The WAKA lie, 30 miles long

False advertising - it's slimy, distasteful, and sometimes illegal. Usually though, they are easy to spot. That ad for the ab machine a few years ago that you just put on and turn on that would melt away the pounds while you ate Haagen Dasz just sitting on the couch was easy to spot as a lie. Those spam emails we all get that promise to "Make your penis larger" with a pill, also clearly untrue. But what about when it comes from a place you have been involved with for years? Say your kickball league - the biggest in the country - lied to you and everyone else about something as innocous as where they were holding some playoffs. What then? Think it can't happen? Think again.

If you log on to the regionals page for WAKA you see this:

Eastern Regional
Championship
September 30, 2006
Richmond, VA

Sounds good, I like Richmond. It's a state capitol, a party town, and the college mascot is a spider. They have a lovely skyline. I'm sure it's a great place to live. There's only one thing - the WAKA Eastern Regional Championship is NOT in Richmond. It's in some place called Ruther Glen, Va. Never heard of it? Me neither. Disappointed? Me too, and we're not alone:

so.... remember that regional that was supposed to be in richmond? yeah, what happened to that? cause at the moment it looks like someone mistakenly planned it for some place called ruther glen?

I think Ruther Glen is in the Richmond area, but about 30 miles south.

Did you expect anything different from WAKA? They'd hold the tournament at an elementary school field if the school board gave them enough perks.


These are posts from dyed in the wool WAKA types on kickball365.com. The middle one was the one I found most intriguing; 30 miles is considered in the Richmond area? Really? So, I decided to check on this, I called the number listed on the Richmond city page above. Here's how that conversation went:


Kickball Homer: Hi, I am calling to ask about a town near you called Ruther Glen.

Richmond woman: I'm sorry, I've never heard of it.

KH: Oh, well, I think it's about 30 miles from Richmond.

Richmond woman: (Laughs nervously) Nope, sorry I don't know where it is.


Ok, well I guess if it was in the area, Richmond city workers would at least know where it is. I decided I'd call Ruther Glen - no city page. But I did find that it's just 5 miles from King's Dominion which is kinda cool. If you're going to King's Dominion. Or if you're going to Ruther Glen it's cool. It's not so cool though if you were told you were going to Richmond to play kickball. Then it's not cool at all.


So I guess, WAKA kickballers, you can drive the 29.8 miles from Ruther Glen to Richmond after your games, change, and then go party. Sorta kills the buzz of going right, after which is all the fun, but at least you'll be in Richmond. Or you can go to King's Dominion.


This means that either the Kash guys at WAKA or liars OR maybe they are right. Maybe Ruther Glen is close enough to be called Richmond. Hmm, that means Manassas is close enough to be called Washington, DC (just 31.04 miles). And Baltimore can be DC or vice versa since they are so close (only 38.04 miles) - just don't tell the commuters, they wouldn't support the WAKA map. And Greenwich, Ct can look forward to a Trump Tower and hosting a second Wall Street since it is so close to New York City (wow a scant 33.62 miles). Maybe these places will start marketing themselves that way. But probably not. I'm sure if you called the places in question they would at least know the towns, but otherwise the conversations would be similar to mine.


So, I'll vote that they are liars. They thought putting Richmond would excite people and it did - until they found out the truth. One thing people can do to stop this increasing disrespect the Kash guys have for their customers is to boycott the Ruther Glen Regional. Another is to just quit and play elsewhere, which I may have to do. I don't appreciate false advertising, especially when I'm the sucker paying for it.