs align with the photo I was given. If I got the players wrong, my apologies!}

With the teams confirmed as the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills, I searched for more details. I typed "Patriots vs Bills Gillette Stadium 2023" into Google and found the game took place on October 22, 2023.

Here is the search result:

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Step 6: Converting the Date to MM/DD/YYYY Format

The date of the game was October 22, 2023. In the required format, this becomes:

10/22/2023

I submitted this as the flag, and it was accepted.

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Final Flag

10/22/2023

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Notes

• Always check related searches in reverse image search for location and teams.

• Verifying uniform designs helps confirm team identities and season.

• Image captions can provide immediate year or event clues.