Show Some Respect

Things turned ugly during Chris Mullin's jersey retirement ceremony on Monday night when fans at Oracle Arena booed new Warriors owner Joe Lacob throughtout what should be been a celebration of an all time great's illustrious career.  In a game that the Warriors lost to Minnesota, fans vocalized their displeasure with Lacob's decision to trade star player and fan favorite Monta Ellis last week, interrupting Mullin's ceremony and forcing Mullin and former Warriors legend Rick Barry to speak up in the owner's defense.

"This is crazy. Seriously. Come on, you're doing yourself a disservice," Barry said. "All of the wonderful accolades being sent to you [the fans], for you to treat this man [Lacob] who is spending his money to do the best that he can to turn this franchise around -- and I know he's going to do it. So give him the respect he deserves."

I can understand that Warriors fans are upset with Lacob.  When he bought the team last year, he promised fans to quickly bring a competitive team to the Bay Area.  The excitement that surrounded the hiring of new coach Mark Jackson quickly fizzled as the team struggled through the first half of this season and Lacob responded by agreeing to trade Ellis to Milwaukee for injured Australian center Andrew Bogut.  The fans were promised change, and so far the only thing that's different between this season and last is the fact that the team's best player has been traded.  Fans are unhappy, and they're allowed to vocalize their frustrations and let ownership know that they expect more out of their team.  As you'll see in the video below, they certainly did that during Mullin's halftime ceremony.

That being said, Monday night's halftime celebration was not the right time for the fans to display their displeasure with Lacob.  Monday night should have been about Chris Mullin, and all that the Hall of Famer did for the Warriors franchise during his 13 seasons with the organization.  The night could have been special for Mullin and fans alike - #17 was joined by former Warriors stars Barry, Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond (among others) - but the boos shifted the focus away from Mullin's on-court accomplishments and towards Lacob's front office failures.  Out of respect for their hero, I think the fans should have saved their aggression for another time.  Instead, all anyone will remember about Monday night is Lacob's embarrassment and Mullin and Barry's awkward defense of the Warriors owner. 

The look on Rick Barry's face says it all - Warriors fans were out of line on Monday night.

I've been to a few Warriors games over the past two years, and I've been impressed by the Oakland-area crowd.  Despite rooting for a mediocre team over the last few seasons, the fans have come out in droves to support Golden State.  Warriors fans are better than this.  They have every right to be upset with Lacob, but should know better than to ruin a celebration of Chris Mullin's career by shifting all of the attention to Lacob.  It takes a ton of hard work, effort and dedication to earn a jersey retirement ceremony.  Unfortunately, it only takes a few thousand thoughtless fans to ruin it.

Note:  I'll be out of the country until the end of March, and probably won't be able to blog much (if at all) while abroad.  I'll do my best to get a post or two up over the next week and a half, but be sure to check back in first thing in April for your regularly scheduled blogging.