Comments on: Protecting Grossman http://achicagoblog.blogivists.com/2006/12/06/26/ Living and breathing in the Second City Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:27:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Mike http://achicagoblog.blogivists.com/2006/12/06/26/#comment-10 Mike Wed, 06 Dec 2006 18:38:42 +0000 http://achicagoblog.blogivists.com/2006/12/06/26/#comment-10 Well, Dan, I will say that booing is more appropriate in Football than baseball. My argument is that so much of sports is mental and booing can potential turn a talented young player into a head case. Notice how long it has been since a Bears QB has lasted the whole season. Part of that is that we want everything RIGHT NOW and so we boo. But talent often has to develop. The vast majority of good athletes struggle early on and if we piss on them for it, we're not giving ourselves a chance to have good athletes. The Grossman situation is unique in that we're ready to win RIGHT NOW and I don't think Grossman is ... how huge are those injuries now ... Well, Dan, I will say that booing is more appropriate in Football than baseball. My argument is that so much of sports is mental and booing can potential turn a talented young player into a head case. Notice how long it has been since a Bears QB has lasted the whole season. Part of that is that we want everything RIGHT NOW and so we boo. But talent often has to develop. The vast majority of good athletes struggle early on and if we piss on them for it, we’re not giving ourselves a chance to have good athletes.

The Grossman situation is unique in that we’re ready to win RIGHT NOW and I don’t think Grossman is … how huge are those injuries now …

]]> By: Daniel Messick http://achicagoblog.blogivists.com/2006/12/06/26/#comment-9 Daniel Messick Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:33:23 +0000 http://achicagoblog.blogivists.com/2006/12/06/26/#comment-9 Mike, Your comment "I don't boo..." I still don't understand your problem with booing. I know this has been a topic of discussion between us before, especially during baseball season, but I have to once again cite the public's right to express their displeasure through the use of the "boo." It allows the audience (and "boos" or "hisses" or "hoots" depending on the era, and yes, the public has been expressing displeasure with sporting events or bad theatre since ancient Greece & Rome, through the Victorian Age, through the Gilded Age, and up to the present) to express displeasure with the product on the field or stage, thereby allowing the player or actor to hopefully take note of their performance, and "correct" the error of their performance. The audience feels an impotence when an athlete or actor is not performing to expectations, and the only way to feel any amount of "control" over the proceedings is to boo/hoot/hiss accordingly. Sitting at Wrigley Field on a warm, breezy summer day (sigh...) with a cold beer in hand, while watching inept play, or failure by the bullpen to hold a Cubs lead, causes me to "boo." It is a very visceral "release" and no, I don't believe that it ultimately helps the player, but it does indicate to management that the fans are discontented, which may have contributed (albeit in a tiny way) to the flurry of free-agent signings like Soriano, this off-season by the Tribune Co./Cubs. Mike,
Your comment “I don’t boo…” I still don’t understand your problem with booing. I know this has been a topic of discussion between us before, especially during baseball season, but I have to once again cite the public’s right to express their displeasure through the use of the “boo.” It allows the audience (and “boos” or “hisses” or “hoots” depending on the era, and yes, the public has been expressing displeasure with sporting events or bad theatre since ancient Greece & Rome, through the Victorian Age, through the Gilded Age, and up to the present) to express displeasure with the product on the field or stage, thereby allowing the player or actor to hopefully take note of their performance, and “correct” the error of their performance.
The audience feels an impotence when an athlete or actor is not performing to expectations, and the only way to feel any amount of “control” over the proceedings is to boo/hoot/hiss accordingly.
Sitting at Wrigley Field on a warm, breezy summer day (sigh…) with a cold beer in hand, while watching inept play, or failure by the bullpen to hold a Cubs lead, causes me to “boo.” It is a very visceral “release” and no, I don’t believe that it ultimately helps the player, but it does indicate to management that the fans are discontented, which may have contributed (albeit in a tiny way) to the flurry of free-agent signings like Soriano, this off-season by the Tribune Co./Cubs.
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