Mike Lopresti Takes Us to Dayton and a Slice of America
The evening sports wrap here in Los Angeles routinely takes shots at the sea of blue in Dodger Stadium for 2011 home games. Unless most years when they’d be referencing the caps and t-shirts displaying the logo of this once-iconic franchise, this season has been defined by empty seats.
That’s not the case in Dayton, where the Dragons have enjoyed sellout after sellout. Mike Lopresti wrote a piece that appeared in USA Today earlier this week that takes you back to the purity of the game. It’s a Class-A team for the Reds, a unit comprised of kids years from making the leap to the major leagues or veterans rehabbing from injuries.
I read the piece just prior to joining in on an interview while sitting in with Robert Wuhl and The Robert Wuhl Show. I wrote down the words — “community,” “underdog,” “family,” “ownership” and “America” prior to Mr. Lopresti joining us on the line.
This story is a fascinating reminder of the power of sports and hearkens back to those initial moments that grabbed us as children. They’re not the moments that show up on highlight reels. They’re not the moments that yield stats on the backs of baseball cards. They’re the moments that binds us with the game as the backdrop.
