Philadelphia fans, known for their emotion and intensity, flipped the script over the weekend by organizing an extended standing ovation for Trea Turner, the Phillies’ big free agent who has struggled mightily in the first year of his 11-year contract.
Instead of booing the perennial All-Star who has looked nothing like his normal self this year, the fans stood in unison to voice their support, hoping collective kindness would will Turner out of his prolonged slump.
Turner, who went 1-for-4 and make a key sliding stop at shortstop, told reporters his mother was in tears at the sight of the fans rallying behind her son, and Turner took out a billboard in Philadelphia the next day, thanking the fans for the gesture.
It led Sal to wonder if fans in New York should take a similar approach.
“Maybe we should try that here!” Sal said. “Maybe we, as a fanbase, should be nicer. If you’re seeing a result like that…maybe we in New York should be nicer…maybe Philadelphia is onto something. Being nice to the players and making it a nice environment…be kind to these million-dollar athletes, and maybe they’ll start doing their jobs.”
Safe to say, BT wasn’t in agreement.
“I don’t know if I like this, which is a weird thing to say when human beings are being nice,” BT said. “We’re supposed to, despite performance, put that on the side and preemptively tap into their emotions and elevate their performance by cheering when they haven’t earned it?
“So, in addition to paying - which, in essence, we are - these exorbitant contracts, we need to coddle them to the point to make them feel good for them to do the job that we’re paying them for?”
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