why we boo

I was at home during the Brian Lerher Show on Wednesday morning. it was, as the show pretty much always is, a generally interesting two hours, but the last segment was of particular interest to me-- Brian hosted a call-in on when and why people boo at ballgames. he was prompted to do this segment by the treatment of David Wright by the fans at Shea the previous Sunday, when the Mets lost to the Braves. David has struggled to get going this spring, after struggling to stay going at the end of last season. I hadn't seen the game (I was teaching at the time), and was surprised to be hearing from Brian Lerher three days after the fact that it had happened, particularly since I'd read coverage of the game and it hadn't been mentioned.

The last Met I remember booing was Doug Sisk (though my family should correct me if I'm remembering incorrectly). I've actually had conversations with a couple of people about how I don't get folks who boo their own team-- their quickness to boo their players is one of my big issues with Yankee fans. I also rarely boo the opposing players-- sure, I booed Jimmy Rollins of the Phillies both times I saw him in the opening series at Shea for his comments about his team being the one to beat in the NL East (bet he's sorry he said that now, huh?), and I routinely join in the jeering of Lawrence "Chipper" Jones-- but I make fun of the fans who boo the opposing lineup just for being announced, or the opposing team for holding Jose Reyes on base. my reaction to those kinds of boos is simple-- it's dumb to boo people for behaving like major league ballplayers, no matter who they play for.

It was an interesting group of people that were on the air to discuss why they boo at ballgames. the first caller was from Philadelphia, who talked about booing in Philly as a fan tradition, a form of tough love. He talked about Phillies fans having high expectations for their team, and when they don't live up the fans feel the only proper reaction is to express their displeasure through boos. Just as I was thinking "yeah, that's what's wrong with Philly...," Brian noted that the negative reinforcement obviously wasn't working. unsurprisingly, the Phillies fan had no real response to that-- because even the dimmest of baseball fans must know somewhere in the deep recesses of their psyche that public negative reinforcement is rarely motivational, least of all for professional athletes. this caller did reinforce my negative opinion of Phillies fans, though, started this season by the Phillies fan who continually left his passed out girlfriend in the stands at Shea earlier in the season.

a couple of callers later, a Cubs fan was on the air expressing exactly the dismay I felt at the Phillies fan's attitude toward his hometown club. she pointed out that the Cubbies have gone longer than almost anyone has been alive without a world championship, and yet Cubs fans never boo their players, and are among the most loyal of fans in MLB. at this point, Brian offered an explanation for the difference (using the Yankees and their fans as a primary example); he pointed out that in NYC, fans tend to see themselves as consumers, and as such feel a right to boo players who don't live up to their expectations-- because unsatisfied consumers have a right to complain. in the midwest, he went on, folks tend to see their hometown teams as an extension of themselves, and that as such they don't boo their own team because to do so would feel like booing themselves.

I'm not sure if I identify so much more with the midwestern approach because of my midwestern roots or because I actually think that the majority of Mets fans feel as most Cubs fans do about their team-- and that in New York, anyway, it's only those fans who have never really gotten used to losing (Yankee fans, I'm looking at you) that feel a general need to express their displeasure with losing at the ballpark.

in the end, the show made me look forward to a game with my dad, and his unique style of responding to the inane cheers of slightly misguided fans. when folks start yelling really stupid stuff, my dad starts yelling the biggest non-sequitors he can think of, usually with some kind of food reference. I'm looking forward to a Sunday afternoon, hot dog in hand, hearing my dad's booming voice saying "Oysters! Rockefeller!" or "Chicken! Marbella!"