Saturday night in Philadelphia, former Eagles wide receiver and current Redskins wideout DeSean Jackson was booed. And it made no sense.
See, as Jackson pointed out, he was released by Eagles head coach Chip Kelly. So by booing him, you’re essentially accusing a guy who got fired of being a traitor.
“It’s disturbing to come back and get the boos from the crowd and the fans because it’s not my decision to leave,” Jackson said, per the Washington Times and Pro Football Talk. “Chip Kelly released me. Knowing what I did for the city, in the community and things like that, I put my heart into it. That part is frustrating, but it doesn’t get any better than coming in here and winning and putting them out. That guy over there, he was the coach. He made the decision, but I’m happy to be where I’m at, and we’re having a lot of success over here.”
I see this all the time, everywhere in sports. Fans are often too ignorant to care or comprehend that this is big business, and that players don’t often control their destiny. Most of them leave because they’re no longer wanted as much as they are elsewhere.
“I think nowadays fans understand that it’s a business,” Washington Redskins receiver Andre Roberts told me this summer, “and sometimes players have to go elsewhere.”
But there’s lots of evidence that a lot of fans still fail to realize that.
And even those who leave as free agents and take more money to play elsewhere shouldn’t generally have that decision held against them. Again, their original team usually has a chance to retain them and chooses not to fork over the cash. Can you blame them for leaving?
“You hear things from the fans, but ultimately the fans have to understand that most players don’t want to leave,” Baltimore Ravens defensive end Chris Canty told me. “The teams pretty much show the player the door one way or the other. In most circumstances it’s the team that’s getting rid of the player, not the player choosing to leave the team.”
