Absolutely Disgraceful.

Free clue you fair-weather scumbags with attention spans of a gnat: we don't win two championships without David Ortiz. Booing the hero of the 2004 playoffs, who not once but twice stuck an extra-inning dagger in the hearts of our mortal foe? He's been struggling with that tendon injury, undoubtedly giving his all, and you bungf*cks have the temerity to boo him after he strikes out in the 8th with the big club down 10 runs?

I am completely ashamed to share this planet with some of these so-called Boston Red Sox fans.

I think you're over-reacting as much as those fans were last night.
Those who booed were frustrated- Papi has been struggling, they paid a lot of money only to watch the home town team look lifeless and get pwnd at home. Again.
It's sports, it happens and it's not surprising. When you play badly, you should expect to be booed, fairly or not. It's just not that big of a deal in the long run.
It's just as easy to bash the silly booers as it is complaining about it. Just let it go and worry about more important stuff.

Papi should not be booed at Fenway. Ever. The guy has done too much for the franchise. People have very short memories.

They booed Captain Intangibles at the Toliet, so I guess anything is possible...

I had a question about the crowds at Fenway in general. I would imagine that it is next to impossible to get a ticket to
a Sox game nowawdays, let alone to the ALCS, so that leads me to believe that the stands are primarilly packed w/
corporate types and rich folks both of whom might not have the best baseball knowledge and/or be die-hard fans of the team.
I was at Fenway for the ASG in '99 and sat about 13 rows behind the Sox dugout and it was the worst crowd I've ever
seen at that ballpark. Is the same holding true now that the Sox have won 2 WS since '04?

Sometimes its hard to tell if people are booing or some are cheering "Yooooouuk" for his upcoming at bat, especially from at home in front of the TV... and after all Papi has done for the Sox, he should never get booed at fenway.

Why do you care? This is no different anywhere else. Jeter has been booed. Ted Williams has been booed. No one is off limits, nor its it anyones right to command someone else not to boo.

Much ado about nothing.


I recall one time back in 2001 when I booed Mike Lansing mercilessly for 9 innings. Sox fans behind me were aghast, saying that any real Sox fan would never boo a player with Red Sox on. I could tell they weren't from here.

Worrying about how/why people boo never ceases to both amaze and bore me. One of the worst topics of sports talk discussion ever. It's just an gut, emotional reaction by frustrated people. It means nothing.

I was at the game and honestly couldn't tell if they were booing him or Yooouuking for the next AB.

Booing your own players is a waste of time. People who think that they deserve the right to boo or be abusive to players just because they paid a lot of money for a ticket should be taken out of the park and shot.

Really? SHOT, as in executed? For booing? Really?

Big supporter of the Patriot Act?


Whether or not its a waste of time is not your call. They paid for the ticket so they can do whatever they goddamn well please within the rules of the stadium.

I guess the sarcasm meter is broken today.

Yeah, we're all on edge and grumpy today. I'm booing my co-workers as we speak to make up for it.

One of the worst and most abusive pieces of government interference in our civil liberties right up there with the 18th amendment.



You're right...if they want to prove what boorish idiots they are...let them do it.

A couple of ass whippings in the playoffs will do that to you. I booed my dog this morning as well...

Sort of like the boorish idiots who are obsessed with pointing them out.

I was pretty sure Papi was being booed Monday, but as Papisgod pointed out above it is tough to make a definitive distinction between the "boooo"s and the "Yooouk!"s. Tek, on the other hand, was unquestionably being booed.

As for the crowd makeup, no doubt there are plenty of corporate types present at these games, but also keep in mind that the playoffs are the one time that season ticket-holders almost all occupy their seats themselves; many of them cherry-pick regular season games and parcel the rest out to friends and relatives. In my observation, the long-time season ticket-holders tend to be less demonstrative than the more casual fans.

I prefer to actually obsess about the game and where the next beer is coming from. But hey, if booing someone makes you feel important, go for it.

Which is why David Ortiz was not booed during the 2004 playoffs. Or 2007 playoffs. However, he has been downright awful in the 2008 playoffs, and he is fair game to be booed for his current performance. David Ortiz would not have a job if those people booing don't pay hundreds of dollars to attend the games. They have every right in the world to boo if they are not pleased.

