Phil_2.0 wrote:I lie to my kids all the time to get them to do stuff... Hey , if you eat your dinner I will take you to ToysRUs. Lie!!!!
That is so messed up, haha.
Re: Kwame
Positive reinforcement is a good thing. However, sometimes people need a little extra motivation, like a slap to the head. Hopefully Kwame got his and is ready to bring it strong from now on.
Flea's blog is nice, well-argued, but he was a little long-winded about talking about how great of a fan he is.
Anyways far as I can remember, Lakers fans have rarely booed their own players, individually (we have been booed as a team, however). In the past 20 years or so, only Kobe and Kwame have been singled out and booed. It's not a vicious crowd.
In fact, one paper reported that nobody booed Kwame during introductions this past game. Not exactly a tough crowd.
I personally don't think fans were booing Kwame on a whim during the Suns game. Not really a case of mass johnny-come-lately. I think they were booing what a disappointment Kwame has been for his entire Lakers career. I say that because Kwame has fumbled passes and turned the ball over before. Often. We saw that many times before actually. But he was our only guy, we didn't have anybody else to turn to. I'm guessing fans didn't boo him because of the reason that Flea is pleading we don't boo him now.
But after seeing Bynum's development, they were painfully made aware of the lack of Kwame's. "Bynum became a stud over the summer. You're the exact same waste of potential. What the hell's wrong with you?" We're glad we have Bynum. But we want this guy gone.
That's what I saw. It didn't help that his coach left him out there and his teammates kept going to him though.
It makes me think that Kwame is actually pretty good in practice, if his coach and teammates have that kind of confidence in him.
So maybe they should cheer him.
That being said, I think fans have the right to boo their own team. They pay money for their tickets, it's entertainment, you can't expect fans to fill out a customer satisfaction survey card.
I recognize the logic behind the self-defeating effect of boos, but in certain cases, fans boo to want somebody gone. Knick fans boo Isiah not because they want more wins, but because they want his ass gone. I'm guessing that's why so many fans booed Kwame on that particular night. It was a case of bemoaning a lost cause.
I have to be honest. If I were at the Phoenix game, I probably would boo, to get Turiaf into the game. It's hard to chant "Take Kwame Out and Substitute Ronny!" So I think I would just settle for a boo boo.
But I like Kwame. I think he can still be very helpful to us (hopefully at or less than the MLE). He's also put in a tough spot, kind of like Smush Parker.
Parker self-destructed though. And we didn't boo him.
Here's hoping Kwame can continue to play well. I'm hoping for "Kwame" chants. It would be appropriate, given our surprising, ironic season.
