Benny The Bull gets sued for high-five gone awry
By Joe Zedalis

An Illinois dentist called a flagrant foul on Chicago Bulls’ mascot Benny the Bull on Monday, suing the team over a high-five gone awry. Dr. Don Kalant Sr. alleged he was sitting near courtside on Feb. 12 when he raised his arm to get a high-five from Barry Anderson, who portrays the exuberant mascot in a bright red fuzzy costume.

But Kalant, an oral surgeon, may now wish he had settled for a fist-bump instead. Instead of merely slapping Kalant’s palm, Anderson grabbed his arm as he fell forward, hyperextending Kalant’s arm and rupturing his biceps muscle, according to the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court.

Kalant stayed for the rest of the game but later had surgery and could miss as much as four months of work, Kasserman said. Kalant is seeking unspecified damages for medical bills, physical pain and lost earnings. The lawsuit claims Anderson was negligent in either “falling forward while grabbing a fan’s hand” or “running out of control” through the crowd according to the Chicago Tribune.  (Source: Chicago Tribune)

best_benny.jpgMore news from Greater Chicagoland and our friend Benny the Bull (Best Mascot Honorable Mention 2007 on Gameops.com).

I can’t speak to any of the particulars, but I will say that these are tricky situations for teams.  First and foremost your fans are your customers and short of saying the customer is always right you need to make sure your customers are treated right.

I think the Bulls (and the performer) are doing the right thing by not commenting publicly.  Behind the scenes the most important piece of advice I have heard is to be an active and caring listener to the fan.  Nothing can aggravate and inflame a difficult situation like sending the signal that you don’t care about what happened to your fan.  From there (depending greatly on the situation and the people involved) it can be as simple as an apology or complex as years of expensive litigation and insurance.

Here’s wishing the fan a speedy recovery and the Bulls a quick resolution.

–Cudo