@TO BOO OR NOT TOO BOO

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THAT IS THE QUESTION ……. AGAIN!

LAST TUESDAYS IMPLOSION FROM COLE HAMELS GOT SOME PHILLIES FANS TO RAIN DOWN SOME BOOS. THIS RESURRECTED THE AGE OLD DEBATE “SHOULD YOU BOO?”

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First of all let me say right up front I don’t believe there is a right or wrong answer to this question but I thought we could have some fun looking at this through my idiot eyes and my quirky view.

Let’s began by imagining you pick up your car at your mechanic’s shop where you got some needed repairs. Upon pulling your car out of the lot you quickly realize your car still has the same problem and so you angrily turn around and hustle back into the garage. Upon seeing your mechanic you stare him down and at the top of your lungs you start “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! YOU SUCK!”

Or how about imagining you are in a grocery check out line and a young man is bagging your groceries and as he is putting one of the bags into your cart the bag breaks and stuff goes flying all over the place. So naturally you burst out “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! FIRE THIS BUM, HE’S AN IDIOT!”

What if you were at a restaurant and you asked for the T-Bone medium/well and it came out to you a little too pinkish for your liking? I’m sure you would jump out of your seat run into the kitchen and toss your undercooked beef at the chef giving him the “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHERE DID YOU GET THIS HACK? TRADE THIS LAZY LARD OR GET A FREE AGENT CHEF!”

Of course I can’t help but wonder if society would park themselves in Washington, DC and routinely BOO and throw beer on whatever President or worthless Congressman that may happen to be on hand that perhaps they might shamelessly try actually caring for something other than re-election. LOL

Anyhow, the reality is, every job has expectations and for all practical purposes you expect people to do their job regardless of how much they get paid. In fact your boss expects the same from you. But the fact is we all know that is not going to happen all the time at the same level regardless of how hard we all try!

Think about it. Ever hear of the stories of Doctors leaving large surgical instruments inside peoples bodies? Hey even your surgeon has a bad day! And get this there are even safety measures in place to avoid that. A surgical assistant is supposed to account for all the tools being used before closing the patient. And yet it still happens.

And so it is with professional athletes they are going to fail. In fact my astute friend Cory and I were discussing how unique baseball is when it comes to success and failure. The fact is baseball is a very humbling sport. Hey if you get a hit 3 out every 10 at bats you are very good to great! And pitchers even with a distinct advantage are not that much better. The average starter has about 33, 34 starts a year. Some as high as 36,37. Nevertheless if you win 20 you are considered great!

Roy Halladay had 33 starts in 2010 and was 21 and 10 which is outstanding of course. But he still lost 10 games and had a couple no decisions. By comparison Tim Lincecum also started 33 games and was 16 and 10 and he too is considered great by today’s standards. C C Sabathia went 21 and 7 in his 34 starts. And these guys are the cream of the crop.

A pitcher is also very reliant on his offense and defense. Take King Felix Hernandez of Seattle. In 2009 he was 19 and 5 in 34 starts with a 2.49 ERA. In 2010 in 34 starts he was 13 and 12 with a 2.27 ERA.

Now none of these guys would likely get BOOED you may be saying already but that is no guarantee in places like Philly, Boston, or NY. LOL But I do doubt it. So why did Cole Hamels hear it?

Personally I believe that he has a problem of not living up to reputation. He is considered in the class of the elite and yet he is not always given the same free pass that the other elites are. Now there may be some reasons for this:

1. He is no Halladay or Sabathia (And that caliber): Face it if Lincecum pitched in Philly he may hear an occasional BOO or feel some wrath now and again. Although even he has out pitched Hamels overall in his career. Not by much but he is 57 and 28 (.671 %0with an 18 win season and a couple years with sub 3 ERA. His career ERA is 3.00. Lincecum started a year after Cole also. He has had 3 straight seasons of winning at least 15 games. He has 2 Cy Young awards also! Hamels He is 61 and 46 (.570%) but has never had an ERA under 3. He has had 2 years where he got close. He has had 4 straight years of winning 10 or more games but never more than 15. So it may be that Cole’s talent or advertised ability is not on par with his performance and yet people expect Cy Young level. Therefore they boo him at times. In some ways he should take that as a compliment that people assume he is much better. I mean does anyone bother BOOING Joe Blah-nton? WE may swear at Blanton but BOO?

2. Hamels is a Philly draft pick: Think about this. Somewhat linked to point #1, Hamels was long awaited as the next Steve Carlton and he did peak with a World Series MVP! So the fact that he is ours may make some feel more inclined to hold him to the grindstone.

3. He is a little flaky: You know what they say about California. California is like bran cereal. A bunch of flakes surrounded by fruits and nuts! Yeah well old So Cal boy doesn’t mesh sometimes with the blue collar up tight Philly fan. He comes across like a baby sometimes in our eyes.

4. He is the future: Realistically all of Phillies Nation want Hamels to become “the Next One”. We want him to be Carlton now. We want people to say “wow Halladay and Lee need to move over!” You know we that is what we want to hear. Because that means this dream ride might last longer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5. We BOOED SCHMIDT!: Look we have the rep. Snowballs at Santa Claus and so on. Some say when Philly fans were born we BOOED our mother for not getting us on her nipple fast enough!

6. YOU’RE THERE!: I think many people just want the night they are there to go well so they feel better about the hundreds of dollars they spent. Hey losing is one thing but a total choke job is hard to take when you were looking forward to a great game.

And so it goes. Personally I am not a BOO guy. Oh I have plenty of “what’s wrong with you” coming out of my mouth at the TV or from my seat but I am not really a BOO BIRD. On the other hand I don’t care if people BOO.

First and foremost it has absolutely no impact on the game or the players. They laugh their way to the bank remember? Seriously they want to do well regardless. Now I do believe when they are in the zone they do get a charge from the positive noise when the house explodes! And has I have said before they know when they suck egg!

SO? TO BOO OR NOT TO BOO? Who cares????????????????????????????????