# Booing your own team is wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 8, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262 "2005-10-08T01:19:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/41 "2005-10-09T17:47:56Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > It’s not like I’m preventing you from voicing whatever you want. I simply consider it classless. And, like I said in my OP, I hope the fans who boo get what I feel they deserve–a losing team. To me, people who boo aren’t fans of the team, they are fans of winning. I’ll try that argument on my boss if I ever majorly screw up. “But boss, aren’t you my fan? What, all you care about is our obligation to our investors to perform?” Little league, it’s all about playing the game. They play for the love, we watch for the love. In pro sports, it’s abusurd to not acknowledge the stakes are higher. They’re _professionals_. If a professional performs his best, losing is acceptable. If he plays like an idiot, it’s not. He can play beer-league softball if he doesn’t want to be held to a professional standard that any other entertainer would. This “fan-of-winning” sentimentality is really quite misplaced when evaluating the performance of atheletes who, themselves, would never play for less than the top dollar they can command. It’s not all about “love of the game” in pro sports, so why be a pollyanna and pretend? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/42 "2005-10-09T17:56:48Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > This “fan-of-winning” sentimentality is really quite misplaced when evaluating the performance of atheletes who, themselves, would never play for less than the top dollar they can command. It’s not all about “love of the game” in pro sports, so why be a pollyanna and pretend? Because I think your argument is bad. Yes, I do believe many of the players would play for less, if that were all they could get. As it is, it isn’t, so why should they? And I wouldn’t go to work if I weren’t getting paid. That doesn’t mean that I’ll allow my boss to scream epithets at me. My boss isn’t paying for the right to treat me that way, my boss is paying for me to show up and do my best. If my best isn’t good enough, I can be fired. But not screamed at. I don’t accept that as a natural and accepted result of my employment. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/43 "2005-10-09T18:04:41Z")
Are you an entertainer? If not, do you think it would be any more appropriate for your boss to give you a standing ovation when you do right? Scream “yeeeeaaaah!” Whistle as loud as he can? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/44 "2005-10-09T18:09:08Z")
Maybe my boss could paint my name on his chest and blow a horn when he gives me a raise. All the senior management and the folks in HR could do the wave. If and when I get a paper published in Nature, maybe there should be a parade. Yeah. Life would be just like pro sports. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/45 "2005-10-09T18:11:13Z")
Well, sure. I get lots of compliments and accolades when I do something great. I get praise and raises and the occasional “woo hoo!” What has being an entertainer to do with it? You used examples from your work. I used examples from mine. My boss can calmly and rationally explain a problem. If she starts screaming or calling me names, I’m gone. So, if you want to equate baseball players with average employees, fine. Average employees shouldn’t have to endure screaming or namecalling either. A boss who screams or namecalls is a classless pig. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/46 "2005-10-09T18:15:50Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > So, if you want to equate baseball players with average employees, fine. My entire position is to _not_ equate baseball players with average employees…as they are _entertainers_, and the audience+entertainer dynamic is quite obviously not the same as the deskjocky+middle-management at Staples dynamic, nor should it be. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/47 "2005-10-09T18:18:11Z")
> [@Loopydude](#): > > My entire position is to _not_ equate baseball players with average employees…as they are _entertainers_, and the audience+entertainer dynamic is quite obviously not the same as the deskjocky+middle-management at Staples dynamic, nor should it be. So why do you keep bringing up things like the consequences for negligence at your job? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/48 "2005-10-09T18:21:14Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > So why do you keep bringing up things like the consequences for negligence at your job? _Because I’m held appropriately accountable for ineptitude_. If an audience cannot voice disapproval for poor entertainment, they have no ability to hold the entertainer appropriately accontable for _their_ ineptitude. I never intended to suggest one should extrapolate from that example an office workplace dynamic. You did that, despite the fact it’s the opposite of the point I was trying to make. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/49 "2005-10-09T21:28:01Z")
Entertainers…hmm… Should a ballerina be booed if she missteps. A guitarist booed if he hits a wrong note? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/50 "2005-10-09T21:29:48Z")
