To boo, or not to boo. It
appears that, in Philadelphia, that is not a question.
When the Cincinnati Reds and
Washington Nationals came to Philadelphia and brought Scott Rolen and Jayson
Werth, the boos rained down for a solid week in Citizens Bank Park. These
two are, as most will tell you, public enemies #2 and #3 to Phillies fans (I
surmise J.D. Drew remains #1, even though he played his last game almost a
year ago). Not surprisingly,
lacking a legitimate “will the Phillies make the playoffs?” storyline, much of
the media coverage – and Twitter talk – focused on the treatment Rolen and Werth
received from fans and whether or not it was deserved.
Just to be clear: I do not
boo. I choose not to boo. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think
others have a right to boo.
Players may not like to hear it.
Even members of the media may not like to hear it. But when it costs a small fortune to take
the family to a game (counting tickets, parking, refreshments, and maybe even a
souvenir if there's any money left over), I’m okay with fans who vent their
frustration over poor performance, lack of hustle, or – in the case of Rolen
and Werth – a couple of guys who just didn't want to play in Philly anymore.
However, there is a line that
should not be crossed. Unfortunately, on more than one occasion, I’ve
seen it happen. “I have kids, I’ve got a wife, I’ve got a mom and dad,”
Jimmy Rollins said in 2008. “Before I was a ballplayer, I was a person
and I am a person, the same way you are. So you say something [to me] as a
person – forget the uniform – as a person, I could say something back. But because of the uniform, [the fans]
can say anything [they] want and [the uniform should be] my armor, my shield.”
Rollins took a lot of flak
for his comments in 2008 about Phillies fans being “front-runners.” He also failed miserably when he tried
to adequately explain exactly what he meant. Nevertheless, in this specific instance, he’s right.
Fans shouldn’t say anything
they want. There should be some boundaries. But right now, there aren’t. Which is why, during their brief rivalry in 2008, I didn’t
take my daughter to Mets games. I
didn’t want to expose her to all the nonsense – often profane – coming from
fans of both teams in our section.
The bottom line is, if people
want to boo, I say let them. Given Rollins’ lack of hustle recently, and
Charlie Manual’s reaction to it, Jimmy should expect to hear some the rest of
the year. We can only hope the booing doesn't turn into outright
abuse because, sadly, there are fans who abuse players unfairly and take it
entirely too far. It’s a shame really, because I’m tired of my daughter
asking me, “Daddy, why is that man so angry?”
Perhaps when she’s older I
can tell her it’s because he is a sad, pathetic, drunk, frustrated ex-high
school athlete who thinks he was just one bad break away from a professional
baseball career, so he blames the current players for his sorry lot in
life. But for now I just say, “I’m
not sure honey, but we both know we shouldn’t talk to people like that,
right?” Then she smiles, nods her
head, and goes back to eating her ice cream.
How could anyone boo that?
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