Summer Ball
Greetings readers,
Summer is a great time of the year. It’s when most people venture outside and have some fun in the sun. In the sporting world, baseball will be in full bloom. But did you know it’s not the only sport in the sun? In Southwest Ohio, there’s also outdoor football.
If you’re a fan of tackling football, there’s a couple of leagues to check out around the Miami Valley. One is the Heartland Football League (which I wrote about March of 2011.)
Some things have changed since 2011, including the Kings Comets taking a break this season. Most of the teams on my 2011 article no longer exist. The area is a little further spread out into the Pittsburgh area. In fact, some of the teams listed on the league’s website have called it quits before playing any downs. One team has stayed the course for a long time, and that would be the Lima Warriors.
There’s also another league around the Miami Valley, in the Northern Frontier Football League. Compared to the HFL, there are more teams around the Dayton area. The season starts May 18th, with sixteen teams stemming all the way up north to Lima and all the way east to Lancaster. The last week of the regular season (Week Ten) is August 3rd.
Baseball’s not the only summer sporting fun, there’s also some football in the air. It’s a great time to catch some outdoor sports!
Sources of information from the Heartland Football League and the Northern Frontier Football League. Picture from the Heartland Football League front page.
Until next time,
-Lee
Streaming Flyers
Greetings readers,
I will be broadcasting three Dayton Flyers games this weekend! Today I have the call of a softball doubleheader against Saint Bonaventure, starting at 12:00 EST. It’s Senior Day for the Flyers, as they currently sit in 7th place in the Atlantic 10 Conference and look to squeeze in for a playoff spot. The Bonnies look to play spoiler today at UD Softball Stadium.
Tomorrow (May 5th, 2013), I will broadcast the Senior Day game for the Flyers baseball team, as they host George Washington. The Flyers are looking to split the series today, and possibly take the three-game set with the Colonials. I will have the call for my first Flyers baseball game without the other team being Wright State Sunday at 12:00.
Here’s the link for Saturday’s contests: http://daytonflyers.cstv.com/allaccess/?media=387509
Here’s the link for Sunday’s contest: http://daytonflyers.cstv.com/allaccess/?media=387516
Hope you can tune in!
Until next time,
-Lee
CBS Sports – An App Review
Greetings readers,
Today I am reviewing the CBS Sports app, available on Android’s Google Play and the Apple App Store. The CBS Sports is developed by OneLouder.
Currently (as of 4/16/2013), CBS Sports has an average rating of 4.4 from 16,501 votes on Google Play and a combined rating of 3 out of 5 from 50,517 votes at the App Store (but the current version has a 4.5 out of 5 from 109 votes.)
This app was previously called SportCaster, also developed by OneLouder Apps (they also make TweetCaster which is an app I use quite frequently.) Eventually, the CBS name took over the app and the SportCaster name was dropped after.
One thing I loved about the old SportCaster app was the tweets about games and teams. None of the apps I reviewed had that feature, so that’s what made SportCaster unique and on my mobile phone. Fast forward from 2011 to 2013, and CBS Sports still has that feature. You access it from the settings menu.
One thing that was worked on was the lack of sports. From my old review of SportCaster, there was only American Football (NCAA and NFL.) With CBS Sports, you have the options to follow your favorite teams as well as numerous European Football leagues, Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, and both pro and college basketball.
You can also receive notifications on your favorite teams or any breaking news of major events from CBS Sports. These are customization options for these, including turning them off.
The front page is the big news stories. To get to the scores, you pull the menu down to pick the league you want or pick “My Teams” to see those scores. On the score screen, you can pull down news stories and see tweets from the team representatives (writers, actual teams Twitter, etc…)
While finding the tweets and news stories take a little bit getting used to, it is a good setup. I like the customization of the app, and I think it deserves a home on your mobile device. From this sportscaster, it’s a recommended app.
Sources of info from the Google Play and Apple App Store sites. Ratings/votes are current as of 11:57 AM on April 16th, 2013.
Until next time,
-Lee
The Flying Voice
Greetings readers,
Wow, how one month flies. Sorry for the silence once again, but it’s been a good month for sports. I’ve called two playoff series, a conference championship, and a couple of arena football games. There’s also a new job for me this Spring.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen. I am a Public Address Announcer for the Dayton Flyers baseball team.
Now why on earth would I think this would be interesting to talk about? There’s a few reasons.
1) I like talking about new opportunities for myself. That sounds so much like a vague statement, but I feel blessed for everything new chance to prove myself.
2) I often think how cool it is for a graduate of a rival college to have this job. Does it mean anything? No, not really. It doesn’t matter where you graduated from if you work your hardest. I just get a kick out of it (and so do some of the Flyer staff, even having one telling me that I’m on waivers.)
3) This is a great job to have. It’s a great, laid-back environment, and I feel accepted into the group. I get to work with great people each game. I also have talked with a few Flyer fans at the baseball games, and they have compliment me on my work.
In case you’re not familiar with the Dayton Flyers, they are a NCAA Division I school that call the Atlantic 10 their conference. This is the same conference where Virginia Commonwealth and Butler jumped to last year, and the same where Butler and Xavier are departing for the new Big East. (In case you didn’t hear, George Mason is coming to the A10 now.)
The Flyers call Time Warner Cable Stadium their home, right at the corner of Interstate 75 and Edwin C. Moses Boulevard. It’s a nice stadium, with a good size press box and also a luxury suite next door. The seating is concentrated behind home plate, between the dugouts. There is a nice grass patch between the home dugout and the indoor batting cages.
