Camden wrote:I don't necessarily disagree with that take, Lip, but I don't think booing the team right now makes anything better or even makes much sense given that they're actually winning games while still transitioning into the team they want to become, and likely still need the crowd's energy to feed off of. Remember that it's still very early. We're not even at the 20-game mark and they're showing tangible signs of getting better, believe it or not. I've illustrated that in other posts within this thread.
Also, every time they miss a shot, make a mistake and/or give up a run to the opposing team, they know it and feel it as much or more than we do as fans. It's their last names on their backs. They face the backlash for this experiment not working out or failing to meet expectations. Several of these players are in contract years on top of that. Now I'm not suggesting for fans to praise or applaud the team when they're playing poorly, but rather don't pour gas on the fire with boos, especially if they're not getting loud and cheering when the team is on a roll. Target Center does not have the reputation of being a tough place to play in for visitors for a reason. Our fans are noticeably quiet more often than not. So, again, why the booing? It solves nothing. It helps nothing.
I don't think it makes sense to expect fans to be strategic, which is really what you're suggesting. You know as much as anyone that being a fan is an emotional experience, especially when you're in the arena. I don't know whether booing makes the team better or not. I think it probably motivates some players to play harder and better. And if it doesn't make them better, well then it's just part of live sports. Again, I come back to the fact that the booing last night wasn't just a reaction to the team playing poorly; it was a reaction to the team also not playing hard. Finch's comment about the first half was, "we just didn't play very hard." Holy crap, if the team he described in those terms doesn't deserve some boos then perhaps we should just ban the expression completely, which would probably fit the times were in.
Seriously, I've been a season ticket holder since 1997. I can't begin to count the number of Wolves games I've attended during that time frame, but I can probably count on one hand the times the Target Center crowd has booed the home team. It's obviously rare. Last night was one of those rare occasions and the boos were well deserved by a team whose own coaches called them out for not playing hard in the first half. Fans aren't stupid. They know when the players are giving it their all and when they're not. Last night it was obvious in the first half that they were not. And so they booed. Hopefully, Gobert's tender psyche can recover from the trauma.
