SHOW SOME BALLS
Tower Grove caves: I have been playing kickball since last spring, and I have never seen anything close to the incidents reported ["BigBalls Kickball League Kicked Out of Tower Grove Park for Unruly Behavior," Chad Garrison]. I think Tower Grove was just looking for a way to back out.
Kickball Rules, via the Internet
Kickball league gets bad rap: I'm in total agreement with Kickball Rules. Tower Grove wanted out, and the residents on the Magnolia side of the park had it out for the league. Both were bound and determined to kick BigBalls out. I never heard of such problems from the residents on the Arsenal side of the park. Perhaps the Arsenal-side residents were used to all the kickball leagues, and Magnolia couldn't tolerate a change.
Branding the rest of the league as "drunken grade-schoolers" as this "writer" suggests is totally false. Many in the league enjoyed our time in the park respectfully and appropriately. I never saw the incidents mentioned, but I'm sure the residents created some of these accusations to force Tower Grove to move.
BigBalls Supporter, via the Internet
No kidding? Fucking hipster hoosier kickballer motherfuckers. Next time you jump out in front of my car as I'm cruising down Arsenal, I'll have to pick American Apparel out of my grill.
Die Hipster Scum, via the Internet
Take your ball and go home: I live on Arsenal. I hate kickballers. You're always crossing the street in front of traffic. I've been flipped off by people not crossing in a crosswalk because they darted out in front of me. You can't run in the park when the kickballers are there because the trails are covered with coolers and people's chairs. You all smoke and leave trash everywhere. I've personally seen drunken behavior and people vomiting on multiple occasions. You're all a bunch of arrogant, overgrown frat boys and sorority girls. Get out. Good riddance.
Drunken Grade-schoolers Is Accurate, via the Internet
Troubled by team names: I wonder what your "professional" employers would say if they knew you were on a team called the "Gang Bang All-Stars" or the "Prom Night Dumpster Babies."
Just a Bunch of 20s and 30s Professionals?, via the Internet
DAILY RFT, APRIL 20, 2010
ARCH GROUNDS DEBATE
Nothing could be uglier: I sure hope this position was decided by a coin toss, because it doesn't make sense ["Tuesday Tussle: Part 1, Tearing Down I-70 Near the Arch Is Utterly Unnecessary," Keegan Hamilton]! Andrew Faulkner doesn't claim it's impossible to walk from the Arch grounds to Busch Stadium. He says that people don't do it because the present infrastructure discourages people from doing so. Try walking from the Old Cathedral to the Stadium and time that, by the way. A direct route down Walnut would take the average able-bodied person less than two minutes, probably. That's a lot of time-savings as a pedestrian, especially a fickle-minded, wayward tourist.
Also, there has already been a decision to spend a lot of money on fixing the connections to the Arch grounds! Since the plans are to better connect downtown to the Arch, why don't we do the best job possible rather than accepting visually hideous "functionality." I challenge you to find an uglier bit of infrastructure so close to such an iconic structure as the Arch in any other city. It's a civic embarrassment.
For the final point, Memorial Drive, just west of the Arch, is not City to River's only beef. It's the elevated portion that divides Washington Avenue from the Landing and Arch grounds that serves as another ugly blockade. Are we cool now?
Matthew Mourning, via the Internet
DAILY RFT, APRIL 16, 2010
RECKLESS RULING
Trooper deserved harsher punishment: Law-enforcement officials are probably high-fiving each other over this ruling ["Illinois Trooper Gets 30 Months Probation for Reckless Homicide of Two Teens," Amir Kurtovic]. Getting away with reckless behavior is a perk for them. Had the circumstances been reversed, and the officer was struck and killed — rather than these two women — Matt Mitchell would have had a stretch of Interstate 64 named after him. There would have been endless news reports on his bravery and heroism, along with the family members he left behind. In this age of the Internet, it might be a good idea to start keeping a database of officers like these and then have this dog them in their employment and personal lives for the rest of their days.
Concerned, via the Internet
