SAN ANTONIO – All of a sudden booing Santa Clause like Philadelphia Eagles fans famously did back in 1968 seemed very pedestrian.
Stay classy Chicago.
Less than 24 hours after fans at the United Center made national news for all the wrong reasons, big-time personalities both associated with the NBA and outside of the game continued condemning what took place Friday night.
It was at halftime of the Bulls-Warriors game that the team’s inaugural Ring of Honor class was being introduced, and as soon as former general manager Jerry Krause appeared on the video scoreboard the boos started raining down. Enough so that his widow, Thelma, was brought to tears as former Bulls guard Ron Harper was trying to console her.
The criticism directed at the fan base wasn’t going away anytime soon, either.
“It’s unnecessary, it’s impolite, it’s ignorant,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said before Saturday’s game. “If anything, it’s like a snapshot of the world that we live in today where meanness seems to be a lot more condoned. I guess I’m naïve, but I never knew that there were that many people willing and ready to act that way in our country, and even more people doing things violently like it’s acceptable. I think that’s just the by-product of it. It’s the mood that we’re in.
“I’m not going to go into the politics and all that stuff, but we see it all around us. It’s a bad example. It’s something that they would teach their kids not to do, but they do it. It’s ignorant. Krause was wonderful. He did a helluva job.”
Billy Donovan also spoke about it for the first time, especially since the Bulls coach didn’t really get the full story until the team had left the arena to fly to San Antonio.
“I was really disappointed,” Donovan said. “For his wife to have to sit there and go through that and hear that as her husband had passed was just really disappointing to me. It was an opportunity to honor the team and even honor her.”
Not that a lot went well throughout the two days of the celebration.
While Bulls personnel worked tirelessly to get as many players and staff in town for the celebration, it was admittedly thrown together in six weeks, according to chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.
And then to have Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen not even in attendance was just a huge swing and miss. Jordan at least sent a video message in, as did Dennis Rodman, who couldn’t make it into town because of weather.
The booing of Krause, however, was the low point on a night that was already sinking in mud.
“Bulls fans - let’s do better than this. These legends ALL deserve our respect for how many happy moments they created for all of us. Respect to the Krause family,” former Bull Joakim Noah tweeted.
“I’m devastated for Thelma and for the Krause family,” Warriors coach and former Bulls guard Steve Kerr said. “The fans who booed, they know who they are. To me, it’s absolutely shameful.”
Even CEO Michael Reinsdorf said in a statement, “(Krause’s) legacy deserves to be celebrated and respected. We were incredibly honored to have Thelma with us this evening to recognize Jerry as a member of the inaugural Chicago Bulls Ring of Honor.”
Donovan did say that he and the front office would get together and discuss the situation more when the current road trip ends, but the damage already seems to be done.
If the saying is true that a good reputation is more valuable than money, the Bulls fan base just filed for bankruptcy.
“The bull(bleep) goes away with time. The great memories last forever,” Noah also tweeted.
It’s going to take a long time for this to go away.