Sports fans are told what to do far too often.
They’re given rules by stadiums, coaches, players, and pundits.
Earlier this month, Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur took issue with the Lambeau Field faithful conducting the wave and chanting Go Pack Go while his team was on offense…It was a preseason game.
Today, fans of the New York Mets are in the crosshairs of the team’s players and the media. The fans at Citi Field in Queens have been booing them.
Why? They have the third largest payroll in baseball. Where’s it gotten them? Third place in the NL East, and 4 games under .500.
Mets fans are ticked and I don’t blame them.
Javy Baez and Francisco Lindor have publicly expressed their displeasure with this development. Mets fans are mad. Mets players don’t like it. Who’s in the right here?
As happens often these days…nobody. And I’ll explain.
Former Cubs first baseman Mark Grace used to wear a shirt under his uniform that said “Shut Up and Play”. It was a reminder to himself and his teammates to focus on the task at hand…winning baseball games.
It seems today like Javy Baez is as much if not more concerned with fan behavior than he is in helping his overpaid teammates get into the playoffs.
The Mets stink…and their fans are fed up.
As for those fans, I’m not going to tell them what to do. They pay for the right to sit in that stadium and appropriately cheer or jeer for whomever they choose.
What I will tell you is a rule I have for myself as a lifelong fan.
Never boo your own team for poor play. Poor effort? Knock yourself out. There are two teams out there and both want to win. If yours doesn’t. Well…them’s the breaks.
