Fans don’t owe their favorite teams’ players anything
3 min read
By: shamus_clancy
Feel free to cheer (or boo) at your own discretion.
If you woke up this morning and opened up Twitter on your phone, you certainly saw a firestorm conversation about Danny Green and the Sixers:
Dany Green on Sixers fans via @JClarkNBCS
“…I think that’s something that needs to change…I love our fans, but when things aren’t going well, they can’t turn on you. That’s the one thing I would disagree with or dislike…They need to be riding with us, regardless…” pic.twitter.com/yyJetrZGSR
— Philly Influencer (@PHL_Influencer) July 8, 2021
I’m tired of this. I’m tired of it coming from both athletes and members of the Philadelphia sports fan base.
Besides the fact that Green is wrong considering the way Sixers fans cheered on Ben Simmons free throws as if he was their own son, it’s not his right to say that. Why is the simple concept of “Philly fans are happy when their teams do well and upset when their teams do poorly” too unfathomable for so many people to understand?
Sixers fans were overwhelmingly supportive in the arena for Simmons during his playoff shortcomings. The same happened with Markelle Fultz, who has had the most mind-blowing career in the history of professional sports.
Lest we forget that nearly 20,000 fans chanted Fultz’s name (in a way that also amazingly cucked Minnesota Vikings fans) when he stepped on the court for the first time in months in 2018:
pic.twitter.com/Z2THkg1tfh
— CliffNotez (@_YoCliff) July 8, 2021
Even given that, booing is deserved at times. If fans didn’t give a shit at all about their teams and the players on it, they would be apathetic. Booing is emblematic of a relationship of siblings (how’s that for Brotherly Love?), tough love that wants the best out of these people who are going to get on their cases when things aren’t going well.
I ask this: what are fans, whether at an Eagles game or at a Sixers game, supposed to do when their teams are floundering? Clap and just take it that these disappointments are happening? Is that how to go through life? I can’t imagine the takes if the Eagles had a packed house at Lincoln Financial Field last year with the way Carson Wentz stunk it up. “We have to support Carson!” No, Carson Wentz should just play better and not crumble into pieces.
I wanted Wentz gone and now he is. Thanks for the memories, but neither I nor any other Eagles fan on the planet is required to wish him success wherever his NFL career takes him. I talked about this on BGN Radio this week:
new @BGN_Radio pod
what am I looking forward to this season?
rooting AGAINST Miami & Indy so the Eagles can get some juicy draft picks in 2022 (big college football guy now)
: https://t.co/CacIazKN40
✳️: https://t.co/dkHlGNs63b
: https://t.co/KE1jdawECg pic.twitter.com/37rUFbZtfg
— shamus (@shamus_clancy) July 7, 2021
I’m a big Jalen Hurts guy. I want him running this offense for years to come. If he doesn’t ball out this year, I’m not going to be going wild for him on this website or Twitter. It’s easy! Does that make me mean-spirited or a bad person? No, I love the Eagles and want their dudes to succeed more than anything in the world and when they fall short of that, it’s crushing.
I’m just frustrated. I’m frustrated with the way the Eagles’ 2020 season and the Sixers’ playoff run panned. I’m frustrated with the lack of accountability and the way it somehow falls on the fans “to ride” with them as if it’s our fault.
I want the Sixers and Eagles to do well. IT’S SIMPLE. It’s not a hard thought process to grasp. If they’re not doing that, I’m going to be pissed, as will literally millions of people out there, and players need to feel that heat at times. That’s the relationship between players and fans. Perform and you’ll be treated like royalty. If you don’t? You get what you get.
