Friendly Confines getting nasty???

[tubbfan]

From the Trib -

 

"They love their Cubbies in that town, and they sell out almost every game at Wrigley. We lost almost 100 games and the fans voiced their opinion. . . . It was unpleasant and sometimes it got nasty, but you knew they were yelling because they love their team. That's what made it so disappointing."- Juan Pierre.

 

And there's a problem with that???

 

"Manager Dusty Baker said last summer the Cubs were reluctant to call up Felix Pie because if the young prospect struggled he might be exposed to the same kind of treatment Patterson received."

 

That's the first time I heard that about Pie. Sound like more Dusty BS than anything else.

 

"Several Cubs have been booed over the last decade, from Mel Rojas to Todd Hundley to LaTroy Hawkins to Patterson and Jones."

 

Well, duh? Why shouldn't we boo bad performance???

 

"Lee was booed during his first month as a Cub in '04 but eventually evolved into one of their most popular players with his career year in '05."

 

Well, there you go. Performance good? Praise. Performance bad? Boo's. Isn't this a great country?

 

"It's one thing to boo a guy—I have no problem with that," Lee said. "But when it gets malicious … then a guy has to go home and you're a little nervous when you're getting racist comments and hate mail and phone calls. It's hard to play like that. I haven't gotten that, but I've seen a few guys on my team get it, and that's not right."

 

I have no disagreement with that - racism is bad in any case.

 

"In the end, the Cubs know that if they play the game right and win more than they lose, the fans will show them the love."

 

Anyone who tells me that the "Cub fan" goes to Wrigley to drink beer and disregard the game is totally NUTS! I care about the game of baseball as much as ANY fan. I believe other Cub fans do too! I recognize good performance and salute it. I also recognize poor performance and acknowledge that as well!

 

Be it Lee Elia, Dusty Baker, or whomever. . . I have a right to boo poor performance. If the player/manager has a problem with that. . .they should deal with it ! Its the nature of spectator sports!

[Electron Blue]

I agree with every single bit of your comments.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Booing lack of hustle or effort = I wouldn't do it, but okay

 

Booing lack of performance = stupid on all levels

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I've never been sold on the idea that different groups of fans have different personalities. Sports fans are, for the most part, just sports fans.

 

 

I would say Wrigley's status as a majority day-time ballpark makes it draw a lot more "just happy to be drunk in the sun" types than night games would.

[Omar]

You have a year like you did in 2003.. You give fans the knowledge that you can win. You do bad, they boo.

 

If you win, people wont boo. Its as simple as that.

[Outshined_One]

I really hope this particular culture among the players gets cleaned out. Baker did nothing but encourage it and used it to scapegoat a whole variety of problems facing this team.

 

Look, if you play or coach professional sports, you are putting yourself in the limelight and will be subject to criticism. People spend a lot of their time and money on sports and expect some sort of a return for their dedication. Athletes and coaches simply cannot have the attitude that fans will be kissing their feet everywhere they walk and that they will be absolved of any responsibility for whatever problems they face. If these guys scapegoat the fans for their problems, that's a slap to the face which will not resonate well with anyone. Part of their profession is to deal with hecklers, jerks, and the fans who boo. Maybe that is unfair or not right, but it's part of the gig.

 

I'm not going to be one of those people who tells fans what they should do when it comes to the whole booing thing. You paid the money for your ticket, food, beer, and whatnot and you are entitled to act in whatever allowable way you see fit. However, you also will have to pay the consequences when you step over the line or come off like a complete fool.

 

This is not some black eye on Cubs fans, either. Go to any professional sports venue in the world and you will hear booing (or its equivalent). People boo in New York. People boo in San Francisco. People boo in Houston. People whistle in Paris (and it's funny). Fans will boo players who are loafing and they will boo coaches and managers who make completely idiotic decisions.

 

Look, the racist heckling and threats are horrible, I will not dispute that. However, any time I hear a guy complain to the media about the fans booing him, that just grinds my gears. These guys are in the wrong profession if they want unconditional adoration from the fans.

[hawkcub]

I can't say that I never have booed but I do try to refrain from doing so. I don't got a problem with a person who does it within reason though. It seems like sometimes athletes think no matter what, fans should bow down before them.

 

As far as Cubs fans being the lovable losers, I hate being called that. Cub fans rejoice in every win and hate every loss at the same level as any other MLB team. It's just that we have loyal fans and a great ballpark not that we enjoy losing.

[Electron Blue]

I can't say that I never have booed but I do try to refrain from doing so. I don't got a problem with a person who does it within reason though. It seems like sometimes athletes think no matter what, fans should bow down before them.

 

As far as Cubs fans being the lovable losers, I hate being called that. Cub fans rejoice in every win and hate every loss at the same level as any other MLB team. It's just that we have loyal fans and a great ballpark not that we enjoy losing.

