Has the ‘Art’ of Booing in Philly Died?

I was just as exhausted by last season’s Andrew Bynum situation as anyone who paid attention to it. The anticipation. The setbacks. The updated timelines. The setbacks. The bowling. The setbacks. The hairstyles. The setbacks. The light activity during practice. The setbacks. The prayers that Doug Collins said he needed — that was my favorite part in a mind-numbing ordeal by the way.

And when Bynum wasn’t retained long-term after not playing a single minute in a Sixers uniform during a 2012-13 campaign that started with realistic expectations to challenge in the East and resulted in a slow decay back into NBA obscurity, when he was finally set free to be someone else’s project, cost and false hope, I too was relieved. And when the 76ers entered the 2013 preseason with a new head coach as well as a new point guard and a new center (albeit one with his own current injury concerns) taken in the draft, in a position the Sixers ended up in largely because Bynum didn’t play, I felt a true sense of the “new beginning” that this team has been struggling to commence and that the fans have been waiting for yearly since the trade of Allen Iverson — just as I assume we all were.

And when Bynum’s early-season play this season quickly began to prove that he truly was injured to the point that he likely never will resemble the player who averaged nearly 19 points and 12 rebounds per game as recently as 2011-12, I felt thankful that the Sixers didn’t take a second risk on him by offering him a new contract.

So, you’ll have to excuse me then if I find it confusing and even outright lame that we as a fan base felt the need to deliver a mass boo at him upon his unceremonious return to South Philly last weekend with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Just what were the boos for, exactly? Are we mad that he’s not playing with us? I’m taking the liberty of answering with a collective, resounding “No.” Are we under the impression that he was faking injury during his time with us? We certainly shouldn’t be. The roughly 5.5 points and three rebounds that he had averaged heading into that contest suggest as much. Would we rather the Sixers had never acquired him in the first place, a move that gave us temporarily fake bravado as a challenger to the Miami Heat’s reign and some feelings of embarrassment for that along the way? Maybe, yeah, fine. But is that enough to follow through with a chorus of boos at a player who had already anticipated and scoffed at in the days and hours leading up to his appearance here, at a player who we are truly better off for having never played and not retained?

I don’t think so. And in booing him for reasons even he can’t pinpoint and giving him the opportunity to mock it (and us) and have the last word (as he did following the game and in the week following), we gave him the opportunity to actually wrong us. To laugh in our faces. To call us “weak.” And in the end, damned but I’ll admit it — he was right. Not that we’re weak. But those boos certainly were (even if they were loud). They were predetermined, they were ineffective and they were denounced. End of story.

And it really has me wondering if Philadelphia has lost its ability to boo effectively. Remember when we booed Kobe Bryant at the 2002 NBA All-Star Game? Now that was a scene. An NBA legend embarrassed on a national stage because he verbally slapped us in the face by saying he “wasn’t Philly” and that he wanted to “rip our hearts out” during the 2001 NBA Finals. Even though I can’t really blame him for saying those things in the moment, as competitive as he is, we made the last move in that chess match even if it came after his Lakers defeated the Sixers in said Finals. Scores of national journalists and pundits felt the need to come to Bryant’s defense, much like they’ve done for Mike Schmidt, Scott Rolen, Donovan McNabb and, yes, even Santa Claus. This time around, they laughed with Bynum.

But in all those other cases, even if the booing wasn’t justified (and believe me aside from the Santa Claus incident it wasn’t, isn’t and never will be) it was at least momentous. Powerful. Impactful to the point that those incidences will never fade into obscurity. Ditto the “cheers” for Michael Irvin at the Vet. Or batteries at JD Drew, which, for as much of a toad he was, if we’re really being honest we see the fault in the Phillies for even drafting him. But that’s a whole other story.

This week, Bynum won a battle against us that was really nonexistent; a fight that we created with what has now become habitual booing. We should have just ignored him. Acted like he was still never in the building. Instead, much like Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson would allude to two days later after his team’s thrilling win in Green Bay, booing in Philadelphia is becoming known for all the wrong reasons.

Now, as the Birds head into what could ultimately become the most important game of the season this Sunday, the story has become just as much about whether or not the fans will boo the team just as much as it has become about whether or not the resurgent Eagles can win this revenge game against the “racially vulgar,” “Politically Incorrect-skins” (you get my sarcasm I hope). And it’s not a myth. If Jackson and other players are willing to attest that the short-fused fans are actually impeding on their chances to end the Linc’s record-setting losing streak I assure you it’s legit. They don’t want to lose. They want to show the fluidity of the Chip Kelly offense here just as much as anywhere else. So why are we booing three-and-outs in the first quarter? Are we expecting that to help? Are we for them or are we against them? Sometimes it’s tough to tell. Sometimes it’s tough to tell what we’re rationally thinking and doing as a fan base. There’s been much bravado this week from the fans about the “right” to boo. But I have a hunch we’ll hear less of it this Sunday, at least in the early going, no matter how well or poorly the Eagles play. Because I think more people than there are who want to admit it know they’re right.

We need to be a little more selfish with our booing. We need to save it for the right people, at the right time and for the right reasons. We can’t just be willy-nilly and whorish with our boos. Here’s an idea: If you want to boo rampantly, Tweet it. Get in, get out in that character count and move on. We’ll all be better for it. That being said, can we get Irvin back in a uniform and on the field one last time? Maybe that will help us find that mojo we once had.