It’s been nearly two decades since Rick Pitino set the standard for Sports People On High Horses lecturing fans on the impropriety of booing.
The date: March 1, 2000.
The venue: The FleetCenter, as it was known back in the days of Loserville. (It having been some 14 years since any of our pro sports franchises had won a championship.)
The issue: The Celtics were booed as they made the nighttime commute from the parquet to the locker room after dropping a 96-94 decision to the Toronto Raptors on Vince Carter’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
Pitino, perhaps not realizing the fans were as much booing him as any of his handpicked players, if not more so, famously caterwauled that “Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans.