Booing: A Public Service Announcement

I normally agree with you guys and no matter what, love the site, but I have to disagree with this one. I am not a ‘booer’ as that’s not my style ( I get angry and want to choke something, not make a cow like sound ), but for those that are, I’m ok with it; they earned their right to do it.

Lets cut the to heart of the matter that everyone takes the debate to – the term ‘college kids’. ‘Don’t boo college kids.’ What a contradiction. Not one of these players is under 17 years old, most being much older. At 18, you are an adult, able to vote and go to war, and if you are here on scholarship, you are being compensated for your performance. Little league is over – this is big boy athletics. When the coach makes millions, the school makes 10s to 100s of millions, when tickets cost ‘donations’ to even attempt to purchase for $50+ dollars per seat, ‘nice’ walks out the door.

Its not like the fans that do decide to boo are doing it spur of the moment, on a whim of the slightest of failure. No, these fans watched failure on the offensive side of the ball for over two seasons now. They waited patiently for changes to be made that never happened. The OC was failing in his job. The head coach failing to correct it. The AD failing to correct it. And here we are, same people, same problems, and worse – with a national championship caliber defense and special teams.

Want the booers to stop booing? Do something about it Mr AD or head coach. Fans are tired of it. You say fans can decide not to go?! Why should they give up their college team because those hired to run it aren’t doing their job very well? That’s not the way it works. If anything, what is embarrassing is that our AD will send out a letter to ask fans not to boo instead of correcting the problems at hand – now that’s embarrassing.

So I have to disagree; those people who choose to show their displeasure with two years of the same offensive failures have earned their right to boo if they want to; pee wee football is over.

I will never boo my team simply because it’s something I don’t do. But telling people if they’re going to be vocally negative about OUR team’s current situation, they shouldn’t go to the game? I really don’t think that’s right. They coughed up the absurd amount of money to buy tickets just like everyone else, and I don’t remember seeing this on any of the tickets:

“By purchasing this game ticket and entering the stadium, you agree to forfeit your right to vocalize any negative views or feelings regarding the home team. Failure to adhere to the above statement will result in public outcries, your banishment from the premises, and forfeiture of all future ticket purchasing privileges.”

Look, I agree that booing reflects badly on the fans for all of the reasons that have already been mentioned. But you know what else reflects badly on LSU football?

-(Per RockyTopTalk’s pregame write-up):

2006: 417.5 yards/game (11th) – pre-Crowton

2007: 439.4 yards/game (26th)

2008: 368.1 yards/game (55th)

2009: 304.5 yards/game (112th)

2010: 299.8 yards/game (102nd)

Well, that’s a positive trend, isn’t it? Let’s add some more data:

2006: 251.7 pass yards/game (18th) – pre-Crowton

2007: 225.3 pass yards/game (55th)

2008: 201.3 pass yards/game (71st)

2009: 191.8 pass yards/game (97th)

2010: 110.0 pass yards/game (115th)

I find that to be embarrassing. A lot more embarrassing than a bunch of fans booing. You think the recruits are going to walk away from LSU because the fans don’t care for that kind of offensive productivity? Maybe. I’d say it’s a little more likely that they’ll walk away because they don’t want to play for a team whose offense is worse than 100th in the country.

As for the players – give me a break, honestly. It’s already been said that they’ve been given full scholarships. They also get the glory, fame, and fortune that comes from putting on an LSU football jersey and playing before 92,000 people every Saturday, national TV, and not to mention all kinds of perks around campus. Plenty of these “kids” are more famous by age 20 than all the rest of us combined will be throughout our lives. None of the players (as far as I know) were forced to come here and play football. And when all of them signed their Letters and agreed to come or walked on to the team, I don’t remember reading about any clauses where players would only agree to play if the fans were nice to them. These kids have it pretty good. Yeah there’s a lot of pressure on them, but like has been mentioned over and over, it goes both ways. When things are good, they’re getting A LOT of praise and recognition. When things go bad consistently for over two years, you should expect the negativity to start coming. It’s not like the fans will continue booing if you go out there and score a touchdown. Toughen up and go make something positive happen if you’re so concerned about getting booed. I guarantee that will stop all of it.

As for the coaches, a lot of the above applies as well. They’re getting hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars to coach a football team. Nobody put a gun to their head and said, “YOU MUST COACH FOOTBALL!” You signed up for this job, you get to be in the spotlight, you get to make all the decisions that affect your players and hundreds of thousands of fans. So when you consistently run the team into the ground, you damn well better expect someone to hold you accountable. And clearly that hasn’t happened from up the chain of command, which the fans can all see – so if the fans, who are really the ones paying the coaches’ salaries, want to BOO…well I’d say they’re pretty damn well entitled. Fix the source of the problems if you want the booing to stop; whining to the fans just makes you seem even less in-control and competent.

