What a Fired Ironworker Left Behind at Kyle Field

WHAT A FIRED IRONWORKER LEFT BEHIND AT KYLE FIELD Crimson Tide Flag Flying at Kyle Field, Texas A&M University, College Station, TexasThe ironworker fired from his job at the Kyle Field construction site after hoisting a University of Alabama flag from a crane at the Texas A&M football stadium has been subjected to an even greater indignity: After a photo of the stunt (at left) went viral, a crew of dead-serious investigators has been scouring the worker’s largely jokey Facebook page for possible additional anti-Aggie activity. And overnight, it appears, they hit paydirt. In context, Bobby Livingston’s offhand comment on his Facebook page from February 28th, under a self-portrait in an Alabama sweatshirt, that “This stadium will never be ready for this. Season,I’m putting iron in backwards and wrong holing everything!!”appears to be a joke among friends. It’s tougher to judge the circumstances surrounding a later Livingston post, however, because it appears now to have been deleted: According to College Station reporter Patrina Adger, he wrote on April 6, “If you ever attend a Texas A&M football game, don’t sit at the Northeast End Zone. It was raining today and I made two very ‘questionable’ welds.” The engineering firm in charge of inspections at Kyle Field, which is being expanded to seat more than a 100,000 fans, has issued a statement in response, assuring that all welds and connections have been tested, verified, and reviewed. [KBTX] Photo: Bobby Livingston

16 Comment

  • The A&M Cult is picky about stuff…

  • Look, I’m a Texas Ex with no love for the Aggies, but even I think this is low. It’s bad enough to hang the flag of the Crimson Tide, but to then joke about “questionable welds” is completely unacceptable. It seems obvious why this fool was fired in the first place. Hey, I’m happy for the Aggies getting a new Kyle, I remember how dated and run down down the stadium was. Now if we can only get a yearly thanksgiving game between Texas and A&M, played at NRG.

  • One construction worker at the stadium has already died from unsafe work practices. I would say another construction worker joking about purposefully causing an unsafe environment there is probably not a good idea.

  • Shannon, nice comment even handed (also bleed orange). Clearly it was a joke, and firing someone over a flag is pretty moronic even the chronicle confirmed the welds, and work is verified to have been done correctly by a 3rd party contractor. But with that said intelligent Aggie is still an oxymoron..

  • “Clearly it was a joke, and firing someone over a flag is pretty moronic”.

    Forgetting about the flag for a moment, how in the world can you assume that his statements were clearly a joke? I’m not a legal mind but I’m pretty confident that by allowing him to stay on the job after having written what he did, the builder is opening themselves up to all kinds of major legal liabilities if there any failure did occur in the future.

    Being on a college campus, I would bet that all these workers signed some type of professional conduct agreement before they started working and posting a flag where it doesn’t belong would have probably caused him to breach that agreement, i.e. he must go now.

  • Firing this guy is totally acceptable and expected. Texas A&M is the client and owner of this multi-million dollar project, and Alabama is one of their competitors. Imagine if a worker on a project for Hines hung up an ad banner for Trammell Crow from a high-rise under construction downtown. And then on top of that joked around about doing a bad job.
    Pretty sure he would be fired immediately…

  • morons should be fired, i thought that was a standard in any industry

  • How long did it take before the offending flag was removed?

  • Full disclosure… Im an Alum of the University of Alabama.

    When i first heard about the story i thought ATM’s contractor overreacted a bit. I assumed that this was the result of some good natured “trash talk” that can often times happen on job sites like this. Thought that others could retaliate in a positive way by making him work they day in a ATM shirt/hard hat and be done with it.

    People that are comparing this instance to others instances outside of stadium construction are being a bit overzealous. This is college football fandom and the teams are becoming closer rivals. Par the course in my opinion…

    But after it was revealed that he said those things on facebook he should be fired without question. Bama fans(especially non-alums) can be very enthusiastic and make questionable decisions sometimes, especially during the off-season.

  • Aggies shouldn’t be surprised if they start seeing a few trees dying on campus.

  • This isnt about A&M vs. Alabama, its about a subcontractor openly mocking his customer thats paying them $400MM. Even without the stupid comments, he deserved to get fired. Imagine hanging a Shell flag on the new Exxon campus during the build.

  • Is that a threat, Progg?

  • It wouldn’t surprise me if the worker had given them plenty of other reasons to let him go, but @Ross is right. Don’t make fun of the client. Beyond that I agree except with @Shannon. No need to play the Aggies again, even if it’s in Reliant.

  • Txcon – Agreed. The talking heads want us to play again but I get that neither side is that interested.

  • @Ag
    Really? I know Aggies are a sensitive bunch and you fit the stereotype. Google about the Bama fan who poisoned the famous Auburn oaks and come back and apologize to me.

  • OR, you could make sure your postings are clear next time.