Read an interesting column recently titled Looking for Reasons Why We Should Care, by my friend Dave Hackenberg, sportswriter for the Blade. The premise of Dave’s commentary is that years ago when he and I were growing up we had hero’s we could trust and now the sports page is as much police blotters as box scores. Whether or not you agree with Dave’s message (and since it is opinion I will leave that to you), I think he makes a convincing argument.

At the same time, if Dave is looking for reasons to care, I think I can give him more than a hundred of them in the stories that are coming in for Stories of the Shoe. What has become clear in my travels is that it is not the wins, the scores, or the championships that people remember of their time in the Shoe. Rather it’s the daughter that repaired the relationship with her father, the son that remembered a day with his dad. It’s the young black graduate I met recently after commencement as he stood at the Jesse Owens memorial giving thanks to Jesse and others for paving his way. It’s the tale of the OSU players who made a difference in the life of a cancer patient and the paying forward they do after they graduate. It’s the quadriplegic who went to the Michigan game last year and didn’t get in, but tells why it was enough just to be in the parking lot. I have a whole stack of these stories for the book and with your help and the help of Buckeye fans everywhere, I will over the next 6 months, add many more.

In the meantime, as long as the link works, you can check out what Dave has to say at:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070702/COLUMNIST08/707020351/-1/SPORTS