We don’t Play for the NY Giants so you have no Right to Follow Daniel Jones to his Car

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I was spared from watching the Giants yesterday. Well not so much since I got to see both of Daniel Jones' picks on Red Zone. I liked Daniel Jones from the moment he confidently stepped on the field. But whether or not all the excuses are valid, even I have to admit that this year has to be it. His ongoing failure is not why I’m here, though, because the impetus to write took place after the game.

We’ve all seen the video of Daniel Jones walking out after the catastrophe yesterday.  Fans hanging around to intimidate and harass the young man, I find the behavior abhorrent.

Now, that’s not to say we can’t boo. I’ve done plenty of that in my time. So if you’re a player, fans expressing displeasure for the product is just part of the deal.

On the other hand, his work day is over, and you should be decompressing for the return of your real world grind. Instead, some thought it ok to delay their decompression and take it out on a 27 year old who has no bearing on what they must deal with on a daily basis. 

On ESPN, Mike Green was expressing a similar disdain for this behavior. Still, his disapproval didn’t extend as far as mine. Booing in the parking lot is unfortunately part of the job description in his estimation.

A fair point, we can agree to disagree.  Of course, any threat of physical violence is clearly not in bounds, according to the host, and hearing the commentary, there was none. 

In words, Green is correct, but in deed, I disagree.  When you go to an NFL game, there are two primary and equal objectives. You want your team to win, and you want to have fun.

The latter probably always happens, which brings me to the next objective - especially if you root for the Giants and Jets. You just want to get to your car, and escape the traffic nightmare as fast as you can.

That said, what kind of fan hangs around specifically to harass a player. An unhinged one, I feared for Daniel Jones as he meandered out of the locker room, and worried that the anger we can rightly express in the stands was infringing into the physically safe space we call life.

No doubt if you were there, you should be ashamed of yourself. Imagine a dissatisfied customer following you to your car.  

So how did we get here? Well, I’m sure we’ve been here before. It’s just the first time I’ve seen it from one of my teams. So I’m going to try to figure it out the departure nonetheless.

Obviously, the behavior follows in line with angry political discourse that pervades our society like never before. The same goes with the way that social media accentuates every little difference of opinion. 

No ground broken, I’m here to add another component to the conversation. We have to play better defense, we couldn’t stop the run, we couldn’t hit the three tonight - there are a lot more fans these days who think they are actually on the team. Why else would you use the word “we?”

Therefore, you have free reign to criticize.  Aaron Judge took Marcus Stroman aside after his public blowup at Gleyber Torres, you can follow Daniel Jones to his car.

Of course, Judge is a real teammate, and whether he or others raise their voice, the constructive takes precedence and puts no one at risk. You, on the other hand, are not actually part of the dynamic, and it’s scary to consider how far the self delusion goes.

Probably not far in most cases but Torres still dogs it, Randall is selfish and Jones is an embarrassment. In other words, the criticism does not come from a teammate’s place of inside information but from complete irrationality.

Therefore, the Yankees making the playoffs every single year and not having a losing season since 1993, it doesn’t matter.  You as a teammate withhold a judgement you haven’t earned.   

As a result, I believe wins and losses are impacted. The stands, the online chatter and talk radio banter is filled with an excessive vitriol that doesn’t help anyone - especially the fans who want to see their teams win. 

Not the worst thing, but if you remember you can’t hit a 97 hour fastball, you might actually enjoy yourself more and can actually play a part in raising the trophy.