Local man's lawsuit against David Glass and his Royals hits the interwebs

It's one thing for this story to once again hit the local Star, it's quite another to go out on Yahoo!:

Fan injured by hot dog suing Kan. City Royals

And here, too:

Why injured fan's lawsuit may stand a chance

The story:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- If it had been a foul ball or broken bat that struck John Coomer in the eye as he watched a Kansas City Royals game, the courts likely wouldn't force the team to pay for his surgeries and suffering.

But because it was a hot dog thrown by the team mascot - behind the back, no less - he just may have a case.

The Missouri Supreme Court is weighing whether the ''baseball rule'' - a legal standard that protects teams from being sued over fan injuries caused by events on the field, court or rink - should also apply to injuries caused by mascots or the other personnel that teams employ to engage fans. Because the case could set a legal precedent, it could change how teams in other cities and sports approach interacting with fans at their games.

Coomer, of Overland Park, Kan., says he was injured at a September 2009 Royals game when the team's lion mascot, Sluggerrr, threw a 4-ounce, foil-wrapped wiener into the stands that struck his eye. He had to have two surgeries - one to repair a detached retina and the other to remove a cataract that developed and implant an artificial lens. Coomer's vision is worse now than before he was hurt and he has paid roughly $4,800 in medical costs, said his attorney, Robert Tormohlen.

But the fact is, Sluggerr didn't "throw" the hot dog, folks.  At the time this happened, Sluggerr was shooting these things from a cannon, of sorts. Unfortunately for Mr. Coomer--and Sluggerr and the team, frankly--it hit him in eye.

The thing is, I know John Coomer. John Coomer is a friend of mine. And I happen to know he originally merely asked the team to pay for his surgery and medical bills.

Mr. Glass and the team said no, solidly.

It was only then that Mr. C. then had to file suit, merely to cover the costs of said medical bills.

I'd have thought--and most people would, I think--that the team and virtually any other company would merely pay the bills, likely out of their insurance coverage, do the right thing, mark it up to good PR and call it a day.

Not the skin flint that David Glass is, apparently, sadly.

So now, not only has it gone to court but it's now going to the Missouri State Supreme Court.

Pitiful.

It just doesn't seem as though a few thousand dollars, to cover some medical bills for a fan who was injured at the stadium, by the team mascot, would much to ask or expect, given the millions upon millions the team makes each and every year, from all the other fans.

Shameful.

It's bad enough they don't win enough baseball, enough years, down through time.

They also have to first injure and then punish their own fans in the stands.

Ewing Kauffman must surely be--once again--spinning in his grave.

The Difference Between the Royals and the Chiefs

One owner knows his game AND wants to win.



The other wants a profit center.

2 bits of good local news

I was pleased to see both these articles today in the Star. First, this one:

Appeals court turns down Chastain light-rail plan

 

 As a local Kansas Citian who's seen and heard so much of, by and about this now long-time expatriot of the city--I refuse to mention his name or put his picture here--it was great to see this case thrown out by the courts.

I've written here before about this person and issue--he no longer lives here, he hasn't lived here before, I'm all for mass transit but I think we should do and get it ourselves. I think it's clear that this person merely likes and gets attention by going on like this, on this issue.

As the writers to the Star in the letters to the Editor so repeatedly say, please, for the love of God, Mr. Chastain, freaking go away.  Please.

The other good, maybe great local news I saw today is this:

Appeals court reinstates lawsuit over Royals' hot dog toss

A Kansas man injured by a flying hot dog at a 2009 Royals game will get another bite at the sausage, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.

John Coomer allegedly suffered a detached retina and other injuries when a foil-wrapped hot dog flung by Royals mascot Sluggerrr smacked him in the left eye. A jury ruled in March 2011 for the Royals, finding that being struck by airborne groceries was an inherent risk that Coomer assumed by buying a ticket.

The Missouri Western District Court of Appeals disagreed, however.

Ignoring the fact that I know this person to whom this happened, I feel strongly that this should have gone completely differently in the first trial, for starters. This person was at the Royals Stadium, got hit by a flying hot dog, literally, thrown by the mascot, suffered a detached retina because of it and merely wants--no, needs--his medical expenses covered but the team said no.

Not only did the team say no, they allowed it to go to trial. They preferred paying attorney fees to fight it than pay his medical expenses.

Forget that they could deduct these medical expenses as business done.

Forget that it hurts their public relations.

For David Glass, it seems, clearly, time and again, it's only about the financial "bottom line." It was and is all about costs. It's about keeping costs down and profits high, first and last.

It's disgusting.

If it weren't for being for the team, in spite of the owner, and for enjoying the game and the stadium so much, I would have no good feeling or desire for the Royals to win, year after year, season after season.

I say again, would that the Hall family would only purchase our Royals baseball team.

Links:

No More Glass

JACK: Support No-More-Glass.com's efforts to get rid of David Glass

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/15/4011903/appeals-court-hotdog-lawsuit.html#storylink=cpy

KC Chiefs do what the Royals--and David Glass--can't and won't

I just saw this evening where the Chiefs are offering tickets for their November 18 game starting at $5.99 a seat.

This just makes sense, given this season. Besides losing, it's been nearly painful.

But the thing is, tough as our NFL team's season has been, what's crazy is that the Royals not only have had at least as bad a year, win/loss wise, you have to admire the Hunt family's and the team's opening up tickets like this, at this low a rate. The Royals and David Glass, their owner, has, to date, come nowhere close to offering such a bargain, in spite of their repeated losses, game after game and year after year.

It's getting worse for the Chiefs, too. Check out these two articles, breaking last evening (links below):

Kansas City Chiefs: Sports Store Cuts Prices on Chiefs Gear Until Pioli Fired

Chiefs Fan Group Records Second Protest Song

And here's that video:



We need to do the same things--or more, really--to and about the Royals, for sure.

And the sooner, the better.

Links: http://www.kcchiefs.com/

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1396283-kansas-city-chiefs-sports-store-cuts-prices-on-chiefs-gear-until-pioli-fired

http://fox4kc.com/2012/11/04/chiefs-fan-group-records-second-protest-song/

http://www.SaveOurChiefs.com

http://www.no-more-glass.com

David Glass reaches for yet more brass ring

In an outrageous show of arrogance or chutzpah or both, our own Major League Baseball pretenders, the Kansas City Royals, without doubt lead by their uber-wealthy and uber-greedy owner, former Wal-Mart executive David Glass, announced today they will be raising prices for tickets for games in next year's season.

From the Star, today:

Royals' Notes: Prices going up for season tickets

It’s going to cost more next year to take in a game at Kauffman Stadium.

The Royals are instituting an increase in season-ticket prices for 2013 for virtually all seats except those in the ritzy Crown Club, which are actually dropping by $5 a ticket. (As usual, see link at bottom.)

Can you believe the chutzpah?

With the crappy, nearly obscene losing season they put on this year?

And then the season is JUST OVER and they announce this?

And it goes up for everyone--except for the people who can afford it, the wealthy for whom their price goes down.

What unmitigated gall.

To the Hall Family--won't you please, please buy this team and keep it here and make it the winner it could be?

Please??

This is just one more, though glaring reason why we need "No More Glass": http://www.no-more-glass.com

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/05/3849769/royals-notes-prices-going-up-for.html

Kansas City on YouTube

I found this at VisitKC.com last evening:

Yahoo! on the Royals!!!

Finally, someone publicly and in a big way has said what I said months ago about our Kansas City Royals! (and I hate exclamation points).

That is, David Glass, as owner of the Kansas City Royals, should go. If it happens, it won't happen easily or quickly but Mr. Glass--I'll say it again, here, now--just wants to suck profits, money, out of the team and doesn't care about winning, doesn't care about getting in the penant race and absolutely doesn't care about getting in the World Series.

