Kauffman Stadium officials during Game 1 of the World Series Tuesday night asked Marlins fan Laurence Leavy, who has gained notoriety during the MLB postseason for wearing a bright orange Marlins jersey while seated directly behind home plate at several games, "to move -- or at least cover up" his jersey with a Royals shirt, according to Clark Spencer of the MIAMI HERALD. The Royals reportedly offered Leavy a "private suite if he would move" and "tried enticing him with free World Series goodies if he would get rid of the jersey." But Leavy "paid $8,000 for that prime seat" and he "wasn’t about to give it up." He said, "The owner of the Royals was extremely upset that I was there." A Royals spokesperson said that "no one asked him to leave his seat or to take off the jersey." Marlins VP/Communications & Broadcasting P.J. Loyello said, “I think it's great. He’s one of our loyal season-ticket holders. He’s definitely easy to pick out with that jersey. It's fun to pick him out. It's reached a point where we expect to see him at games now." Spencer notes Leavy, who was sitting in the same spot last night for Game 2, has been "buying the best seats to major sporting events for years." By his count, he has "gone to 27 Super Bowls, more than 200 NBA playoff games, and at least 85 World Series games, and many Triple Crown horse races." Leavy has been a Marlins season-ticket holder "since the team’s first year" in '93 (MIAMI HERALD, 10/23).
ORANGE YOU GLAD? ESPN's Keith Olbermann yesterday named the world's worst person in sports "everybody who is criticizing" Leavy for wearing the "glow in the dark, possibly nuclear powered" Marlins jersey. Olbermann noted Leavy buys ticket to the various sporting events "mostly off StubHub, so he's paying full price for all these games." Olbermann: "The Royals supposedly did not like him there not wearing their colors. Tough! You and I didn't like him there glowing like that on our TVs? Tough! There was a time when those seats at those events were available only to insiders. In basketball, half of those seats went to reporters. Then the teams realized just how much they could sell for and a rough meritocracy emerged. You don't like it? Then stop raising ticket prices so much that the people who own those seats can make enough money to pay for virtually an entire regular season just by selling one game to Marlins Man. Otherwise, shut up and bask in the warm glow of his orange jacket" ("Olbermann," ESPN2, 10/22).
