No Class

Joe Lacob and Chris Mullin (Mercury News photo)

If a class-less society is what we should be striving toward, then nirvana was achieved last night at the Oracle Arena.

The Golden State Warriors honored Chris Mullin by retiring his #17 jersey, but the ceremony was marred by the frequent booing of Warriors owner Joe Lacob. The ostensible reason for the fans' displeasure was a trade in which the Warriors sent away their best player, popular seven-year guard Monta Ellis. Despite pleas by Chris Mullin and Hall-of-Fame great Rick Barry, the boos for Joe Lacob escalated throughout the ceremony.

Those fans who insisted on spoiling the Mullin family's day--yes, that wasn't the fans' main intent and yes, they have laid out a lot of ticket money for decades--were thinking only of themselves and their right to speak.

Class in the "classiness" sense arises not from wealth or social status but from a spirit that chooses not to exercise the rights, privileges, and wealth at one's command, when to do so would injure others or merely glorify oneself. On Monday night in Oakland there was a notable lack of class.