Letters to the Editor
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Knight was not a real man
The first letter suggests that anyone who doesn’t think Knight was the bomb must hate their father. No, I don’t hate my father. My father was gentlemanly and mannerly, even as he was in the hospital with a spinal tumor. The nurses adored him and genuinely grieved when he passed away. For the last few years of his life, he spent his time tutoring abused, messed-up kids algebra. His graduation rate was higher than Knight’s, in a much tougher subject, with kids he did not get to cherry-pick, and he achieved it without once losing his temper or putting any of them in a head lock.
Manly? Oh, Dad could drink beer and watch sports and cuss out the players and coaches with the best of them. He was not a saint, but he was not a bully. He never lost it on anyone who had less power than himself, all the people I ever saw him get mad at were those had MORE power/money than he, because he felt they should know better than to act like weenies.
He taught me plenty about accountability by example, because he held himself to the highest standards FIRST. Believe me, I was punished for getting out of line, but Dad was every bit as hard on himself as he was on me. His name was never mentioned in the same sentence with the word “hypocrite” for good reason.
With that for my example, how could I NOT hate Knight? I learned early on what a real man was, Knight was a poser.
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glad you could finally get that off your chest!
you simply can't make the case that knight wasn't a big jerk. he just was. but there is a lot more to him than king's article was willing to acknowledge. however, here's my biggest problem with the column - in his haste to bury knight, king ignored the hints the general was dropping about not being done with coaching. i think knight is just trying to get his son's career started before it dies on the vine. i believe he is following his buddy bill parcells' lead and taking some time off to appear on tv and do some fishing, literally and figuratively, before he makes a decision about retirement. hey, if eddie sutton can get a crappy little coaching job, bobby knight certainly can. he could even end up back at army, or who the hell knows, coaching women! and to the letter writer who issued the two word indictment of knight - "joe paterno", i'm afraid joe-pa was a vocal supporter of knight's after the so-called "choking" controversy, you can look it up.
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@ Harrington
Really? Did Chaney have any incidents like the one you just so painstakingly described? Choke players? Throw chairs on the court? Chase away future pantheon level players (Bird)? Hit people?
Yeah, we all love the press conference tirade at Calipari...that's showing a temper, to a peer, not being a bullying criminal to a defenseless kid.
The line black coaches have to walk esp. in the midwest (heck, Indiana itself) is frighteningly narrow: Mike Davis, Ty Willingham...
I'm not black myself, but I can see racism when it's blatant.
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Coach Knight, in the flesh
When I was a kid my parents took me, my brother and some of our buds to watch the Buckeyes maul the Hoosiers on that ugly football field in Bloomington. Before the carnage we went over to the arena (independence hall or something) and walked right in. We were in one of the corners trying to watch the basketball team practice. Someone pissed off Bob Knight. He yelled at everyone for half a minute and then stormed off. He walked right past us muttering.
His team stayed out there and practiced for another half an hour. I doubt they made the same mistake in practice the next day.
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I'm with Buffalonian
I too had one of those proto-Knights in high school. But as we were a very successful cross country team no one dared to question his authority or his methods. And later many of my former teammates cleverly burnished the psychological torment from their memories and, instead, held onto the romance of high school championships.
It took me a long, long time to make peace with that man.
Success in sports takes hard work, dedication, discipline. But at the same time, as Buffalonian said, it should also be joyous. I certainly learned the parts about discipline and hard work in high school: I had no choice -- and that very well may be a good thing. But the other things I learned were anger, mistrust, and self-doubt. Running, a sport I had loved since I was six years old, filled me with nothing but sorrow. I was good enough for Division 1, but mostly I wanted to quit.
I took a break. Later, I was fortunate to have great coaches and teammates in college, and my love for running returned. But it was probably not until I played Ultimate (frisbee) in my twenties that I truly learned the joy of sport. I have never played so hard, been so sore, tired, or spent than after playing a weekend Ultimate tournament. And I've never seen such teamwork and commitment from a bunch of self-coached athletes. That to me is joy.
King may have a chip when it comes to Bobby Knight (as others have pointed out), but I for one can't really blame him. Coaches like that are not uncommon and their impact is both far-reaching and insidious. I will, however, admit this: My high school coach taught me one very important thing:
He taught me -- by example -- exactly the sort of man I never want to be.
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A few replies
steplow On another Knight matter: which network is going to be first to get him on their studio team or as a color man?
My money's on ESPN.
And wouldn't that be the ultimate act of hypocrisy for Knight. First he spends 50 years dismissing the media -- and not only because he found individual reporters lacking in intelligence but because he found the entire enterprise, the whole profession, to be beneath his dignity. You'll recall the quote about the profession being "about two steps above prostitution." And then when he's out of work, guess what he does.
He hasn't done it yet. I'll wait to bury him for it until he actually does it. But let's just say I don't think I'll be waiting long.
crumley Over the years you have made it clear that you can't stand Bobby Knight. Please do me a favor and refrain from writing an obituary for him.
OK. It's a promise. But I'm still writing about him when he hires on at a TV network. And now you owe me a favor.
hnutsworth (the closest I ever came was bussing his table at a restaurant in Bloomington-- he seemed very polite in that one instance)
Was it Yanko's Little Zagreb? Holy crap, I'm drooling right now.
dothatgirl belittling his integrity in a time when Kaufman claim's to be so weary of cheating scandals in sports.
First, I didn't belittle his integrity. I do think his integrity is overrated. He follows the NCAA rules. I'm not sure that's synonymous with integrity. I think his grand, overarching hypocrisy is kind of the opposite of integrity. It just doesn't happen to involve NCAA rules.
Second, I'm weary of cheating scandals in sports, mostly because I think the rules that are being broken -- and here I'm talking more about college sports than steroids -- are mostly nonsensical. Yeah, the cheating cheaters who cheat shouldn't cheat. I respect Knight for that. But the whole system is wrong. Of course people are going to cheat. If the system is bad enough, even good people will cheat.
Junction40 What is most remarkable is that there was not a single one of them [letters] that offered any insight about the game of basketball.
I found that interesting too. I think it's because Bob Knight had ceased to be relevant in basketball years and years ago. It's kind of like how the news stories about Britney Spears lately never mention music.