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Sports Gospel- Stuart Scott doesn’t respect you
Mark Chalifoux
March 3rd
Stuart Scott is classless. It sounds harsh, but there is really no other way to describe him. It’s one thing that it’s become downright painful to watch him on TV in any fashion, but Stuart Scott has committed an unforgivable sin- he has turned his back on sports fans.
I finally began to realize this when I caught a quote from him in a recent issue of ESPN The Magazine. In his chat article, he responded to a question about fans by saying “Booing is classless.” Booing…is classless. Not “boo-yahing,” not the “Boo!” you see coming from a cardboard ghost cutout on Halloween, but the booing that you hear at every single sporting event. Even now, I still can’t fathom why he would say that. If he actually means and truly believes that, then it’s something he should definitely keep to himself rather than insult his viewers.
Naturally, the first reaction when you see something like this is to question- is booing really classless? Could it be that Stu is right, and EVERYONE ELSE EVERYWHERE is wrong? When faced with great hypothetical questions, I tend to seek solace in common clichés, which sometimes leads me to ask myself “What would Jesus do?” In this case, I’d have to say that Jesus would be booing with the rest of us, because he seemed like a pretty cool guy. At the end of the day, there is one absolute truth regarding sports fans- Everyone has booed at some point in their spectating career.
If you have ever cheered at a sporting event, more than likely you have booed at one as well. There aren’t too many of the “I’ll cheer that everyone is trying hard, having fun, and that the officials are giving their strongest effort” type fans left, but that’s not a problem. Booing is OK, in fact, I encourage it. Sports are meant to be emotional. You should be moved to the point where you feel like cheering and also to the point where you want to boo. Whether it be at a player that you can’t stand, at a blatantly horrible call by the one official you know is trying to screw you over, or at a middle-aged fan who wrestles a 12-cent plastic basketball away from a handicapped fan, booing is normal.
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Of course, there are a few occasions I would accept Scott’s brilliant “Booing is classless” theory.
1- Booing at 3rd grade girls’ soccer game- this is hazy, because you have to ask- why are the girls playing the sport? Do they just want to get some exercise or make some friends? Or do they want to experience what sports are like? If it’s the latter, a little booing will at least give them a sense of what sports are like. However, those are rare occasions and it’s better to err on the side of caution and go with the “no booing at 3rd grade girls” rule.
2- Booing at funerals- There are no exceptions to this rule.
3- Booing during moments of silence or during the National Anthem
The sad part of Stu’s comments was that there was no caveat; he didn’t say “Booing is classless…when you are at the Special Olympics.” I guess I don’t understand how this happened. I know he once started as a sports fan as there aren’t too many people who get into sports media without loving sports first. I also know that he’s been kissing any professional athlete’s tail for the past five years and has the journalistic integrity of a James Frey. Still, he’s got be trying pretty damn hard to get athletes to love him if he’s going to go far enough as to say that fans don’t have a right to boo. I am amazed that a SportsCenter Anchor can be so far removed from the people he works for (ie- all sports fans).
What’s next Stu? Maybe that “cheering is classless, because cheering for one team only makes the other team realize they did something to allow their opponents to deserve cheers, and that’s classless.” Or maybe that “wearing your teams colors is classless, because you are just flaunting it in the face of the visiting team that they aren’t good enough to support in public.” Eventually, he will see even attending sports events as classless, because it will make visiting teams jealous because they don’t have as many fans there.
It’s true that he’s the most polarizing SportsCenter anchor, which basically just means that people that haven’t watched him on TV in the last five years like him, but anyone who has seen him on TV or who has heard of someone who may or may not know someone who has seen him on TV can all agree on one thing- Stuart Scott sucks. Still, plenty of people on TV suck, so what makes him different? The fact that he blatantly disrespects sports fans, which is something that is not to be taken lightly.
Stu- it’s too late to fix this. You may not “holla back,” there will be no “witness from the congregation.” Most importantly, there will never be any emotional make-up that ends in a rehearsed handshake/hug/hand-pound between you and the common sports fan. You will never again be “as cool as the other side of the pillow.”
PICKS UPDATE- If you’ve been following the college basketball picks by AJ Braves either in this column or on SportsRant Radio, you would know he’s been on an incredible streak lately. He went 4-4 last week, and he’s 13-16 so far (which is about 5 picks better than the best of the best in Vegas usually do). Being the kind of guy I am, I will leave you with his five picks for the weekend.
Duke over UNC by 7+
MSU upsets Illinois at Breslin Center in East Lansing, MSU wins by 5+
Arizona beats Washington in Tucson by less than 6
Florida over Kentucky in Lexington
Texas beats Oklahoma by 6+
The Sports Gospel is sponsored by www.betonsports.com. www.betonsports.com gives you the greatest sports action to bet on-Wager on football, cricket, Boxing, Rugby, Horse Racing and more. Mark Chalifoux is a columnist for SportsFan Magazine. You can reach him at Rockne48@und.com.
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