And hey, Packers . . . cool.

But the booing of Bradley last night made little sense. If the crowd doesn’t like him, boo him when he’s announced. But they had it in mind to wait to see what he did and boo every out. Seemed juvenille.

It just ain’t my thing.

In Milton Bradley’s case, booing is probably particularly counterproductive because he does seem so acutely aware of the crowd. I mean, OK, if Milton throws a ball into the stands with only two outs, I can see why he would be booed (though I still wouldn’t).

But the guy is clearly having mechanical issues with his left-handed swing, and he finally seemed to break through a little bit last night. Of course, many (if not most) of the fans booing probably aren’t familiar with the term “lefty splits.”

i boo everytime aaron heilman comes into a game.

when its warranted

when the Cubs of the 1978 team walked on the field, I wanted to boo .. the waste of time was almost criminal and the futility levels were insane. But I didn’t because I’m a Cubs fan .. and because if I booed every time I saw the LL’s on the field, I’d get throat cancer after blowing out my vocal chords and die.

I think the last time I had the chance to be somewhere when the Cub fan booing was clearly pathetic was that ill fated game in which Kerry Wood got beat all over the field by the Braves in one of the last games of that nightmarish 2004 season. Fans were frustrated and began booing everything that moved, and when the bleachers started tossing junk on the field, everyone started booing the bleachers “RIght Field Sucks” became the cry up on the terrace level boxes. It was a juvenile moment for us all.

Last night, from what it sounds like, was kind of stupid but not totally unwarranted. Still, Bradley has a bat and a brain and a brilliant potency that occasionally conjugate and make some noise. The best way to shut them down is to do what he’s being paid to do.

For running hard on the ball he hit back to the pitcher. Because he was hustling and taking nothing for granted, he almost beat it out when the pitcher made a lackadaisical throw.

Is what Im wondering, I find expletives more effective or a few ‘you gotta be kidding me’s’

I would boo Bradley when he tossed the ball in the stands before the third out.
or if Sori hops before a ball and drops it
or if someone admires a potential homerun and it goes off the wall resulting in a single.

Stuff like that, when they don’t have their heads in the game. Not just the normal not producing stuff.

The main one is that I’m not an asshole.

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to boo wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would booar the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels booar,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather booar those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. – Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d.

I just don’t see the point.

I’m assuming the biggest reason is because you’re happy with the results of a player’s effort. Well, why not just be happy? Why do you have to vocalize your emotion?

I hate it.

using some kind of logic to justify thier reasons to support? the Cubs. Here’s my view on this.
I assume you are a Cub fan
You then root for your team whether they win or lose since you are a fan.
All players on the team are Cubs.
Root for all players on Cubs.

Seriously why boo for a player on our team. Would you boo for kid that your son didn’t like on his little league team. Oh I forgot the he’s getting paid and I can treat like garbage therefore arguement. Knowledgeable fans know when to boo players and when not to. Cub fans have not called knowledgeable fans, passionate maybe.IMO

when does a boo become a boo? Is it when the expression of disgust is conceived and expressed, or is a boo only a boo when someone actually utters the word “Boo”? Frankly, I think a lot of the noise a player might hear from the stands is actually a garble of mixed profanity that only sounds like booing.

So, which is more demoralizing? Suggesting someone’s mother may be less than honorable, or saying “Boo”?

Most teams in whatever sport have a significantly higher winning percentage at home than on the road. The Cubs certainly win more games in Wrigley than on the road year after year. What contributes to this difference?

Certainly, a greater familiarity with the playing conditions is part of it — for example, being more familiar with the idiosyncrasies of playing the Wrigley outfield should (on average) give our fielders an advantage over visiting outfielders.

But surely, a significant part of the phenomenon of home-field advantage is due to the support of the home fans. Would anyone dispute that?

If you agree that home-field advantage is at least partially due to the support of home fans, then it follows that the performance of players IS affected by cheers — which conversely suggests that their performance is also likely to be negatively affected by boos.

Maybe I’m being overly simplistic about this but to me it’s that simple — if you’re there at the game cheering then in some tiny way you’re helping your team, because collectively the ballpark full of cheering fans has a positive effect on the performance of the individual players and the team as a whole. I suggest that the flip side is that by booing you are going to have a negative effect on the team. As a fan, why would you want to hurt your team?

(postscript — you could argue that booing could motivate someone to perform better and that might be true for some people, but I just don’t believe that most people are wired that way.. )

There’s a giant difference between booing when the man is obviously trying and booing when the situation is appropriate. I’m sure if a player desecrated the American flag, decked his own teammate or intentionally played horribly, the booing would definitely be warranted. But booing a man when he’s trying probably isn’t the best thing to do.

I think understanding the different opinions in this debate is to understand why we all attend ball games.

For a lot of people, they go to games to root on the team and show support. This goes back to the notion that the presence of cheering, applauding boosters helps players perform to the best of their ability. It gives them energy and adds an extra boost.

But for others, they go only to see a game in person and nothing more. While the experience of attending a game is obviously different than watching it on TV – sunshine, fresh air, hot dogs – the intent is still the same. There’s no purpose for being there other than watching the game, and as such their presence has no bearing on the performance of the players.

So it makes sense, then, that the attendee-as-loyal-follower won’t boo because it upsets players who already know that they’re playing poorly. Conversely, the attendee-as-spectator has no problem booing because they perceive a disconnect between what’s happening in the field and the stands.

I’m in the “attendee-as-spectator” category. While I have no personal proof to support my opinion, I’ve always felt that an overwhelming majority of professional athletes aren’t affected by the noise of the crowd. That’s because the level of performance needed to play at just a basic level of ability in the major-leagues level requires blocking out all extraneous sounds, sights, and distractions. They can’t be bothered to care – and if they do, then they shouldn’t.

wrigly field crowd loves to bash black players

…while not applicable to all players but certainly a significant majority, money is where it’s at; always has been, always will be. The highest annual salary and/or years.

Deep down inside many fans are envious (not jealous) of those earnings. It’s when the player is thought of less-deserving is when they’re more scrutinized. Players’ attitude also figures into this.

If fans want to question a players’ work ethic, that’s fine as long as it’s on a player by player basis, it’s based on his performance/desire and not in some general category; like I’ve seen commented in this thread.

I’ll admit I boo and heckle players, and most of the time it appears to be on the outcome of a play. But most often its based more on the approach (like swinging for the fences instead of a grounder to the right side for example).

I’ve also been some star-crossed Cubs’ players best friend in the bleachers over the years. I gave Corey Patterson hell, but I always encouraged him. There were a few times even up a Miller Park with the roof closed; all 40k+ heard, “COREY !!!” echo throughout the stadium. Same went for Jacque Jones and a few others. And it wasn’t always during a game but at BP too.

I think fans boo and get drunk and create a carnival atmosphere at Wrigley because the Cub fan seeks too much attention compared to other baseball fans. They have an inferior complex