Sometimes People Do Rememebr Atheltes Are People Too

A couple of days ago, I ranted about how disrespectful fans can be towards athletes. But it reminded me of a really cool mini-documentary I watched on Netflix.

The Turnaround is a 25 minute long min-documentary that tells the story of a fan who remembered that athletes are humans too. Not only that, he remembered that fans can actually have an impact on their team's performance (hence "home field advantage").

As a sports fan, I see things from a very simple perspective, every move a franchise makes should be making it more likely they will win a championship. I think that extends to fans as well. If you love your team and are desperate for them to win a championship, why would you take any action that would make that less likely? And yet, sadly, it happens all the time. One of the most obvious ways this happens is by booing your own players. And I don't mean booing a coach, or GM, or an owner that you hope will be fired or sell the team. That act of booing can actually have a positive effect if it leads to the team changing how they do things (sadly that doesn't work here in Chicago). I mean when you boo a player simply because of their performance. I assure you, when a guy is playing like shit, he already knows it. Booing isn't providing him a valuable wake up call to "get on the ball". It's just kicking someone when they are down and putting even more pressure on them (if that is even possible). Yes they are professionals. Yes they are paid handsomely to play a game and entertain us, but what is the goal of the booing? Is it to make it more likely or less likely that player will play better? If it is just to get your own frustration out, great... but are you going to be less frustrated if they continue to suck or they actually improve? Is it more fun to watch your team win or to rub it in some guys face who is struggling?

Well a Philadelphia Phillies fan answered all of theses questions back in 2023. That season, the Phillies signed superstar shortstop Trea Turner to an 11 year $300 million contract. And you better believe fans cheered when he did. But Turner struggled to start his Phillies career. In fact during his first 107 games as a Philly, Turner hit only .235 with 10 home runs and 34 RBI. In the weeks leading up to a very momentous moment, Turner was slumping with a .143 batting average.

In order to remind Turner how bad he was doing, the Philadelphia fans started booing him every time he came to the plate. Right before he batted, 42,000 people reminded him how much he sucked. What a shock that he continued to suck and actually got worse.

But then a fan named John McCann realized, "Hey this guy is a human. Humans sometimes need some support. I am a fan of this team. What if instead of making it harder for him to do well, I tried to make it easier for him to do well?" McCann, who had a rather large social media following, decided to post a video on Youtube and Instagram. In it he asked his fellow fans, "If you're going to a Phillies game this weekend, let's not boo Trea Turner… Let’s give him a standing ovation every time he comes to bat.” And they did. On August 4, 2023, 42,000 fans stood and cheered Turner's first at bat at the ball park. It would have been cool if he hit a homer, but he didn't. He lined out hard. But later in the game, he got an RBI single. The next day, the fans cheered him again. In his first at bat, he crushed a 3 run homer. The crowd refused to stop cheering until he came out and tipped his cap.And then he never cooled off.

In the 48 games after that initial standing ovation, Turner hit .348 with an elite .668 slugging percentage while hitting 16 homers and driving in 42. So does that answer the questions? I know it does for McCann and Turner.

Got any heartwarming sports stories?