In a recent interview, the CEO of Airbnb was asked about the company’s decision to remove listings from its platform that were not in compliance with local laws.
When NBA players aren’t on the court, they want to remain out of the spotlight as much as possible, but it’s difficult to accomplish when their home addresses are all over the internet. When Brooklyn Nets player Blake Griffin is a professional basketball player. awakened to three masked burglars inside his house, it was a frightening reminder of that lack of privacy.
When Griffin subsequently checked the security cameras and watched one of the guys enter his room while he was sleeping, he was terrified.
When Blake Griffin resided in Los Angeles, three masked guys broke into his house.
In a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Blake Griffin of the Brooklyn Nets looks for a pass | Steven Ryan/Getty Images
When Griffin was still a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, he had one of the most terrifying nights of his life.
It all started after Griffin was hurt during a Clippers home game. The squad took out on a road trip that night, but Griffin remained behind since he wouldn’t be able to participate.
Griffin was awoken by his fiancée who heard a disturbance downstairs after putting his kid to bed and going to bed for the night.
“At the moment, my fiancée awoke and said, ‘Did you hear that?’” Griffin discussed it recently on Graham Bensinger’s In Depth show. “I simply take out my phone and check via the (security) camera in [my son’s] room, and I see him in his crib and think to myself, ‘Huh.’ Then I shift my gaze to the other cameras. The outdoor motion light is turned on. So I replay the cameras and continue to watch, watch, watch. I’m about to turn off my phone when I notice three men in masks emerge from my kitchen and go to the back door.”
Griffin couldn’t move because he was so terrified.
“It actually chills from the top of my head… I’ll never forget what happened. “From the top of my head to my toes, all the way down.”
While Griffin slept, one of the intruders was 15 feet away.
Griffin sprung into action once the first shock had worn off.
Griffin told Bensinger, “I believe I grabbed the baseball bat that was beside the bed and ordered her to call the cops.” “And they were there in a flash – six in the front, weapons drawn.” And as I opened the front door, the man said, ‘Hey, we have men in the backyard right now, and a chopper is on its way.’ ‘Whoa,’ I said. Really?’ ‘Yeah, we’ve got nothing to do,’ he said.
Fortunately for Griffin and his family, the attackers fled without hurting anybody inside the home. Rewatching the surveillance video was still frightening for the NBA player.
So we discovered that I had just left the sliding door open by accident. They entered via the sliding door. One walked downstairs, one remained on the main floor, and one went upstairs, switched on the light, peeked in, saw me in bed, and then went back downstairs.
So he was around 15 feet from me. I had just fallen asleep.
Blake Griffin
The invaders decided to attack that night because they assumed Griffin would be on a plane with the rest of the squad. When police finally apprehended the unknown guys, they discovered they had broken into DeAndre Jordan’s home a few weeks before when the Clippers were on the road.
Fortunately, the masked guys had no intention of harming anybody.
Adding a furry companion to his home security
Because I can’t watch basketball games or the Oscars because my satellite is down, I’m just sitting here looking at my dog. #undefeated
February 25, 2013 — Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin23)
Griffin felt he needed to improve his home security after the terrifying event. What better way to accomplish so than with the help of a loyal guard dog?
“I bought a German Shepherd for house security. Griffin compared him to a SWAT dog. “I definitely increased the level of security in my home.” Every night, I set the alarm and double-checked that all the doors were secured, but everyone claimed that the greatest home security was a dog… or a shotgun, and I wasn’t getting a shotgun.
“All he does is instill fear of God in people’s eyes.”
Do you hear what I’m saying, robbers? Don’t even consider going to Griffin’s home again.
On Facebook, follow Sportscasting. @sportscasting19 is our Twitter handle.
RELATED: Blake Griffin Slams LeBron James and the Lakers’ New Look: ‘I’ve been in situations when a team stacks up and it doesn’t work out,’ says the author.
