I am Your Sunshine

Watching 61* strengthens my belief that we should not criticize players at will, not to mention verbally abusing them on the field which many people seem to enjoy doing. I cheer fervently for the team and individual players when I’m watching a game live (or in front of TV, let’s be honest), but I’m always reluctant doing anything that might disturb players, like yelling at them as they walk by. It’s heart warming to see a fan saying hi or expressing encouragement to a player and get a ‘ello or a smile of acknowledgment back. I’m just not the kind of person who longs for interaction with people I admire. I don’t know what to say when I met Lawrence Block, I’m not crazy about getting a sweaty towel used by my favorite band member, signatures and handshakes matter little to me. (But darn, I did dream of JT shaking my hand the other day.) I just love enjoying their work, whether it is in front of a typewriter or on the field. But I sometimes do envy those who shout out a players name with affection and get an appreciative smile and a wave in return.

However, verbal abusing is completely a different story. You can often hear fans heckling at players on the field, yelling something like “player A, you suck!” “player B, go sit on the bench, we don’t need you.” “player C, #!@$@%$%@%$@^$$% #@%”. (However, “Use.Both.Hands, player D” would be considered a constructive criticism. After all, it’s embarrassing enough for everyone that announcers can’t call a routine fly ball a routine flu ball and it’s not something you should be too psyched about when people cheer like crazy when you catch a… routine fly ball.) Sure, some players frustrate us big time, some seem stubborn in a wrong way and some simply look lazy as if they don’t give a damn besides depositing big fat checks every month (or whenever they get paid.) However, we can’t know for sure what is the cause of their disappointing performance.

whether it’s the benefit of the doubt, (darn, I forgot what it was I wanted to say.)

Monkeyball posted a similar topic on AN before I can finish this piece. And camperdog commented with this brilliant “heckling” incident took place in Coliseum.

Early 80s, Tigers in town, beautiful, sun-soaked day, I’m in the bleachers (when we had REAL bleachers), Chet Lemon is trotting leisurely out to center between innings, and this guy holding two lemons in each hand stands up and hollers, “Hey Chet. I’ve got your wife and kids here!” Lemon, to his credit, cracked up (he always struck me as a very classy guy) and so did the rest of us. Beautiful.