I received an email from the National Fire Protection Association notifying me that grills are involved in more than 8,200 home fires each year. That number sounds high, or maybe the people who set their homes ablaze while grilling are high, I don’t know. Anyway, I forwarded the info to my insurance agent, who threatened to raise my rates. So be it, but the ribs are going to taste great today.

I drove into work Saturday and suddenly felt good about editing stories and proofing pages for several hours. Why? Because the Warrior Soccer Classic had taken center stage at Old River Park, which is located a couple good corner kicks from Cox Media Group Ohio’s nerve center.

I have sat through many youth sports events, and there’s not much worse than a humid, 90-degree day that doesn’t include a beach and a cold beer. I feel for you parents. I only hope that the big-box stores didn’t run out of canopy tents before you finally broke down. Best purchase I’ve made since I bought a Toro mower.

Congrats to the UD baseball team, which won the Atlantic 10 tournament on Saturday. College baseball is a great sport, but it has been damaged in recent years because of financial concerns. Programs have been cut and the baseball player on full scholarship is rare; each kid gets a fraction of that pie.

I fully support women’s sports, but when it comes to enforcing Title IX in college athletics, football should be left out of the equation because it chews up 85 scholarships. That means other men’s sports get sacrificed because there is no women’s equivalent to football.

The Reds are looking good, and the turnaround couldn’t have come at a better time for team owner Bob Castellini. The current four-game homestand against the Rockies should draw more than 140,000 fans.

The Reds headed into the weekend averaging 26,150 fans per game at Great American Ball Park, 19th among MLB’s 30 teams. Meanwhile, the first-place Cleveland Indians are dead last in attendance at 16,374 per game.

Some guy named James Hinchcliffe came within nine inches of winning the Indianapolis 500 last year. I’m a fairly well-informed sports fan, but if someone would’ve blurted out “James Hinchcliffe” in a word association game, my response would’ve been “Harry Potter character.”

The Dayton Dutch Lions travel to Columbus on Tuesday to take on the Crew in the third round of something called the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. I have no idea whether the lower-division Dayton boys can hang with an MLS team, but I’m pretty sure the final score will be 1-0.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2163 or bkollars@coxohio.com.