Stadium a dream no more

Just a year ago this street was riddled with potholes, homeless people and lacked any pride, any hope. The potholes are no more. The black pavement that fills the 30-foot wide road is now full of workers, which will soon change to wide-eyed kids clutching to their father's hand.

They'll walk across 50 yards of bricks, but they won't see them. Instead, they'll try to get a peek through the masses heading toward an opening that will change their lives. They'll look beyond the other kids, through the adults that only momentarily obstruct their view as their hearts race faster with every step, with every brick gone by.

The smell is getting stronger, a blend of beef, peanuts and the familiar scent of freshly cut grass. And as they come to the gate they realize what they've been waiting for their whole lives is actually here.

The Reno Aces Ballpark is what many people have been waiting for their whole lives: something exciting in Northern Nevada.

I have lived in the area for 19 years and as a kid, who moved here from the Bay Area, I longed for something more than bike rides, Lake Tahoe and beautiful scenary.

We all had plenty to be excited about, only to have it never happen. There was the city's flirtation with the San Francisco 49ers, who were looking for a new location for their summer training camp. The initial plans for the Silver Legacy that included an indoor roller coaster and then the rumors that John Ascuaga was going to build a theme park.

The area has always had plenty of things for adults to do, but the children of the area have always suffered. That has carried on for the generations who haven't embarrassed the gambling lifestyle, like myself, who are still trying to fill that void of something that you could just spend a day relaxing and enjoying.

Now, the area has America's pasttime in its backyard. The Aces are going to be the best thing that has happened to the area in sometime. The gambling industry is failing, our economy is the worst its ever been and our Governor is too incompetent to fix any of it. But baseball goes beyond politics, beyond our woes. It gives us an escape, even if it's game-to-game.

On Tuesday I went to Aces Ballpark for the second time, knowing this wasn't a dream.

Knowing this was actually going to happen in just eight days. And knowing that my children won't have to grow up longing for something that is never going to come.