Through what outlet do players perceive fans?

[Roy H.]

When our players talk about Celtics fans -- whether it be JB or anybody else -- how is that perception being shaped?

If you go by fans at the game, I think that our fans are incredibly supportive.  They cheer all of our players.  I went to the Spurs game recently, and JB got huge ovations several times, the loudest being when he checked out of the game for the night. 

But, the home crowd only represents around 20,000 fans.  Beyond that, guys have their daily interactions around the city, which I assume are pretty positive.  Then, there's the media, both traditional and social.

Traditional media sucks.  Sports talk radio has always been toxic in Boston.  I was flipping through cable channels and stopped on one of the shows that is dual-cast on TV and radio.  They were complaining about the Bruins!  The record-setting Bruins!  Because Linas Ulmark "didn't look sharp", and they were coming up with a conspiracy that it's because his pet died.  They will jump on anybody, no matter the success.  They have definitely come down hard on a guy like JB, and pretty much everybody.

But, sports talk radio sucks most places.  All you hear are the complaining voices.  You would expect to find better balance in local coverage from the newspapers, but the Globe may be at its nadir in sports coverage, and the Herald offers barely anything.  There are few puff pieces on our athletes, because they're writing fewer stories overall.

Then, there's social media.  It's a mix from my experience, but as always, it's the complainers that seem to win the day. 

So, if you're a player, I think it's easy to get the impression that at least 50% of the fan base is after you all of the time.  The smartest thing for these guys to do would probably be to assign their social media pages to professionals, and just ignore the noise.  I mean, most successful business owners don't get into the nitty gritty of negative reviews, right?  But, I suspect that's easier said than done.

I do hope that JB and others who may feel criticized by the fans once in awhile can step back, and see it's not a representative sample.  I've got to think that the vast majority of fans really appreciate Brown and the rest of the team. 

[ChillyWilly]

So, if you're a player, I think it's easy to get the impression that at least 50% of the fan base is after you all of the time.  The smartest thing for these guys to do would probably be to assign their social media pages to professionals, and just ignore the noise.  I mean, most successful business owners don't get into the nitty gritty of negative reviews, right?  But, I suspect that's easier said than done.

I run ads on social media platforms. My positive comments outweigh the negative ones 1 to 100 but the negative ones stand out and I read them constantly. Most of the time they are just grumpy people doing what they do best being grumpy.....however it's a great way to find out how well everything is running because I can't keep my eye on everything. Jaylen has hundreds of thousands of "customers" watching everything most of what they say is nonsense some he can use to improve his product. He'll learn to process that information in more useful ways.

[Moranis]

I'd guess it is mostly whatever social media platform the player uses most frequently.

[timpiker]

I think its Social Media. 

[cons]

agree w the original post
and unfortantely it has skewed peoples perspectives in way more important areas than sports

but yeah, personally i think jaylen is probably smart enough to distinguish a minority who dislike him from the majority who do

just hope he stays here . hes way too good to let go.

[Kernewek]

I'd guess it is mostly whatever social media platform the player uses most frequently.

It's 100% this - which means it will be instagram, facebook, twitter, and possibly reddit, if we're going by popularity. I would be very surprised if many players didn't check social media after a big game.

[ozgod]

When our players talk about Celtics fans -- whether it be JB or anybody else -- how is that perception being shaped?

If you go by fans at the game, I think that our fans are incredibly supportive.  They cheer all of our players.  I went to the Spurs game recently, and JB got huge ovations several times, the loudest being when he checked out of the game for the night. 

But, the home crowd only represents around 20,000 fans.  Beyond that, guys have their daily interactions around the city, which I assume are pretty positive.  Then, there's the media, both traditional and social.

Traditional media sucks.  Sports talk radio has always been toxic in Boston.  I was flipping through cable channels and stopped on one of the shows that is dual-cast on TV and radio.  They were complaining about the Bruins!  The record-setting Bruins!  Because Linas Ulmark "didn't look sharp", and they were coming up with a conspiracy that it's because his pet died.  They will jump on anybody, no matter the success.  They have definitely come down hard on a guy like JB, and pretty much everybody.

But, sports talk radio sucks most places.  All you hear are the complaining voices.  You would expect to find better balance in local coverage from the newspapers, but the Globe may be at its nadir in sports coverage, and the Herald offers barely anything.  There are few puff pieces on our athletes, because they're writing fewer stories overall.

Then, there's social media.  It's a mix from my experience, but as always, it's the complainers that seem to win the day. 

So, if you're a player, I think it's easy to get the impression that at least 50% of the fan base is after you all of the time.  The smartest thing for these guys to do would probably be to assign their social media pages to professionals, and just ignore the noise.  I mean, most successful business owners don't get into the nitty gritty of negative reviews, right?  But, I suspect that's easier said than done.

I do hope that JB and others who may feel criticized by the fans once in awhile can step back, and see it's not a representative sample.  I've got to think that the vast majority of fans really appreciate Brown and the rest of the team.

I have a feeling that when they talk about "the fans", it's social media that they're referring to. It's really the only medium where fans can directly talk to players and let their thoughts be known. Though I suspect a lot of these "fans" that are criticizing players are not fans at all, just trolls.