Booing

Fans of one American baseball team booing supporters of another

Booing is an act of publicly showing displeasure for someone or something, such as an entertainer or an athlete, by loudly yelling "Boo!" and sustaining the "oo" sound by holding it out. People may also make hand signs such as the thumbs down sign.

Players booed for their performance felt booing "spooked" or "bothered" them or their teammates, and that it "affected their performance". Nick Swisher stated "It hurts. Sometimes I'm a sensitive guy and some of the things people say, they get under your skin a little bit." Ledley King stated, "It just frustrates me when the crowd boo England, who is that going to help? It just heaps more pressure on the players and gives us even less of a chance of scoring". However, the counterargument goes that the combination of booing and applause help keep the quality of public performance high, by emotionally rewarding the good and punishing the bad.[1][2][3]

Booing is not always a judgement of performance, but can be an expression of disapproval of a third party.[4]

  1. ^ Aaron Gleeman (October 19, 2012). "Yankee Stadium boos "spooked a lot of guys" according to anonymous Yankee". NBC Sports: Hardball Talk.
  2. ^ Peter Botte (October 14, 2012). "Yankees' Nick Swisher says fans blamed him for Derek Jeter's injury after he misplayed ball in right field during Saturday's ALCS Game". New York Daily News. It hurts. Sometimes I'm a sensitive guy and some of the things people say, they get under your skin a little bit. I've been lucky to be here for the past four years, bro. We're not going to go out like this. We're going to go to Detroit and give everything we've got.
  3. ^ Mark A. (October 8, 2008). "To boo or not to boo?". BBC. Archived from the original on 2008-10-15. It just frustrates me when the crowd boo England, who is that going to help? It just heaps more pressure on the players and gives us even less of a chance of scoring
  4. ^ Klepek, Patrick (4 December 2015). "Geoff Keighley: Konami Barred Hideo Kojima From Accepting Metal Gear Award". Kotaku. Retrieved 4 December 2015.