28 April 2011

Kendrick Lampoons Homeless

In an apparent effort to drum up lagging ASG enthusiasm, tone deaf Dbacks owner Earl "Ken" Kendrick managed to mock homeless people instead:


This still is captured from his club's latest 'lipdub' extravaganza, showing the wealthy magnate wielding a cardboard "Will Work For...." placard. The self made Kendrick is such a sharp card that, even in this highly choreographed advertisement, he forgot to hold his amusing sign high enough for grounded earthlings to actually read and potentially be offended.

If you look through the roll bars like an obsessed doofus, however, you may be able to make out the words "All Star", which suggests the intended message was:

Will Work 4 All Star Tix

One can't assume for a moment Kendrick was intending to ridicule homeless people. I imagine this was an awkward attempt at self-deprecation, and a rather ponderous stab at feigning solidarity with the middle class. To assure MLB's poorest market, struggling through a regional depression, that he feels our pain. That he understands these ASG strips, which have yet to sell out in almost two months online, are expensive.

Despite those reasonable business, and perhaps even personal, intentions, and the fact Kendrick is a charitable giver and grew up in West Virginia and all of that, this remains an inordinately wealthy businessman, who blew more than a million dollars on a baseball card, holding up a different kind of cardboard.

These creased, makeshift signs of desperation are all over Phoenix. Some are scammers and some are destitute people suffering serious ailments. Some of them routinely die outdoors during baseball season, within walking distance of where this allegedly amusing video was shot.
 
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hat tip AZ Snakepit

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

hopefully, he'll run this franchise into the ground, be forced to sell it, and the new owner can move this team to a city that will call it it's own. It is beyond sad that when the team does get a "home" crowd, it is in front of 15,000 people. If a team must count on drawing opposing fans to the park to make ends meet, the city it is in doesn't serve the team to begin with.
Let's face it. The valley is nothing but that Cow Town Barron's found. We come from all over and could care less about making this area a 'home'. There is NOTHING big league about the valley.

Diamondhacks said...

If you want the Diamondbacks to move to a big league city, scratch off Baltimore, Miami, Cleveland, KC, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Wash DC, Oakland and Chicago's south side from your travel plans, because all those 'cow towns' currently draw less than the Diamondbacks.

Even if an owner wanted to relocate, MLB wouldnt let him. It's too lucrative a market. You think there's NOTHING big league about the valley? That must explain why the Suns and Cardinals both drew above league average capacity, despite neither making the playoffs. The Cardinals actually outdrew the Chicago Bears, so lets abandon that sorry excuse for a city as well. Our cow town status further explains why we host NASCAR, Spring Training, MLB and NBA All Star Games, BCS championships, Super Bowls and the planet's biggest golf tournament every year.

Yes, when the Dbacks dont draw to the standards of your drunken wet dream, then it's evidence that the town sucks and no one here calls it 'home'. I'm sure lagging Chase attendance has nothing to do with a substandard product seven of the past eight years, and everything to do with the shitty people who insincerely call Phoenix home. Why it couldnt be more clear. The same shitty people who outdrew fabulous Red Sox and knowledgable Mets fans every single year for six consecutive seasons, between 1998-2003. I cant believe I didnt see this without your help. Thx for clearing it up!

Anonymous said...

LOL! feats of mental masterbation at its finest!

Anonymous said...

Wait! the same Fiesta Bowl game that has just disgraced itself? Please! who is having the wet dreams now? When did we start hosting the Masters? NASCAR=cow town, seriously, this is the best you can come up with?
This is a cheap bandwagon town because NOBODY cares, deal with it!

Diamondhacks said...

anon, you're trying to change the subject three different ways because u dont have a stable argument worth a damn. Just superficial, smug kvetching that everything here sucks.

You flung and framed this slop, not me:

this cowtown doesnt deserve, or cant support, major league baseball.

I furnished ten mlb teams that currently draw worse than the Diamondbacks, many of whom are better on the field, some playing in larger markets, and all ten from MSAs with higher per capita incomes.

Your rebuttal? Uh..Phoenix sucks...uh...move em out....uh

Then I provided broader historical examples of local sports attendance (incl baseball) to counter your blurt there's NOTHING big league about the valley. Many NBA and NFL cities draw less than Phoenix, despite both local franchises having off years.

Your contribution? Uh...NOBODY CARES...uh....deal with it...uh

Super Bowls, various ASGs, BCS championships, PIR and the most attended golf tournament in the world are diverse examples of what a vibrant (and perhaps, saturated) sports market Phoenix is. Sniveling that the Open isnt The Masters further weakens any stand you're clinging to, and if you're convinced NASCAR paints us 'cowtown', be sure to tell everyone in Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago, because they all host races this year too.

Look, conflating the painfully obvious observation that Phoenix and Arizona have problems with the demonstrably false assertion that we cant sustain major league baseball, wont work here. Sorry, but not everyone is as ill informed on the subject as u are.

There's an intelligent discussion to be had about Diamondbacks attendance and perhaps even Kendricks' viability, but you're not close to accessing either, in terms of argument or, more importantly, attitude.

Oh, and if it wasnt already clear by now, masturbation is spelled with a "u".