Dayton Dragons Baseball Game

It was a busy weekend of activities for us. In addition to roller derby on Saturday night, we went to watch the Dayton Dragons take on the Great Lakes Loons from Midland, Michigan in a minor league baseball game on Sunday evening. I’m not entirely convinced the Loons thought through their team name and branding, but they ended up beating the Dragons 9 to 8. It was a beautiful night for a baseball game.

Before the game, Dianne and I were looking around outside the stadium a bit. She took a photo of me next to the oversized baseball and bat sculptures that line the pedestrian area. I also got to meet Gem, the female dragon mascot of the team. She wasn’t too talkative, but she was very expressive. Most of the little kids loved her, although Gem did freak out one boy that started crying when his parents tried to get him to stand next to her. I couldn’t resist having Dianne get a photo of me with Gem (I guess named because Dayton is the Gem City). It is similar to my rollergirl photo collection. The person inside the costume was really good and earning their pay.

The best part of the evening, thanks to Carla, was that we had free Sky Box tickets. Actually this was our second visit to the box. I didn’t blog about the first game a few weeks ago. The photo at the right is a fisheye lens shot of the Sky Box suite. There is an air conditioned lounge area with a TV so you can watch the game or a host of other cable channels. If you go straight out the glass door on the left there is a private, 10 seat stadium seating area where you can sit and watch the game. That is a fantastic way to take in a baseball game! If it is hot you can come in, cool off, and not miss any of the action.

We were there with Kyle, Tresha, Trei, Kyra and some of their friends as well as three other folks. Kyle got a great photo of us when Dianne was trying to get a photo of us with her iPhone. It was a very nice group, although we missed Carla (she wasn’t feeling 100%) and her parents. Here is a photo of the group.

Besides the baseball game itself, the Dragons organization does a great job involving the crowd. After every side out, they have some type of short activity, dance, skit, etc. to keep the crowd in to the game. My favorite is the Lemonhead sponsored contest where they select three babies from the crowd and have their moms bring them out on the field in strollers and face the crowd. A video camera person is there showing the kids faces on the jumbo-sized scoreboard screen. One at a time, the moms give the kids a taste of lemon juice and the crowd cheers for their favorite sour face. I know, it seems a little cruel, but it is funny to see the expressions.

Below are a couple shots. The first is of Dianne watching the game near the start and the second is the stadium just after the sun went down. It was a fun evening. Thanks much to Carla!!