In 1985 I was a Nebraska farm girl living in the Detroit area. The first time I went to a Lions game, I was horrified when the “fans” booed their home team. Where I came from, you could boo the refs, maybe boo a coach, the opposing team was fair game for dirty play or a cheap shot, but you never booed the home team. The coworkers I was with informed me that it was okay because they were overpaid professional athletes. I was unconvinced, but I probably didn’t continue to argue the point. Since then I’ve gotten to cringe when it has happened at Nebraska. I may be old fashioned, or just old, but I still say that you just don’t boo the home team.
I love this column. First, spot on with Coach Frost and the situation the Huskers find themselves in right now. As a complete amateur, I would offer the following thoughts: First, when he arrived, Coach Frost said that his teams would play fast and with no fear. I see a ton of guys playing with fear of mistakes and a coaching staff trying to fix stuff that they get from the jerks in the local media and on Twitter. I think they are all in their heads and not playing free. I am not sure if this will win more games, but golly, it would be fun to see a team playing hard and fast and giving the other team hell, and showing they are just gonna play. It's a mindset and they don't have a good one now. Second, what do we have to do to get the Football Gods to just give us a break every now and then? I am not talking about a Flea Kicker, just a couple of lucky bounces or a good call from a ref. Anything! This team gets NOTHING from Lady Luck. Last, IF you get rid of Frost what is the plan then? If we can the coach we will be on our 6th head coach and 6th Athletic Director since 2003. That is an average of one new coach and one new AD every three years. Does that sound like stability? How do you build a program that way? Who in the hell is coming here when they let him go? What do the Nebraska fans want, I mean aside from turning into Alabama overnight? I get that Coach Frost has stumbled and bumbled a great deal during the last three years. I think the solution is to let this thing run its course, give him the full run of his contract and see what happens. Stop asking for the three-year turnaround. That is gone and now we have to see if he can make it happen. Yes, we might have three more losing seasons, but if you can him now do you really think that the next poor schmuck is gonna doa Bobby Stoops and win a title in two years? He needs to change his attitude and coach with his hat on fire and let the kids play that way. The fans need to enjoy the team and realize that if you want to have another 30 year run of 9 and 10 win seasons with 5 national titles, you don't get it by firing your coach every three years. Just my opinion.
The only time I have booed my own team was many years ago at Ford Field as a ~10 year old with a paper bag on my head. I will say that pre-social media, there were not a lot of ways for a fan to reasonably communicate displeasure with the operators of a clearly egregiously disrespecting of the fanbase sports team like the Lions- I certainly don't regret or think what I was doing was unfair. Even though the players were definitely unfairly collateral damage in the process.
Not coincidentally, I can count on one hand the number of times I have attended a Lions game at Ford Field as an adult while unfortunately remaining a fan. Fantasy football helps, I guess, with not wanting to put a remote through the television every Sunday.
Nowadays we have the ability to make the hapless social media manager the collateral damage of our ire, unless we are fortunate enough to be the fan of a dumpster fire like the Mets whose owner is on social media. (I'm going to go out on a limb and posit that social media activity levels of an owner is positively correlated with franchise dysfunction).
I do think it is a no win for an athlete to return fire on the fans, though, and don't agree with what Baez et al were doing, so enjoy this BOOOOOOOOOO, Faux. (Still love you!) It just reads to me as deflecting attention from your (as in, the players') poor performance and almost an attempt to shift blame. I would say at the end of the day, I'm not pro booing your own team, but I'm definitely also not pro booing your own fans. Biting the hand that feeds you and all that. I'd much prefer if I was a pro athlete (hahahahahahaha) getting booed by my own fans than the fans and the area not caring at all. (Easy to say from the couch!)
P.S. specific to the situation - think a lot of the motivation of the whole thing is Baez trying to support his buddy Lindor - which. Man, not knocking or degrading Lindor if that is the case, but that (Lindor and New York) looks like a bad marriage from the get go.
In the 2018 season I asked on The Athletic in a Dear Faux, "Why is everyone so angry, all of the time?". I got a sarcastic response, but this column makes me feel vindicated.
