Incredibly Correct Opinion: Booing Doesn't Make You A Bad Fan. In Fact, It Makes You The Best Fan
So obviously the biggest story in sports from over the weekend was the Sixers dropping game 1 to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday. The team shot just 12% from 3 and they were only 69% from the line. On top of that, three of the Sixers’ starting 5 only put up a combined 18 points on the day. Ben Simmons checked in with 9, JJ Redick had 5 and then Tobias Harris had a whopping 4 points. So as you would imagine, Sixers fans weren’t necessarily thrilled with the way the events were unfolding and decided to voice their displeasure via booing.
Unfortunately for Ben Simmons, those boos ended up hurting his feelings. Which…I mean…listen, yes, maybe there were a few more boos on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center than the amount that was necessary. With that being said, I am just so goddamn sick and tired of all these people out there acting as if booing makes you a bad fan or fanbase. Whether it’s about the Sixers or Bryce Harper or whatever. I’m just sick of people making any sort of story out of a fan base booing.
I really don’t understand what people want. Like imagine you’re a parent and you have a kid, right? You love your kid. You would do anything for your kid and you think your kid is the best kid in the world. But every once in awhile, your kid can be a real piece of shit. Every once in awhile, your kid fucks up and does something bad. So what do you do with your kid? Do you punish them and tell them that what they did was wrong like a normal human being? Or do you just continue to tell them that everything they do is perfect, and eventually realize one day too late that you’ve been raising a serial killer this whole time? Because if you want to raise a serial killer, well then that’s what it’s like to never boo your favorite sports teams.
That’s the thing. Just because fans will boo doesn’t mean that you hate the team. Just because you boo, it doesn’t mean that you are actively rooting against them. It just means that you care and you have high expectations. You want them to be their best but you know for a damn fact that they are underperforming. You’re up in the stands during the game so it’s not like you can talk to all of the players individually and tell them to pick it up. So the only option you’re left with is to let out a few boos to get the message across. I’m not entirely sure how “wanting the team to play up to their highest capabilities” became “you hate your own team”, but that’s where we are at apparently.
If Sixers fans weren’t booing their team playing at home in the playoffs while going 3-for-25 from 3-point range and three of their starting 5 players combining for under 20 points? Well then I’d honestly be worried that Sixers fans have become apathetic. I’d worry that they don’t care anymore. I’d worry that they’re just starting to expect this team to not show up on big occasions and for them to underperform in the playoffs. Booing doesn’t mean that you’re rooting against your own team. It just means that you’re rooting against the shitty versions of themselves that they are currently being, because you know how much better they can be. I realize it’s probably beneficial to pick and choose your times to boo. But still. Booing doesn’t make you a shitty fan. It just means that you care. Kind of weird for the rest of the sports world to constantly feel the need to shit on Philly fans for caring.