Saunders
Heisman Trophy Winner
Dear Faux Pelini,
I am an Ohio State fan and it embarrasses me when my fellow Buckeye fans boo our team for subpar performance. Is booing your own team proper fan behavior?
Best,
Ashamed Buckeye
Well Ashamed,
When your next-door neighbor announces that he has the right to do something, you can be sure it’s something bad. There will a bizarre shrub or perverted statue in your future. In the same way, when a sports fan announces he’s doing something because it’s his right, you know something stupid is coming. Some people just do what they want to do because they can. That’s the only reason they need. Most of us grasped the difference between Can and Should in kindergarten, but a select group of us carried Can/Should confusion into adulthood.
Boo Guy is one of these people.
When you ask Boo Guy why he’s booing his own team, he will say he paid for his ticket and it’s his right. There are lots of things that he has the right to do and chooses not to, of course. He can turn his basement into a termite farm; he can call his friend’s grandmother an ignorant slut; he can do somersaults down an escalator. Just because he can do something doesn’t mean he should.
But Boo Guy doesn’t care about that distinction. He makes himself feel better by making the players feel worse, and he does it because he can. That’s good enough for him and his kindergarten brain. Yes, Ashamed, booing is our God-given right. But only idiots boo college kids, especially ones on their side.
https://theathletic.com/113194/2017/09/29/dear-faux-pelini-is-booing-your-own-team-proper-behavior/?source=email
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