OT/NBA Hostile Crowd@Warriors Owner during Jersey Retirement

Submitted by gajensen on

I couldn't make the thread title any shorter and still indicate what exactly the thread is about.
 

Effectively, at the jersey retirement of Hall of Fame guard Chris Mullin, the Golden State Warrior crowd booed the absolute shit out of new owner Joe Lacob as he attempted to deliver some words on Mullin. To no avail, Chris tried to subdue the crowd, but as soon as he returned to his seat the chorus of boos returned. Fellow HOFer Rick Barry had a harsher tone when trying to get the crowd to settle down and similarly failed.

The fans of the Warriors have a few things to be upset about, but the likely trigger of the outcry was the recent trade of star guard Monta Ellis for injured Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut. 

I post the thread in the hopes of eliciting discussion on the role of the disgruntled fan and the times and places that displeasure can be voiced.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7711659/golden-state-warriors-retire-…

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/39043/chris-mullins-jersey-r…

Jon06

March 20th, 2012 at 11:54 AM ^

Chris Mullin can afford a week in Maui whenever he wants. If they wanted to give him something, they probably could've found something a little more meaningful than that.

The Shredder

March 20th, 2012 at 12:33 PM ^

That is so funny. I haven't heard that a billion times on Mgoblog. Seriously, if you don't like the NBA then don't click on the thread. Every damn NBA thread gets off topic with why haters hate the NBA. We get it, you don't like it. Its a fun thing to say on the internet these days. For those of us that love it, please just stay away from the thread. I would have put my input on the owner and Chris Mullen but whats the point? The haters have already hi jacked this mother. 

MGlobules

March 20th, 2012 at 12:49 PM ^

nuther kinda hatin'? Like. . . some poster above suggests that the fact that this took place in Oakland means we shouldn't be surprised. Right.

Mgoblog has gotten swamped by some real lower end thinking over time, I'm afraid. The days of inspired conversation on a topic like this, where people did some thinking before they posted, are well and truly in the past. 

Moleskyn

March 20th, 2012 at 1:00 PM ^

Um, what? I only said that because Oakland has a reputation for having classless fans. This is a pretty widely known fact if you've been alive for the past 20 years or so, and is even corroborated by another poster in this thread.

How in the world is that a reflection of "real lower end thinking" on this blog? It's actually pretty logical: Oakland is known for having classless fans; some fans acted classlessly at a sporting event; the sporting event was in Oakland; no surprise here.

Erik_in_Dayton

March 20th, 2012 at 1:20 PM ^

I'm very sympathetic to fans booing the owner of their team.  I think more fans should voice their displeasure when they have crappy owners...That said, Oakland fans do have a bad reputation.  So do Philly fans.  So do OSU fans. 

I disagree with Moleskyn re: the character of the Oakland fans' behavior, but I don't think it's fair to assume that he was judging them as anything other than "bad fans." 

MGlobules

March 20th, 2012 at 4:04 PM ^

corrected and apologize for singling out your remark. I think a lot of us know that there is a strongly racist element to at least some NBA criticism, starting with certain radio commentators. And--to nuance my comment a bit--I think a lot of fans fall unthinkingly into such criticism. Very large and athletically gifted men of color in short pants lording their athleticism over the cameras in a sport they pretty much reinvented--to the tune of many hundreds of millions of dollars, not bothering to say yes and no sir--tends to make some people very angry. The internationalism of the sport definitely helps drive the hatred of some people, including my racist bro in law, who listens to hate radio and spews acronyms for NBA, etc. That stuff is definitely out there. 

justingoblue

March 20th, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^

suggesting racism is just a jab at people who dislike a certain sports outlet with the biggest, bluntest tool available. It's a problem in society (and one that represents real lower-end thinking) that the first thought registering in some people's minds after hearing of others dislike for a professional sports league is racism.

I dislike the NBA*. I challenge anyone to find any evidence I hate anyone for racial reasons.

*and note that I'm not bashing it here, love away if you're an NBA fan; I wouldn't try to convince anyone to dislike something they do.

MGlobules

March 20th, 2012 at 4:00 PM ^

check out the internet for some serious NBA hate. I just think that--at the very least--some white fans, given a little more self-awareness, might want to steer clear/not buy in. See my post above.

btw--I get that the NBA can be very annoying; I don't get how anyone sees the NFL (bounties, etc.) or hockey (boring fights and sorry-ass machismo) any differently.  

justingoblue

March 20th, 2012 at 5:11 PM ^

I don't doubt that there is a racial element to a small portion of people that hate the NBA. I bet there are small amounts of people who hate the NHL for being a mostly "white" league (depending on your definition of white, I suppose), or that hate Notre Dame or Georgetown for their religious affiliations. The operative word in all of this is small. I haven't ever seen racially motivated hate of the NBA on MGoBlog, and from what I've seen of ESPN/CBSS/NBCS coverage it doesn't seem to be there, either, so it seems odd to immediately assume a racial motivation when it doesn't get mentioned ever on this site or on the big time sports networks (from what I've seen).

If it matters at all, I don't "hate" the NBA, and saying dislike is probably more of a commentary on the coverage of the league than the league itself. I watch college sports because I enjoy the pagentry, rivalries, school/team spirit and everything else that brings everyone to MGoBlog. I don't watch the NBA or MLB, I watch about four NFL games in a year, and there's a chance my NHL viewing would significantly drop if the NCAA had as vibrant a product in ice hockey as they do in basketball and football, but that's nothing more than a thought exercise at this point.

