Photoblog Wednesday

The Dayton Dragons team bus

April 18, 2009, Fort Wayne, IN
photo credit DSP

There's a fun story that goes with today's photo:

The Dragons have had a gorgeous Dragon Bus since 2000, their first year in the Midwest League. In April 2000, the girls were 5 years old and Rina was, still is, a dragon fanatic, so she was very excited to see the Dragons at Oldsmobile Park in Lansing, Michigan.

Well, the old jokes about baseball games getting snowed out in Michigan aside, when we got to the park, all was quiet. The tarp was still on the field and you could see from the street that it was heavily laden with snow, The game had been canceled! Rina was devastated, I mean 5-year-old, whining, crying and screaming at the ballpark to open, devastated.

Taking kids to a baseball game in Michigan in April, you always have a backup plan. There was an arts and crafts show at the mall in Lansing and the girls loved crafts. Tori was changing gears to excited about the craft show pretty quick, but Rina still sniffled in the back seat. Nothing short of them clearing the tarp and calling the Dragons back to the park was going to save her day.

When we got to the mall, we saw the 2000 version of the pictured bus in the parking lot. Rina's eyes lit up, "THE DRAGONS BUS!!"

Somehow, though she hadn't actually seen the Dayton Dragons yet and the guys weren't in baseball uniforms or anything, she just knew that the group of 4 men that we saw when we walked in were Dragons. With wide eyes, she looked at them, and said "The Dragons!"

Now, we're talking A-Ball here, I'm sure that it was an ego stroke too, but at the sound of the young voice, all four of them looked at Rina, smiled and waved. It totally made her day. The disappointment faded and she thoroughly enjoyed the craft show. When she talked to her Dad on the phone at lunch, the first thing she told him about was that she saw the Dragons at the mall.

Talk about awesome PR!