1-7-2022 Passed Ball Show. John spends this program analyzing whether fans could suffer long term by their actions when they choose to boo their own favorite players. While it seems to be a tough topic to take on, John explains that the change in society’s approach should make the fans consider the mentality of the very players they are booing. John makes it clear that he feels paying fans have the right to express themselves anyway they want- which includes booing if they so feel. However, John believes players have the right to respond back, ie. making a “thumbs down” gesture as a response. John explains the change in the mentality of society and how it has gone away from structure and towards individualism. Because of that, and mostly because of social media, we can no longer control whether a player decides to express themself, especially in situations of negativity. John makes examples of non- fan friendly decisions made by Kyrie Irving and more directly, Ben Simmons, which are individual decisions that impact whether they are on the court playing basketball. If they can choose to not play, they can choose to react to fans booing them. John plays the other side for a second, and believes that if the players hold in their emotions it will only boil over during time. He then envisions a scenario where teams start to strive to win for themselves and no longer for the fans. He concludes with a sad scenario of a New York Sports Team winning a championship and not showing up for the fans’ parade. While it sounds extreme, it could happen because of the change in the mentality of today’s athlete. Howard Cosell gives us a couple occurrences in “This Day in Sports History” before John reiterates his points on why the players will eventually come out on top when it comes to their challenging of fans unruly behavior.
