AD Blog - June 22, 2009

It seemed like a great way to open Father’s Day Weekend. My son, Andrew, and I headed north on I-95 to make our first visit to Frawley Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals’ Class A team, the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Over the past few years, we sometimes took the highway through Wilmington just to admire the stadium from the highway. Andrew and I like to visit baseball stadiums. He’s been in 14 major league parks, not bad for a 13-year-old. The number of minor league stadiums on his visit list is also in double figures.

The Blue Rocks had rescheduled to a doubleheader after a rainout the previous day. We arrived between games, just as Edgar Johnson, the retiring Delaware director of athletics, tossed out the first pitch. After a review of the concessions stands, we selected the deli down the first base line as our dinner stop and then took in the first few innings. As expected, the stadium was filled with a family crowd enjoying the many entertainment options.

In the third inning, we stopped in to see Kevin Linton, the voice of the Blue Rocks – and the Blue Hens, who had handled our arrangements. Between announcing batters, he gave us the inside scoop on the press box operation. We then met with Chris Kemple, the veteran Blue Rocks general manager, who was kind enough to spend 20 minutes with me and spell out their ticket sales and corporate sales strategies. I’m always looking for new ideas. We got a good laugh when we realized both he and I subscribe to a similar ticket sales philosophy, based on the work of Jon Spoelstra, who now owns a couple of minor league teams.

When we returned to the seating bowl, we stopped by to congradulate Edgar Johnson and his wife, Karen, on the great first pitch. He estimated the speed at 36 miles per hour! I’m going to miss his sense of humor at the CAA meetings. After about 20 minutes with the Johnsons, Andrew announced his intention to visit the Quarry, the souvenir store in the stadium. While we were on the way to the store, Andrew confessed that he didn’t expect to purchase anything, but he wanted to make a quick stop and get back to our original seats, where he and I could talk. Despite is VIP tour, the most important thing for him was to talk with me!

We enjoyed the last few innings back in Section I (great seats). The entertainment continued.  The Celery mascot came out to dance one more time in the bottom of the seventh inning. (The mascot dances anytime the Blue Rocks score.) But a double play ended the final threat and the Blue Rocks came up short, 4-2. No one seemed to mind as they fans then participated in a exercise to try to set the world record for the largest crowd to do Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes. We then settled down to watch the Friday night fireworks before thanking Kevin one more time and heading home.

On the way home, I thanked Andrew for going with me. I knew visiting with another AD and talking with a baseball GM might not be his first choices for Friday night entertainment. He said – “no problem dad, it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the time together.”

As I thought about it more, it reminded me of what we do in college athletics. Sure, we provide great opportunities for our student-athletes to develop skills not possible in the classroom alone. We are a marketing tool for our university, promoting Towson University as an outstanding educational institution. We are a rallying point for our campus, our alumni and our community.

But, we also provide great opportunities for dads (and moms) to enjoy a wonderful event with sons (and daughters). We know that, of course, but it’s valuable to be reminded with a first-hand experience! It’s one of the reasons that we have autograph sessions after most of our home events so that kids can get even closer to the action, meeting one of our players that just participated in the competition. Many of our events offer this father-son experience for free – there is no admission charge for men’s and women’s soccer, baseball, softball, swimming, field hockey or tennis contests. And the rest are reasonably priced for a great time for father and son. It was a good reminder of one of our most important functions. Just in time for Father’s Day. We will work hard to make sure those experiences continue to be great ones for parents and children. Now, off to play tennis with my son – another benefit of sport – the ability for father and son to participate, together. Have a happy Father’s Day! I already have!