The Dallas Texans
Everybody’s looking a story to tell, me included…
But on the front page of Wednesday’s Kansas City Star, the newspaper leaps to an unsupported conclusion that locals are “feeling better” about Boulevard Brewing being sold to a Belgian company. Why? Simply because the Star ran a couple quotes from people with vested interests in maintaining a positive relationship with whoever owns Boulevard?
That hardly constitutes a case study.
Hey boosterism, with rare exception, is the game the Star likes to play.
However that doesn’t justify the front page graphic – ostensibly intended to further ease reader’s concerns over the Boulevard buy out – listing a “sampling” of other “locally grown Kansas City businesses” that got bought out by insiders “over the years.”
Hold it right there…
Over the years?
The ink is barely dry on the sale of two of the four companies listed – AMC Theatres and Sprint. Both companies were sold in the past year – AMC to Chinese interests and Sprint to Japan’s Softbank – with the ramifications of those sales about as up in the air as they could be. In fact, movie insiders have wondered aloud as to the likelihood of AMC leaving Kansas City.
AMC Theatres China Deal
And who the heck knows ultimately what may become of Sprint?
“China Worries Arise in Sprint Deal,” reads one Wall Street Journal headline earlier this year.
A third company listed – the Kansas City Chiefs – is a head scratcher. Since when did founder/owner Lamar Hunt‘s Dallas born team become a local company that got bought out by “outsiders?”
Royals President Dan Glass
The fourth business listed is the Kansas City Royals, and yes, they did get bought out by a WalMart refugee from Arkansas who saddled the team and the city with his inept son and took the team from playoff contenders to perennial bottom dwellers.
Could worse examples have been selected to illustrate that fans of Boulevard Beer have nothing to worry about?
Probably, but those companies are long gone.
ummmm, Sprint was sold to a Japanese company, Chief.
what the f*ck do you expect them to do hearne.
talk about the fact that the companies are leaving (when theres no
indication they are).
what should the star do…still the main new media in this town…
hope that the companies leave…or make innuendos and b.s. up
about the companies and their future.
As a graduate of the top journalism school in the nationI have to
wonder whatthey taught you in that barren desert school in Arizona.
obviously you have gone a different route…wanting to teardown
everything in this town and everything that anyone has built.
Its negativity you write hearne that’s so egregious. Negative
about everything.
Easy, Big Fella…
I don’t expect the Star to wring its hands in fear of KC losing Boulevard either.
On the other hand, a front page story with minimal hollow reassurances and a laundry list of four other local companies that don’t match up with the point that’s being made is lame.
C’mon. The Chiefs (from Dallas) are a local team that got bought out by out of towners?
Maybe they should quit the professional grind and write a daily blog like you did. What do you do for money by the way? I was discussing that with some friends the other night. “Does he live off those ads or does he work at a Dairy Queen to make ends meet”. Then we laughed and laughed. See we work for our money. You just put yourself on a soapbox that you made. “Why didnt he just go on to bigger or better prospects?” someone said. “You know, like move to another big town with a big newspaper and start something new?” Someone blurted out “Because he is washed up. This is the end of the line for him. ” Then we all forgot about you. I’m just kidding btw. Nobody talks about you.