Hi Mets fans,
The villains are gone now so you can put down your pitchforks.
Yesterday on twitter we all kind of discussed who the next booing victim might be, but then late in the day it dawned on me….now stay with me Mets fans….this is radical….
HOW ABOUT WE DON’T BOO ANYBODY ON THE METS
Think about it. Sandy hasn’t done anything wrong. Terry hasn’t done anything wrong.
The guy on the mound won 15 last year. The first baseman is a fan favorite.
The second baseman isn’t named Luis…or maybe he is…but whoever it is, it’s not that Luis.
The shortstop should be cheered loud and long if you have any hope of seeing him in blue and orange for the 50th anniversary
The third baseman caught some crap last year but how about we remember that he’s going to wind up behind only Seaver in the Mets pantheon and will be the dominant offensive player in every category in team history before he’s done.
Oh yeah, all those guys are home grown.
The left fielder – let’s cut him some slack before we boo him back to Pittsburgh or Boston or Canada, ok?
The center fielder – we all like him don’t we?
The right fielder – let’s stop blaming him for everything and remember that he’s playing through an injury in a contract year so it’s not like he’s a slacker.
Behind the plate – how could you hate on those guys?
You gonna boo Dickey? Could Niese earn your wrath? Could the other two possibly let you down?
You gonna hate on Mookie or Hale or Warthen?
There’s one man in the bullpen who possibly, nay probably deserves it after how last year ended – but I’m going to ask you to grant him amnesty. You don’t have to boo, but you don’t have to cheer either. Let’s express our sadness at his behavior with silence not boos.
Sandy is working hard to change the culture on the field. Today I ask you to join me in changing the culture in the stands.
…
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it’s hopeless. They’ll find someone,and it’ll be fueled by media/radio guys telling us who’s a bum.
There are some extremely likeable guys here, but fans always know better than the manager or GM, so once someone has a bad performance or two, he’ll become the scapegoat. Closers always draw ire from their role, and despite how good Frankie is it’s likely he’ll struggle here and there. May be him. Beltran leads right now, especially if he’s hurt, but any of the relievers are never more than a blown game away from getting booed. It’st usually a reliever. Sean Green, Aaron Heilman, whether or not they’re generally successful. Got a lot of new faces in there this year, but it’s unlikely all 7 will be awesome.
I share your feelings toward the booing of the Mets. However, should Reyes perform stongly and still be traded or allowed to leave via Free Agency I will be booing the Wilpons & Alderson VERY VERY loudly!
I mentioned this on twitter yesterday: I only boo lack of effort and booing anything else is counterproductive. I understand the majority of the people that boo have little knowledge of the game but it still bothers me that, the best homegrown position player this team has ever had, is booed from time to time because he’s perceived as “unclutch”(don’t get me started about that or the term “clutch” to begin with).
Frankly, I can’t take a “fan” seriously when he starts to boo players in April or May. How silly do the people who booed Johan in early 2008 feel now? I understand the whole “I paid for the ticket, I have the right to boo” philosophy, but know a little about the game before you do it. Don’t boo David Wright during an early May game when you don’t know that a game can end after 5 innings if it’s raining (yes, this really happened, and if that person is reading this, I’m still waiting for my $150). So again, you can boo all you want, just don’t expect this FAN to take you seriously.
i don’t boo. not my own team anyway. and i hate these articles implying that there’s some kind of ridiculous hate quota mets fans have to fill. it might be the most ridiculous notion ever…except that a lot of mets fans are a joke.
the idea is to ENJOY BASEBALL. like amazin’ avenue said last week, if you don’t, then don’t go. root for your team. why boo them? i don’t get it. it doesn’t make sense to me. they’re going to hear booing and what? try harder? and how do fans know that what they perceive as “lack of effort” isn’t a guy with tendinitis in his knee that he’s been battling all year or a tender hamstring from the grind of a 162 game season?
will it make mets fans stop booing if they realize they’re creeping into philadelphia territory every time they make one 0-17 slide or a single 3.1, 7 run outing into the primary reason we haven’t won it all in 25 years?!
just to be clear, my “lack of effort” term isn’t whether or not i feel someone’s not running everything out. It’s when you stand at home plate after popping a pitch up or declining to be sent to the minors when it could help save your career and benefit your team. with that said, i can’t even remember the last time I booed someone and i go to about 15-20 games a year
To quote Lisa Simpson: “Why would people pay money to come and boo?”
The way Mets fans show energy and enthusiasm lately, I’ve started to wonder if it would be a better business move for the Mets to have kept Oliver Perez and brought him out every day. Promote it as a BOO OLLIE day and they’d sell out. *sigh*
You know what would go a long way towards that end?
Pitchers who throw strikes and hustle over to cover first base on a ground ball. Baserunners who run the bases with intelligence and slide when it’s called for. Outfielders who throw to the correct base according to the score, outs, and runners on. Players who accept their roles and assignments for the good of the team.
Absolutely, there are chuckleheads out there who boo just to make themselves feel important, but the Mets of the past few years have also frustrated the living hell out of perfectly reasonable fans who only expect to see some modicum of passion and the game played correctly.
I’m sorry, but on the whole and based purely upon its efforts and actions, this has not been a likable team for a while. Absolutely, let’s turn the page and move on, but this has NEVER just been about the fans simply being unreasonable.
Heilman in particular did himself by loafing his way to cover first one day on a ground ball. There were rumblings prior to that, as his performances had left a lot to be desired, but that particular play opened up the floodgates. It was as if the fans said, “Look, we understand that you’re struggling, but if you’re not even going to bother to help yourself out, then you need to go.”
