Did Another Star Athlete Give New York Fans a ‘Thumbing?’
Sometimes in sports, players make some type gesture during a game to celebrate with their teammates or fans. Some are funny. Others are dumb. When superstar athletes making $30 million dollars, like Francisco Lindor and his former New York Mets teammate Javier Baez started giving the Citi Field crowd the 'thumbs down' gesture, they got torched by the New York media and especially the fanbase.
The ridicule for the Mets duo was daily and the gesture quickly went away. People spending their hard earned money to buy tickets to see you play and your jerseys don't want to be mocked by the people they are paying to see. Baez was not re-signed and Lindor is counting his money hoping that the fans forget about the 'thumbing' over the winter. Therefore, a 'thumbs down' to the fans was placed into the 'dumb' category.
Last night, the Madison Garden Crowd was giving it to their home team, as New York came out and played a sluggish first half. Boston led by as many as 25 and the boo birds were targeting Knicks star forward Julius Randle. Then, in the 4th quarter, with New York in the midst of an amazing comeback, Randle made that familiar 'thumb down' gesture towards the fans. Uh, oh...What are these athletes thinking? Like, New Yorkers are going to stop when you do that to them? You'll get a finger right back and it won't be the thumb!
Randle has been a popular player for the Knicks. He single handedly carried New York to the playoffs last year for the first time since 2013. He has struggled this year to reach those same results under circumstances that are not his fault. Julius Randle is a big part of any New York Knicks success, especially in the near future. Letting the New York crowds get under your skin during an early January game isn't good for anyone.
It's hard to get booed but that is the scenario that has been set up by our society with sports. Athletes that are getting paid exorbitant amounts of money have to understand that the fans have the 'right' to boo. It shouldn't go further and it should never get personal. However, being booed is part of the professional sports game. That's what you signed up for. Deal with it Julius.