Great Scot: Episode 12 – Things That Make Me Laugh

There are times when you read something, have a response to something you’ve written and talk directly with someone, that you realize everyone has an opinion.  This day and age of social media has really connected people in ways that when I was a kid and there was no such thing as the internet, we got all of our information through the news or through a publication of some sort.  I really respect people’s right to have their own opinion and voice those opinions in public forums.

Even if I may not agree with the opinion being shared, I still respect those opinions because it’s just that, their opinion.  What I don’t vibe with are those who feel they are SO correct in their assertion that anyone else’s opinions are just wrong.  My last article was a good example when I gave my opinion on how to fix the Pirates.  The response I got in return was that of “Have I ever played the sport and how wrong I am about my opinion.”

That’s cool and I gave a response in return and I would look forward to others’ responses just as I would with any opinion that I may present to the world.  I keep up with the #Pirates twitter feed and search and I read all of the rumblings about every single free agent that hits the market and how the team should look into that player.  Former closer Joel Hanrahan being the latest of, “The Pirates should have signed Hanrahan!”

What’s funny is that if the Pirates signed every single player that has come through and the “We should have signed X player.” There would be an incredible amount of players on this team.  Guess what?  There can only be 25(or 26 if there is a Day-Night Doubleheader).  Also with trying to sign every single player out there, comes the inevitable, “Whew, glad we didn’t sign that player because he has done awful.”  Not every player that gets signed will work out and most of them clearly has some sort of a problem, otherwise they would have been on a team already.

I also find it quite amusing when certain fans jump the bandwagon based on whether or not a team is doing good that year.  These people are the best because they will end up being a fan of at least 10 teams in whatever sport they like.  This way, almost no matter the season, one of their teams is having a great year, a surprise year, a Championship year and they never have to feel let down of having a bad sports year because out of 10 teams, they have a great shot of being contenders.

I have a friend and I use the word loosely here that for the 3 sports he watches, which covers baseball, football and hockey, he likes or so I’ve heard him like around 5-6 teams in each of these sports.  I have literally been to a Steelers game with him while they played his “team” in Tampa and he rooted so hard against the Steelers, it was almost like he had a vendetta against them.  The very same season or maybe the next, the Steelers were in the Super Bowl and he had his Steelers gear on, borrowed a Terrible Towel to wave around and congratulated them online as though he was a fan since he was born.

This day and age of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and whatever else is out there, I understand that everyone has their opinion and that’s a good thing.  I am more than willing to view these responses, form an opinion of my own based upon it and even critique it if I feel so inclined to do.  What is truly amusing is when others won’t give me that same respect in return because “I clearly have no clue what I’m talking about.”  Now, isn’t that funny?