Boos and Honks

A segment of The Brian Lehrer Show this morning on WNYC, New York Public Radio, was about booing at baseball games, particularly booing one's own team. Lehrer quoted a local sports writer who had a theory: on the East coast, sports fans see themselves as consumers and in the Midwest, sports fans see teams as extensions of themselves.

The East coast fans are quick to boo if their team lets them down, while the Midwestern fans take poor performance personally and would rarely, if ever, boo.

Is this part of a greater fundamental difference between the these regions of America? Has anyone out there ever been to a sporting event in the Midwest when fans booed their own team? I've always thought booing was bad manners. For me to boo, I'd have to hate, and sports merely disappoints.

Then again, I've noticed that when drivers honk horns in New York City, they are angry but for a moment, and then they move on. By the time a Minnesots driver honks, he or she is ready to kill, and will hold a grudge for miles.