"Unbelievable!"
"Holy Crap! How did he do that?"
These are really the only appropriate responses to the catch that Austin Jackson made in center field at Fenway Park last night. A little context: in the fifth inning of last night's Red Sox-Indians game, with the Indians leading 7-5, the Sox' Hanley Ramirez hit a ball to the "triangle," the deepest part of center field. The Indians' Austin Jackson extended his glove and leaped into the air to make an insane catch against the Red Sox' bullpen. He crashed into the low wall and his momentum brought him down into the bullpen, where he actually made a rather smooth landing. If you haven't already seen this play, please help yourself. It's worth multiple viewings.
"That just might be the play of the year!" says a stunned Indians' announcer, and honestly it's really hard to argue the point. I've seen lots of Red Sox games and I can remember a couple instances where a player tried and failed to make a similar catch: Torii Hunter famously attempted it in the 2013 play-offs. But Jackson succeeded, and he looked good doing it too. Watch him emerge from the bullpen and flip the ball back to the infield: he appears more energized than rattled.
And that really should be the end of the story. But this morning I saw the highlight again on my Facebook feed, where MLB had posted it. I made the mistake of clicking on the comments. And wow. Here are the top five:
Ricky Flores That shud be a homerun!
Ball went over wall!
Fk that!
Ball went over wall!
Fk that!
Adam Boizelle Should be a homerun. Ball went over the fence with the player. If a player catches a ball in foul territory and his entire body falls into foul territory, it should be a foul ball.
Tom Galliher Jackie Bradley Jr's catch on Judge in the same bullpen 2 weeks ago was better.
Tom Daniels Uhh. The whole point is to keep the ball from going out of the park. Not a catch.
Mike Vi that's a incredible catch, impressive even, still F$ck the Tribe - Red Sox fan 
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Again, I want to reiterate that the only appropriate responses to this video should be expressions of disbelief or admiration. These are almost nowhere to be seen here. Instead, we have 1) a petty and incorrect challenge of the rules, 2) a defense of the rules that maintains a fairly neutral tone, 3) a weirdly defensive reference to an entirely different catch, 4) another petty and incorrect challenge of the rules, and 5) a mild expression of praise undercut by an insult.
Yes, I understand that the internet is basically an endless font of negativity and a showcase for the worst of all human impulses. And I understand that it's probably pointless to express disappointment when my low expectations are validated. And what am I doing clicking on internet comments anyway, when I know full well they are probably going to depress me?
But come on. Does every comment have to be so overwhelmingly negative and cynical? For crying out loud, this isn't some Alt-right blog post - it's a video of a baseball player making an unbelievable catch. Why can't we just shut up and enjoy it? Why do we have to criticize and undermine and insult? What is this proving?
To be fair, when Jackson made his catch last night, the Red Sox faithful cheered him. They are a notoriously hostile bunch, but they know greatness when they see it. It's heartening to know that many fans - the ones who attend games anyway - haven't lost the capacity to be thrilled and amazed. Once you lose that, what's the point in even watching sports?
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