The New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills have played some exciting, compelling games over the years, going all the way back to their days as charter members of the old American Football League. But Sunday’s regular-season finale at Gillette Stadium promises to be nothing of the kind, what with the 3-13 Patriots looking to just get it all over with and the 13-3 Bills looking to rest their starters in advance of the playoffs.
Sheesh. Where are television blackouts when we need them?
If the Patriots’ 40-7 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers last week is any indication, Gillette Stadium will be running on empty for Sunday’s finale. And to borrow yet again from last week, there’s a good chance those Pats fans who do bother to show up will be doing some booing — perhaps a lot of booing if the crowd decides to view the game as a referendum on the entire season.
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Let’s talk about that. Not the season, but the booing. We’ll begin with the obvious: Fans have a right to boo. We can go so far as to say they have a responsibility to boo in that even today, in a world of ever-loudening social media spitfire, booing remains the best way for fans to express their emotions so long as it doesn’t turn into something akin to angry, torch-bearing villagers chasing after Frankenstein’s monster.
The fans who booed last week at Gillette Stadium seemed more grouchy than outraged. It’s been that kind of season. But they did send a message to Patriots owner Robert Kraft and first-year coach Jerod Mayo with their “Fire Mayo!” chant, which didn’t go over well with veteran defensive tackle Davon Godchaux.
“Could have been better class from the fans with the booing and stuff like that,” Godchaux said. “It is embarrassing, I get it, but you’re playing for pride at the end of the day.”
He called the “Fire Mayo” chants “just ridiculous.”
Davon Godchaux backs his head coach.
“Everybody plays a part in it. Players, coaches, front office, everybody…The players got to take accountability, because we’re the ones out there that put the film on tape.”
A passionate message from the veteran leader. @NBC10 #NEPats pic.twitter.com/WFZCYmAz0Q
— Nicole Menner (@NicoleMenner) December 28, 2024
Mayo had the correct response for the “Fire Mayo” crowd: “You hear those things but at the same time, they pay to sit in those seats,” he said. “We’ve got to play better and if we play better, we don’t have to hear that stuff.”
That’s a far cry from what former Celtics coach Rick Pitino said on March 1, 2000, following his team’s 96-94 loss to the Toronto Raptors. Pitino’s epic rant is best remembered for his observation that “Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they’re going to be gray and old.”
But it also included this: “… all the negativity that’s in this town sucks. I’ve been around when Jim Rice was booed. I’ve been around when (Carl) Yastrzemski was booed, and it stinks. It makes the greatest town, greatest city in the world, lousy.”
What Pitino left out is that Yastrzemski, Rice — and Ted Williams, whom he didn’t mention that night — were wildly cheered for much of their careers. But, yes, absolutely, the three Hall of Fame left fielders received what we can call “lovers spats” booing from fans who appreciated the player but didn’t much like the way things were going at the moment.
Booing, like snow, comes in many forms. Booing a player for a perceived lack of hustle isn’t the same as, say, booing the manager for taking out a rookie pitcher who has a shutout going in the seventh inning. Umpires and referees are booed differently than coaches and players, just as it’s different when a local politician is brought out for a ceremonial puck drop, first pitch or coin toss. It’s a slam dunk that our politicos are going to be booed when they show up at a sporting event. Former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis understood this as he was being roundly booed while stepping up to speak at Opening Day at Fenway Park in 1975. “Thanks for the nice reception,” he said. “Don’t worry, I won’t take up much of your time.”
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And then there’s the booing of opposing players. Again, it takes different forms. Opposing players who have reached true villain status — such as Ulf Samuelsson for what he did to Cam Neely and Manny Machado for what he did to Dustin Pedroia — get the loudest booing. On a different level, there’s the booing of opposing players not because they did something evil or dastardly but because they were/are great players who’ve routinely pulverized your team.
That got me thinking about Hall of Fame outfielder Reggie Jackson, who was deluged with boos whenever he played at Fenway Park, especially during the five seasons he was with the Yankees. I reached out to Jackson about that.
“I loved playing in Fenway and getting booed in Fenway,” Jackson told me. “It was really an honor. I really played with the fans in the on-deck circle. Sooner or later I’d hit one out, and I’d walk back and keep my head down and then I’d look up and stare at a guy and wink at him.”
In Jackson’s view, fans love to boo the great players. “Like a Michael Jordan, or a Ted Williams, or a Jimmy Rice, or let me get it up to today with Aaron Judge,” Jackson said. “Those guys are going to get booed in opposing cities because they’re the enemy that’s going to beat your team. You boo those players out of respect.”
But Jackson believes fans should be charitable with their own players.
“I was a baseball player who was a fan,” Jackson said. “But I never bothered to boo anyone. I had no idea what that really meant. Boo, you stink. Well, everyone stinks some days. Even in the NFL, unless you’re Jim Brown. Do you know he never lost a yard when he was carrying the ball? Do you know that stat? That’s what I’ve read.”
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To borrow from Pitino, the sad reality is that the late Jim Brown isn’t walking through that door for the Patriots. It’ll be Rhamondre Stevenson at running back against the Bills, and he’ll probably get dropped for a loss or two here and there.
If so, and with apologies to Jackson, it’s OK to boo. Mayo has it right: You pay to sit in those seats.
(Photo of Jerod Mayo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
