Live Athletic Event

For my live athletic event, I attended the Cleveland Indians home opener against the Texas Rangers. Even though they lost, I still noticed a great amount of advertising. As soon as I walked in, I was handed a magnetic schedule that had two sponsors on it; Giant Eagle and Toyota. Even though these were two totally different companies, they put their names on the magnets because they were guaranteed that over 40,000 would see their name by giving these out for free. Another thing that I noticed is that what use to be called the Batters Eye Bar in right center field has been changed to the Rigid Tools Bar. This was probably done to bring in more money since the Indians have had trouble operating in the positives overs the last couple of years. Also, all over the outfield walls are Budweiser and Pepsi logos. This shows who has invested a lot of money in order to be have their names posted that big for everyone to see. My last observation would be the name Progressive Field. The company of Progressive Insurance has invested a lot of money in order to have the field named after them. They have many of their logos around the park as well for everyone to see. The field is a high trafficked area and is guaranteed to help get their name out to the public. Investing money into athletic stadiums is a very smart move for companies to do.

Sitdown with Coach Hill

With this school year coming to an end, there is a new season coming up next year with the Tiffin Dragons men's basketball team. After sitting down with coach John Hill, there is some good things coming his way, whether in the form of recruiting, or just having another year in the GLIAC under the teams belt. Last night was the teams end of the year banquet. Keenan Barlow was named the teams Most Valuable Player award. He averaged 9.9 points a game and 4.4 rebounds a game while starting 25 games. Brian Scott was awarded the Best Shooter award shooting 45% from the 3 point line, 46% from the field total, and 77% from the free throw line. Brandon Harris received the Most Improved player award 3 points and 3 boards a game coming off the bench for most of the season. All of these players are scheduled to make their return to the Dragons next year.

From the recruiting aspect, Coach talked about his two current commitments in Joe Graessle (picture top right) from Bishop Ready high school (OH) and Sarwin Kahn from Pingere,Illinois. Joe Graessle, a 6'3 wing player lead his team to the Ohio State Final Four Division III. He was voted player of the year in District 10 and also made First Team All-Ohio. He is known for his 3 point shot and could bring his long range game in to help the Dragons. Next is Sarwin Kahn. He is a big presence inside at 6'9. With his height and inside scoring ability, he can help the dragons Cuellar down low in the post with his height and athleticism. Next on Coach Hill's list is a true point guard that can come in and help the Dragon's program as quickly as possible. This was a weak spot last season for the Dragons and this was exploited by their opponents.

With next season approaching, Coach Hill told me a few things that he would like to accomplish. Coach Hill explained the first thing he would like to accomplish, like any other GLIAC coach, is Double digit wins and single digit losses. IT is a hard goal to accomplish, especially in such a tough conference that returns a lot of their starters. With 12 teams now in the South Division, with the addition of Ohio Dominican and Lake Erie College, and 7 in the North, this makes for a tough 19 game in conference schedule. To make matter worse, Tiffin will open the season against tough Division I opponent, Bowling Green. This is another goal for Tiffin is to compete with the big school and go for the "W" against them. This would set the tone early for the Dragons and help them shoot for a winning season this program has been looking for the last few years.

Naming Rights

Once Ian Day left his duties of Tiffin Athletic Director and Lonny Allen was hired on, naming rights involving the gymnasium in the Glimore Student Center starting taking off. One of the nice, new features was the naming of the basketball court; Old Fort Bank Court. Old Fort Bank has had a long relationship with Tiffin University whether it be providing banking accounts for the faculty or having the ATM in Gilmore. They have been great for Tiffin University and now it is more visual, posting two large Old Fort Bank logos on the court. It has providing some financial relief for Tiffin and has given Old Fort Bank the recognition it deserves. Also a new sponsor for the basketball facility is the purchasing of the scoreboard by Nick Fabrizio. The owner of Fabrizio's Chiropractic has been a long time supporter of Tiffin athletics as well, and now he is able to show it with his naming rights to the beautiful new scoreboard. Also all student athletes with sports related injuries are sent to see him, which is also apart of the partnership. There are many more, but these two stand out the most and help make our basketball court and facility more appealing while bringing in new sources of income.

What's Next for the Dragons?

Well after a season to forget for the men's basketball team, there comes the saying, "There's always next year." It is something no one wants to hear, but it may be what this team needs. The Dragons will not lose anyone to the NBA draft this year and there are no seniors. Tiffin will be the only team in the GLIAC that can return all of their starters and all of the their top scorers. Even though Tiffin used 11 different starting lineups this season, everyone will be back. Leading scorer DeAngelo Jordan decided to skip to the NBA draft this year and will return as well as fellow captains Rafael Cuellar and Brian Scott. This next year the coach and the players will have a year under their belt and have a sense of familiarity with each other which could lead to a dangerous Tiffin Dragons basketball team. The team needs to build off late success with wins against Lake Superior St. and an overtime thriller against the crosstown rivals, the Findlay Oilers. It is important that everyone improve over the offseason because the conference is not going to get any easier.