Weighing in on Bobby Knight

by user Josh Q. Public

Josh Q. Public: Rows and floes of angel hair; and ice cream castles in the air.

Public Service Announcement:

OK, here we go! Bobby Knight. We all saw it by now. We all saw Bobby give Michael Prince that slap in the face. That attention grabber. That attention grabber on the sideline during a timeout. If we were living in vaccuum, this would be no big deal. In and of itself, that little jab was nothing. But we don’t live in a vacuum. That little jab did not happen in and of itself. The General has been here before. And before that. And before that. So many before thats, in fact, I’ve lost count. Now, if we were living in a vacuum, all those “and before thats” would surely have cast Bobby Knight out of the basketball world. In and of themselves, all those “before thats” would have added up to Bobby Knight being out of our hardwood heads a long time ago. But again, we don’t live in a vacuum. That’s what makes the Bobby Knight story so difficult.

In the middle of a game with Kentucky, Knight dope slaps Wildcat coach Joe B. Hall in the back of the head. Knight wins three National Titles. Coach Knight gets himself arrested for assaulting a police officer during the Pan Am Games in Puerto Rico. Coach Knight leads his team to the Gold in said Pan Am Games. The General drags guard Jim Wisman off the court by his jersey on national TV. The General becomes the youngest head coach to win 300 games, 400 games, 600 games and 800 games. Knight throws a chair across the court to protest a referee’s call during against silly toupee wearing Gene Keady and the hated Purdue Boilermakers. Over one two-year period, Knight goes 63-1, including back-to-back 18-0 seasons in the Big Ten. Bobby kicks his own son during a game. At Indiana, Bobby graduated nearly 80 percent of his players. The national average for Division I schools is 42 percent. During an interview with Connie Chung, Coach Knight says: ”I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and let it happen.” At Indiana, Coach Knight endowed two chairs, one in history and one in law, and raised millions for the library. The General threw a potted plant at his secretary. To increase graduation rates, the General has been lobbying the NCAA to adopt this rule: Revoke a team scholarship for every player who doesn’t graduate within five years. Assistant Coach Ron Felling says Knight threw him off a chair and punched him in the chest. Knight marched Army to the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament three times (and because of West Point’s height requirements, he did it without a player over 6 feet 6). Bobby Knight feigned whipping Hoosier Calbert Cheaney. Caught on tape. Front page news. Protests by civil rights leaders. Bobby Knight cuts players for skipping class and for doing drugs. ”Hey Knight, what’s up?” Bob Knight grabs a student by the arm and berates him for not giving him his propers. Bob Knight leads Texas Tech to back-to-back-to back NCAA Tournaments. The first time Tech teams have earned invitations to post-season play in three successive seasons in school history. Bobby stuffs a belligerent fan into a trashcan during the Final Four. Bobby’s programs have never been placed under NCAA sanctions. He once put Tampax in a player’s locker as a motivational insult. He won Coach of the year honors five times. Coach Knight slaps Red Raider Michael Prince on the chin for not paying attention. Coach Knight moved one win closer to catching Dean Smith. Nine more, and he passes the legendary North Carolina coach for the most wins in Division I history.

Coach Bobby Knight, the General, slaps player Michael Prince for not paying attention. An incident in and of itself, harmless. Coach Bobby Knight, the General, moves one win closer to catching legendary Dean Smith. An event in and of itself one of greatness. However, we do not live in vacuum.

Peace out homies. Six Two and Even! josh q. public