Master Index of Archived Threads


On Booing the Mets, from FAFIF

Gwreck Jun 10 2006 10:46 PM

Original article is [url=http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/6/10/2022508.html]here[/url]. Here's the relevant portion (taken from the article about Matsui) ]There's a rancor that's drifted into the stands at Shea in recent years that's just plain ugly. The idea that home fans never boo is a bit too St. Louis for me -- hell, I've leather-lunged a hapless Met or two myself. But these days you hear willfully coarse, self-congratulatory booing. It's not just the meathead element, which will always be there, but fans who've somehow bought into the notion of New York as a tough town where "we" boo, leading them to let loose for most anything and to see booing as necessary hazing awaiting any new guy. (Booing Jorge Julio during player introductions was just astonishing.) Yes, this is a tough town, but the flip side of that has always been that it's a smart town, one in which hitting behind the runner gets cheered and a bases-loaded sac fly when three runs down with one out in the ninth doesn't. I don't know how this crept in and I don't think there's a way to escort it out again, but it's ridiculous. And where one commenter sees it as a sign of creeping Bronxness, I see it as something even worse: This reflexive, mean-spirited booing is Philadelphia stuff, the self-consuming vitriol of the longtime loser who turns on the home team at the first intimation that he'll be disappointed again. This is a fascinating analysis, and spot-on, I think. I think the answer to how to "escort it out" is to keep winning, obviously. That being said, the scenario that exists now will be revealing. Given that the boo-birds' scapegoats are gone -- whether via trade (Julio, Matsui) or via performance improvement (Beltran, Valentin) and the Mets are winning, there's not much cause for booing. So will new scapegoats develop, or can this be nipped in the bud?

DocTee Jun 10 2006 11:48 PM

Should the Mets demote Milledge, Nady is the next boo-bird. Floyd, too, if he's healthy and "apparently" blocking THE KID.

Edgy DC Jun 11 2006 12:37 AM

]I think the answer to how to "escort it out" is to keep winning, obviously. I don't think so. People are taking pride in having a whipping boy. Even when the team is successful, and having shed whippees such as Julio, Matsui, and Lima. Metssc, in a link someone put to another forum, has his old signature line altered to "Get that piece of crap TRASH off my team!" Nymr has declared that he's looking for a whipping boy in the bullpen. People still seem mad at Oliver for having had the nerve to make the team, even though he's pitched well enough to validate his spot and then some. His pitching and his hitting has held them off, but if the Mets win 10 in a row with two consecutive poor outings by Oliver, I wouldn't be surprised to see boos rain down on him. The sense of entitlement seems larger this year.

Elster88 Jun 11 2006 02:52 AM

Edgy DC wrote: ]I think the answer to how to "escort it out" is to keep winning, obviously. Nymr has declared that he's looking for a whipping boy in the bullpen. Also, cleonjones mentioned that he enjoyed whipping Matsui. Why would you enjoy that? ______________________ My theory is that booing makes the boo-birds feel better about themselves. I should ask a psychologist.

Nymr83 Jun 11 2006 12:16 PM

again people take a joke seriously, and worse yet out of it's original context. when i made that comment it was directed at a specific pitcher who was about to blow a lead. i'm much happier when the mets don't have anyone for me to dislike (like right now!)