It was a baseball-focused class, so I talked about my first job in Vero Beach, Fla., where I interviewed many of the old Boys of Summer, the legendary Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950s who would return to Dodgertown every spring. I talked about interviewing local resident Elden Auker, who helped lead the Detroit Tigers to a World Series championship in 1935 and was friends with everyone from Babe Ruth to Ted Williams.
I remember thinking then in 1999 I would one day talk about crossing paths with Auker — I was even at his 90th birthday party — and I have talked about it many times over the years. Because of Auker and me, you don’t need six degrees of separation to get from Babe Ruth to DaRon Holmes II.
I did talk about the Flyers, too, and they were the focus on my second speech to Assistant Professor Haozhou Pu’s sports media class at Fitz Hall. I talk to this class every year — mostly about my journalism background, how I do my job, the state of journalism and the experience of covering Dayton basketball.
A number of the students in the class planned to go to the game that night against George Washington. The Red Scare fans fill the section behind one basket. That’s not a given around the A-10. La Salle had no student section last week when the No. 16 team in the country came to Tom Gola Arena. Richmond, on other hand, used a packed student section as fuel to beat Dayton.
I had no problem with Richmond students storming the court after their team beat Dayton. I appreciated getting a heads up from security guards and moved off the baseline with my camera to shoot the scene from the stands. The same security guards formed a barrier between the celebrating students and the disappointed Flyers. There was no chance of a Caitlin Clark incident at the Robins Center. The Iowa star ran into an Ohio State fan rushing the court at the Schottenstein Center in January.
I remember storming the court after a victory against Miami during my sophomore year at Ohio in 1997 — Miami wasn’t even ranked, though it did have Devin Davis and Wally Szczerbiak. Maybe it’s because I don’t take life too seriously and always lean toward the side of fun, but I’m never going to be the crusty sports writer criticizing young fans for living in the moment.
Having said that, I don’t see any good excuses for UD students to storm the court this season. The last five teams coming to UD Arena are nowhere near the top 50, much less the top 25: St. Bonaventure on Friday; and then Duquesne, Fordham, Davidson and Virginia Commonwealth on Senior Day.
St. Bonaventure next test for Dayton
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Tonight is another Chapel Blue night for the Flyers. Don’t tell John Raponi. The UD superfan sits near the tunnel by the UD bench. I usually talk to him before every game. On Tuesday, before Dayton’s 83-61 victory against George Washington, he told me Friday is “National Wear Red Day.” I looked it up later. It’s an event for American Heart Month.
***
Raponi bleeds red — well, we all do, but he loves red more than anyone. He’ll be disappointed to see the Chapel Blue on the court, but as long as Dayton beats St. Bonaventure, I think he’ll be OK.
Beating St. Bonaventure is no sure thing. It’s more of a sure thing at UD Arena, though. The Bonnies have not played well on the road. They beat Virginia Commonwealth on the road to start conference play but have since lost to Richmond, George Mason and Duquesne. They’re one of five inconsistent A-10 teams stuck in a logjam at 4-4 and tied for fifth place.
“I say it all the time: you try to protect your home court and try to steal some on the road,” St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt said Thursday. “We protected our home court the last two games. Now we have a test on the road. It’s a tough place to play. We haven’t had a lot of success there. We’re going to have to play really well to win.”
NIL a bigger topic than ever these days
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Matt Farrell is one of the most influential members of the Flyer Faithful because he runs Dayton 6th, the organization helping UD athletes navigate the name, image and likeness era. He called me this week to help get the word out about a series of meet-and-greets with Dayton basketball players coming up at local H&R Block locations.
A year ago, I wrote about Ron and Andrea Morton announcing the largest corporate full-team NIL opportunity for Dayton men’s basketball. The Mortons might be the only fans to go to every game home and away. Former Flyer J.D. Grigsby, who’s easy to spot at home games in his colorful outfits, has expanded his support this year by going to most of the road games. There are pleny of other fans who travel to watch the Flyers, but few are as loyal as those.
The Mortons pay the players to endorse their H&R Block franchises. The players also receive tax help in the deal. This year, the Mortons have expanded the deal to include Dayton women’s basketball players. UD men’s and women’s players will be teaming up for appearances around the Miami Valley on Feb. 10 and Feb. 22. The full schedule can be found here.
The growth of Dayton 6th is important to the future of Dayton basketball. As everyone saw with the success the Ohio State football team had in the transfer portal this year, strong NIL support can help in recruiting.
Neil Sullivan, Dayton’s athletic director, has talked often in recent years about adjusting to the times in the NIL era. He sat down this week for a 54-minute interview with Alex Mikos, UD’s Coordinator of Branding & Communications, this week. UD put the interview on YouTube.com.
Among the many topics they covered, Sullivan talked about Farrell and Dayton 6th.
“What Matt Farrell has been able to do has been just exceptional,” Sullivan said. “He’s elite at what he does. The people that support him and the various companies throughout town. We’ve had a really good playbook up to this date. But the playbook is going to become increasingly more complex. There are proposals to bring NIL in house. There’s a case out in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for student athletes to become employees. There’s an ongoing case right now in California where the National Labor Relations Board has suggested and alleged that student athletes are employees and that they do have bargaining rights. Think about unions and organized labor. So NIL, as chaotic as it is, ultimately is a precursor to some pretty big things that are on the horizon.”
Fast Break
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans:
🏀 Obi Toppin had 12 points in 22 minutes in his first game as an opposing player at Madison Square Garden. His new team, the Indiana Pacers, lost 109-105 to his old team, the New York Knicks.
“I hope it’s a good reaction,” Toppin told the New York Post before the game, “but for me I’m just happy to be back here and to get to play again in this amazing arena and to be back in front of these amazing fans. Just having that opportunity is a blessing.”
Toppin is averaging a career-best 11.2 points and playing 23.2 minutes per game after averaging 7.4 points in 15.7 minutes per game in his final season with the Knicks.
🏀 Brian Bennett, of The Athletic, answered a question about Dayton in his weekly story, “Bracket Watch.”
“What’s a realistic landing spot for Dayton? Let’s say they lose 1-2 more times in the regular season, plus a semi or final loss in the A-10 tournament.
“Probably a No. 5 or 6 seed,” Bennett wrote. “If Richmond can win at Dayton and lose maybe only one more in the league, the Spiders would have a strong at-large case as well.”
Bennett’s current prediction has No. 4 seed Dayton playing No. 13 seed UC Irvine in Pittsburgh.
🏀 ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s latest prediction has No. 5 seed Dayton playing No. 12 Appalachian State in Brooklyn. Lunardi wrote about Dayton at the top of his latest edition of Bracketology.
“The Spiders, picked 11th preseason in the Atlantic 10, knocked off No. 21 Dayton in a battle of league unbeatens, giving the A-10 a second team in the field and becoming our first official ‘bid thief’ of the year,” Lunardi wrote. “Lost in the shuffle is just how good Dayton has been, climbing as high as a 3-seed last week and bringing to mind the stellar Obi Toppin-led Flyers of the pandemic-aborted 2020 campaign. No program in America lost a greater opportunity than those Flyers, so count me among those rooting for the DaRon Holmes-led 2024 edition to keep it going.”
What do you want to know about the Flyers?
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