We’re excited to announce a new project – The Nation Reports – where our commenters write original content for the site concerning the upcoming Reds caravan tours. The Reds have planned three routes with a total of 15 public stops over 2,800 miles, taking place Jan. 24-27.
• The Northern Tour, with stops in Athens, Parkersburg, Columbus, Lima and Dayton, will feature Marty Brennaman, Brandon Phillips, Chris Welsh, Tucker Barnhart, Bob Miller and Gapper.
• The Southern Tour, with stops in Huntington/Ashland, Charleston, Cincinnati (GABP), Bowling Green (KY) and Lexington, will feature Jim Kelch, Jeff Brantley, Super Todd Frazier, Logan Ondrusek (1/24 & 1/25 only), Billy Hamilton, Dick Williams and Rosie Red.
• The Western Tour, with stops in Louisville, Bloomington, Indianapolis, Muncie and Hamilton will feature Thom Brennaman, Walt Jocketty, Jay Bruce (1/24 & 1/25 only), Homer Bailey (1/26 & 1/27 only), Corky Miller, Ryan LaMarre, Phil Castellini and Mr. Redlegs.
Itinerary details here. At each stop, the Reds will raffle off two tickets to the April 1 Opening Day game vs. Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols and the rest of the LA Angels.
If you attend a caravan event, we’d like to publish your original reporting on what you saw and heard – from basic factual reporting of the Q&A, to your analysis, impressions or commentary related to the event.
Here’s how The Nation Reports will work: If you want to participate, sign up via email steve@redlegnation.com and let us know which event you’ll attend. You’ll receive a reply with a confirmation. If we have too many volunteers for a single stop, we’ll make choices based on first-apply. After the event (and timeliness is essential) you email your report to us and we’ll look it over and post it as an original item on the site.
A few conditions: Your reporting must follow the site’s commenting guidelines regarding profanity, personal attacks, etc. Balance brevity with thoroughness. And we reserve the right to edit or decline to publish.
One last thing – you have to report using your real name. One of the distinctive practices of Redleg Nation is that the editors publish by their actual names. It adds integrity and context. So, for your report to be part of The Nation Reports it has to be under a real byline. If you want to return to anonymity as a commenter, that’s up to you. (Although, I’d love to see more people comment here with their true names.)
We hope this project will generate unique and interesting content for the site as well as feature our many wonderful and loyal commenters. If this works well for the caravan, we may extend it to spring training and Reds road trips, as a way to underscore the nation in Redleg Nation.
Please participate if you can!