Fans get angry ... that's what they do

I'll give Seth Davis this much ... he called it.

"I wonder which call is going to be cited by fans of the losing team as the reason they lost. Whatever it is will be the worst call ever."

That Twitter message came during the middle of last night's Final Four game between Syracuse and Michigan, and sure enough, we Syracuse fans came out of the game howling about the officials, in particular the fourth foul against Michael Carter-Williams with 1:40 left, in which he got pushed to the ground (he fouled out with 1:14 remaining), and the charge against Brandon Triche with 19.5 seconds left (his fifth foul) in which the defender slid under Triche while he was in the air.

Needless to say, Davis crowed after the game ended.

"Told you the losing team's fans would have a call to blame. So much easier than admitting you got outplayed."

Not blaming refs, even as he admits they're terrible, is kind of a thing for Davis. Since there are a couple things he seems not to understand, I, as a service, will enlighten him. (My good friend Cy Nical weighs in with the theory that Davis may not understand because his alma mater, Duke, seems to get all the calls that other teams' fans howl about, but I will not stoop to that level.)

The first is that a team can play badly enough to lose on the merits, and still be screwed by the refs. Had the game turned out the exact same way without the bad calls, Orange fans would have had plenty to be upset about: falling down by double digits and never being able to come all the way back, Carter-Williams' poor game (two points on 1-6 shooting, two assists and five turnovers), James Southerland's five points, including 1-5 from three-point range; Syracuse's 2-3 zone not being as effective against Michigan as it had earlier in the tournament.

But to deny the calls had an impact, especially when Syracuse had to rely on Trevor Cooney to handle the ball on its most-important possession of the year because the starting backcourt was fouled out, is folly. When my new best friend fortyfourist and I tried to make this point to Davis, he didn't have anything to say.

The second thing Davis seems not to understand is that fans are ALWAYS going to scream about bad calls, especially when they have the added advantage of being right.

As stated above, teams that lose, like Syracuse did last night, generally lose for any number of reasons, but officials are always going to take a rap if there are any controversial calls. It has always happened. It will always happen.

* * * * *

So that was how yesterday ended. It started with this delightful bit of nonsense from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, bemoaning the fact that Blue Jays fans John Farrell Friday night when the Red Sox played in Toronto for the first time since Farrell left the Jays (with a year left on his contract) to take over the Red Sox.

"Jays fans are mad. They feel betrayed.
When will sports fans understand that people come and people go? People go for the money, for a better situation, for a better life for them and their families.
Farrell simply did what any Canadian or American would do — he sought to improve his life."

Yes, when will sports fans learn, like the ones in Boston who booed Johnny Damon for years because he went to the Yankees, or the ones in Boston who booed Ray Allen when he returned with the Miami Heat this season? Surely Cafardo remembers that, right? Has he ever taken Boston fans to task for that? If he has, I'd love to see it, and I would stand corrected. (I asked him about Damon on Twitter yesterday; like Davis, he didn't respond.)

Cafardo is right when he says people change jobs to improve their lives, and in a perfect world, fans would not be angry if a player leaves because they're seeking better situations for themselves. In a perfect world, it would also be possible to go to an Italian restaurant and have the wait staff keep bringing me plates of spaghetti until I got tired of eating it and never getting fat; that's not going to happen either.

If a player (or manager) leaves, fans are usually going to boo. Red Sox fans booed Damon. Celtics fans booed Allen. Cleveland fans boo LeBron James (and they get to, everyone else needs to shut their pie holes about him going to the Heat). Texas fans booed Josh Hamilton the other day. And fans will never see the hypocrisy of booing someone who leaves (particularly as a free agent, but demanding to be traded also applies), but cheering someone who left his fans to play in their city.

It's not right, but I understand.

But maybe Cafardo doesn't think anyone who goes to Boston should be booed, because it's the center of the sporting universe and all.