Tex

It was troubling to hear the boos rain down on Tex at the Stadium tonight. I haven't mentioned him recently for a reason: his slow start is NOTHING to be concerned about.

Maybe I'm wrong and they'll find that he is pressing or that his sore wrist is seriously affecting his swing. But more likely, Tex is just having himself a slow start. Simple as that. I really don't like to pass judgement on gifted, proven experts at the game like Mark Teixeira until at least the end of May. If he hasn't raised his average to at least .250, and performed well in a few clutch spots by that time, THEN fans can complain.

But for now they need to stop it. After all, he's only human, and he seems like a decent guy who is still adjusting to the new environment. Trust me, he hears the boos and he will be negatively affected by them, just like anyone else, including Arod, who is surely going to endure his share of boos as the season unfolds and he starts tanking under pressure, as is his habit.

I should add that paying money to go to a game and then booing one's own team is very uncool, not to mention stupid. Athletes may rarely acknowledge it, but home "field" advantage should be re-named: "home crowd advantage". That's because it's the fans support that creates the advantage, literally MAKING the athletes play better. When fans boo it negates that advantage, emboldens the other team, and makes it less likely that the athlete will perform better in the immediate future. I'll go into more detail about this topic at another time, but fans who like to boo should go read a book on mental toughness for athletes to understand why their support is so important, and why booing is so counter-productive.