Alderson has already proven he’ll make the tough decisions and jettison dead weight. My other hope for this season is that Collins doesn’t put up with the lackadaisical, every-man-for-himself crap that has infected this team for the past half-decade. Manuel kept saying he was preaching “team” and “playing the game right,” but much like under Randolph, there were never any consequences when things went otherwise. Collins seems a lot more adamant, and the same things that got him run out of Anaheim are the very things the Mets need.
I never boo until someone gives me a reason to do so… and never to start the season. Last year, Ollie after he showed the “me first” attitude was my only automatic boo and Jerry Manuel because he is an awful manager at the beginning of every game. This year, most likely to be booed is probably going to be K Rod… mostly because most New Yorkers don’t appreciate cowards who punch geriatric gentlemen in the face repeatedly. He is a despicable human being. I won’t boo or cheer him, even if he saves the seventh game of the World Series. Giving him an emotional reaction validates his existence, which I refuse to do.
If someone doesn’t run out a ground ball… I will boo my brains out. Physical errors don’t deserve boos… mental errors do. Walking the bases loaded will get me to boo every time. If I didn’t do so once in little league, a major leaguer should be able to avoid doing so as well. Argue balls and strikes? SHUT UP AND PLAY!!! Of course, that player deserves to be booed.
I refuse to carry over boos from at bat to at bat. Lack of hustle on a continued basis will get you stamped… Rickey Henderson, Hall Of Famer or not… when he was on the Mets, was a loafer and I booed him regularly.
being a boo bird is a part of showing your feelings toward your team.
back in the early 70’s i remember a few rare and i mean very rare times when your mets idol and mine tom seaver was booed!
i can’t wait to see beltran in san francisco come july.
i will be waiting for him, as usual in my bleacher seat!!
Seaver booed? Wow.
yep.
as i recall this was around 1974 when seaver developed a bad habit of throwing balls that landed over the green shea fence with regularity.
bruce stark, legendary daily news cartoonist had a very funny cartoon of a a sad looking seaver sitting next to a gopher on the mound,making a refrence to seaver”gopher ball throwing” issues.
fact was ,seaver had muscle spasam problems that messed up his delivery.
taken out of the game,the fans let him have it.
Let’s face it. There are certain Mets fans which will never be happy until the Mets are everything they hate. (Yanks) Until we sign all the free agents and trade away every prospect. Until we are known for our checkbook, not our farm system. This is a team I hope I never see. I am glad Sandy handled this season the way he has. I did not expect much in the off season. I expected this year to be a remove the stench of Omar season. Looking toward 2012 and a fresh start. I have not written off this season at all. I think this team will be better than most folks give it credit for. It will be fun to watch the kids coming of age. But, back to the topic. I have always found it much more fun to boo the opposing players than home team. NY should be a place that intimidates our rivals not our players.
I think this tea is going to surprise, and I will take a homegrown team over Vince Coleman, Bobby Bonilla and especially Tom Glavine any day. If you can’t best em, hire em? What’s the point.
you left out kenny rogers.
The only person that needs booing is the Wilponzis. They should be booed every game, we need to get their stench out of this franchise. I root for the Mets to win on the field and I root for Picard to win even bigger 1 billion dollars worth.
Sorry but this is New York. Preform up to expectations or else you’ll hear from the fans. Its what expected of me at my job. Why should it be different for anyone else? Because my boss sure as hell lets me know when my performance isn’t up to snuff.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s “perform” not “preform”.
Joe you are correct. Did i make a typo? iPad had a habit of “correcting” things. I should proofreader better.
no, not you Shannon. That was directed to the the guy who’s boss let’s him know if his performance is not up to snuff.
Ah, well I have many typos. Some are me, but many are the ipad. Sometimes they make the post funnier.
right on drunk !!
I’ve never booed at any of my teams or players…I think it’s silly. And it doesn’t help one bit! Great article!!! I hope it catches on. Lets Go Mets!
For years I beleived booing your own team was a mistake. I still hate when it happens. That being said, I’ve done it. When Bobby V. was manager I was so frustrated with some of his bizarre moves (like continually using Bobby Bonilla in critical pinch-hitting spots or sticking with Mel Rojas in tight games when the only people excited to see him on the mound were in the other dugout) that I found myself booing. Still, I think it should be for extreme cases. If the manager is doing something really terrible, something that it is in their power to change, boo, otherwise I don’t like booing your own team.
I won’t boo the closer (the only one on this team who might “deserve” it) because, though his actions last year affected his play on the field (in that he couldn’t perform), it wasn’t his job performance that put him in his current predicament. He’s got problems above and beyond baseball — life issues — and no matter how public they became, he’s got a right to privacy and a chance to be given the time to work through his demons.
I’m not a boo bird in general — not toward my own team, that is. Even a singular lapse on the field — not covering first, missing a cutoff man, standing in the box on a popup, whatever — I’ll let slide once, because I know in my job I’ll have a lapse and miss an assignment or forget one of my responsibilities. When you do something day after day (after day after day), much of it becomes routine, yes, but there can easily be a moment of complacency here or there, a split second when your body freezes up and then it becomes too late to recover.
Even Reyes, who has been reprimanded for not running out a popup or two, I can let slide, because we see how much he enjoys playing the game and how much effort he puts into it. I’m disappointed when he stands in the box and I hope he doesn’t do it again, but I never feel like he’s coasting on his abilities and it never seems to be an attitude problem with him. (Unlike, say, a shortstop in Florida.)