 

I, for one, boo and yell and call the players names while I watch the game. From my couch at the TV. It's entertainment in that sense. I f I were in the second row overlooking RF, I wouldn't -- no matter what the situation -- yell anything, or in any way taunt Jacque Jones. At home, it's different.

[A New Era]

Here we go again, the "boo debate".

 

I say, BOOOOOOOOOOOOO to that!

[C.C.]

Very simple if the teams stinks BOO all you want. It's the only way to send a message to ownership and players, besides not showing up to the games... Edited April 1, 2007 by C.C.

[Jehrico]

I'm glad Pierre said that. Hopefully he'll scare other crappy players like himself from wanting to come here to play.

[CubColtPacer]

From the Trib -

 

"They love their Cubbies in that town, and they sell out almost every game at Wrigley. We lost almost 100 games and the fans voiced their opinion. . . . It was unpleasant and sometimes it got nasty, but you knew they were yelling because they love their team. That's what made it so disappointing."- Juan Pierre.

 

And there's a problem with that???

 

I think Pierre is saying that he had sympathy for the fans-that he knew that they loved the team so much and were so disappointed, and he wished really hard that the club could have done better for them. Even if the fans said some nasty things, he knew it was only coming out of their extreme disappointment, and that added to his disappointment of the Cubs season in 2006.

 

"Manager Dusty Baker said last summer the Cubs were reluctant to call up Felix Pie because if the young prospect struggled he might be exposed to the same kind of treatment Patterson received."

 

That's the first time I heard that about Pie. Sound like more Dusty BS than anything else.

 

I definitely doubt this was the whole reason-it could have been a part of it though, especially with how understandably ugly the Cubs 2006 crowd was getting at times.

 

"Several Cubs have been booed over the last decade, from Mel Rojas to Todd Hundley to LaTroy Hawkins to Patterson and Jones."

 

Well, duh? Why shouldn't we boo bad performance???

 

"Lee was booed during his first month as a Cub in '04 but eventually evolved into one of their most popular players with his career year in '05."

 

Well, there you go. Performance good? Praise. Performance bad? Boo's. Isn't this a great country?

 

This is the one thing I'm not sure of. Why does a fan boo? So his team will know that the fans are not happy, do something different and do better. When you have a new player, they are usually already pressing too hard to try to impress the fans. When you boo, what happens? They press even harder, and that prolongs their slump. So I'm ok with booing, but give the new Cubs a chance to settle in first! It could sometimes have terrible effects on the team-for example, Jones wanted out because of the crowd-what if Lee had been the same way after 04 because of how he was treated in April?

[TB_11]

The difference lately is that the booing has been occuring more often and appears to have become more nasty. Given the performance of last year's team, the first should be expected. But no one can justify a fan whipping a baseball at Jacque Jones while he stands in the field. It was one isolated incident, but one that stands out when thinking about how the attitudes of Cubs fans have changed.

[Quakers]

The difference lately is that the booing has been occuring more often and appears to have become more nasty. Given the performance of last year's team, the first should be expected. But no one can justify a fan whipping a baseball at Jacque Jones while he stands in the field. It was one isolated incident, but one that stands out when thinking about how the attitudes of Cubs fans have changed.

 

This statement says what I would say. Booing a bad play or lack of hustle is one thing, but being downright rude and nasty is another. Everyone deserves some respect. There was a day when I thought that Cubs fans were a little bit classier than others, but now-a-days I think some of our younger fans don't respect the game they way they should. Hopefully they will learn.

[C.C.]

The difference lately is that the booing has been occuring more often and appears to have become more nasty. Given the performance of last year's team, the first should be expected. But no one can justify a fan whipping a baseball at Jacque Jones while he stands in the field. It was one isolated incident, but one that stands out when thinking about how the attitudes of Cubs fans have changed.

 

This statement says what I would say. Booing a bad play or lack of hustle is one thing, but being downright rude and nasty is another. Everyone deserves some respect. There was a day when I thought that Cubs fans were a little bit classier than others, but now-a-days I think some of our younger fans don't respect the game they way they should. Hopefully they will learn.

 

All I got to say is if players think Chicago is bad? Try NY or Boston...

[Quakers]

The difference lately is that the booing has been occuring more often and appears to have become more nasty. Given the performance of last year's team, the first should be expected. But no one can justify a fan whipping a baseball at Jacque Jones while he stands in the field. It was one isolated incident, but one that stands out when thinking about how the attitudes of Cubs fans have changed.

 

This statement says what I would say. Booing a bad play or lack of hustle is one thing, but being downright rude and nasty is another. Everyone deserves some respect. There was a day when I thought that Cubs fans were a little bit classier than others, but now-a-days I think some of our younger fans don't respect the game they way they should. Hopefully they will learn.

