I've been down at Citizens Bank Park the past two nights to watch the Phillies take on the Cincinnati Reds, and one thing that still happens to this day is the booing of former Phillie Scott Rolen. It doesn't happen as loudly as it used to, and certainly not with the same venom -- I even joked during one particular boring stretch of baseball on Tuesday night that fans forgot to boo him during one at bat because they had fallen asleep -- but it certainly still happens during most of his at-bats.
Now, as a sports fan, I certainly don't believe there are any rules to booing. You are free to boo whoever you choose. But I also think you should probably have a decent reason to expend that negative energy on a certain person, team, or particular play.
I get why fans were angry at Rolen so many years ago for leaving Philadelphia and calling St. Louis "Baseball Heaven." But hasn't enough time passed to move on from that? Philadelphia has had a tremendous baseball revival under Charlie Manuel and the Phillies have gone on to become W.F. Champions.
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Scott Rolen has played out his career and seems to have moved on just fine himself. Why haven't we?
He may play his final game ever in Philadelphia this evening, and that's a fact he's well aware of should he opt to hang up his cleats this offseason.
The Inquirer's Bob Brookover spoke with him earlier in the week about that possibility.
"I'm going to make sure I have my eyes open when I go to different
ballparks," Rolen said. "I'm not definite, but when I leave San
Francisco or Los Angeles, I take a look around. When I leave here [after
Thursday's game], I will have my eyes open. I think my last day here,
I'll probably pull my jersey off, have it authenticated, and hang it up.
If this is my last game here, I'll have an authenticated jersey."[snip]
"Everything
that goes on, it's easy to hear and see," he said. "I expect that when I
come back, but it does not mean this is not a special place in my
career. It's as special as any place I've ever been, and that's why I'm
going to take that jersey off and hold onto it."
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So, at this point Rolen can reflect back on Philly as a special place in his career. He could play his final game in Philadelphia tonight.
And he'll likely get booed one last time.
Personally, I probably booed him years ago, just because there was all that built up angst from years of losing. But last night, as Rolen came to bat, I didn't boo. Mostly because I've moved on from the pain of pathetic Phillies' seasons past.
I'm not knocking those that do choose to boo. I'm just curious: why do you still boo Scott Rolen?