Gazette abandoned Kernels last week

The Gazette should be ashamed of itself for abandoning the Cedar Rapids Kernels last week. The Kernels are streaking toward a Midwest League pennant, yet The Gazette failed to send a reporter to three straight home games (June 9 to 11) and offered only skimpy results in the paper.

The Kernels are the only professional sports team in Cedar Rapids and deserve better treatment from the hometown paper. It's particularly galling to see them ignored during a pennant race and long winning streak.

Ironically, The Gazette ran a radio commercial during Wednesday's broadcast of the Kernels' game on KMRY-AM 1450. The gist of the ad was, “If you're there, we're there. Every day.” There were more than 7,500 fans at those games last week, but where were you?

If The Gazette was spread too thin, surely you could hire a correspondent.

The Kernels' staff, led by General Manager Jack Roeder, works hard to offer our community a quality product. The Gazette claims to support all businesses in the community, yet the newspaper abandoned the team last week and shirked its civic duty.

Baseball fans, let your voices be heard.

Jim Ecker

Cedar Rapids