Two MLB.com reporters robbed at gunpoint in Cincinnati

Pretty scary incident described in Hal McCoy's blog (second item). Barry Bloom and Thomas Harding of MLB.com were robbed at gunpoint outside the media entrance at Great American Ballpark Monday night/Tuesday morning. Fortunately, all they lost was some money and credit cards. Having exited hundreds of ballparks in the wee hours, this has always been a fear of mine.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/cincinnatireds/entries/2011/08/09/if_i_were_reds_manager_for_a_d.html

 

I have a ton of respect for Hal McCoy, but that sentence is as bad of a lede as I've read in a while.

 

I always worried about this when leaving Legion Field late at night, but figured if they could get by with $7.39 and an old Tandy 80 then I'd hand it over.

 

Cincinnati was one of my favorite road cities because you could walk from the ballpark to the hotel, and walk around downtown at night, without fear of being conked on the head and have your stuff taken.

 

That is a terrible lede.

And please be careful if you see a "guy in red" when leaving the ballpark -- in Cincinnati.

That's a hell of a description.

 

I've always been more concerned that, with my byline appearing over a dateline on consecutive days during an MLB trip, someone would case my house and break in while I'm on the road. With or without my gal there.

 

Jesus. That's horribly genius.

Considering people rob houses based on funeral notices, I'm surprised it hasn't happened.

 

If Dusty leaves the gunman in, his arm will collapse soon enough.

 

I see nothing of the robbery on that link. All it is is a blog post.

 

At work they try to get us to change the message on our voice mail that says we won't be back in the office for X days because we're on vacation. I refuse to. The chances are 1 in about 10 million that someone would call, hear I'm on vacation, figure I'm out of town and go rob the house. I prefer 0 in 10 million and won't do it.

 

My wife and I are big Braves fans. We usually prefer to go watch them in Cincinnati each year (only about an hour farther than Atlanta) for that very reason. I feel much better leaving GABP after dark than I do Turner Field. The streets are wide, well lit and usually full of people. I always Hotwire a room at the Netherland Plaza Hilton and enjoy the walk back through downtown. We stop at a Scottish pub just a couple of blocks from the stadium. They show movies at Fountain Square. A good time is had by all.

After a game at Turner Field, we get the heck out of there as quick as we can and don't venture out of the crowd.

 

Which is exactly why I wonder why in the hell millions of people tweet about being at this place or being at that place, or put on Facebook they just "checked in" to Joe's Diner all the way across the country in San Francisco. HELLO, I'M A MORON, COME ROB ME.