`cartoons/queue/20260926-bleacher-superstition-tower.meta.json`

64 lines
{
  "blurb": "A fan's lucky-seat ritual earns one more unmovable object with every win, until the stack on the bleacher bench is taller than the fan sitting beside it.",
  "story_id": "sw-lucky-seat-relics",
  "tags": [
    "superstition",
    "local sports",
    "small town news",
    "editorial cartoon"
  ],
  "new_story": {
    "id": "sw-lucky-seat-relics",
    "category": "sports",
    "categoryLabel": "Sports",
    "location": "Chadron, NE",
    "byline": "Sports Desk Reporter Odessa Lunt",
    "image": "images/sw-lucky-seat-relics.jpg",
    "intervalSec": 37,
    "offsetSec": 12,
    "stageIndex": 0,
    "article": {
      "dek": "A season-ticket holder at a junior-college ballpark has added one object to the bench beside him after every home win, and the stack has now passed his seated height.",
      "photoCaption": "The accumulation in Row F of the third-base bleachers at Pike Field, photographed before Saturday's first pitch, with its owner seated to the left.",
      "paragraphs": [
        "CHADRON, NE— A pile of personal effects occupying roughly four feet of bench in the third-base bleachers at Pike Field has grown to a height of 51 inches, according to a measurement taken this month by the groundskeeping staff.",
        "The pile belongs to Odell Prusk, a retired grain elevator operator who has held the same season ticket in Row F since 2011. Prusk said he began the practice after a home win in May, when he left a cap on the bench rather than move it.",
        "'They won with the cap sitting there,' Prusk said. 'I am not going to be the one who finds out what happens if I pick it up.'",
        "Each subsequent home victory has added an item. The stack now includes, by Prusk's own accounting, a thunder-stick, a borrowed jersey he has not returned, an unwashed scarf, a single sock, a folded program from June, a thermos he no longer opens, and a foam finger.",
        "Groundskeeper Iva Deschene, who measured the pile at the request of the facilities office, said the issue is not the height but the footprint. 'It is two and a half seats,' Deschene said. 'Those are seats we sell.'",
        "Pike Field operations manager Curt Bramhall said the stadium has no ordinance covering the situation and has not sought one. 'There is nothing in the fan conduct policy about accumulation,' Bramhall said.",
        "Prusk has offered to purchase the adjacent seats outright. The club has not responded to the offer, according to Bramhall, who said the matter is 'being looked at by somebody.'",
        "Asked what would happen at the end of the season, when the bleachers are pressure-washed, Prusk declined to speculate. 'I have thought about it,' he said. 'I would rather not have thought about it.'"
      ]
    },
    "stages": [
      {
        "headline": "Chadron Fan Leaves Cap On Bench After Win, Declines To Move It",
        "detail": "Season-ticket holder Odell Prusk left a cap where it sat following a May home victory at Pike Field. 'I am not going to be the one who finds out what happens if I pick it up,' he said."
      },
      {
        "headline": "One Object Added Per Home Win, Stack Reaches Eight Items",
        "detail": "A thunder-stick, a borrowed jersey, an unwashed scarf and a single sock have joined the cap. Prusk keeps the order intact and washes none of it."
      },
      {
        "headline": "Groundskeeper Measures Pile At 51 Inches, Two And A Half Seats",
        "detail": "Iva Deschene said the concern is footprint, not height. 'Those are seats we sell,' she said, after measuring at the facilities office's request."
      },
      {
        "headline": "Stadium Finds No Rule Against Accumulation, Declines To Write One",
        "detail": "Operations manager Curt Bramhall said nothing in the fan conduct policy covers the pile. Prusk's offer to buy the adjacent seats has gone unanswered."
      },
      {
        "headline": "Pile Now Taller Than Its Owner Seated, Season-End Washing Looms",
        "detail": "The stack has passed Prusk's seated height, and the bleachers are pressure-washed each October.",
        "conclusion": "Asked what happens then, Prusk said he had thought about it and would rather not have."
      }
    ],
    "tags": [
      "superstition",
      "local sports",
      "small town news"
    ]
  }
}