From The Kansas City Star, rather famously (or infamously, now, if you're David Glass), yesterday, attorney Joe Accurso and his friends got together and took out an ad in the paper, calling for David Glass to either go for a win in Major League Baseball or sell the team--to another, local, Kansas City owner.

Good for them. Good for us.

Maybe, maybe, we can finally have a bigger, broader conversation about this.

Maybe we can either get a team that's sincerely interested in getting in a winning column for the Royals and then a penant race and, one day, hopefully very soon, into the World Series, at least.

Thank you, Joe Accurso, your friends and all.

Let the conversation begin.

And please, Mr. Glass, don't go away mad.

Either give us a true, winning team or just go away.

Link: http://no-more-glass.com

Not fun to be Lance Armstrong or David Glass right now

First, David Glass got rather a "comeuppance" today (that I will address tomorrow morning, first thing) and now this, just now, breaking in the news:

USADA says it will ban Lance Armstrong, strip 7 Tour titles

Declaring "enough is enough," Lance Armstrong says he will not fight charges brought by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which said it will ban Armstrong from competition for life and strip him of the seven Tour de France titles that turned him into an American hero.

Armstrong said his decision did not mean he would accept USADA's sanctions. His lawyers threatened a lawsuit if USADA proceeded, arguing the agency must first resolve a dispute with the International Cycling Union over whether the case should be pursued.
"It is a sad day for all of us who love sport and our athletic heroes," USADA CEO Travis Tygart said. "This is a heartbreaking example of how the win-at-all-costs culture of sport, if left unchecked, will overtake fair, safe and honest competition."

Who knows what to think but it certainly doesn't look good for Mr. Armstrong right now.

Odd, isn't it?

He was the "golden boy" of cycling, for years.

And he made boodles of money, because of it.

And now, all the trophies and accolades are wiped away.

Really odd.

Link: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/cycling/story/2012-08-23/Armstrong-doping-charges/57258616/1

Chiefs: Okay, it's official (update)

An article online and at The Kansas City Star says Clark Hunt makes it official--the Chiefs are, in fact, trying to get Peyton Manning to come here to quarterback for the Chiefs. (link below0. A couple things come to my mind. First, to an extent, good for him/them. I guess. If it's to win games and at least get in the playoffs, if not the Super Bowl, then great, that's what we fans want. Unlike the Royals--the cheap, gross, disgusting Walmart of the MLB--who simply want to sell tickets, make an obscene profit and go home, we'd like to win a lot of games and go at least most of the way, if not all the way to the end of the season. My seoond thought is, I--and likely a lot of us--hope this isn't, in fact, just another Joe Montana ploy to fill seats because it would do that, certainly. (I say that and it did seem as though it was about filling seats and selling tickets but at least we did go 17-8 with "Boradway Joe"). Third and final thought--I just don't think he--Mr. Manning--is going to want to come here. I may be wrong, we have a lot in common, in some ways, city-wise, compared to Indianapolis, but not team- and football-wise. I don't think we have the money to buy Peyton Manning, nor, worse yet, the will to win. I'd love to be wrong on both counts, but especially that last one. I hope Clark Hunt and the Chiefs really, really care most about winning. I think they do. We hope they do. We shall see. Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/09/3480067/clark-hunt-says-chiefs-are-after.html; http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/09/2682926/report-12-teams-including-miami.html. UPDATE: Report: Peyton Manning meeting with Broncos, then Cardinals and Dolphins. What's that tell you? Link: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/report-peyton-manning-meeting-broncos-then-cardinals-dolphins-185853576.html