And finally to the AD et al, and that letter: give me a break. I’m tempted to tone this comment of mine down, refine it, and send it as a response to Joe Alleva. Except you know what? The chances of me getting any response are about 0%. Because people have been emailing, calling, writing, all of these “other avenues of communication” for two years in hopes of seeing a change, and have we? No, the offense is just as bad as it was and personnel-wise we’re in the same damn boat. But you know what finally did get his and others’ attention, and finally caused a response? Booing.

To me, that sends the wrong message. You’re going to ignore all of the “more civilized, politically-correct, don’t hurt people’s feelings,” comments then send out a mass email to every ticket holder after a few boos? People want a response, that’s why they’re booing. And they’re doing it out of last resort because nothing else has gotten through to those up in the ivory towers. So again, I’m right there with Xanathol. If people want to boo, they’ve earned that right. And a letter from the AD, whining and complaining about the fans’ behavior rather than addressing the source and cause of the fans’ misgivings is not what is going to make everything “rainbows and unicorns” in Tiger Stadium come Saturday.

The offense’s incompetence has gone on long enough, and the fans have shown plenty of patient and restraint. Unless I missed that history class where these positive takeaways from Nazi Germany and communist Russia were discussed, I don’t think being a fan means you have to completely agree with everything the “dictators” do, or else shut your mouth and stay home. Everyone of the people involved on the field, asked to be in that position and is getting very well compensated, money-wise and otherwise. The fans have almost zero power when it comes to sports, except their voice. And that’s all they’re using now, a damn “cow-like sound as Xanathol said” and it’s got everyone in an uproar. They’re not sending hate mail, throwing things onto the field, or acting violent in any way – it’s peaceful, civil, vocal disagreement for crying out loud.

I’ve gone on long enough here, but seriously can everyone calm down with the threats of violence and insults towards your FELLOW fan, just because they’re vocalizing the same damn things that you’re thinking? And I’d be careful what you wish for, because if the team continues down this road play-wise and statistically, the recruits will stop committing, the team will get worse, and then fans really will stop coming to the games, because at that point it’s not worth the money for tickets, or the effort to show up and boo.

(and yes I do realize we are 4-0 – hoorah! There is no one happier about that than me, but I think we can all agree there are some issues with the offense that make all of us want to scream)

the “end of discussion,” “you’re a shitty fan,” “you’re a shitty person” tirade just because someone’s definition of being a fan is different than yours.

I’m not gonna get into it with you because you’ve clearly made up your mind and stated your opinion. That’s fine and you’re entitled. But the high-horse, holier than thou attitude is a bit much. Do you really think someone is a shitty person if they boo, i.e. “support” their team differently than you? I think that’s taking things a little far.

I hope to god that there’s no booing on Saturday afternoon, because we go out there and the offense puts up 40 points and 500 yards. But if that doesn’t happen and I’m not seeing any progress from the previous games, I’m not gonna shoot any scowls or dirty language towards people who choose to express their disappointment and disapproval. I’m not encouraging booing, and I’m not going to boo myself because I’m generally a quiet person when things aren’t going my way and are out of my hands. But I’m not gonna assume a person is any lower of a human being for booing.

The last thing we need is a riot in the stands of “booers” vs “non-booers.” If things don’t go well Saturday, an alcohol-filled, frustrated fan base with two clearly polarizing views on what “support the team means” is starting to sound like a real recipe for disaster. If you want to talk shit to me and the others who you don’t agree with, and insult us over the internet that’s fine, but please don’t do that to someone’s face in the stadium because if that leads to a fight breaking out amongst LSU fans, that would be a true disgrace and real cause for the AD to send out mass emails.

    I don’t want to get into the booing rant too deeply, realizing that most of us are well set in our opinions already. I would however, like to ad this thought, and hopefully it will resonate amongst Tiger Fans before the start of tommorrows game.
   When your in Tiger Stadium, contemplating whether to boo, sit quietly, or cheer, think about why your there. Speaking for myself, I go to Tiger stadium to be a part of, and ‘help’ in any way I can, the LSU Football Team. Booing LSU is not going to help my team. It’s not going to bring good karma to PP7, Nevis, RR, Shep, and especially not JJ and J Lee. I want LSU to win. I also want to make sure the right decisions are made to insure LSU’s winning future, but there’s a time and a place for everything. At an LSU football game I believe it is our responsibility to put our differences with the coaches aside and support our warriors who are battling for us. Thank you for listening, I hope to hear you all cheering JJ or J Lee tommorrow.

I quit lurking to voice my support for this. I bitch as much as anyone about Crowton and the offense, but the only time I’ve ever booed in Tiger Stadium was when Auburn came on the field. If you care enough about our team to spend the time and money to go to the game you should give the buys all you’ve got. Just my two cents.