The big news in this nacient season has been the, frankly, awful performance of Carlos Marmol and before the Cubs home opener the hometown fans let him have it during pregame introductions. Seems a bit harsh.
This is one of the rare times I look to the comments sections of the internet, as one can often get a quick snapshot of the masses opinions on a hot story there. I quickly noticed a definite pattern. The first few comments would be along the lines of:
“How dare these jerks boo him before the game, what happened to supporting your team?”
This would then be followed by a bunch of comments boiling down to:
“How dare you criticize me for booing?! I pay good money for tickets and these entitled millionaires better perform to their huge contracts or I’ll boo until the damn cows come home!”
And, you know, I get it. You’re jealous of these guys, making mounds of cash to play a game you love, better than you ever will. These guys make so much money, who cares what they think, they just have to deal with it. But here’s the part I don’t get:
“How dare you criticize me for booing?!”
I hear this all the time, usually accompanied by an accusation of being “PC” or “liberal” or something worse. And, usually, that is followed by some variation of, “It’s a free country, I can boo or complain or call people names all I want, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
And that’s where the logic breaks down.
Because you’re right, this is a free country and people are free to say damn near anything they want – including calling you out on it. If you’re going to boo and criticize and generally act like an asshole, you can’t get pissed when people call you an asshole.
There is a place for booing in sports, I just think it should be reserved for, oh, the other team. You know, the guys you’re supposed to rout against.