More on the huge ripoff that is Walmart

New, yet more disgusting news on the societal ripoff that is Walmart. This from Mother Jones today: Walmart Contractor Paid $3 to $4 an Hour (link at bottom) From the story: " Workers at a Walmart warehouse in the Inland Empire in Southern California were sometimes paid as little as $3 to $4 an hour, according to former crew leader Jorge Soto, who says he was ordered to falsify employees' time sheets to cheat them out of fair pay. Workers at this warehouse and two others in the area have filed a lawsuit that claims, among other things, that they were forced to sign blank time sheets which supervisors would then fill in with less than half of the time actually worked, according to a new investigation by Lilly Fowler for the nonprofit news organization FairWarning.org." I mean, really, they were disgusting and vile before but they jsut keep adding this kind of material to their capability sheet. And all so the billionaire Waltons--and certain Major League Baseball owners--can have yet more money. Repulsive. It seems there is no "lowest point" to which Walmart won't sink, all in the name of bigger profit and growth for a corporation. Link: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/03/lawsuit-walmart-contractor-paid-3-dollars-hour

KC Royals: The Wal-Mart of the MLB

To what other conclusion do you arrive? Now the Royals have let Frank White go. I have to think it's for two reasons. First, they just didn't like or want his input, after having read the Star today and Sam Mellinger's seemingly very good coverage of the situation in the paper this morning. Second reason? They automatically save a likely big salary. All those dineros go straight to the bottom line. Worst thing about it for the Royals, as far as the front office is concerned? They take a short-term public relations hit. Personally, I had no idea Frank went from not only living nearby what became their stadium but also working construction on it. From the Star's article: "He grew up a few miles from what became the Truman Sports Complex, and worked on the construction crew that built Royals Stadium. He is the ultimate success story of the old Royals Academy, playing 18 seasons with eight Gold Gloves, five All-Star games, and helping win the team’s only World Series championship in 1985." All thrown away. Thanks, Mr. Glass. The thing about Wal-Mart is, sure you can get spaghetti-os for 67 cents a can, sure. Great savings. But the result is the stores are so freaking ugly. And that's the Royals. Great bottom line, just don't expect to even go to the penant race, let alone all the way to the Series. Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/02/3298952/im-done-with-the-royals-frank.html; http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/02/3298853/royals-dump-former-star-and-kc.html; http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/02/3298073/frank-white-through-the-years.html

Royals and romance all over the internets today

From Yahoo! News this morning:

Marriage proposal takes over MLB stadium

The Kansas City Royals go to new lengths to help an active-duty soldier get his lady.

You can also check out another angle of the proposal over on MLB.com.

At least David Glass has smart marketing people.

He can't run a winning Major League Baseball team but at least these people are smart.

Yahoo! Sports wrote this about it:

Something tells me the Royals waived their usual $500 fee and "no custom proposal" rules for this one.

Really?  

Personally, I wouldn't be so sure, what with "Mr. Tightwad" running the organization.


That said, it could be worse for us with the Royals:

Blackjack! Colorado Rockies finish May with 21 losses

At least we don't suck that bad.


Now, congratulations and much good luck to the couple, for sure.

The good thing about the Royals and Opening Day

Sure, they lost but look on the bright side.

At least they're not building up our hopes, only to let us down later in the season.


Have a great weekend, y'all.

Link:  http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/31/2767363/not-quite-gordons-bid-for-walk.html

For a great baseball laugh...

When I read this, I nearly laughed out loud.


There is an article out right now at Yahoo Sports telling of what teams could possibly be interested in signing---read:  paying for--Albert Pujols, currently and rather famously of the St. Louis Cardinals play for their team.


On the list?


The Kansas City Royals.


Yeah, ain't that a hoot?


Here's what they had to say:


• Kansas City Royals – Pujols went to high school and college in Kansas City and the Royals have payroll to work with. But there’s a difference between having some money to spend and having enough of it to satisfy Pujols, as owner David Glass explained to the Kansas City Star this week. With Billy Butler(notes) established at first base and top prospect Eric Hosmer(notes) about to join him, the Royals have more pressing needs elsewhere.


