Boo

Would I have booed Jerry Krause’s widow during the Bulls’ Ring of Honor ceremonies Friday night? No. Would I have stopped the person next to me from booing? Again, no. As folks like to say these days, it’s complicated. Fans let go a chorus—and then some—of boos when Krause’s name was announced, and, for no good reason, television cameras stayed focused on Thelma Krause as she tried to maintain her composure. Anyone who didn’t foresee this happening is a fool, starting, naturally, with Bulls’ owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Last week, Reinsdorf told a story in the Sun-Times how “the best memory I will ever have” about his team’s championship run was the shot Michael Jordan made over the Cavaliers’ Craig Ehlo in 1989. The bulk of the story involves Reinsdorf and Krause. Michael who? Krause always did his boss’s bidding, which in Reinsdorf’s world counts for everything. When Krause said, “Players and coaches don’t win championships, organizations do,” Reindsdorf was mouthing the words off in a corner somewhere, if not playing the wizard behind the curtain outright. With Phil Jackson coaching a 34-year old Jordan, 32-year old Scottie Pippen and 36-year old Dennis Rodman, the Bulls won their sixth and, so far, last NBA championship. The next year, with Tim Floyd coaching a roster headed up by Tony Kukoc and Brent Barry, the Bulls won thirteen games. A year later, seventeen, and a year after that, fifteen. Some organization. By way of comparison, take a look at the Celtics. They got old in the 1960s, but kept winning with teams built around Bill Russell, up to and including 1969, when Russell was 34. The Celtics were mediocre for two seasons after Russell’s retirement before becoming the Celtics again. And the Bulls? Krause wanted Jackson, Jordan and company gone because Reinsdorf did. If Kruase came to this decision all by himself, Reinsdorf could’ve intervened. He didn’t. Everyone knew that, and enough people remembered that Friday night to boo, not Jerry Krause, not really, but on the man who let Krause make the dumbest decision in the history of Chicago sports.