Summer Reading

Of course, I am biased… 

I heartily recommend The Greatest Show on Dirt - a novel about the inner workings of the Durham Bulls in the early 1990s when the Atlanta Braves single-A franchise played at El Toro Stadium. 

I trekked to Buffalo this week for the Triple-A All Star Game. It’s four hours each way, and I had plenty of time for reading. 

The book (an easy read of 240 pages) was written by James Bailey, an NC State grad who worked three seasons at the old ballpark. He went on to cover MiLB for Baseball America. 

Bailey is a sponge for front office and clubhouse drama (and humor) and he captures the frat house lifestyle with perfection. It’s a tapestry of friendships, family, romance, lots of beer, even a little criminal mystery…and a large serving of baseball. I hope he's working on the screenplay!?! 

Read a review at wralSPORTSfan.com

The author's website

Money Shot - July 4th

I referred to this photo in my last post, and I have since obtained permission to share it from Dr. Tom Wooters. His day job is technical/medical writing. Photography is a hobby, but I believe he has earned a Ph.D with his camera, too.

tomwootersphotography.com

Rockets Red Glare, Bombs Bursting in Air

We had a tremendous crowd for baseball and fireworks on the Fourth of July. It was the third largest in Bulls’ history (paid attendance: 11,117) and we estimate another four thousand outside the ballpark – on the American Tobacco trail, along the Durham Freeway, on the DPAC lawn and atop the downtown parking garages. Big night! Great fireworks show!

Neil Offen of the Herald-Sun was in the crowd. Click here for his story in Thursday’s paper.

When the fireworks were moved to the outfield several years ago, we were concerned about the pyrotechnics' impact. Since 1995 they had been launched from the parking lot - above the ballpark - that became the Diamond View II office building. Now, the rockets red glare from centerfield, and we have tweaked and perfected the “up close” experience. Fans actually sit beneath an umbrella of fireworks. It’s very loud...and quite spectacular!

Click here for a very cool shot posted on Flickr.

Coast to Coast with Explorer Post 50

The Bulls 14-10 win over Buffalo aired on the MLB Network Monday afternoon. With our national footprint, we quickly added a couple hundred Twitter followers bringing the total to 9500. A contest to pinpoint our most distant fan went to a viewer in Olympia WA - 2900 miles from the Bull City. 

We try to include a few more "Chamber of Commerce" signature shots of downtown Durham in these telecasts - the snorting bull, the Lucky Strike chimney and water tower, the downtown skyline. (SunTrust makes out like a bandit with the gratis promotion.) 

As always, the game broadcast was produced by Explorer Post 50, our student TV crew. The extracurriculars on their college applications will look pretty impressive. Already this year, they have produced a game that was broadcast in Japan and two games for the MLB net. 

Multi-tasking: directing, audio & graphics in the control room

Close quarters: the instant replay booth

the arts AND sports

The arts and sports profoundly influence a community’s quality of life. It’s not an either-or proposition. We need museums, theaters and sports venues. (I’m particularly fond of the culinary arts!) The arts AND sports work TOGETHER. 

I was looking at some attendance figures last week that make it perfectly clear. West Side Story had a very successful run at the Durham Performing Arts Center June 5th – 10th drawing a total of 19,000 patrons. The Bulls - playing next door (literally!) - were at home during that time frame. Over the same six-day period we drew 34,000 fans. 

That goes a long way toward explaining downtown Durham’s renaissance - the arts and sports working side-by-side. 

For a couple of decades Durham has been playing defense, but we’re on offense now! That’s the gist of recent remarks from Mike Schoenfeld. He’s chair of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce and VP of Public Affairs at Duke University. Under Mike’s leadership, the Chamber is looking at arts and sports as a new economic development tool. We market higher education, our highly educated workforce and the creative class of designers, software developers and entrepreneurs. Our arts organizations and sports teams should be on the list, too. 

Americans for the Arts released a study on Monday addressing the arts’ local economic impact. In Durham County, expenditures by nonprofits and their audiences (in 2010) totaled $125.5 million. Now, it’s on my list to aggregate the value of Duke and NCCU sports, the Bulls, USA Baseball and other amateur sporting events in Durham. 

50% Attendance Increase

Man's best friend meets America's Pastime...

Wednesday night was Bark at the Park, presented by Walker Lambe Rhudy Costley & Gill, PLLC. We stopped counting at 200 canines, and that represents a 50% increase over last year's event. This is catching on! 

CLICK HERE for the slideshow at wral.com

Bark in the Park benefiting Second Chance Pet Adoptions

Press Clippings

The grounds crew collects grass clippings, and in the front office, I gather up press clippings. Dig into our digital compost!

Time Magazine's Joe Klein was blogging from the American Tobacco Campus on Saturday. Our CEO, Jim Goodmon, was his subject. Click here for Jim - unfiltered and unplugged.

Durham Magazine just posted a Q1 interview with Jim and Michael Goodmon. It's a lively chat about baseball, community and real estate development. 

Fox8 News from the Triad recently paid a visit to downtown Durham. Here's their perspective: