The Negativity in this Town…

Really. I’m actually curious.

I happened to turn on the EEIdiots this afternoon to see if, perchance, there was an interesting interview or something. So, I caught the beginning of the noontime hour of M-F-B. The first thing they said was, essentially, “We know the Sox had a big win yesterday, but we’re going to go to two talking points from Saturday’s loss” They wanted to ignore the good performance by Miley, and the barrage of hits. They wanted to ignore the bats waking up, if even for just a game, and talk about Porcello’s struggles on Saturday, and Papi’s ejection. So, ignore the good performance from a new acquisition and go back to a bad one. Ignore the good day Ortiz had, and go back to his bad one.

What is that?

What is the compulsion to focus on the bad? I know some of it is the headache that is talk radio. For some reason they’ve decided that negativity sells. But, it’s popping up other places as well.

I know that social media is the last place you should go to see how people really feel. If there was ever a place where people went for shock value, it’s twitter. But, they only ever seem to go for the negative shock. If the Sox are up 13-0, the tweets are all, “I can’t wait to see how they blow this.” Going for the shock. But, if the Sox are down 13-0, there’s never a “I can’t wait to see how they come back from this” tweet. Wouldn’t it have the same shock value? What is the disconnect?

It shows up on the broadcasts too. It’s one thing to say things like “If this score holds, the Sox will drop a game” after the team ahead of them wins. It’s stating a fact, and passing along information. It’s another to say after the Sox go down by a run in the fifth that the “Sox are looking at their third straight loss” or whatever it is at the time. That’s not a fact. It’s a projection. And, they’re always a bad projection. If they go down by a run, they never say “the Sox are looking at their fifth comeback of the year.” It also comes up when the Sox have the lead. Say a pitcher loads the bases with two outs and a six run lead. The comments isn’t “The Sox are one out from being out of the jam.” It’s “A home run here would make it a two-run game.” Or, “A home run here would put the tying run on deck.” So, the guy not only has to hit a grand slam, but the next two guys need to also score before an out is made…and this is the direction they choose to report?

I’m not saying everyone should be sunbeams and rainbows. But, shouldn’t it be evenly split?

I remember during the 2007 World Series, the Rockies had a “one pitch away” slogan. No matter how bad things looked, the pitcher was always one pitch away from getting out of it. There were “one pitch away” chants in the stands. Why isn’t there ever any of that here? More often than not, a runner on base doesn’t score. Why do we always assume the Sox pitchers will allow theirs to come around? Why don’t we assume they just need one more sinker to get the groundball?

That’s usually what they do.