Royals fan must remove large sign from house after someone snitched
Sports fans show their support for their favorite team in different ways. Apparel works for some, season tickets work for others and tattoos are reserved for the truly dedicated.
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Somewhere in that mix resides team flags or signage outside your home. Hey, that’s your right. If you own a house, you’re allowed to show off your rooting interest as long as it’s respectful. At least, that should be the case.
The city of Gardner, Kansas told a homeowner he would have to take down a large Royals sign on his house immediately or risk a misdemeanor or daily fines, according to KCTV5.
The sign, which is hung on an enclosed balcony from the second level, features the Royals’ crown logo with a large “KC” painted on it in white. It has reportedly hung on the house for years, but the city received a complaint from a citizen, which forced the issue.
The sign is in violation of city code, according to a document received by the homeowner.
The document states the homeowners need to either “remove the illegal sign immediately or apply for a temporary sign permit, reduce the size of the wall sign to 8 square feet and leave it up for 90 days of the year.”
KCTV5 spoke to a number of local residents who didn’t mind the sign, and seemed puzzled as to why the homeowner is being forced to take it down. One mentioned that it lights up when the Royals are playing, so we can see how that could be annoying. At the same time, that person also compared it to Christmas lights … and no one calls the city to complain about Christmas lights.
We don’t want to take sides here, but it’s hard not to be a little disappointed. First off, the sign is in violation of city code. Whoever sent in the complaint is correct. The sign should be taken down.
But we have some serious questions over who would actually report the sign. KCTV5 has a picture of it on their website (which you can see here). The sign isn’t gaudy or offensive. It’s large, but not outlandishly so. And it’s clearly on private property. It’s not in a position to injure someone passing by or anything like that.
The whole thing seems pretty petty. While we don’t know for sure, it certainly looks like a situation where a fan of an opposing team got mad and reported the sign. While the Royals play in Missouri, their fanbase in neighboring Kansas is pretty huge.
While we’re engaging in wild speculation, maybe this is all the work of an angry St. Louis Cardinals fan? All it would take is one comment about how Salvador Perez is better than Yadier Molina to set them off.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