> [@jimpatro](#): > > Entertainers…hmm… > > Should a ballerina be booed if she missteps. A guitarist booed if he hits a wrong note? Some symphonies have caused _riots_! ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/51 "2005-10-09T22:44:15Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > To me, people who boo aren’t fans of the team, they are fans of winning. I agree with **Kyla** that this statement nails it exactly. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2005, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/52 "2005-10-09T23:30:21Z")
> [@jimpatro](#): > > A guitarist booed if he hits a wrong note? I’m quite sure every guitarist does something wrong every time he goes on stage, just as an athlete makes plenty of errors every game. Every strike a batter misjudges, every swing he takes that’s a quarter-inch underneath the sweet spot, every 92 MPH fastball he swings at too soon, thinking it’s the 85 MPH slider, and on and on. Does he get booed for these small multiple mistakes? Almost never. But if he strikes out four or five times in a game, this making perhaps 12 or fifteen seperate mistakes that afternoon, well, then he might get booed, and deservedly so: he’s having an awful game. Same with the guitist who hits plenty of clinkers in a concert. He’s having a bad day, and the audience is getting to hear a far worse concert than they expect from a professional. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/53 "2005-10-10T01:47:41Z")
Actually most people don’t hear musical mistakes (guitarist, bass player here) and even when they do they don’t really care. In live performance of course. Just got back from a recording session and of course there perfection is all that will fly. And having a bad day? Someone should be ridiculed for having a bad day? ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/54 "2005-10-10T02:12:24Z")
Depends on how bad. Say you show up to the gig so shitfaced you can barely stand, and play like Very Drunk Person. Boos you shall get. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/55 "2005-10-10T06:30:30Z")
Yeah, given that scenario, I’d agree. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/56 "2005-10-10T11:26:27Z")
> [@jimpatro](#): > > ? Someone should be ridiculed for having a bad day? If he’s charging me money to see a professional performance? You bet your ass. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/57 "2005-10-10T11:56:46Z")
Ashlee Simpson has a knack for being the pied piper of boobirds. Numerous times her painful caterwauling has elicited hearty boos, and it’s because her screeching sucks. I just don’t want to live in a world where booing Ashlee Simpson is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/58 "2005-10-10T12:46:38Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I don’t think everything my favorite sports team does is wise or well done, but I don’t boo them or the individual players. > > I’m watching the playoff game between the Angels and the Yankees, and the Yankee fans booed Randy Johnson as he left the game. To me, that is classless and, frankly, I hope such fans get what I feel they deserve–a losing team. > > Obviously, since a whole bunch of people are booing, a whole bunch of people disagree. But they’re wrong! So there. 😃 Addressing the original Post: You don’t like that the fans booed Randy for stinking and really hurting the Yankee’s chances. The same guy who on Friday said he didn’t think the Yankee fans were loud enough. These are the same Yankee fans that gave Chacon a huge hand last night despite leaving down 2-1 because they appreciate the effort he had made. These are the same Yankee fans that tried to bring the house down showing their appreciation for Bernie Williams. In many ways you need to appreciate that maybe Yankee fans are just more passionate then you are or like. The fans in NY are ardent and really live and die with the team. The same is true of the RedSox fans. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/59 "2005-10-10T12:58:23Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > Addressing the original Post: You don’t like that the fans booed Randy for stinking and really hurting the Yankee’s chances. The same guy who on Friday said he didn’t think the Yankee fans were loud enough. ?? Assuming I’m the “guy”: When did I say that Yankee fans aren’t loud enough? I think the majority of Yankee fans are fans of their winning ways, and I know that many are sore winners. I also know that the Yankees wouldn’t even be in the playoffs if it weren’t for Randy Johnson. But that doesn’t matter, I guess. The only thing that matters is winning now. Now now now now now now! It’s the Veruca Salt of fanbases. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262/60 "2005-10-10T13:07:04Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > ?? > > Assuming I’m the “guy”: When did I say that Yankee fans aren’t loud enough? > > I think the majority of Yankee fans are fans of their winning ways, and I know that many are sore winners. > > I also know that the Yankees wouldn’t even be in the playoffs if it weren’t for Randy Johnson. But that doesn’t matter, I guess. The only thing that matters is winning now. Now now now now now now! It’s the Veruca Salt of fanbases. No, Randy said the Yankee Fans weren’t loud enough. It was covered by the local press and Radio. About half the Yankee fans are the band wagon variety and about half are die hard, “bleed Yankee Pinstripes” variety like me. It’s just that with Yankee fans, the Band Wagon variety are immensely rich and buy up all the good seats. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/booing-your-own-team-is-wrong/325262.md?page=4)