Lowry to fans: Stop booing Bargnani

[Romaniano]

we dont want to help BARGS, he is not helping our CITY by giving a way $10M a year. He can kiss our asses.

[Hero]

No Kyle...if you don't perform and you are paid the money you are paid...then you will be booed.

Bargnani should have played his last game as a Raptor a long time ago...so a lot of the blame goes to Colangelo for not capitalizing on the 13 games of greatness and selling high when he could.

Bargnani's lack of emotion and energy on the court is sickening, especially for someone paid $10 million a season. His comment a couple of years ago about this being 'basketball' and not 'rebound-ball' was flat out disrespectful to anyone who wants this team to do well.

I've had an epiphany during this recent run of winning...what's the difference between having Bargnani play big minutes like he used to...and now? No more half-assed 3 point attempts being hoisted up with 20 seconds on the shot clock with no one (especially a big man) inside to grab a rebound should the shot miss. I would rather have Jonas and Amir...hell...even Aaron **** Gray playing big minutes because those guys actually box out and defend.

So no Kyle...fans will boo those who don't exhibit an attitude conducive to winning...so remember that. No sulking, playing selfish or giving anything less than 110% effort. Keep that in mind unless you too wish to be booed.

Great post. Not sure what happened to wanting to stop the Boos by playing well. Seems like a simple solution.

Yeah, it got pretty bad last game. Lets stop the booing. The guy does seem to be trying out there now.

He has been invisible lately.

[Romaniano]

Bargs trying? He's jogging around on the court, playing 20 minutes should mean you are SPRINTING on every possession ... does he? no.

He doesn't rebound... and its arguable he plays ANY defence, hes just wide and stays in the middle. He is a tool and a half.

[Romaniano]

THE MORE WE BOO THE LESS HE WILL PLAY and the more games we will WIN. PERIOD.

BOO ON x99999999999999

[Hero]

The rest of the league already has a pretty negative view of Raptors fans and this just makes our fans seem even more classless. Seriously, how will booing help Bargs or the team? Its just hurting him even more and his lack of production his hurting the team.

This isn't true. What a baseless statement.

We're one of the few franchises who has fans even though we suck. Acc is always rowdy and outside analysts have affirmed this. Our fans are classless? Yesterday everyone had a great time and cheered this team and it was a playoff atmosphere.

[CBC_Raptor]

Obviously booing him all the time is not productive.

For the Leafs, booing Ron Wilson was the final straw in being relieved as head coach. Now things are looking up. According to some here, fans should just mindlessly cheer. You gotta find some middle ground.


Question: What is the appropriate way for fans to voice their displeasure about the team/personnel?

Communicate via letters, emails, call-in to post game radio, twitter, blog, petitions, etc. to MLSE, Bell/Rogers, media outlets, ...

Re: Ron Wilson. Any management or ownership making decisions based on fan reaction is not necessarily a good thing. The Toronto franchises have been badly run and we have not been targeting the main culprits. Who brought in Colangelo and Burke? Who brought in Babcock and (JFJ)John Ferguson Jr.? It would seem that the scapegoats have been the bad hires and the players and coaches managed/acquired under them.

The good thing is that ownership has changed so that's a big start. It looks like the Maple Leafs are starting to clean house and hopefully not for the sake of just changing. The old guard is still around and that includes Tanenbaum, Colangelo, Gherardini, Jim Kelly are still around. These are the guys who decided to invest into Bargnani, trade away our draft picks for band aid acquisitions, and squandered our draft picks in the past. We should be booing these guys but of course, it's too easy and tradition to find the easy way out when dealing with displeasure.

[mdot]

I see Indeed is the captain of the moron brigade in this thread. Guaranteed most of the people who want Bargs booed are the teens who still have to ask their mom if its okay to go to the mall after school or they are mentally insecure tough guy wanna be's. You never boo a player on your own team unless he asks for a trade or is being a complete tool. Its not Bargs fault Andeson and Lucas get plays run for them in the second unit when hes on. But yes I do want Bargs but he doesn't deserve this.

[tms]

i dont think ppl r booing Bargs so much as theyr booing mgmt for him still being here and his trade stock having arguably/allegedly/officially? now gone KAPUT. its true so true so true undeniably true that booing doesnt help sht but the fans r not to blame. if the team had heeded earlier calls to move him out (over the past, say, 7 yrs) they wouldnt be in this position. they rly have only themselves to blame. fans r just messengers... they didnt fk this up. cant blame the family for b!tching after pops comes home penniless from the track.

[5dime21]

Booing doesnt hurt the team, but playing bargnani does. Bargnani been shielded from this tooooooooo long, it time to let him know enough is enough. Either you play with some heart or you take yourself somewhere else.

[CBC_Raptor]

Can also be viewed as accepting poor ROI on the products we pay for. No different from us getting gouged from Rogers/Bell/TTC/Air Canada/etc. Even though I've been here all my life, I think Torontonians are pushovers, pretenders and think they are better than they really are. Until we face the reality of things, we won't be able to move forward and get the better things that other world class cities in this world are getting.

The rest of the league already has a pretty negative view of Raptors fans and this just makes our fans seem even more classless. Seriously, how will booing help Bargs or the team? Its just hurting him even more and his lack of production his hurting the team.

This isn't true. What a baseless statement.

We're one of the few franchises who has fans even though we suck. Acc is always rowdy and outside analysts have affirmed this. Our fans are classless? Yesterday everyone had a great time and cheered this team and it was a playoff atmosphere.

[Rallyks]

Let's feel sorry for a guy making $10M a year.. yes folks, that's 10,000,000 a year to shoot 37% FG 17% from 3, average 2 points, 0 rebounds in 5 games.

