Booing--Boo or Yay?

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Not a poll, just a place to discuss booing.

My position is that, while I do very little outward emoting at the park, fans have every right to express themselves both positively and negatively, and I have no problem with them doing so (other than when I happen to disagree with them, of course.) A case in point would be Burnitz getting thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double during a game when the Mets had very little offense (possibly against Johan Santana a few years ago.) He got booed soundly and, I thoiught, completely unjustifiably: trying for second was a good play, he was barely thrown out, and he might even have been safe. No booing called for, and if they would have cheered him for his effort that would have marked the NY fans as being unusually perceptive.

That example aside, I think there's altogether too much cheering of mediocre baseball, and not enough voicing of disapproval for bad baseball.

[nymr83]

i paid for my ticket i can boo all i want. don't wanna get booed? don't get paid millions to play a game.

[Guest KC]

Generally speaking, I just don't boo the Mets. I've booed at Knicks and
Jets games - for whatever reason, I can't remember the last time I booed
a Met. I guess it's probably because I'm a mamsie pamsie orange and
blue bleeding don't know an OPS from an AVG boneheaded unable to win
circuitous and nonsensical arguments not-to-mention silly gooseheaded
debates over baseball toughness and ability etc etc etc and so on.

I don't care what other fans do and frankly I'm a little sick and tired of being
judged on my baseball fandom. So there.

[Elster88]

Nymr83 wrote: i paid for my ticket i can boo all i want. don't wanna get booed? don't get paid millions to play a game.

And people wonder why Matsui only hits .225 in America...

And they complain when Bonilla wears earplugs....

And they wonder why Johnny Damon doesn't give a flying fuck about Red Sox fans and switches teams...

[Guest Iubitul]

I don't boo results. I only boo what I perceive to be a continual lack of effort.

I remember the year Bobby Bonilla came back - The first weekend in April, he was playing on a banged up knee that would have put most people on DL, but he wa splaying because Piazza was already on DL. There was a guy spewing such epithets at Bonilla, one would have thought that Bonilla had murdered the guy's entire family....

[Guest old original jb]

Mets, Yay.
Yankees, Boo!

It's just that simple.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I tend not to boo unless I feel that a player is morally reprehensible or that he's otherwise being a jerk. When I do boo, it's only a boo - there's no excuse for some of the names and other abusive language that some people use.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Lubital--does this mean you disagree with J. Dickshot, Esq., who maintains as I understand him, that booing should be reserved for immediate play and not for players generally? That is, you should (according to my understanding of Dickshot's Law) boo Matsui for kicking a grounder into leftfield just now, but not boo him because he's displayed a lack of effort for the past few months.

jb--is this just my country right or wrong, my mother drunk or sober? Is there behavior (that you've seen yourself) from a Met where you would approve of booing, or is it that the blue-and-orange protects every Met from your disapproval?

Scarlett--care to provide some examples of moral reprehensibilty or jerkdom? Either hypothetical or actual will do, though I'd prefer to see practical past instances.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I'm trying to recall whether I've had the opportunity to boo Clemens, but he'd be boo-worthy.

I'm sure I would have booed Pete Rose post-1973 NLCS.

I do recall booing Doug Sisk, even though it was for suckitude rather than jerkdome. Since about 20 years have passed since then, I think that I can consider that past behavior.

I'm sure there are other instances, but they're not coming to mind right now.

[seawolf17]

When something happens that you like, you're allowed to react. Why can't you react when something happens that you don't like?

[nymr83]

Elster88 wrote: ="Nymr83"]i paid for my ticket i can boo all i want. don't wanna get booed? don't get paid millions to play a game. And people wonder why Matsui only hits .225 in America... And they complain when Bonilla wears earplugs.... And they wonder why Johnny Damon doesn't give a flying fuck about Red Sox fans and switches teams...

because he sucks and it was a bad decision to give him all that money
i dont complain, he's free to wear earmuffs for all i care
i dont wonder that either, its his life and anyone who says they wouldn't take the huge payday themself is a liar.

[nymr83]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: When I do boo, it's only a boo - there's no excuse for some of the names and other abusive language that some people use.

i agree, abusive language is uncalled for, there are plenty of kids around which should stop you even if it was otherwise called for.

[DocTee]

As Homer Simpson once said to a ballpark patron who objected to his antics: , "Paying admission gives me the right-- no, the responsibility-- to act like an ass." (or words to that effect).

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: Since about 20 years have passed since then, I think that I can consider that past behavior.

So are you pleading that the statute of limitations applies here? Booing Sisk for being Sisk is wrong, and you disapprove, but you were young and foolish? Or booing Sisk for being Sisk is something you might do today if Sisk somehow appeared on the mound again? (Don't laugh--he's the same age as Julio Franco.)

