Bye, Bye Kate!!

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Covered the IronPigs game on Tuesday night and missed seeing it live, but if you were in my neighborhood around 1:30 Wednesday morning you might have heard some yelling and screaming coming from my den.

Happy yelling and screaming.

It was about that time that I was done watching the DVR'ed version of Tuesday's "Dancing With the Stars."

Maybe not since the Cardinals won the 2006 World Series had something I watched on TV made me so happy. Kate Gosselin was finally voted off the show. Better late than never.

I am sorry. I generally consider myself a compassionate person who remembers we're all flawed people just trying to get by.

But I see a complete phony in her. I can't stand phonies. When she gave the heart sign to her kids during the opening introductions each week, I really believe it was only a ploy to generate sympathy and votes and had nothing to do with genuine compassion for her kids.

I've met a few people who had dealings with her or know her from time spent in Berks County and those people have nothing good to say. One local business person once described her to me as the most difficult, miserable person he's ever met.

I see someone who pretends to be all about her eight kids, but in reality is concerned mostly about herself and her own fame.

This morning on the "Today" show, some were talking about how hard it is to participate on "Dancing With The Stars" and how difficult it is to have to travel back and forth to do the training and the show. Guess what, no one put a gun to her head and said you have to do this.

She begged to do this. She thinks she's a star. She thinks we're all glued to her and care about everything she does. She's got another show already lined up -- one I definitely will not be watching. I like DWTS too much to let her make me stopping watching this show, but I will avoid any show built around her.

She wasn't interested in becoming a good dancer. She was only interested in keeping her face on the No. 1 show on television -- DWTS is even beating American Idol -- as long as possible so that she could sell her new book. This was all about the money.

I realize that the other stars on the show are looking for some PR as well, but I do believe most of the others genuinely care about the competition and want to do well. Kate's concern was generating sympathy and publicity for herself.



And believe me, I am no fan of her ex-husband and don't condone his behavior either. Like her, he also thinks he's some kind of star just because he had eight kids and a bad marriage. There's no doubt he got caught up in the fame and thinks he's something special, too.

As I said before, I wish they would both just go away from public view and just find a way to provide a normal life for those kids.

I think if Kate could do it, she'd bolt with the kids for Hollywood and leave Berks County behind.

If they did that it would alleviate my biggest fear. My fear is that they will move into The Morning Call coverage area, maybe the Parkland School District, and her kids will play sports.

As you know, I hear from parents on a fairly regular basis and my nightmare is that one day I will pick up the phone and hear: "Mr. Groller, this is Kate Gosselin. You may have heard of me. Why don't you cover my kids? What do you have against them? They work so hard and get no recognition from you..."

That's one nightmare that I am only too happy to wake up from.

FROM KEITH GROLLER