Amazin'

 

There's a stone tablet inside Stew Leonard's, the CT-based grocery empire/petting zoo. It reads:

"Rule 1: The customer is always right. Rule 2: If the customer is ever wrong, reread Rule 1."

I got a little overheated today.

I was getting revved up all day thinking about the utter idiocy of Javy Baez, Kevin Pillar, and Francisco Lindor, among others. Those three aren't big fans of Stew's mantra.

There seems to be a belief among some where athletes can fight back against booing and negativity.

Er...what?

While Marcus Stroman can have at it on Twitter it's generally bad form to flip people off in the stadium or, in the Mets' case, give thumbs down to fans when doing well as a way of telling the customers to eff off.

Customers. That's what fans are. We sometimes say, "The paid attendance is..." So, paid, as in paying customers.

And, while they're not truly, always "right," booing (which I find stupid) does seem to harmless and acceptable.

I think about representing the Renegades, WGCH, Local Live, etc. and, on occasion, I'm sure I drop the ball occasionally.

Still, the customer is right, whether we like it or not. It's good for business and teams tend to like having customers in the stadium.

And so, after reading one silly missive after another, the cork popped around 4:06 p.m. today.

Oh, it was cathartic. 

I emphatically pounded the folding table that I use as part of my desk at one point.

Obviously, I said what I said as I made my point about the utter ridiculousness of everything.

What probably set me over the edge was that playing of the race card. Literally, that's just lighting the fuse with me. It was so obviously going to happen.

So, my point continues to stand.

But...maybe the message could have been delivered differently.

Or maybe not.

This is the conundrum of it all.

The words that generally make me cringe are, "I saw/read/heard your show/blog/game" because I then tense up waiting for the punch line.

Sometimes it's positive. Sometimes it's awkward or critical.

Despite a few messages about how good it was, I'm still feeling awkward.

But I still hold true to my belief: Lindor, Baez, Pillar, etc would be well-served to find another way to project their disgust with fans.

Privately would be a wise way to go.

And I'll have a much calmer show tomorrow.