I am sure more than half of the posters here could average those if we were given 17 minutes on the court / game.

You're right, I won't just boo him if I'm at the game.

I WILL DOWNRIGHT HECKLE THE **** OUT OF HIM

Don't feel bad for him. I just dont get it. You guys gain absolutely NOTHING from booing him.

[LRJ]

The rest of the league already has a pretty negative view of Raptors fans and this just makes our fans seem even more classless. Seriously, how will booing help Bargs or the team? Its just hurting him even more and his lack of production his hurting the team.

This isn't true. What a baseless statement.

We're one of the few franchises who has fans even though we suck. Acc is always rowdy and outside analysts have affirmed this. Our fans are classless? Yesterday everyone had a great time and cheered this team and it was a playoff atmosphere.

My bad, my statement was poorly worded. I know we have great fans but some outside critics and fans do think we are tools for booing are own players. And I meant that a small minority of fans are making the rest of us look bad. I know Bargs hasn't worked out but booing won't do anything at this point.

[Hero]

I see Indeed is the captain of the moron brigade in this thread. Guaranteed most of the people who want Bargs booed are the teens who still have to ask their mom if its okay to go to the mall after school or they are mentally insecure tough guy wanna be's. You never boo a player on your own team unless he asks for a trade or is being a complete tool. Its not Bargs fault Andeson and Lucas get plays run for them in the second unit when hes on. But yes I do want Bargs but he doesn't deserve this.

This isn't true. Have you been to any of the games that he's been booed ? It's everyone booing him not one particular set of people.

[sanity]

Seems like a one sided relationship if you're asking fans to continually show support for a player who has been **** the dog for quite some time.

[highscore]

Seeing a lot of arguments made for not booing the home team or its players. For the majority most are saying there is no sound reason to boo, ever, and absolutely overlooking the other side of it all as if those people are children or villains that give this team a bad name. Although I was glad to see Lowry standing up for his teammate, it still doesn't change my outlook on how to treat this Andrea Bargnani fiasco. That is, show your displeasure any way you can because you have the right to do it as a paying customer.

Yesterday, while watching the game, I isolated Andrea for a long stretch on both ends of the floor. On defense, he was floating around, neither here or there — he made what seemed like empty gestures to play help defense or get out to contest a jumper, but in reality he didn't show any effort. On offense, he stood in the corner marked by a man and made no effort to touch the ball, at most he would come out to set a meaningless screen on the ball but would never roll or make himself available for a pass. He didn't pick up a single point, rebound, block, steal, or assist in 13 minutes of play. Previous to that he was held scoreless against Memphis in 22 minutes of play. He has the worst combined +/- on the team from the last two games. He played butthurt, almost as if the caliper test he took lied to us. Just by his production alone, he wasn't winning anyone over.

Fans boo Andrea for his pure lack of effort or care that stares you in the face. Not to mention that he is still here although Colangelo has always sold him to us as that very sought-after enigma that the whole league had coveted. That was a lie, and Andrea is the product of that lie. You boo now until he's shut down for the season, because you see Andrea getting minutes and stuffing the stat sheet with goose eggs while a young Quincy Acy is up on his engaged with every play from the bench. Now while he might not possess the skill-set that Andrea has — all you'd like to see in this another throw away season is effort being rewarded by the coaches, accountability for the play, and young guys getting an opportunity to develop. Playing Andrea is a case against all three. You always say there is no point to booing, but the only time our franchise has ever listened and done something was purely reactionary — and albeit that it might be too late with the trade deadline passing, it's still the only reasonable course of action left in order to demand change in the offseason. So I say you boo, or not, just react the way that best reflects your position on all this but you are not in the wrong for wanting to do one or the other.

[Rallyks]

^ Fans have been voicing their displeasure with him for a while. Booing him now doesn't really change the fact that he already knows the fanbase wants him out. Colangelo knows you guys want him out. Booing him isn't going to get him out of here any faster.

All you're really doing is making him feel like an even worse sack of ****, which i'm sure is what most of you are going for, but again, wheres the gain?

[highscore]

Do not play him.

[Geddy]

Two arguments from those opposed to the booing are a questionable. The first one is that he is playing worse than before due to the boos. In reality I don't see any difference in his play since he has become a bench player. During the Memphis game the boos didn't stop him from taking 3 quick shots close to the rim in the span of about 10 seconds. Even if booing your own player is wrong, you would still expect a professional to suck it up and use the booing as motivation to try harder. In my opinion this argument is purely based on opinion and a reach to criticize the booing.

The second one is that booing him hurts his value on the market. I don't think GMs will somehow think more or less of because he is getting booed. The reality is that he doesn't have much value even without the boos or in other words there isn't much lower his value can go. GMs around the league have enough knowledge from scouting, stats and game tapes to make their decision on him. They're not going to use fan perception as a gauge for his value to a team.

Well I guess if you believe the excuse that the booing his hurting his play then i guess you would believe that's why his value would go down. Since I don't buy that the booing is hurting him, I don't see why it would hurt his value.

If Bargnani fans are upset with the booing because their fave player is being booed then just say it that way. To make up excuses why the booing is wrong, to start whining about how bad the fanbase is, how classless the city is and all the rest is just a waste of time.

[Coach Smiley]

if a player is on the ACC court wearing a Raptors jersey I'm not booing him period. I'm encouraging him.

[Neutral 123]

if a player is on the ACC court wearing a Raptors jersey I'm not booing him period. I'm encouraging him.

Stop giving the ball to Carlton!!