Some in the city that is hosting baseball’s All-Star game apparently don’t believe the local quarterback should be playing in football’s version of the event.
At Sunday’s All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game, held at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium, fans booed Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel during player introductions, according to Gary Bedore of the Lawrence (Kansas) Journal-World. Per the report, fans then provided “polite applause” prior to Cassel’s at-bats.
He wasn’t the only player to get a rough reception. Kansas basketball coach Bill Self heard the boos from the Missouri crowd, too.
“I didn’t think it would be great,” Self said. “When I left the bus to go to the batting cage, I didn’t feel a lot of love walking through the crowd. I thought it’d be pretty much like it was.”
Self tried to quiet the noise by hitting an unlikely home run, but it didn’t work. Self was booed as he rounded the bases.
ESPN will air the game on a tape-delayed basis, after tonight’s Home Run Derby. Checking to see whether and to what extent Cassel was booed at least gives me a reason to watch it.