[redsfan30]

Last night was a very strange night at the ballpark. The radar was on the scoreboard and TVs all night long so we were able to watch what was coming in. The delay for the first (technically second) wave that came in around 7:30 was justified and to be expected.

After that batch moved through, however, they could have played. Might not have got all nine innings in, but I would say for sure they could have got 4.5 in. My wife and I spent the delay in the safety of the Riverfront Club and from time to time I would walk around to the field-view side of the club to see a decent amount of people back in their seats with no rain and no movement on the field. A quick glance up to the radar showed the next batch of rain was starting to weaken a bit. So after nearly two hours sitting in the Riverfront Club I told my wife let's go back to our seats, they have to be in the beginning stages of starting the game.

So out we go. I grab some coneys and we head to our seats. All the while, only the "emergency" type lights were on at the stadium. Not full lights so it kind of gave a wierd vibe to the whole stadium. I know they did it to save money on the electric bill and that's fine, just still never seen it done during a delay, even to start the game.

The strangest thing of all was there was zero word about what was happening all night long. There was so much confusion all night. "It's not raining, there's nothing for a while, why aren't they playing or at least making the decision to call it now rather than have the crowd stick around for another un-needed hour?" As we were finally leaving the stadium, we were walking alongside a Reds employee who was on her cellphone angrily telling her (I assume) husband about the fact that they told them absolutely nothing all night long only to send them home. It was just strange to not even get a P.A. message along the lines of "we are still in a holding patern but a decision will be made within 'x' time period."

Then we get in the car to make the two hour drive home only to find out that 75 North was shut down at the 74 exit and it turns out that it had been shut down by flooding for a good chunk of the evening. Why in the world would the Reds not let their crowd know that a major road for a huge chunk of thier existing crowd is shut down??

I am a longtime fan who goes to the park 20-25 times a year so last night in the grand scheme of things didn't bother me, it was just a tad frustrating. I fully get rain happens and that can make for logistical nightmares. However, a little info would have been helpful. If I were a first time visitor to the park I would have been left with a very bad taste in my mouth.

As it turns out with only the emergency lights lighing the field, we were left in the dark all night long...literally and figuratively.