Fan character, OR When are you entitled to "boo"?

Thanks to District of Baseball (via the Washington Post) I read this nice item: "(Austin)Kearns' father, Dan, on the difference between Cincinnati and DC: "They talk about Cincinnati being a great baseball town, but they look for you to strike out so they can boo. Here they were, Washington, in last place, and they cheered everything."
I hope that speaks volumes about Nats fan character. That's certainly the way I see myself, at any rate.

You read a lot about fans in particular towns, usually negative if your source is someone from a rival town. For example, the New York Yankees and their fans have always been a big target because of their history of success and with New York being such a huge "stage", a gargantuan media market where nothing escapes scrutiny. If you ask a Boston Red Sox fan about Yankee fans, you won't hear anything good. Yankee fans are often derisively labled as "spoiled" because they expect nothing less than a pennant every season. Well, with that payroll, who wouldn't? If the Nationals had that payroll, I'd expect them to have a lock on the Series!

I don't know enough about fans in most other cities, but I hear good things about Cubs fans and Red Sox fans and their legendary loyalty. Philadelphia fans, Eagles and Phillies, have always struck me as particularly rude (I once had coffee thrown at me by an Eagles fan outside Veteran's Stadium before the game we were attending even started) and their behavior at Nats games hasn't been the most courteous, but perhaps that's just par for the course (I love mixing sports metaphors). Still, for a city whose very name means, "City of brotherly love", Philadelphia fans seem to me to be living ironies.

After two seasons, I don't know if we Nationals fans have truly established a fan character of our own, but I would hope that Mr. Kearns' observation is right on target. Redskins Head Coach Joe Gibbs has always maintained that Redskins fans were the best in the N.F.L. (of course, what would you expect him to say?)and I'm hoping that we fans never give Manager Manny Acta or anyone else in the club reason to believe that Nationals fans are anything less than 100% supportive and grateful. If a player gets traded and is asked to comment on their time in Washington, I would hope that, whatever problems they may have had with a teammate or with management, that they will say, "but the fans were always great. D.C. is a great baseball town if you play there."

I have heard our fans described as "savvy", as knowledgeable. Look at our demographics. I won't trot out fancy charts and figures here to support my contentions (but I'll bet that there is someone out there who could) but one undeniable fact is that our fan base is highly educated. We have a lot of institutions of higher learning around here, from Georgetown and George Washington and Howard and Gaulladet here in the District to the University of Maryland at College Park, to George Mason in Fairfax, just to name a few. We have their law schools, too. Washington, D.C. has more lawyers than any other city in the world. New York City has more law firms, but D.C. has more lawyers. High education is in and of itself no indicator of civilized behavior at public events, but this is also the city of diplomacy. We are an incredibly diverse market, with people of all nationalities, colors, languages, religions and political persuasions, and diplomacy is a going concern in Shangri-La-on-the-Potomac. We know how to break bread in this town with anybody and do it peacefully and with decorum.

So, do we fans bring our manners to the ballpark, or do we leave them in the parking lot (or on the Metro)? I think that we've been so appreciative for all of the efforts of others to bring us baseball that we've had no real reason to "boo" anything, certainly not for more than a moment. Frank Robinson made certain that players didn't get out of line, and no one was going to cross him (I'm still not convinced that Toma Ohka was shipped out simply because he forgot himself on the mound and "showed up" Frank.) I think that the past two seasons have been a love-fest between the players and the fans. There haven't been any angry outbursts or bad behavior to get fans upset, no run-ins with the law, no steroid-use, so fans haven't had anything to boo about. I get the impression that most of our players are so happy to be here and play at the major league level that they don't want to screw things up. No one wants to be sent down or released. And what player doesn't want to be cheered? Any National who played here last season would probably be thrilled if every game was like that Yankee series (at least the Saturday and Sunday games of that series), with a packed stadium of deliriously cheering fans. How electrifying was that Ryan Zimmerman walk-off home run? That was one of the biggest thrills of my life, seeing that in person. That Sunday game had the largest crowd to ever see a baseball game in Washington, D.C. and I hope that it was a taste of the days and nights to come.

The punitive actions of our military in Iraq and Afghanistan have polarized many of our citizens, but no matter where one stands on these issues, we as a people have learned at least one important lesson from Viet Nam: Hate the war, but love the warrior. In that spirit, I think that we fans may need to be a little more patient and forgiving this season. Boo mistakes on the field, sure, but cheer individual effort. Give 'em a hand as they take the field and as they exit the field. Cheering pumps up the players, gets that adrenaline flowing. If a player is doing his best, yet not achieving 100%, let's not ,for Heaven's sake, break their spirit. Set a positive example for the kids in the stands.

I hope that us Nationals fans establish a reputation around the league for being smart, supportive and well-behaved. But woe be to the player who gives us reason to rain boos down upon them without mercy (Barry Bonds, anyone?) If you've earned 'em, you'll get 'em from us and wish that you hadn't.