It was St. Patrick’s Day in 2016, and instead of drinking green beer at an Irish pub in downtown Cleveland, I was soaking up some sun 2,000 miles away. Sitting in the stands of Goodyear Ballpark to take in a spring training game between the Tribe and Reds, I found myself surrounded by snowbird Ohioans seeking refuge from what had seemed to be a never-ending winter.
Case in point was the gray-haired couple sitting to my right. I’ve long forgotten their names, but I remember they said they were from Findlay, Ohio. And I remember the name they asked me about when, in the course of our chatting, it came up that I wrote about the Ohio State baseball team here at Land-Grant Holy Land: Connor Curlis.