Topic Hank Flick brought up

[Todd4State]

Was about athletes and social media facing the wrath of the fans at times and how they get their feelings hurt sometimes.

My first thought is this: Why would an athlete look at a message board- especially after a loss? What do they expect people to say? "Oh well, good try, maybe next time, still love my Dogs- woof! woof!?" And I understand that it's a shock to the system when you are the star at D'Lo High School and everyone is telling you how great you are and they want to name the water park after you, but guess what? If you want to play in the NFL- people may not always think you are that great when you are compared to the NFL greats. Maybe if you can't handle the heat in Starkville, maybe you shouldn't BE in the NFL. Maybe people aren't going to tell you how great you are your entire life and let you slide by. And guess what- that applies to everything else in life too. Not just athletics.

Twitter and facebook- I can understand that and them being on that. Most people are I would say. But if I'm an athlete, I'm going to be pretty protective of the privacy settings and things like that. After all the issues we have had with twitter, we shouldn't allow our players to use it during the season, if at all.

As far as people booing and that sort of thing- I just love how entitled athletes act. "Oh, it hurts our feelings when you boo us"- yeah- well guess what? It hurts my feelings when I have people coming up to me at work and ask me why our basketball players are fighting on national TV because your family member can't get them under control.

And now I know what the party line is- "Oh yeah- well how would YOU feel if one of your family members was booed and you were present?" Well, as a matter of fact- that has happened to me before. My Dad used to officiate basketball games at the high school level for both the private and public schools. I used to go to some of the games with him- and I knew that odds are someone wasn't going to agree with a call or two. It happened at practically every game- I can vividly recall some guy (grown man) at Jackson Academy yelling at my Dad for a call he didn't even make. And I could have gone up to that guy and said something smart, snarky, and heck- I could have gone as far as told him to shut up or I would kick his ***- but I didn't. (That would have embarassed my Dad to no end had I done any of those things and I didn't want that)

What I did do was focus on the fact that my Dad was doing something that he loved, and that I was a part of it. I really could care less what the people in the stands thought of my Dad. What was important was what I thought of my Dad. If my Dad didn't officiate a perfect game and people pointed it out, so be it. That would not change the way I feel about my Dad and how lucky I am to have a Dad like that. If they booed my Dad all night- it still wouldn't change the way I felt about my Dad.

As far as our athletes and their family members- I hope the athletes focus on what is important as far as athletics for them- which is doing whatever it takes to win and to get a degree. I hope their family members choose to take the high road and focus on what their child is doing on the field and the opportunity and privalage (Yes, privalage) that they have by playing athletics at MSU to help them get their degree for in most cases- for free.

 

[futaba.79]

but I'm not sure that somebody heckling a ref equates to a home crowd booing its own players

 

[drt7891]

I'm pretty sure his point was it hurts regardless when you hear your loved ones get booed.... especially when they give their all doing something they love. Regardless, it's a fact of life and a fact of athletics that fans and supporters have expectations of athletes and officials to perform at their best all the time... and it doesn't matter if it's a player or an official, it still hurts to know those in the stands are dissatisfied with those you love and expressing it by booing... whether they deserve it or not.

 

[drunkernhelldawg]

Nobody is a bigger Free Speech advocate than me, but I do not think it's right to baselessly attack athletes, especially if your purpose is to gain acceptance from a bunch of people on a message board who don't even know your real name. Legitimate and constructive criticism is a different matter. While any fan has the right to say any idiotic or cruel thing he or she wants, that doesn't mean that using that power is morally or ethically right.

Also, how do you expect young adults to ignore writing about them in a public forum? If you could do it, you are one of the few. If this issue is to be discussed, it should be looked at in a realistic light. And lala land does not have realistic light.

Booing a referee and booing a student athlete are not comparable in my view. One expects to be booed because it's traditional to ride "blue" or "stripes" or whatever they're called that day. It is not traditional to decide that your team does not deserve your support, even though you've shown up for the game.

Your idea that they're getting their degree for "free" is not relevant and not true in many cases. Besides that, many other students get financial aid for putting forth a lot less effort than athletes in most cases. So get down off your high horse and think about the people you're talking about. The people are always more important than the idea.

 

[DerHntr]

I still think the worst part of a message board and many other online discussion formats (like a comment section below an article) is that a person can't respond to his detractors without a high risk of it getting worse. Almost all of us were taught to take up for ourselves. It's a mighty damn helpless feeling when you can't follow through on that upbringing.

 

[Todd4State]

But as an athlete you can't control that. All you can control is yourself and your performance on the field. It's just like you driving in your car and someone getting pissed off at you for "bad driving" and going off on you. And you may have done nothing wrong- but what can you do about the other guy getting pissed off at you? Nothing. Yeah- you could yell back- maybe even pull over and get into a fistfight with them, but what good does that really do?

The people that are yelling are "fans"- that is short for fanatic. They've probably yelled at athletes since the Greeks if not before. It's not going to stop. It's like Dr. Flick said- these fans pay a lot of money and spend a lot of time to see these guys perform. If they don't perform, they are going to be dissatisfied. People that are not satisfied are going to vioce their displeasure.

And what do you mean booing a team for not playing well is not "traditional"? Where have you been? Obviously not Philadelphia. If it was "traditional" would be any better? And these officials in college by the way have "real jobs" on the side in addition to doing something that they love. If the issue here is people getting their feelings hurt- I don't see how it's any different. I'm sure these officials have family and think they do a great job just like the athletes.

And by the way- I've looked at the scholarship data and a special teams player gets more scholarship money than most students who have 4.0 GPA. The only sport that I would say that your last comment is applicable in is baseball. A majority of the athletes in other sports are on a full scholarship. A typical MSU football player- 85 of the 105 are on a full scholarship gets his tuition, room and board, books, fees, and meals all covered- which is the exact same as the old Schillig Scholarships- I know they changed the name- which about 10-12 students get a year.

 

[Todd4State]

I don't let the opinion of others or an opinion that I don't agree with shape how I viewed my Dad. And my Dad didn't let the negative view of that fan shape how he did his job on the court.

In fact the only reason I remember that guy was because he was so demonstrative and was waving his arms in the stands.

Regardless, I didn't feel the need to stick up for my Dad because- guess what? We're at a sporting event. Right or wrong- that's what people do at sporting events.

To me, the root of it is this- it's a self-esteem issue.

Look at Tim Tebow. He has all kinds of critics. But how did he respond to them? Well, when he was at Florida and they lost to Ole Miss- he took responsibility for his "poor play"- I don't think you can pin that one game all on him, but nonetheless he took responsibility and he worked harder than ever to make sure that didn't happen again.

He has critics now that he is in the NFL- how did he respond to them? By working harder than ever and focusing on making himself better.

I've got to resepct that. And these players that "get their feelings hurt"- instead of moping around, they need to do what Tim Tebow did. Work harder.

 

[weblow]

[No message]

 

[drunkernhelldawg]

Why detail a fact that everybody basically knows? If you said in your original post that athletes should not read comments about them on message boards, I repeat that this is not realistic.

Booing a Ref is not the same as booing an athlete. Refs expect people to be partisan and disagree with their calls. It's part of the job. Not every athlete gets booed in every game by fans of his or her own team. Fans who expect players to have no feelings are pigs and idiots.

Boo!