MGlobules

March 20th, 2012 at 5:51 PM ^

opinions. First, there is demonstrably greater hate out there toward the NBA than toward hockey, etc. Check in with your most popular drive-time radio hosts and find out. Or google people's definitions of the acronym NBA. . . or compare the chat at a place like sportsline for bball and hockey. No comparison.

Second, there is nothing "immediate" about my assumption, or about many black people's feeling that such attitudes are out there. I have been at social gatherings where people talked about the antagonism toward the NBA and--whether you agree with the reasoning or not--a lot of people see the hatred. Suggesting that I am jumping to conclusions is just a lazy way of (trying to) undermine my arguments.

Finally--to reiterate--my ultimate point is that you want to be more aware that this shit is out there and not buy into it. It's just gotten to be too easy for the herd to damn the NBA when all of American sport suffers from the same rot, and in my opinion it's for the reasons expressed above. All best.   

 

justingoblue

March 20th, 2012 at 5:56 PM ^

it was the first time anything similar to race was mentioned in this thread. I called your comment "immediate" because it was your first post on this topic and went to race before anything else. It had nothing to do with undermining your arguments, and everything to do with where the contents of your post fell in relationship to the rest of the thread.

NateVolk

March 20th, 2012 at 12:59 PM ^

They are really booing a league.  A league that continues to wither via David Stern's promotion of stars over teams and where everyone chases a title by bottoming out and dumping games to grab their next superstar.

It's total trash. A few teams in big cities or glam warm weather sites now hoard the star players.

Outside of mid-May forward most people can't choke down a whole game. Guys dog it for 3 lifeless quarters, then turn on the jets for the 4th.

Having Mullin there just reminds the fans of when the league still had some credibility and guys who played a team style.

The Shredder

March 20th, 2012 at 2:12 PM ^

 

-Bottoming out? They have a lottery. Its not the NFL where you really could bottom out.

 

-Have you ever heard of the 2nd best team in the league? Oklahoma Thunder? Pacers are damn good too. Teams built on great drafting.

 

-Most people can't choke down a whole game huh? The Bulls had 610 sell outs  from 1987 to 2000 and now its over a 100 games. People are watching and going to the games. 

 

-Teams still play with a team style. Bulls,Thunder,Heat do this the best. Haters tend to forget that the NBA shot clock is 24 seconds. By the time you cross half court you have about 18 or 17 secs. Think about it for a second... Oh wait no just hate.

M-Wolverine

March 20th, 2012 at 2:21 PM ^

..in awhile. But it has problems.

Drafting right is important...but getting lucky in that lottery is more important.  The former Sonics weren't genius in their drafting...they got lucky in their spot and had a team make a huge mistake before them.

But I have a problem with your "team style" teams.  They may do that, but you just named the 3 teams with possibly the #1, #2, and #3 best players in the League. When people think winning with "team style" they're talking about teams that don't have that superstar winning, and that's pretty much consisted of the Pistons and......nobody in forever who've accomplished it.

FWIW, the NFL is headed that direction. There was a time you could win with a journeyman QB, like the Ravens or Tampa, but now if you don't have a near star QB, your chances go way down. It used to just be easier to win more...now it's becoming almost impossible. So they may be headed down a dangerous path too.

The Shredder

March 20th, 2012 at 4:06 PM ^

Luck is apart of every sport. Every fumble that hit the turf last fall fell into Michigan defenders arms. The Bulls had a 1.9% chance of winning the Rose draft and got extremely lucky. Luck and drafting players isn't just an NBA thing, its a all sports all the time thing.

Ok the Spur win with old players, euro players... Team basketball happens in the NBA its just different. The 24 shot clock changes everything. The Pistons are a decent team this year. Just need some better players that fit. That move the ball pretty well.

You can say all day that the 04 pistons didn't have a superstar but Billus was the most underrated superstar there is and Rasheed Wallace could have been one of the best PF of all time if he would have put in the work. Ben Wallace was best defensive player in the league. That team was loaded. 

Also great point about the NFL. The lack of a running game and the arena football style they are starting to create is getting old. Passing Stats really mean  nothing right now.

M-Wolverine

March 20th, 2012 at 10:12 PM ^

But luck AND drafting is. There's luck in the sports arena in all sports; there's luck in the commissioner's office in basketball. And it's in the sport where that one pick can make the biggest difference. In the rare Manning type year it can in the NFL, but normally 2 isn't that much different than 1, or 6 or that matter. #1 year to year in the NBA can be a huge difference. (Are you trading Rose for Wall?) If I kill in drafting, I can get the 7th best QB and win a title. I can build the best roster in the NBA, but if I not luck out and get a top player, I don't have a chance to win jack. Take tht 1.9% chance away, and the Bulls are in NBA purgatory, making the playoffs but never winning anything. The Spurs don't have a number of stars (which you don't need anymore in the weakened NBA), but they never won any rings when Duncan wasn't one of the top 2-3 players in the League. The Pistons had a lot of depth, and I love Chuncey, but I think it's a stretch to call him a superstar. Rasheed could have been... But he was Rasheed, so he wasn't. Could have beens don't make that the case. And even with all that, just one title. Then they lost to Duncan (and Robert Horry noooooooooooo Sheed!), then Stern said screw this, and let Miami shoot FT's to a title because he wanted to christen a new star even though he hadn't earned it yet. And again later against a one man team with THE superstar. Indiana may have built a fun little team, but they have zero chance of getting a ring. As does any team without LeBron, Kobe, Rose, Durant, Dirk....and that's about it.

lhglrkwg

March 20th, 2012 at 6:07 PM ^

but I swear, if I see one more Blake Griffin dunk in the top 10 like he did a double-backflip to a hoop on the moon I...will complain more