I’m Shocked – Shocked! – to Find That Fantasy Football Is Going On in St. Louis County Government!

KSDK – Channel 5 (link via Combest) broadcast a story a few nights ago on Internet usage by government employees. The Post-Dispatch has a follow-up article here. Apparently, one Darin Cline (who I have never met) in County Executive Charlie Dooley’s office set the high mark in using his office computer for non-work related entertainment.

As your intrepid blogger has been playing fantasy football much longer than anybody who reads this (since 1991, way before most people had ever heard of it), and as I furthermore spent six years as an aide in the St. Louis County Council, I am uniquely qualified to comment here. I shall put on my best Captain Renault mask and clearly state that I find the thought of managing one’s fantasy football team while using taxpayer computers and while on taxpayer time to be something I did almost every day between August and December each year a blatant misuse of trust and one that I would never even have considered doing. I assure you all that the management of the Mid-County Mounties, the only three-time champion of the HBFL (Half-Baked Football League) at no time ever changed players, proposed trades, bid on free agents, or did any such things while I was at work. Oh yeah, I also never read a football season preview magazine in my office. Not once right around Labor Day each year. Never.

Although, let’s be honest here — 44 sports web sites in one day is an awful lot:

That same day, [Cline] visited 44 sports related sites including his fantasy football team called the Vegas Midget Pimps.

As a taxpayer, I find this very troubling. Perhaps Cline is the living embodiment of this classic Onion article, which you will note is set right here in The Lou. When I worked for the county, I am certain that I never visited more than 20 sports sites in one day. You have to have some standards.