Last night, Markelle Fultz bricked his first shot…and his second…and had his third shot blocked….and absolutely bricked his fourth shot in front of 20,000 rabid fans hoping to see some glimpse of promise from the touted prospect during the 76ers home opener.

I watched from my couch, cringing, waiting for the fickle fans to cascade the struggling shooting guard with boos, to let their frustrations out on the 20-year-old.

It never happened.

Instead, 20,000 fans cheered heartily when he made his fifth shot of the night, upping the volume with every point he scored, and going absolutely BALLISTIC when he finally made a three-point shot deep into the fourth.

Listen to the house come down when he drains this shot.

Awesome. It’s almost like cheers for a 20-year-old struggling with both his confidence and his shot are better than drunken morons booing him during the second game of the season. Who knew?!

They’re doing for Fultz what they did for the terribly slumping Pat Burrell in 2003. They recognize that the effort is there, and they’re pulling for their guy. Burrell came out of it and is BELOVED in this city, there’s no reason Fultz can’t as well.

But but but but Coggin, I hear the five of my dedicated readers saying, it’s our right to boo as fans! How will we let our teams know when they’re under performing, when they’re playing poorly, or when we’re displeased with the effort?

Now now, I’m not saying the boo should be abolished. But maybe, just maybe, it’s time for Philadelphia to finally *GASP* not be brain-dead idiots when we decide to boo.

It’s a tall order for a lot of you, but I know we can do it. Booing is a mental crutch for this city. Lets start walking again. We don’t need it.

This is the Grade-A, Duke of New York example of why the majority of fans in this city are wrong when they boo a team.

Take a look at this idiotic poll question for the WIP morning show. It’s game two. Fultz has played less than 20 regular season games in his career. Booing Fultz in game 2 is almost as bad as booing the Eagles one half into their Super Bowl champion defending season.

It’s encouraging that 64% of fans responded “no” (while I can only assume smashing their faces into their computer screens), but the pro-booing responses to the poll are somehow more idiotic than the poll question itself.

A+ effort for the Wall Street reference, Danny. But Gordon Gecko goes to jail at the end of the movie, so it doesn’t work.

Booing the Super Bowl champions one half into their defending season was the single most embarrassing thing I’ve witnessed in this god forsaken city, Jimbo. Plus, Fultz is 20. He’s probably seriously been developing his skills now for maybe 10 years at the most? I don’t think he came out of the womb with a hitch in his shot.

This next response is everything wrong with Philadelphia sports fans in a nutshell….

AP;HEPHAPEB PAHE PAHPEUHEP APHWE AP AGHHHHHHH TAKE IT AWAY MY EYES, OH GOD MY EYES IT BURNS.

Tom, you’re 100% a fat slob who has had absolutely NO impact on the progress of any athlete in this city. Nelson Agholor didn’t improve because drunken louts from South Philly soaked in blackberry brandy took a few minutes out of their busy schedule of puking in the Lincoln Financial Field concourses and screaming racial epithets at out of town fans to boo.

You, or any fan in this city, have NO bearing on the outcome of an athletes career. Agholor didn’t improve because you booed. He improved because he put in hundreds of hours of work at practice, in the offseason, with personal trainers, coaches, sports psychologists…it wasn’t because you booed.

The boo should be done. I loved to boo when I was a teenager. I thought it made the city and its fans “tough” and “intimidating” because I was a dumb goon and didn’t know any better.

Booing doesn’t help a team. It doesn’t help anyone get better. Enough with it.

Now, if you want to boo an opposing team? Fucking have at it. If Tom Brady comes into this city and isn’t booed it’s an affront to everything pure and righteous.

Want to boo a clearly checked out Philadelphia team or an athlete who has CLEARLY given up trying? Go for it. Andy Ashby deserved to get booed off the field. Chip Kelly’s squad in the last of year his contract deserved to get booed because they had all quit on him and the city. Boo away.

But to boo a 20-year-old Fultz who is putting in the work, obviously trying to get better, that’s a joke.

Save it for when you see Mike Missanelli on the street. He deserves it.

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