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You Didn’t Hate the Booing, You Just Hate Philadelphia
By Matt Schultz
Published:
Monday night’s Home Run Derby was one of the more dramatic and electric in recent memory, thanks in large part to the crowd at Citizens Bank Park. Philly fans spent the evening raining down boos on every player not named Kyle Schwarber or Bryce Harper, all in an effort to will a Phillie to be crowned champion in their home ballpark:
To me, this is pretty normal, understandable behavior from a fanbase that loves its sports. But some folks online thought otherwise:
I find this criticism to be very, very annoying, and not because I disagree with the sentiment – which I do, of course. What bothers me most about this lame-ass complaint is that it is fully, 100% dishonest. No sports fan in the world actually believes it’s bad to boo during a Home Run Derby. No sports fan in the world actually thinks it’s bad to boo an opposing player in pretty much any situation. If you claim otherwise – if you say that it’s trashy or wrong or obnoxious to boo opposing players or teams – you are lying. You know you’re lying. You know there’s nothing wrong with booing. You know booing is fundamental to sports. You know that it’s harmless, fun, and an inextricable part of fandom.
More than that, you know that booing is actually good. It shows that fans are engaged and passionate and want their team to win. That’s what sports and fandom are built on. That’s the whole idea. If fans didn’t care enough to boo, there’d be no one in the stands, no one watching on TV, no one buying the merchandise, no money to pay the players, and no sports leagues at all. Again, I know you know all this. Everyone knows this. Even the players who are getting booed know it’s a good thing:
Not to mention, every fanbase in the world, for every sport, boos. I’m not going to try and prove this here, by the way. I’m not going to round up a bunch of clips of Mets fans booing Yankees players, or Celtics fans booing the Lakers, or anything like that, because there are millions and millions of videos of this, and that would be a big waste of time. It’d be like rounding up clips of individual waves to prove the ocean makes them. You already know it does. It happens every moment of every day. It’s a fact of life.
Which brings me back to why it’s so bothersome to see this corny-ass complaint online: It’s a lie. You don’t have a problem with Philly fans booing. You have a problem with Philadelphia. Which is fine. You’re allowed to feel that way. If I weren’t from here, I bet I’d feel that way too. But don’t hide behind etiquette standards that 1) aren’t real and 2) you don’t actually believe in. Don’t be a fraud. Say what you mean: You don’t like us. And, as the old adage goes, we don’t care… Lying-ass, pearl-clutching-ass internet weirdos…
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com