Royals fan in the Mideast will follow game tonight

Bend your ear to the east and, well, forget it. Don't even try. You're never going to hear Bob Petty cheering — even though he will be.

That's because the Liberty resident and life-long Royals fan is in the Middle East, in Qatar, far, far away from his favorite team doing work for his employer, Cerner Corporation.

But believe him, he said, the 60-year-old senior learning consultant and life-long Royals fan will be rooting — perhaps even in between snoozing and waking to look a game up-date texts from his wife.

“My wife, Trisha, will be glued to the television, along with my brother, Bill, sister-in-law, Leslie, and nephew, Steve, and family,” Petty emailed Tuesday from Qatar. “It will be an exciting night. Go Royals!”

In fact, 18 other metro area people are there too, he said.

With Qatar eight hours ahead of KC, the game won't be starting until 1 a.m. Petty's time when he's typically asleep. At the very least, he said, he'll wake early or occasionally to catch the results and the quasi-play-by-play his wife will offer.

Petty arrived in Qatar in mid-August and won't be back until mid-October, he said. But he did bring his Royals apparel and was wearing it Tuesday night.

“I'm sorry I’m not there to be part of the excitement,” Petty wrote, “but it's fantastic how the city is showing their support. I so remember 1985 and am looking forward to a possible repeat.”

This story was originally published September 30, 2014 at 4:33 PM.