Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Home Run Derby: Serious Business

The discussion surrounding the Home Run Derby generally consists of how awful Chris Berman is, or how much all of the people watching the event don't care about it. Not this year, though!

As I'm sure you're all well aware of by now, Robinson Cano was booed throughout his entire appearance in the Home Run Derby on Monday night. Well, save for the eruption of cheers when he made an out. If you didn't see it, you surely caught the sanctimonious backlash from the national media through their Twitter accounts.
Or "I'm a national sports writer, allow me to unintentionally point out the national media's bias toward larger markets."

Why is it necessary to pull the "jealousy" card when fans of a mid/small market team actually voice their opinion on a matter? If you disagree with the fans booing, then fine. State that opinion and move on. These tweets feel unnecessarily personal, though.

With Gammons being a big Red Sox fan, I wonder...what was it when Red Sox fans chanted "Just Say No" at recovering addict Darryl Strawberry during the 1999 ALCS? And that certainly isn't the only inappropriate fan reaction in Fenway Park history. Or how the shirts sold outside of Fenway with clever messages such as "Roger Clemens Is A Piece Of Shit" and "A-Rod Sucks, Jeter Swallows"? They exist. I've seen them being sold outside of Fenway with my own eyes. I'm sure it's all due to the passion of a large market fan base. It's all in fun!

The fact of the matter is this: Robinson Cano promised to add a Royal to his squad and he reneged on his promise. Small or large market, ANY fanbase would be angry. As noted above, one argument against Butler is that he just didn't deserve to be a part of the home run derby. Sitting at 16 home runs, Butler currently has more home runs than Derby Champion Prince Fielder. And that's certainly not to say Prince Fielder should have been excluded, especially since he's the defending champion...just pointing out that Butler's numbers go against the narrative. Recent Home Run Derby entrants have included noted sluggers and/or superstars such as Nick Swisher, Rickie Weeks, Corey Hart, Brandon Inge, Alex Rios, and Hee-Seop Choi. So, as you can see, there's a standard to be upheld in the Home Run Derby. Can't just let anyone in.

The thing that's being lost here is that it's an exhibition. The fans attending what amounts to a glorified batting practice are paying hundreds of dollars for the privilege of doing so. Why shouldn't their team be represented if there's a reasonable candidate available? Especially when the "captain" promised to name said player to his team. And if that guy reneges on his promise, so what if the fans boo him? It's not like they threw water on him and his family, like Arizona fans did to Prince Fielder last year for passing on Justin Upton(though, there are reports that KC fans booed Cano's family in the stands, and that isn't right.). Passan's level of irritation in that column is nowhere near what we've seen from him after Kansas City fans booed New York's Robinson Cano.

In the end, I think Padres fans can understand where KC fans are coming from. It's easy to jump on your high horse and pretend everyone should play nice, but we can't forget that fan is an abbreviation. Passionate people are going to react passionately; it is inherent to sports fandom. Smaller teams such as ourselves and the Royals rarely get the chance to shine, and when our players get pushed aside, we feel for them. We feel for our club, our city, ourselves. It's not easy being a fan of a club that has the cards stacked against it, always with the carrot dangling in front of us. The Royals and their fans had the rug pulled out from under them, and the fans reacted as they should have.

And, really, in the end...it was kind of funny.
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