I have never been a fan of booing players. However, saying they are exempt from criticism (even booing) because they don’t all earn millions and instead average about 110k per year instead doesn’t resonate with me. The reason being is that most people coddling athletes these days will turn around chew out their pizza delivery driver or server at a restaurant who is probably also a student for poor performance and not think twice about it.None of that is free. They pay with their time, effort, bodies and brains. Not sure if you played college athletics but balancing the demands of being a student with practice, weight lifting and everything else is quite draining.
As far as NiL, college football has turned into big business and they use players likeness to profit. Don’t you think the people actually doing the work should get a cut?
Hypocrisy is rife in our society these days and it’s difficult to stay centered.
So, while I personally wouldn’t boo, I understand why others feel like it’s ok especially since players are now paid and many players now see athletics as a job, not an extracurricular activity as part of an education.
Unfortunately short term there will be a small disparity between the more “professionally paid” athletes and the more “academically motivated” athletes and in the interim fans will not have much power to differentiate critique until the nuances are better understood.
I think as a general rule, try and be compassionate in all things, but also remember we are all imperfect whether it be failing at football or in emotional reactions.