Already With This Shit?

So yesterday was Opening Day for the St. Louis Cardinals. In a scenario all too similar to last season, the Cardinals took a lead into the 9th, only to see their closer, in this case Jason Motte, blow the lead, and cost them the game. However, that's not the shit I'm referring to above.

No, I'm referring to the boos that apparently rained down from the crowd yesterday, as well as the bitching I'm seeing on the Internet. Really, one game and the sky is fucking falling?

Let's start with the booing. I don't normally care if fans boo. I've done it; I booed the crap out Jeff Brantley throughout the '98 season, because he was terrible. So if you want to boo, then go for it; it's your vocal chords. But on the first day on the season? Isn't that jumping the gun a little bit? I'm pretty sure even when Isringhausen and Juan Encarnacion stank up the joint in April 2006, the fans waited at least a few weeks before they turned on the two of them. I'm positive I didn't start booing Brantley until the end of April, because the "blowing saves" thing kept happening. But for just one save? It's a bit much to me.

Of course, the other downside of the booing is it brings out the annoying Cardinals' fans. The ones who insist we're 'the best fans in baseball', and that means we shouldn't boo. I've already made it clear that I figure people can boo if they wanna (even if I don't agree with it), but can I say I hate this "best fans" tag? It was bad enough when it was national sportswriters saying it (and I hate to admit this, I let that puff my head up a bit), but then the fans started believing the hype, and touting themselves as the best fans in baseball, which is a little fucking presumptuous, don't you think? Plus, it becomes the go-to thing for any fan that doesn't like how other fans are behaving. "Don't boo; we're the best fans in baseball and we shouldn't do that." Or, "Don't leave early", even if the game's running long and that person has work early in the morning. Or, "Don't do the Wave; we're the best fans and we're above that". It actually makes me ashamed to be a Cardinals' fan, because I'm sharing that fandom with these arrogant fuckers.

Then there's the Internet chatterboxes. Goddamn I'm tired of these reactionary twatwaddles. Your rookie closer blew one save? Well, it's all because of that cheap ass owner who wouldn't shell out $30 million or whatever for Brian Fuentes. Of course, these are the same dumpling-brained chucklefucks who, had the Cardinals done just that and Fuentes blew his first save here, would be complaining that the Cardinals wasted all that money on a closer, instead of going out and getting a 2nd baseman. I mean, one fucking game and we're off to ther aces with this, to the extent that people who aren't screaming bloody murder about how tight-fisted the Cardinals are get labeled as 'drinking the kool-aid'.

Yeah, or maybe we're just calmer than you incompetent gasbags. Maybe we recognize this is baseball, not football. That's it's a 162 game season, and anybody can look like shit for one day. I mean, if you want to base your feelings on a personnel move based on one game, then back in 2001 you could have argued that the Cardinals made a mistake using Albert Pujols more than Craig Paquette, since Albert had a stretch from June 29 to July 8 where he went 2-for-33. Holy crap, he must not have been worth a damn, what were the Cardinals thinking using a guy who was so lousy?