OLATHE, Kan. (WDAF/NEXSTAR) – A few weeks ago, a man in Mississippi man made headlines for having to spend 24 hours in a Waffle House for losing his fantasy football league. Now, a Kansas man is suffering the same fate.
“I suck at fantasy football,” James Pyle recently explained in a GoFundMe page he set up on Thursday. As punishment for finishing last, he says, his league ordered him to spend a full day inside a Waffle House in the city of Olathe, with every waffle he eats reducing his “sentence” by an hour.
But instead of eating his waffles in shame, Pyle hatched a plan to “turn my fantasy football failures into a positive contribution to the Kansas City community.” To that end, Pyle set up a GoFundMe fundraiser for the 15 and the Mahomies Foundation, established by Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes in 2019.
The Olathe Police Department decided to help out, too, by coming to visit Pyle at the Waffle House on Thursday. On Twitter, Officer Jaegers with the Olathe police could be seen sitting down with Olathe to eat a few of his waffles. The police also invited supporters to come down and eat a few as well, to “take some time off his sentence.”
Additionally, Pyle’s friends said they would donate $10 to the 15 and the Mahomies Foundation every time a waffle is consumed.
The ultimate goal, as Pyle explained on GoFundMe, was to raise $1,500 for the charity, which aims to improve the lives of children in the Kansas City community. By Friday morning, dozens of supporters had donated a total of over $1,700.
Pyle ultimately stayed at the Waffle House for only 8 hours, after he and his newfound buddies consumed a total of 16 waffles. On Twitter, he also thanked the restaurant’s staff, who “provided much needed entertainment” while serving out his reduced sentence.