Is It Ever Ok to Boo Your Own?
Perhaps I’m old school, but I can’t help being offended by a trend I am consistently seeing in games all over Chicagoland, from Wrigley to Soldier Field and the United Center. Since when is it ok to boo your own team?
My first recollection was the crowd booing Carlos Zambrano at Wrigley a while back. He made a motion indicating that he heard them and that he too was not impressed with his lackluster performance. Surprisingly Zambrano got in trouble merely for indicating that, yes, indeed, he had heard that the crowd was displeased with him.
Then I started hearing boos at Soldier Field. It wasn’t so bad when the boos were directed at Rex Grossman. Even the patience of the most ardent fans was wearing thin with Rex. But the minute Kyle Orton sprained an ankle and wasn’t immediately back up to his pre-injury QB rating, boom, he gets booed. Really? Is that fair? Orton who waited patiently on the bench, second-string runner up to a, let’s face it, Doug Flutie in training? Couldn’t Bears fans have cut him a little slack?
Most recently, I heard boos at the United Center at the Hawks/Ducks game. I couldn’t believe it. Because hockey is still a bit of a niche sport, hockey fans are some of the most devoted, and yet here they were booing their own team at the UC. I’m told this is somewhat standard for the old school hockey crowds, which surprised me a little bit. Still, I couldn’t help immediately flashing to that scene in Slapshot where the Hanson brothers climb into the stands and beat the crap out of the fair-weather fans that were lobbing food items at their heads, displeased with their performance. Had that happened on Wednesday, I wouldn’t have blamed the Hawks one bit.
What do you think? Is it ever ok to boo your own team?