Last night we found out that Don and I are on opposite side of the booing debate. This came up when we were at his parent’s house for his dad’s birthday party and turned into quite a discussion. The topic has been in the headlines due to Francisco Lindor taking Cleveland Indians fans to task for booing his teammate, Cody Allen.
Cody Allen has been fairly terrible. He is a relief pitcher who has blown several games, obviously frustrating the Indians starters.
But, does that make it ok to boo him?
Don and half of his family think it is perfectly fine to boo a professional athlete who is performing horribly. After all, the player is being paid millions of dollars to do their job, and we are paying a high ticket price to watch them do well.
The rest of us, loudly, disagreed. These young men are doing their best. They are human beings, likely to make errors. Would a real fan boo their own team?
We do all agree that it is always inappropriate to boo non-professional athletes. Even Don and his brother-in-law Todd, who were the biggest advocates of booing, would never boo a child.
The debate ended without being resolved. No one was convinced to change sides. The booers will boo. Or, at least claim they are entitled to if the occasion warrants booing.
So, what do you think? Is it ok to boo?