I’m sitting in Five County Stadium, and I’m wondering why more people don’t come to watch the Carolina Mudcats, the Double A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.

It can’t be the baseball. I’ve seen professional baseball at every level except Rookie League, and the Double A players are good. Some are even great. All are hungry to reach the Major Leagues, and many Mudcats have done so. Boston Red Sox pitcher Time Wakefield, who beat the Yankees last Wednesday, is a former Mudcat. So are Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera.

It can’t be the stadium. Five County lacks the character of Grainger Stadium in Kinston or even the newer Durham Bulls ballpark. But there’s not a bad seat in the house, and the open concourse allows a fan to keep an eye on the game while fetching a bag of peanuts.

The stadium’s location could be better. I’m sure Mudcats owner Steve Bryant would have preferred a stadium closer to Raleigh, but the business rules of Minor League baseball allowed the Durham Bulls to force the Mudcats at least 25 miles away. Still, as the name suggests, the stadium is close to people in five counties. It’s not a bad drive for the Bolejack family, and we live in Four Oaks.

Pricing at a Mudcats game is a mixed bag. The cheapest seat is $6, and the most expensive is $10. (Those figures are up a dollar over last year, and I would have been inclined to keep prices the same or even lower them in a recession.) Still, a baseball seat is comparable to a movie seat, and concessions are comparable too.

Of course, movie theaters don’t charge for parking, which makes me wonder why the Mudcats do, especially in a recession. Then again, movie theaters could learn a lesson from the Mudcats. At the ballpark, weeknights bring specials on tickets, food and drink, and weekends bring giveaways. I was there last Thursday, which offered food and drink specials, and returned on Saturday, when the first 1,200 kids got free T-shirts. Not surprisingly, those were the best crowds I’d seen all year.

For my money, baseball is the best form of entertainment, but I can understand why some folks need a financial incentive — discounted tickets and concessions, for example. A couple of nights at the ballpark last week showed that the Mudcats can draw bigger crowds when they have a mind to. Maybe they should have a mind to more often.

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The guy on TV was saying that security-guard companies should have to equip their guards with bulletproof vests. He was talking after the fatal shooting of a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington. D.C.

The man’s comments told me two things: One, the guy doesn’t own a security-guard company. Two, he’s not a security guard either.

Someone else on TV said a bulletproof vest can cost about $1,000. So let’s say a company employs 1,000 guards across the country. If the TV commentator had his way, the company would suddenly have to equip those guards with vests. That’s $1 million.

Where’s that money going to come from? The company could absorb the cost, reducing its profit, which is money it could have given to its employees or stockholders. Of course, the company could pass the expense along to its customers. But then, the cost to enter a museum would go up.

As for wearing a vest, shouldn’t we ask the security guards what they prefer? Do they want to wear a vest outside the museum entrance in the heat of summer? I don’t know the answer to that question, and neither does the guy who wants to mandate bulletproof vests. But he acts like he does, and for that, I blame the media, which can be quick to turn to the talking heads when they want to keep a story going. That’s a habit best broken.