I
dropped about six followers on Twitter these last few days (probably another
six or seven after this!), and looking at them I understand immediately why. I
am an outspoken defender of Pablo Sandoval, and to a lesser extent, Hanley
Ramirez too. I find their treatment among a large, angry, disrespectful and
noisy group of Red Sox fans on the social networks to be at best ugly, at
worst, disgusting. Yes, everyone loves a bit or sarcastic humor, sure. But, the
sheer level of vitriol leveled at Sandoval and also Ramirez is, at this point,
nauseating.
It
really doesn’t matter who the players are involved here. My concern, for the
psychological well-being of the people involved is, what on earth are you doing
loudly booing a home team player on opening day? If you saw the footage of the
Red Sox players being introduced to the home team crowd today, what stood out
was a negative aspect. What stood out was thousands of buffoons booing Pablo
Sandoval. A Red Sox player, a home team player.
Now, if
a player was guilty of something bad, I would understand to some extent.
Harming another human, cheating at his sport, something along those lines,
sure, knock yourself out, boo away to your little heart’s content. But Sandoval
is guilty of nothing of the sort. He’s a bit overweight, and he isn’t
performing to the levels we would expect for a player on his salary. That’s the crux of it. If you are a Red Sox
fan, one would assume you want your team to do well. Part of that would surely
be supporting players in a slump to do better, right? Is booing going to fix
anything? Is your ugly, negative projection on to this player going to do
anything positive at all?
I have
so many questions for these people, those who stand up at a home opener and
lustily boo a home town player.
What’s
wrong in your life that you have to boo loudly a home player on opening day? I hate to go there but, are you taking your
own over-eating and weight issues out on someone who is earning more than you,
but suffering the same issues physically? That’s one thing I’d like to ask some
of the overweight people I saw on twitter, Facebook and also from the feed of
the home opener, booing Sandoval. Sure, you’re not paid millions, and I am
guessing that’s at least of part of where your anger comes from, but really I
am curious, what do you think the Booing is going to achieve?
Of
course, it’s never going to end. Some lurk is always going to boo. It happens
everywhere, in every sport. It is undeniably louder than it used be, however.
This angry, negative behavior is a snapshot of our current state of society,
where someone as ugly as Trump can come to the fore, riding a wave of tangible
anger right to the top.
Make no
mistake, fellow Boston fans, supporters of other teams are watching us and
mocking us for this behavior. It’s getting louder and louder, and, it’s a
really ugly look for a fan-base.
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