No athlete, not even DB is immune to the sick love/hate relationship Trinis have with national athletes, in any sport. This very forum is testament to that.
Trinis live in a post-colonial society where a child is "to be seen and not heard" and as an adult "if you are not up to mark you will be ridiculed into being so (ie shame you into excelling)".
Simply put both philosophies are regressive. Children are not encouraged to express themselves vocally at home or in school so it is no wonder the local sporting public identifies and associates more with DB than AB or RT. He is soft-spoken, and by no means a card carrying member of Toastmasters International. RT and AB on the other hand express themselves confidently and even come off as brash by T&T standards, but their personalities naturally fall more in the norm with athletes in the US, the environment where they grew into adults and perfected their craft.
So when their performance dips the misguided pleasure on the part of T&T spectators in seeing them falter comes from a misunderstood dislike for their personalities that are foreign and an affront to what was drummed into them all their young and adult lives.
Spectators seem to have this puppet/master relationship with their sport icons, ordering up sub-10 100m performances before meets as if it is as easy as ordering doubles at the local street corner. They are not attuned to or educated to the amount of hard work that goes into attaining such levels even once. In addition they expect that once a sprinter has gone there he should be able to repeat at that level week in, week out, not understanding that minor injuries, fatigue, phase of training regimen, coaching orders during fine tuning, and other factors come into play.
So well, when the athlete does not perform to their expectations, like a non-operational GI Joe doll, they pitch it, kick it, and cuss it, as if that would make it work better. It is interesting that they assume some level of OWNERSHIP over sporting heroes as if living vicariously through their performances would make or break their weekend and week ahead.
What would help is if the media through informed sports journalism (which is an oxymoron in T&T) educates sports fans to these nuances so that (i) they can better measure their expectations during various phases of the season, and (ii) they can be encouraged to be more supportive of the athletes during their ups and downs.
The athletes themselves also need to understand that balance between over expression of confidence and humility in sustaining local support. What they do is an art form and like most great artists who perfect their craft for their pleasure and that of their fans, end up reaping the benefits of adulation, compensation, national acclaim/awards, etc. But these monies and grants come from taxpayers' contributions, which maybe explains the sense of ownership by spectators.
So the solution might be a 3-way street: (i) an intelligent and informative sports media, (ii) recognition of privilege and humility on the part of athletes, and (iii) educated and thus more patient and nurturing patrons.