As of March 26th, I have done nine games so far.
I am incredibly blessed to have this job and grateful for the connection that I have for this job. One thing I didn’t mention is how I got the job. One of my friends that I work with at the Dragons, Scott, also works at UD. He heard that the Flyers needed a PA Announcer, and the rest was history.
I’m incredibly lucky to have this job. I wanted to share with the world (again) about my new job. What will this lead to? Only time will tell.
Picture from the Dayton Flyers website.
Until next time,
-Lee
Raiders of the Lost Pool
Greetings readers,
Today I’d like to share with you an organization that’s been in the Dayton area for a while and recently made the news on a big purchase. This organization is the Dayton Raiders.
The Dayton Raiders have been in the area since 1981 (actually longer than that if you count the Dayton Dolphins and the Wright State Raiders, which you can read the entire history here.) It’s an organization for younger people who would like to train and receive coaching all year long.
Recently, the Raiders bought the Beavercreek YMCA for a training site starting this May. While the Y off of Grange Hall Road will still close, the community programs will stay and the Raiders will use this pool to train. For the 2012-2013 season, the home meets are at Wright State University (the pool’s right next to the bookstore.)
The Raiders have won a lot of awards and accomplished a lot of records as a team, including breaking the American record for the 200 backstroke in short course meters, three Raiders winning U.S. Juniors National Championships, several hundred representatives in the Ohio High School State Championships, and many Raider reps went on to swim on the collegiate levels (including Wright State University.)
There’s also opportunities for people interested in helping out the team. The Raiders use a volunteer point system, to make sure everyone chips into the team.
The 2012 senior class of the Raiders include many reps from Centerville and Beavercreek High Schools, as well as a few reps from Yellow Springs, Miamisburg, Vandalia-Butler, Oakwood, Northridge, Tippecanoe, and Fenwick High Schools. These seniors have decided to go to college, including one to Wright State.
While never a rep of this swimming organization, I’ve seen a plentiful amount of Dayton Raiders gear since I was a kid. I saw a lot more of this in college, and I always wanted to ask what the Dayton Raiders were (I knew it wasn’t college related, since UD is the Flyers.) Turns out, it’s a big organization reaching out to the Miami Valley for swimming.
This purchase of the Beavercreek YMCA is a great one for the Raiders, as it continues to give the swimming organization a good link to Greene County (Wright State is another link to Greene County.) It gives the team a pool to practice swimming and prevents another building turning empty.
If you’re in the area and want to give your kids a chance to learn swimming, give the Dayton Raiders a shot!
Sources of information from WDTN Channel 2 and the Dayton Raiders. Picture from the Dayton Raiders.
Until next time,
-Lee
Get to Know Your Voice
Greetings readers,
This is just a quick share with all of you. As you might know, I’m the play-by-play voice of the Dayton Demonz hockey team. I usually interview the coach and players for the post-game show. Afterwards, our cameraman uploads the highlights and interviews to YouTube.
There is one I wanted to share, in case anyone would like a little history on myself. I talk a little about when I started and about our hockey team in Dayton.
Before I forget, my color commentator Michael Lause and I are running for the best broadcaster(s) of the Federal Hockey League. I know we’d definitely love your vote. The link is located here.
Well, sorry for the short post today. I’ll think of a new topic to talk about next time.
Until then,
-Lee
Rolling Down the Track
Greetings readers,
The Gem City Rollergirls have released their 2013 schedule, which you can catch here. Don’t know what the Gem City Rollergirls are?
The Gem City Rollergirls are a flat-track roller derby team, who call the Orbit Fun Center in Huber Heights home. The first practice was in February of 2006. The team was inspired by “Rollergirls”, a show on A&E that aired in early 2006.
Roller Derby is a high-contact sport, highly-competitive throughout the games. Anyone can join, and the Gem City website describe how everyone is different. From moms to young adults, any woman that wants to play can join the Rollergirls. Practices are every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday at the Orbit Fun Center.
Flat-track Roller Derby has different elements, compared to banked-track. It’s easier to find flat surfaces to skate on, like basketball courts and the like. Like previously stated, it is a very physical sport. Players can be hit from the shoulders to the mid-thigh. Using elbows or hitting someone from behind is a no-no. There’s a penalty box in this sport, and you can foul out of the game with too many visits to the sin bin. All the rules can be read at the WFTDA website, including the parameters of the rink, illegal hits, scoring, and terms of the sport.
I remember hearing about the Gem City Rollergirls back when I was at Wright State and WWSU. I think we advertised for them, but I’m not 100% where the connection was (like if we had someone at the station who played for Gem City.)
One of the most unique things I noticed about the local rollergirl team was the nicknames. If you look at the members of the WFTDA (Gem City is not a full member, mind you), there is a team in Cleveland called “Burning River Rollergirls.” If you look at Gem City’s roster on their site, you’ll see nicknames like “Flirtini Tease”, “Demolition Curvy”, and the “Big Red Bloodshed.” “Punky Rooster” is also one that made me chuckle a bit. The nicknames are pretty fantastic and far out of the ordinary.
If you’re looking for something cool and exciting to watch, you can’t go wrong with a little bit of Roller Derby.
Sources of information from the Gem City Rollergirls’ Facebook page and the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. Picture from examiner.com.
Until next time,
-Lee
About Me
Lee W. Mowen
Sportscaster, Social Media fan, friend.
Ohio-bred sportscaster chasing the dream. Wright State alumnus. General Manager/Play-by-Play of the Ohio Sports Radio Network. Over 350 games (and rolling!) under the belt.