Admittedly they put us as a "long shot" but please, as though David Glass with his cheapskate, tightwad ways would pay for a player of this caliber.


Or give a damn about winning.


Link to original story:  http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ys-bennicholsonsmithpujolssuitors021611

On shopping at Wal-Mart

For Christmas, I was given a gift card for Wal-Mart and while I certainly, absolutely appreciate the thought and gift, after having gone there this evening to get some mecessities (read:  commodities), I want to note some things that come to mind, having done so:

1)  I don't know how anyone can stand it.  I don't know how anyone can stand Wal-Mart and I don't know how anyone can stand the experience.  On being there, I feel not just cheap but downright dirty.  The place is beyond unattractive and, worse, I really do come away feeling as though I've sold out my fellow man and woman, all so I could get cheap stuff at cheap prices.  Ugh.  It just makes for a really vile experience;

2)  I don't know how people could then go back and do it again and again, only to save a buck;

3)  Target doesn't feel dirty.  Or cheap;

4)  Costco doesn't feel dirty or cheap either;

5)  Dollar General doesn't even feel dirty or cheap (and some things I purchased last evening were less expensive at Dollar General);

6)  If you're a Walton, wouldn't you feel dirty and/or cheap (hopefully both), if not already, then eventually and sooner than later?  Can you imagine being beholden to the company that is known for being the cheapest on the planet, even if it is for a fortune?  A huge fortune, at that?  How disgusting.

Added to it is the fact that 4--count 'em, four--of the top ten wealthiest Americans are Waltons, too.  (http://www.forbes.com/wealth/forbes-400--they are numbers 4, 7, 8 and 9 on the list).  I can't imagine being worth approximately 20 or more billion dollars, as each of those four are, and having my name tied to such a disgusting looking--and acting--company as Wal-Mart.  But that's me.  (I know I'm not alone in this, however).

By comparison, consider the Hall family that owns and runs Hallmark and all their affiliate companies.  While no one person, let alone family, is perfect, Hallmark, the company, is known for quality in virtually everything it does and a great deal of people have ended up making good livings--and retirements--from having worked their lives there.

Another example would be the Kempers who own and run Commerce Bank.  They've made sure they run a quality organization that also happens to pay a decent living wage to its employees.

The Waltons?  Not only do they sell the most cheap crap, made from wherever, on the planet, but their company has also earned a reputation--shown on national television, "60 Minutes", to be specific--that they exploited their employees so much that they had directions for their employees on company stationery on how to apply for government benefits because they were paid so little at their jobs at Wal-Mart.

I will give them some amount of credit here for a) going "green" with some of their new stores and b) trying, as I understand it, to clean up their image but they've really laid down a bad track record and have a long way to go to clean it up.

Finally, Wal-Mart is also the company whose executive owns one of the worst, cheapest and losingest baseball teams in all of Major League Baseball.

What, exactly then, is there to like about Wal-Mart, anyway?

Just because the Waltons don't have any self-respect, doesn't mean we can't.

From what I've read of the original founder, Sam Walton, he paid a living wage to his employees and absolutely would not have wanted the corporation he started, owned and run this way.

Link:  http://books.google.com/books?id=iUm_y4JZLvQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=sam+walton&source=bll&ots=qtypWHSMxj&sig=JWVvJGg-h-ya7x3IlGAafo0arkk&hl=en&ei=lIEwTYTELYyugQf17dGqCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=19&ved=0CJ8BEOgBMBI#v=onepage&q&f=false

Tuesdays stink?

So I wake today to find out that a) the US can't account for nearly 9 billion dollars in funds for Iraq (thank you, Department of Defense) and the Royals got beat up at a nearly historical rate, losing last night to the Minnesota Twins 19-1. Yow. Tuesdays really do stink, don't they? Good luck out there today, y'all.

Something we'd love to hear David Glass say

Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next. --George Steinbrenner RIP George. Love you or hate you, you were a winner and definitely one of a kind.