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I'm saying that I can refine/change my viewpoint two decades later. Most of us grow up a bit in that kind of a time span.

[Guest KC]

A thousand apologies ... I left out un-met-maven-like and un-caustic-fucktard
in the rant above. Happy Holidays.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

KC wrote: A thousand apologies ... I left out un-met-maven like and un-caustic-fucktard in the rant above. Happy Holidays.

There you go Kase - using this fine thread in order to attack Christmas!

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

KC wrote: A thousand apologies ... I left out un-met-maven-like and un-caustic-fucktard in the rant above. Happy Holidays.

I took those for granted. A tip o' the old fucktard cap to yuz on this cheeriest of holidays, with all good wishes for the New Year!

[Elster88]

]because he sucks

*sigh*

I refuse to explain again.

[Zvon]

Booing is a good thing and should be a form of expression for a fan.
As opposed to, say,.....yelling at Heilman and calling him Hitler.

Im an even keel fan. If I really feel moved to do it, whether the reason may be justified or not, Ill boo. Sometimes Ill boo for a laugh.

But I reserve my boo's for when I really feel like expressing that sentiment, and I dont boo-along ( jump on any boo wagon).

One of the things that gets me is most times when you see a loud mouth insult whining booer in the section around you, doin his/her thing when he/she feels its appropriate, that same person does not seem to be cheering after the home team smacks one out or something really good happens.
That should tell ya something.
Speaks volumes about that persons demeanor.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: I'm saying that I can refine/change my viewpoint two decades later. Most of us grow up a bit in that kind of a time span.

Not looking to attack, Scarlet, just looking for clarity.

Do you disapprove of booing Sisk now? Was booing a stage you needed to experience so as to assume your present stage of enlightenment? Or a much regretted phase of your immature and now-despised self on whom you look back with astonishment and shame?

[metsmarathon]

i've got a problem when players are booed based primarily on poor/past results, high salary, and/or sweatiness.

if a guy's trying, he shouldn't get booed, usually.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Attack? Who said anything about attack?

Honestly, I can't recall enough about the mid-80's to properly answer your question. I remember perceiving that he sucked beyond reasonable limits of suckitude, and that I hated seeing him come into games.

Aside from that, I'm not wasting any mental energy on worrying about it. It's not that I "self-despise" my younger self. I just don't have the time, energy or interest to worry about it. There's enough on my plate in the here and now to keep me busy - I don't have the need to self-analyze why I did what I did 20 years ago.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

OK, mm, my man, let's look at at the scandal that was Haywood Sullivan--the former Sox GM who gave his son Marc the backup catcher's job (behind Fisk) for several seasons http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sullima02.shtml . Here was blatant nepotism in action, worse than Mike Glavine because more extended.

Now Marc may have been trying his damnedest, but I'd have given him a boo, I think, as a way of registering my disapproval of his being permitted to play MLB without the qualifications. (I probably would have booed Mike Glavine, if I'd been at the game he started.) Would you have? Would you have booed Sullivan if you were a non-Sox fan? A Sox fan? A human being? Any animate life-form?

Why or why not?

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: Attack? Who said anything about attack?.

You just sounded a tad defensive, is all.

ScarletKnight41 wrote: I don't have the need to self-analyze why I did what I did 20 years ago.

The unexamined life is not worth living.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

True, but if I'm going to examine my life, there are way more compelling aspects of it other than why I booed a sucky relief pitcher half of my life ago.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

ScarletKnight41 wrote: True, but if I'm going to examine my life, there are way more compelling aspects of it other than why I booed a sucky relief pitcher half of my life ago.

Damn. I was hoping to lure you into a debate, you vs. me and my pal Socrates.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Nah - I'm not in the mood for a debate. I'm way more focused on the fact that I just got all dolled up, I have a kick-ass garlic appetizer in the oven, and in a little while I'm off to spend New Year's Eve with loved ones and good friends.

Socrates can wait.

Hope it's a good year for you, as well as for everyone in the Pool!

[Guest SwitchHitter]

I don't boo players or other team members wearing my laundry. Even if I hate them. Even if they get picked off third for the final out of an inning. Even if they lose track of the number of outs. And especially not for making errors or getting thrown out at 2B trying to stretch or trying to steal.

I know I'm in the minority. Jimy Williams was booed at the 2004 ASG by a largely Astros-fan crowd. Much as I thought he sucked, I don't think he deserved to be booed on national TV. Even if the only reason he hadn't already been fired was because of his selection as an assistant coach in the ASG. .

[Zvon]

i think when youve paid a certain amount of dues to a team, you should boo when you feel the need.



^ I dont see how this kid could have paid those dues yet ^