Should fans have the right ?
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BE KIND – yea, right.
After reading about Braylon and his family being abused publicly, I’m reminded of such quality acts like batteries being thrown during a game and injured players on OUR team being cheered when hurt, fights between fans in parking lots, etc.
Three thoughts come to mind:
1 – Fans pay ridiculous prices for game tickets
2 – The players and coaches are tremendously overpaid for their jobs, which is basically ENTERTAINMENT
3 – Based on points 1 & 2, my team should be winning
Do these three factors make it O.K. for people to be abusive, cruel and indignant toward those they basically 'finance' ?
On one hand I say yes, from a spectator point of view. Parents nowadays know when they choose to raise their kids as athletes and pay less attention to education than physical development that eventually these kids are going to suffer abuse. Athletes should know during their development and when they make the choice to chase that route that they will inevitably catch heat – no one has an uneventful career, no matter how good they are. So don’t I have the right to abuse, criticize and shame them ?
On the other hand, regardless of the choices made by parents and athletes, should’nt I try to be, oh let’s say DECENT. If I did’nt have the talents or chose not to pursue sports as a career (maybe because of the gamble they take if injury occurs and their career is over), shouldn’t I still have the decency and fortitude to respect others regardless of personal choices ?
In either of these perspectives, additionally, does choosing a team to support – if they’re a winning or losing team – really define my character as a winner or loser ? (answers here are gonna hurt, I see it) 🥷
If my team wins repeatedly, does that mean I am an outstanding judge of character / talent and success ?
Have I classified myself with the ‘upper class’ of society or sportsdom (don’t ask), or am I just clinging to something to increase my character value ?
I get that ‘eye rolling’ response every time I talk football in a crowd and am asked ‘who do you root for ?’, which I always say the Cleveland Browns. Does that instantly make me a loser in the eyes of all those in that crowd – for the last several years anyway (another opportunity to blow me away – wise asses).
What’s your say / opinion ?
One other final thought – if in fact I do feel the right to ‘act up’ based on what I support and maybe get less in return, would I really be willing to face that guy I gave the crap, one on one – no holds barred – to support my opinion ?
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In the business world, if someone is performing poorly, you don't get abusive, indignant or cruel. You fire him and replace him with someone who can do the job.
Now, do fans have the right to boo? Definately yes. They paid for that right. Do they have the right to be abusive? NO
You have a right to express your opinion, but being an asshole isn't what the 1st amendment is about.
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" You have a right to express your opinion, but being an asshole isn't what the 1st amendment is about. "
AMEN !
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Now, throwing batteries, bottles, ect, that's just too much. Some one could lose an eye on accident.
Cheering a player when he gets hurt is classless. Though around here if one of our guys gets hauled off and we cheer because he's not dead, like most fans would do when an injured player gets taken off the field, the media says we're cheering because he's hurt regardless if we are or are not.
So I'm actually wondering if all the fans around here are assholes or it's just the media making us out to be in some cases.
Being rude to an athlete in public just sad, being rude to his FAMILY is crossing the line.
Now if the athlete is acting like is supposed to be getting some kind of special treatment because he's famous and is getting mad because he's NOT getting treated like the special kid off the short yellow bus he's performing like and he asks "You know who I am right? Why aren't I being treated like a superstar?" and someone says because you couldn't catch a cold I could see that.
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Abuse is ridiculous. Those idiots are probably idiots before and still are regardless of what their team is doing.
We watch the Browns as a hobby....On our spare time....that same spare time where WE are the boss and WE call the shots. In everyday life, we normally have less tolerance. A certain store pisses you off, you don't shop their anymore. A child misbehaves he gets reprimanded. An employee under-performs repeatedly, fired.
So why, do we put up with such consistant heart-break from something that we watch on our SPARE time? We wouldn't put up with this in our everyday life but we take it in the chute on our limited SPARE time only to be disappointed year after year.
If the Browns were a wife or a girlfriend, she's be divorced, dumped or put on the shelf in lieu of a second girlfriend while she earned back your affection. It's amazing our tolerance for such consistant suckage. The worst part of being a Browns fan is every January when the best football is being played we're sitting there with a fork in us.
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