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12:48 PM, Feb 8, 2010 toot this
Spluschnik VII
This most recent installment of Splutschnik has taken it from being unequivocally my favorite thing to do in Kansas City, to the point where I'm not sure if I want to do it again. I definitely had fun, as did the group that actually did show up for it, but there were a lot of disappointments.

First, almost fifty people committed to attending on facebook, and another perhaps thirty people responded, "maybe." Now, I understand that these numbers never reflect the actual numbers, but the turnout was truly disappointing by comparison. Lots of people contacted me directly, talking about how excited they were, and how much fun it was going to be. When the day of the event came, most of these people didn't show. Not even a word.

There was a misunderstanding that led one team to go to Westport for the bulk of their bars, and I suppose I'm to blame for not taking them aside and saying that Splutschnik is supposed to be a downtown-only event. But even so, I wasn't upset about it. Unfortunately, others took what they perceived to be my lead, and proceeded to berate the wayward team, to no benefit but the satisfaction of their own sense of self-righteousness. This caused these people, good friends of mine, to leave in a huff, and without a word. I didn't find out about this until today, and I feel terrible about it.

It just puts the whole thing in a bad light and the comraderie that the event is supposed to foster was just spoiled by it. It's put a bad taste in my mouth about what I had previously considered one of the best ideas I ever had. I hate the idea of canceling the next installment of Splutschnik, but that's how I'm feeling at the moment. Maybe I just need some time to think about it.

2 comments

Jeff blurted:
i know it's disappointing, but the weather had to have had a huge impact on the turnout. while the weather adds to the "epicness" (that's not a word) of the event, this kind of thing would be great for the spring / fall.

8:52 AM, Feb 9, 2010

St. Louis Matt replied:
"It's just the recession." You better do it again, I've missed this thing for coming on half a decade. The thought of stomping around in the Kansas City winter provides for pangs of nostalgia.

10:27 PM, Sep 5, 2010

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