There's sucking in the playoffs and there's lack of effort. Papi is clearly sucking in the playoffs, but I don't think it's from lack of effort. I think if you're going to boo, do it for lack of effort. The guys that are going out there and busting their asses don't deserve that treatment.

Now, after the last two games where the entire team has been a bag of suck...I don't know where you draw that line.

In which order?

But to stay on topic. I don't think that Papi should ever be booed at Fenway, no matter how frustrated we are, but you can't help what other people do.

I totally agree. any fake "fan" who would boo Big Papi should be banned from Fenway for life.

if pointing out repeatedly how boorish boo-ing is makes you feel enlightened, then go for it.

who cares? boo-ing is just an expression of disgust, it's not like it's a big deal.

Thanks. I will. I see you're crabby as well this AM too.



No, it really isn't a big deal. Honestly the fans should have been themselves booed for their lack of enthusiasm in game 3 right off the bat.

How any fan can express disgust with Big Papi is beyond me. Even if he is struggling. Even if he has one hit for the ALCS. The man should never get that treatment from the home crowd.

Like everyone on this board and in Fenway Park, I keep hoping Papi will find his stroke. But if he doesn't, why boo him? Makes us all look dumb.

As Yazdog said, booing is only justified for a lack of effort. Papi is trying - he just sucks right now. And I'm afraid its gonna stay that way from now on. A Jim Rice type 'the end comes suddenly and hard.'

He might be, but I think it's more of a case of getting over an injury, battling the mental demons of life without Manny and being out of sync all year. It's just as likely that he comes back strong next year. I'm worried but not panicking about his future at this point.

I was at the game on Monday and nobody around me was booing Papi. My understanding is that the time to boo is when the player is walking up to the plate, and Papi got a cheer everytime we heard the Reggaeton. The "booing" that was heard afterward was cheering for the next batter, Youk.

His knee was still somewhat of a mess to begin the season as well. So you have the knee (he still can't get down in that crouch), now the wrist, and his head. Realistically, the only thing that will fix it is some rest and starting from the ground up in spring training.

David Ortiz is a 230 pound designated hitter who will be 34 years old when the team reports to Ft. Myers in 2009. The fans were not booing Big Papi last night because Big Papi no longer plays here. That player is gone.

Even still, I, for one, wouldn't boo David Ortiz regardless. He's done too much and he's meant too much to this team over the years for me to stand up and boo him because he's struggling at the plate. As far as I'm concerned, he should never have to buy a drink or a meal in the Boston area again based just on 2004 alone. I know that we're all frustrated that Papi hasn't been Papi, but it's not like Ortiz isn't trying, he's clearly the most frustrated one about all of this and is busting his ass to try and figure it out. The day that stops happening, then the people who were booing may have a case.

I still think it's classless to boo David Ortiz. Yeah, he's had a lousy post-season. He also has a messed up sheath tendon. I think booing even Varitek or Timlin is classless. These guys have had great careers with the Red Sox and you have to look at the entire body of work. None of those guys from '04 or '07 (with the exception of Gagne, the Sox won despite him), should ever get booed.

Remember what it was like when the Sox won in '04. People said they would be loved forever. Well, they still should be, even though these players have declined.

I remember when the Yankee fans booed Jeter and Rivera and I thought about how classless they were. I'd like to think that Sox fans are more appreciative and classier. I guess in some cases, I'm wrong.

If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing for a Mike Timlin or a Tim Wakefield. If you want to boo a player who has never done a damn thing to help our team win the big one, go for it. But if they've helped to give us our ultimate dream, you zip your lip, hope Theo gets rid of them, and appreciate the joy that was 2004 and 2007, even if 2008 is coming to an end.

Except like it was said before, its not a sign of hatred for the player, just disapproval of their current performance. This is their job. They should continually perform. Could you tell your boss not to give you a bad review because you did something really good five years ago?

I could if my boss hadn't had than kind of performance in 86 years from anybody else.

I don't see the need to boo. I really don't see what it truly accomplishes, other than annoying the player that you want to do well.

It just doesn't make sense. Yaz had an off-year injury plagued 1981. Should he have been booed? Ted Williams, the same in 1959, should he have been booed? It just seems stupid.

