Another fan of the Canon here. I have a 40D which is very similar to KC's 30D. The 50D is indeed the latest from Canon, but in all honesty, the Nikon line is equally as good. Ask a Canon guy, he'll tell you Canon. Ask a Nikon guy, it's Nikon...
My 40D shoots a few more frames per second that KC's 30D and the LCD on the back is bigger. Other than that, I have a little more programmability than the 30D but both are more than adequate. Defintitely, the new "D" line of cameras from Canon are terrific. 40D is a 10.x Megapixel camera, I believe the 50D now goes up into the 13 range maybe? KC...? If you're looking for a good camera on a budget, that 30D can be found for a few hundred dollars and is more than sufficient to satisfy your basic needs. Sure, there'll be some growing you'll want to do, but for a casual 3-4 game day, you buy that for cheap and put an "L" series lens (as in REALLY SPENDY) and you will be amazed at what quality you can get.
Honestly, once you get much past about 10-12 megapixels it really isn't going to much matter for the causal picture-taker. The absolute best prices you're going to find are online. A few brick 'n mortar stores will try to match, but check out Adorama.com online. They're in New York. Might also look to Amazon. No tax against $1000 is a definite savings.
Expect when you're done (which is never...) you'll be in the high hundreds at a minimum if you get into a quality shell/body and another several hundred to several thousand as you by lenses. But know that the quality gear doesn't take pictures by itself and don't expect to have those Sports Illustrated-type shots just because you went out and spent a mint on a really cool setup. Great photos take time and experience, but for those who are aspiring photographers, it's definitely nice to have some better gear.
There are others as well, but
www.dpreview.com is definitely a good place to read forums to learn a lot!
Good luck!