 

All I got to say is if players think Chicago is bad? Try NY or Boston...

 

I agree, other cities are worse. I also think that most Cubs fans do respect the game. But there are times when I see us becoming like those east coast fans. I have always thought that we should pride ourselves on being better than that.

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm glad Pierre said that. Hopefully he'll scare other Scrappy players like himself from wanting to come here to play.

 

Heh...fixed, according to Joe Morgan-logic.

 

I'm not gonna say all booing is good...and of course any kind of a racist threat or insult is inexcusable...but I don't get why booing is so often automatically equated with "racist fans" if the guy getting booed isn't white. Like everyone who boos is a racist.

Edited April 1, 2007 by Sammy Sofa

[TB_11]

I'm glad Pierre said that. Hopefully he'll scare other S[/c]crappy players like himself from wanting to come here to play.

 

Heh...fixed, according to Joe Morgan-logic.

 

I'm not gonna say all booing is good...and of course any kind of a racist threat or insult is inexcusable...but I don't get why booing is so often automatically equated with "racist fans" if the guy getting booed isn't white. Like everyone who boos is a racist.

 

Derrek's point was that Jones received racist hate mail during last season, not that the booing at Wrigley was racist.

[Soul]

I find it interesting that players and managers have had absolutely no problem whatsoever taking millions of dollars in return for perpetual badness, then when the fans finally start demanding a level of performance they start crying foul.

 

To all players and coaches of the Cubs:

 

You're getting millions of dollars to play at Wrigley. I doubt any will offer to return part of their salary if they fail, right? OK then. Stop complaining, and perform -- or leave.

 

End of story.

[Soriano12]

I have only booed one player at Wrigley, Todd Hundley.

 

It was well deserved, IMO.

[adamb0719]

So what player do you think has been booed the worse?

 

I think the worse I have ever heard was Hawkins, but I only make about 4-5 games a year. Dempster also got it pretty bad during a start against the Reds a few years ago.

 

And IMO the worse is fans who boo and don't know why. Like in the said Dempster start when a friend I went with kept booing and yelling at him, and all he would say when I asked him why he kept acting like an ass was that he sucked. Didn't know why he sucked, just that he did. Thats when I quit going to games with people who don't really care about the game.

[soccer10k]

If I'm making a couple million dollars a year, you can boo me all you want.

 

The racist comments go way too far though.

[oldcubsfan]

I really hope this particular culture among the players gets cleaned out. Baker did nothing but encourage it and used it to scapegoat a whole variety of problems facing this team.

 

Look, if you play or coach professional sports, you are putting yourself in the limelight and will be subject to criticism. People spend a lot of their time and money on sports and expect some sort of a return for their dedication. Athletes and coaches simply cannot have the attitude that fans will be kissing their feet everywhere they walk and that they will be absolved of any responsibility for whatever problems they face. If these guys scapegoat the fans for their problems, that's a slap to the face which will not resonate well with anyone. Part of their profession is to deal with hecklers, jerks, and the fans who boo. Maybe that is unfair or not right, but it's part of the gig.

 

I'm not going to be one of those people who tells fans what they should do when it comes to the whole booing thing. You paid the money for your ticket, food, beer, and whatnot and you are entitled to act in whatever allowable way you see fit. However, you also will have to pay the consequences when you step over the line or come off like a complete fool.

 

This is not some black eye on Cubs fans, either. Go to any professional sports venue in the world and you will hear booing (or its equivalent). People boo in New York. People boo in San Francisco. People boo in Houston. People whistle in Paris (and it's funny). Fans will boo players who are loafing and they will boo coaches and managers who make completely idiotic decisions.

 

Look, the racist heckling and threats are horrible, I will not dispute that. However, any time I hear a guy complain to the media about the fans booing him, that just grinds my gears. These guys are in the wrong profession if they want unconditional adoration from the fans.

 

I think that no player should have to put up with the crap thrown at them. Fans ragging on players before the season is even 1 month old is childish and stupid. Most of it is racist crap that Baker, Jones, Pierre, Hawkins and others had to put up with. This is a disgrace to the city and the team. If you disagree, please let me know why.

[oldcubsfan]

I find it interesting that players and managers have had absolutely no problem whatsoever taking millions of dollars in return for perpetual badness, then when the fans finally start demanding a level of performance they start crying foul.

 

To all players and coaches of the Cubs:

 

You're getting millions of dollars to play at Wrigley. I doubt any will offer to return part of their salary if they fail, right? OK then. Stop complaining, and perform -- or leave.

 

End of story.

 

You just sound bitter and jealous.

[treebird]

If I'm making a couple million dollars a year, you can boo me all you want.

 

The racist comments go way too far though.

 

if we go with the standard put forth in your first statement, i'll gladly be okay with racist statements being shouted at me if i can make that much money.