Hey David, you're sucking right now, in case you hadn't noticed. So I'm going to holler a really stupid sound at you in hopes that it will bring your attention to the fact that your performance hasn't been up to par recently, except for that triple earlier in the game tonight.

Yeah, put into perspective, it sounds much more reasonable.

Well do you cheer a player? Hey Jason, you are hitting the ball really well, in case you hadn't noticed. So I am going to hoot and holler and clap my hands in the hope that you realize that I approve.

If you can cheer, you can boo. If you think booing doesn't matter, then you should not have a problem with others doing it.

Edit: Grammar is hard at 2 am

If it really happened (I didn't get to watch the entire game because of family commitments), the booing of Ortiz would be beyond inconceivable.

Vigilantism against such pinheads, in this case, would almost be justified (and I'm not so sure about the "almost").

Booing a hometown hero like Oritz says a lot more about the character of the fan than the performance of the player.

For those of you who really think that booing a guy like Ortiz who busts his ass & plays hurt and hits balls hard right at people is justified because YOU decided to spend a lot of money on a ticket.... well if you're ever in front of me, I expect there'll be an accident with a full cup of warm Fenway pisswater beer and you'll be wearing it home.

If you want to be an asshole and boo local public figures, why don't you just take a stroll up the Commons and take your little act to the State Capitol? Those clowns deserve it a whole lot more. And it's free.

Sox fans and the Boston mediots need a whipping boy or organizational bad guy. Now that Manny is gone, Papi is being groomed for the roll. See dirtdogs for an example.

I suspect everyone will suddenly notice that he does not run out ground balls.

The Sox will send in another incompetent old man to take a Pratt fall after he loses Papi's luggage during Spring training igniting the talk radio maroons into a frenzy.

My prediction has been that Tito and Papi were to be the next targets of the masses. We are seeing the beginning of that process.

http://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?s=&...t&p=1724124

Despite his advancing age and current injury status, I think Ortiz has just as good a chance of rebounding next year and making people like you look foolish as he does of continuing to decline and make you look right. Given the physical problems he's had and the toll the Manny saga has taken on him this year, I feel like he'll probably be a very strong contributor next season after a few months to rest, rehab and regroup. While he may not be the dynamo that he was from 2004-2006, I still think he'll be back in 2009.

As for the whole booing argument, I think it's totally the fans choice to do so or not. Is it warranted for a guy like Ortiz - i'd say most likely not right now. That being said, I don't think you automatically give a guy a pass just because of their performance several years in the past. If they are playing poorly for an extended period, aren't hustling or giving it their best shot day after day I say let them hear it.

I love the listed weights for these guys...I'm just a bit shorter than Papi, don't quite match his impressive upper body development (maybe similar for lower body), and probably have a pretty similar gut, and I weigh close to 230lbs. Papi has GOT to be over 250 now, maybe 260.
I agree that Papi is not deserving of boos, but am not going to say that people should be attacked for doing so...booing is one way fans let players know that they care and don't feel that the player cares enough. I personally don't feel that booing is usually called for when the effort seems to be there, but there are exceptions...it is also a way to tell the powers that be on a team that the fans think a player just shouldn't be out there. I think that Papi is hobbled now in various ways and, probably, pressing, but we know that he cares...at least, I think a good fan should know that.
If you say there should be no booing, then there should be no cheering, either...life cannot be all praise. Not all people are above average, not every effort is a good one, and what happens on that field really does matter to a lot of us.

I agree, truly a pathetic site. Don't be discouraged, people are ungrateful by nature.

so because some jackass Yankees fans boo their captain that makes it ok? this makes little sense to me

I booed Papi after reading this:



http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2008...=boston+red+sox

The fact that he was wearing a "Got Manny" shirt didn't help either.

Whatever happened to the guys who would just say "Y'know, the way I've sucked lately, I deserve to be booed."

Aside from the fact that he didn't say the words you would have liked him to say, I guess I'm having a hard time figuring out why what he DID say was objectionable.

Well that should shut the boo birds up for awhile anyway...

He was deflecting accountability there. Highlighting the fact that Wake/Lester/Beckett sucked at keeping runs off the board is about as helpful as one of them pointing out that Papi has sucked in the run support department.