Eagles

Jeff Stoutland (Briefly) Participates in the Trea Turner Standing Ovation Discussion

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Aug 4th, 2023 · 1:46 PM EDT

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Stoutland University appears to be siding with the “Trea Turner should get a standing ovation” folks:

Jeff Stoutland gets it. pic.twitter.com/vNiqIvE2aE

— Jack Fritz (@JackFritzWIP) August 4, 2023

Kyle wrote about this earlier. Some people complained, blah blah. The responses are so dramatic. 

The problem with this discussion is bad faith positioning and posturing on both sides. A portion of the standing O crowd exhibit this unbridled fanboyism, attempting to reinforce some flimsy idea that the players cannot be criticized at all. You foist the taboo and nebulous concept of “mental health” on the opposition and then attack people for daring to say even the slightest negative thing about a guy making $27 million dollars and not performing anything close to the level of expectations.

Then you’ve got people on the other side with zero inhibition, dickheads who think they can DM these players nasty shit on social media and justify uncouth behavior as some sort of paying customer privilege. There’s a human element to this whole thing that does not require you to go super soft, but employ only a basic level of empathy instead.

Sometimes booing works and sometimes it doesn’t. Recent example – the Sixers were booed off the floor in game one against Brooklyn in 2019, Ben Simmons told fans to “stay on that side,” then dropped a triple double in a 22-point, game two win.

On the other hand, Markelle Fultz got a standing O and cheers at the foul line, but he was too far gone and ultimately was traded before rebounding in Orlando.

Tobias Harris told fans “don’t fucking clap,” then laughed it off afterward and everything was fine. “Nobody died, I just got booed.”

Brandon Brooks and Lane Johnson got a lot of support for their respective anxiety battles, which should have defeated the national narrative that people have about Philly sports fans.

And Alec Bohm’s situation is top of mind as well. He said “I fucking hate this place,” apologized and owned it, then earned the respect of the fans and it’s been smooth sailing ever since.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to these kinds of things. If you wanna boo Trea Turner, boo him. If you wanna give him a standing O, that’s fine too, just don’t get all dramatic and standoffish if people disagree with you. Nobody knows how to have a good faith argument anymore, mostly because social media blows and nobody talks face to face anymore.