By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL/Designated Writers
As if we needed any more evidence, this was another week illustrating how soft — and protected — today’s professional athlete is. And shouldn’t they be? After all, they can hardly make a decent wage these days
Javier Baez, who is making $11.5 million this year and won’t be on the New York Mets 15 minutes after the season is over, and Francisco Lindor, who has a $341 million contract that doesn’t even start until next year, are tired of being booed.
“We’re not machines,” Baez said. “We’re going to struggle seven times out of 10. It just feels bad when … I strike out and get booed. It doesn’t really get to me, but I want to let them know that when we’re successful, we’re going to do the same thing to let them know how it feels.”
So Baez and Lindor did something about it. Earlier this week, they joined a few other Mets players on giving the thumbs down signal to Mets fans whenever they did something on the field that they felt called for the gesture.
What followed was typical — (1) they stood by their remarks, (2) the team management issued a statement denouncing it and then (3) the players apologized in a statement. (Which means we weren’t able to see the gun pointed at their head when they said it.)
Good luck selling season tickets for next year.
Meanwhile, everyone’s least favorite golfer, Bryson DeChambeau, apparently doesn’t like people yelling “Brooksie!” (a reference to his feud with fellow golfer Brooks Koepka) when he’s on the course, so the PGA is now threatening to have people removed for hurting people’s feelings.
Apparently, they’ve had earplugs in while a never-ending series of morons have been screaming “Ya da man!” “Baba booey!” and “Get in the hole!” for the last few years.
“Fans who breach our code of conduct are subject to expulsion from the tournament and loss of their credential or ticket,” said PGA commissioner Jay Monahan.
The timing of this is not-so-coincidental since DeChambeau had a confrontation with a fan after he lost in a playoff last week and used language that doesn’t exactly meet the “code of conduct” Monahan speaks of.
DeChambeau, by the way, made $1.026 million for missing a bunch of putts and getting heckled.
