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How Chicago Bulls Fans Supposedly Sparked a Debate About the Cruelty of Our Society

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  January 14, 2024 8:30 PM

Okay, I don’t think we should get too into the weeds about what Chicago Bulls fans did over the weekend, but it was arguably a classless act. On Friday, the late Jerry Krause was inducted into the franchise’s inaugural ring of honor, and rightfully so. As general manager, Krause oversaw the Bulls’ historic six championships—all three-peats (1991-1993, 1996-1998) led by Michael Jordan. 

But Bulls fans haven’t forgotten Krause’s behind-the-scenes antics, and you heard a showering of loud boos when his name was announced during Chicago’s game against the Golden State Warriors on January 12. In attendance was Krause’s widow, Thelma, who was visibly upset over the incident, breaking down in tears (via Chicago Sun-Times):


At halftime of the Warriors-Bulls game, 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. It was so bad that his widow, Thelma, was brought to tears as former Bulls guard Ron Harper tried to console her. 

“It’s unnecessary; it’s impolite; it’s ignorant,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said before the game Saturday. “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 hell of a job.” 

Bulls coach Billy Donovan also spoke about it for the first time. He didn’t really get the full story until the team had left the United Center 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.” 

Okay, well, first, Coach Popovich is a bleeding-heart liberal who has taken swipes at Donald Trump. He’s also part of the fan police, reaching for the mic last November to chastise Spurs fans who booed Kawhi Leonard, who now plays for the LA Clippers. 

We have op-eds about what might have caused this incident at halftime. Nancy Armour had a good piece about it, but also included why the city feels the way they do about Krause (via USA Today) [emphasis mine]: 

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There are any number of reasons why this has happened: our toxic political environment, the isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the anonymity of social media. But the why doesn’t matter so much as the result. We’ve become nasty and unfeeling, delighting in being divisive and cruel. We’d rather "own" someone than see them as a fellow human being. And God forbid we should try and find common ground. 

Not all of us. But enough that behavior that once would have been unthinkable now happens on a regular basis. 

"It's shameful. Absolutely shameful. I cannot believe − I'm devastated for Thelma and for the Krause family. What can we possibly be thinking?" said Steve Kerr, who, before he was the Golden State Warriors' coach, was a player acquired by Krause for the Bulls’ second three-peat. 

"What are we doing?" Kerr asked. "Whether people liked Jerry or not, whether they disagreed with the decision to move on (after 1998), we're here to celebrate that team. Jerry did an amazing job building that team. (The Ring of Honor festivities were) all about the joy and love that that team shared with the city and I'm so disappointed in the fans. And I want to be specific because there are lots of fans, I'm sure, who did not boo. Both those who booed, they should be ashamed." 

Krause’s legacy in Chicago is a complicated one. He was the one who resurrected Phil Jackson’s coaching career and brought Tex Winter, creator of the triangle offense, to the Bulls. He built one team that won three titles in a row and then, after Michael Jordan’s brief retirement, built another that won three more. 

He also was suspicious and cantankerous, and he craved credit for his role in what was one of the most dominant stretches in NBA history. That last bit is why Krause is blamed for the demise of the Bulls’ dynasty, though breakups are never that cut and dried and that one was no different. 

But, as Kerr said, it doesn’t matter how you feel about Krause. The man is dead, first of all. More importantly, this was a night to fondly reminisce, not relitigate the past. 

Jordan had an especially acrimonious relationship with his former GM, which was rehashed with ESPN’s ten-part miniseries The Last Dance, which aired at the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020. Krause was long dead, but the series explored why Jordan distrusted and loathed him. On some occasions, however, Jordan admits Krause was right, like trading Charles Oakley away for Bill Cartwright in 1988, but there isn’t much after that.