I first heard about the Dragon Boat Race Festival in Toledo from a buddy of mine.  You may have heard of him or actually, you may have heard him at a Mud Hens game.  He’s Kevin Mullan- PA announcer at Fifth Third Field… a very underrated part of what makes a Mud Hens game so enjoyable.

Anyhoo, that’s for another day.  I had struggled to find ANY Asians in Northwest Ohio outside of the stereotypical nail salons, Americanized (for the most part) Asian restaurants, those in medical careers, and foreign exchange college students.

It’s something that’s very different for a guy like me who grew up in highly diverse environments.  In Calgary, they have a Chinatown.  In Houston, they have a HUGE Chinatown.  Basically, they both have  enough of a Chinese population to do this, so obviously as a result, there was a ton of Americanized Asian students who grew up with me.  I had friends of all races.  This was what I thought was the norm in America.  I’ve since learned that mainstream America is not quite that way.

Don’t get me wrong: I like Toledo.  The people are really nice here.  You all have treated me great.  There are GREAT sports to cover here.  I am truly a blessed man to be here doing what I do.  Heck, I’m able to cover the best female golfers in the world, the best collegiate golfers in the country, and that’s just the summer I’m talking about.  High school football, anyone?  Ohio State?  Michigan?  It’s great stuff.

So yea, I’m happy to be here, and I was even happier to discover that, even in a city not known for its Asian diversity, there was actually a Dragon Boat Race.  All my friends from around the country have reacted by saying, “They have that?”  Toledo, that’s a GREAT thing for people to say, because it means that other medium-sized cities don’t necessarily have the same kind of event.

This gives me the chance to represent my culture.  After all, this was entirely the reason I chose TV over radio and newspaper in college.  I figured TV was more influential in convincing the next generation of Asians that they can follow their dreams, that they don’t have to do the stereotypical careers that their parents might be pushing upon them.  For all the Asians in Northwest Ohio, this dragon boat race is MY way of saying I’m there for them.  I know it’s tough for some of them where English is not their number-1 language.  This is my way of helping them out, by showing that even though my language skills are catered more to Americans, I still deeply respect my roots.  I am not ashamed to say that I am Asian-American.  I’m not just American.  Well, actually, I’m Canadian, but you get the picture.

Plus, it’s really cool to be rowing a boat.  I’ve never done that before in my life, so this past week’s 2 practices were amazing experiences.  Our China Dragons team has been working hard as a group and I think we’ve really come together.  Not that I’m predicting victory, but this shall be extremely fun.

The Dragon Boat races take place Saturday morning at the Docks.  There’ll be more coverage on FOX Toledo News, First at 10 on Saturday night.