In 1985 I was a Nebraska farm girl living in the Detroit area. The first time I went to a Lions game, I was horrified when the “fans” booed their home team. Where I came from, you could boo the refs, maybe boo a coach, the opposing team was fair game for dirty play or a cheap shot, but you never booed the home team. The coworkers I was with informed me that it was okay because they were overpaid professional athletes. I was unconvinced, but I probably didn’t continue to argue the point. Since then I’ve gotten to cringe when it has happened at Nebraska. I may be old fashioned, or just old, but I still say that you just don’t boo the home team.
I love this column. First, spot on with Coach Frost and the situation the Huskers find themselves in right now. As a complete amateur, I would offer the following thoughts: First, when he arrived, Coach Frost said that his teams would play fast and with no fear. I see a ton of guys playing with fear of mistakes and a coaching staff trying to fix stuff that they get from the jerks in the local media and on Twitter. I think they are all in their heads and not playing free. I am not sure if this will win more games, but golly, it would be fun to see a team playing hard and fast and giving the other team hell, and showing they are just gonna play. It's a mindset and they don't have a good one now. Second, what do we have to do to get the Football Gods to just give us a break every now and then? I am not talking about a Flea Kicker, just a couple of lucky bounces or a good call from a ref. Anything! This team gets NOTHING from Lady Luck. Last, IF you get rid of Frost what is the plan then? If we can the coach we will be on our 6th head coach and 6th Athletic Director since 2003. That is an average of one new coach and one new AD every three years. Does that sound like stability? How do you build a program that way? Who in the hell is coming here when they let him go? What do the Nebraska fans want, I mean aside from turning into Alabama overnight? I get that Coach Frost has stumbled and bumbled a great deal during the last three years. I think the solution is to let this thing run its course, give him the full run of his contract and see what happens. Stop asking for the three-year turnaround. That is gone and now we have to see if he can make it happen. Yes, we might have three more losing seasons, but if you can him now do you really think that the next poor schmuck is gonna doa Bobby Stoops and win a title in two years? He needs to change his attitude and coach with his hat on fire and let the kids play that way. The fans need to enjoy the team and realize that if you want to have another 30 year run of 9 and 10 win seasons with 5 national titles, you don't get it by firing your coach every three years. Just my opinion.
The only time I have booed my own team was many years ago at Ford Field as a ~10 year old with a paper bag on my head. I will say that pre-social media, there were not a lot of ways for a fan to reasonably communicate displeasure with the operators of a clearly egregiously disrespecting of the fanbase sports team like the Lions- I certainly don't regret or think what I was doing was unfair. Even though the players were definitely unfairly collateral damage in the process.
Not coincidentally, I can count on one hand the number of times I have attended a Lions game at Ford Field as an adult while unfortunately remaining a fan. Fantasy football helps, I guess, with not wanting to put a remote through the television every Sunday.
Nowadays we have the ability to make the hapless social media manager the collateral damage of our ire, unless we are fortunate enough to be the fan of a dumpster fire like the Mets whose owner is on social media. (I'm going to go out on a limb and posit that social media activity levels of an owner is positively correlated with franchise dysfunction).
I do think it is a no win for an athlete to return fire on the fans, though, and don't agree with what Baez et al were doing, so enjoy this BOOOOOOOOOO, Faux. (Still love you!) It just reads to me as deflecting attention from your (as in, the players') poor performance and almost an attempt to shift blame. I would say at the end of the day, I'm not pro booing your own team, but I'm definitely also not pro booing your own fans. Biting the hand that feeds you and all that. I'd much prefer if I was a pro athlete (hahahahahahaha) getting booed by my own fans than the fans and the area not caring at all. (Easy to say from the couch!)
P.S. specific to the situation - think a lot of the motivation of the whole thing is Baez trying to support his buddy Lindor - which. Man, not knocking or degrading Lindor if that is the case, but that (Lindor and New York) looks like a bad marriage from the get go.
Good to have you back, Faux. How is Carl doing in his anger management class?
In the 2018 season I asked on The Athletic in a Dear Faux, "Why is everyone so angry, all of the time?". I got a sarcastic response, but this column makes me feel vindicated.
-David