In Defense of Jimmy Rollins

The argument against him is understandable. The Philly Faithful have spent the better part of the last 25 years suffering through some tough losses and some laughably bad teams. We are, to be fair, more championship-starved than any city in the greater sports universe. Furthermore, the Phillies brass, and sports in general, have made damn sure that their product has kept up with the times and gotten more ridiculously expensive, pricing most families out of ever attending games on a regular basis and turning what was the home ice, court, and field advantages of the Spectrum and the Vet into bigwig client showcases like the soulless Wachovia Center.

In essence, we’re paying more money for an inferior product.

So the opinion of the unwashed masses tends to be that since they’re dolling out the exorbitant fees required to attend these games, they should be able to do whatever they want. That’s not necessarily a poor argument, but these fans are missing out on the key element: booing is an art form…and we’re doing it wrong.

Getting into the particulars of how to boo correctly is a column in and of itself, but Rollins makes an excellent point in referencing the power the fans have to elevate a player. When players like Carlos Ruiz and Eric Bruntlett get booed before their first at-bat of the game, that gets into a player’s head and makes the crowd look like a bunch of cantankerous malcontents. That isn’t to say certain players on one’s own team should never be booed (we’re looking at you, Adam Eaton), but it should be an occasion reserved for the most dire of circumstances.

Of course we, as fans, have the right to do anything (within reason) we want at games we’ve paid oodles of cash for, but don’t we want to see our teams win? Granted some athletes are prima donnas, but by undermining their confidence aren’t we shooting ourselves in the foot? The act, on the whole, is counter to what we want in the first place, which is to win! If someone is wearing the uniform of your team, you have GOT to pull for him/her.

And lo and behold, Philadelphia’s resident Rhodes Scholar, Angelo Cataldi, encouraged fans to shower Rollins with their verbal displeasure before the first pitch was even thrown at last night's game. (And some did so. -Ed.)

We live in a reactionary and sensationalist sports-media environment here in Philly. A simple peek around the internet today revealed people expressing all kinds of opinions on this. Some bloggers called for Rollins to be immediately waived (really?!?), while others, like Philscast.com’s John Infanti, have backed up the beleaguered shortstop. But the symptom of our sickness is evident in Mr. Cataldi’s column. With the Phillies one-and-a-half games back of the Mets in the NL East, he pushes the panic button. He criticizes not only Rollins, but Ryan Howard and Chase Utley for not being able to cope with the boos. Yes, that’s right, Chase Utley, whose “Boo? F**k you!” has been stitched onto T-shirts throughout Citizens Bank Park and made the slugging second baseman even more endearing to tough-nosed Philly fans. These athletes might all be wearing pink tutus as far as Cataldi is concerned. To be perfectly fair, the championship drought cannot completely be blamed. Ask Dick Allen or Mike Schmidt why they got it so bad. The only reasons this Phllyist can come up with are racism and mustache-envy.

Yes, the fact that the Phils have fallen back to 2nd stinks and, yes, Rollins is having a sub-par statistical year, but at some point don’t you have to cut the reigning MVP some slack? Can’t we realize that the Phillies gave us the ride of our lives last year and still have a month and half left to try and take us to that next plateau? Rollins has played on this team for his entire career. He’s endured bad teams and he’s played hurt. And while his skin may not be as thick as Pat Burrell's (who endured more vitriol than any player since Lindros before becoming a fan favorite again), maybe we did jump the gun a bit on booing him so adamantly. Even with the struggles Rollins has had, wouldn’t we rather have him than the circus that Red Sox fans had to deal with involving Manny Ramirez and Scott Boras, Prince of Darkness?

Jimmy Rollins doesn’t owe us an apology. All he needs to do is get his head in the game, knock the ball around, and he’ll be back in everyone’s good graces. The larger problem is with us. At this point in our bitterness and vitriol, aren’t we just playing the martyr? Do we actually revel so much in our victimhood that we won’t appreciate the big prize when it does come? Say the Phillies win it all this year, will our argument for booing the Eagles three weeks later be, “Those bastards haven’t won since 1960.” We’re starting to like our tortured image a little too much and it’s high time we cut the whining and started supporting our players.

Image Credit: Flickr user phillymads63