Letters to the Editor
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@ Mike's Pace
The fleeing is easy to explain, and Texas is as good a non-Ohio place as any.
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Chaney deserved more leeway than Knight
Chaney coached at Temple and made it relevant in college basketball, a ridiculous feat that will probably never happen again for any length of time. The kids, resources and facilities at his disposal put him at tremendous disadvantage.
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Crumley wins the intraweb today
/chuckle
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Bob Knight looks like a Great White Shark
Don't choke me bro!
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What a dick...
I freaking hate Bob Knight. I can't say it any plainer, and I'm ashamed to make such a blanket statement of antipathy. I fucking hate him, I have for years, and hell, I hate the state of Indiana in general although I know that is totally unfair to say. I blame him.
Fuck you, Bob.
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Accidental Tourist of the Sports Section
I don't follow sports at all (I watched Puppy Bowl's greatest hits online and that was pretty sportsy of me), but I've been meaning to write in just to say that I always thoroughly enjoy the King columns that explore the stranger aspects of sports. They're such a revelation as they manage to expose the larger culture in all its dubious glory, and I love his way with zee words.
Would he please autograph my puppy bowl?
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Sports writing vs. news writing
Great column King. I noticed this long long ago. Sports commentators and writers are not afraid to just tell the truth about people, unlike news reporters.
Know who the best TV news anchor is? Keith Olbermann. He learned his trade in sports. And now he is applying that brand of "I can't abide this shit" to news and politics.
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Kudos, King K
You nailed this one. Good Riddance to the black-hearted Knight. An over-rated coach and an embarrassment to everyone unfortunate enough to be associated with him. Frankly, I'm surprised the bloated old goat lasted to the age of 67.
As for his son: You're right. Why do the seniors &/or the rest of the team have to be sacrificed so that the Dickhead's sidekick son (with no credentials of his own) can slide into the comfy chair? A pox on the pair of them with their Nepotistic Old School "values".
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Famous Father-Son Coaching combinations
Yeah, you get your 900th win, you're feeling a little worn out, so you decide to let your assistant coach take over the rest of the season, and "prove" himself before signing for big bucks - except its your son, and you forced the university to hire him, because family trumps personal integrity and hard work, er, no, he's a hard worker, the best kid I ever worked with, blah, blah, blah.... Well, some work out, and some don't - see the list below...
From:
http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=1146&CID=770106
BARTOW
Father: Gene Bartow (647-353 at Central Missouri State, Valparaiso, Memphis State, Illinois, UCLA and UAB)
Son: Murry Bartow (192-140 at UAB and East Tennessee State)
BENNETT
Father: Dick Bennett (490-303 at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, UW-Green Bay, Wisconsin and Washington State)*
Son: Tony Bennett (43-13 at Washington State)
DAVIS
Father: Tom Davis (598-355 at Lafayette, Boston College, Stanford, Iowa and Drake)*
Son: Keno Davis (20-1 at Drake)
DREW
Father: Homer Drew (585-369 at Bethel College, IU-South Bend and Valparaiso)
Son: Scott Drew (72-84 at Valparaiso and Baylor)
MONSON
Father: Don Monson (216-186 at Idaho and Oregon)*
Son: Dan Monson (122-122 at Gonzaga, Minnesota and Long Beach State)
SUTTON
Father: Eddie Sutton (800-322 at Creighton, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma State and San Francisco)
Son: Scott Sutton (159-107 at Oral Roberts), Sean Sutton (32-24 at Oklahoma State)
THOMPSON
Father: John Thompson (596-239 at Georgetown)*
Son: John Thompson III (158-74 at Princeton and Georgetown)
WELSH
Father: Jerry Welsh (502-205 at Potsdam State and Iona)*
Son: Tim Welsh (209-145 at Iona and Providence)
(Oh, yeah, I'm suddenly available for another job.)
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Good riddance
Right on! I teach at IU, and for years I watched Bob Knight get away with treating STUDENTS (yeah, those basketball players are students too) with the sort of abuse and disrespect I could never get away with as a teacher-- and never would do anyway. He bullied athletic directors, probably got one u president fired, and made another resign out of exhaustion. And his exit now is just like his years of coaching. He said his abrupt resignationw as right for him and right for his baby boy Pat... but he never said a word about his students. As always, with Bob Knight, his player students come last. He never had any respect for them, and he showed it by quitting mid-season now. I hope now he can lapse into what he hates more than anything-- obscurity. He always lived for the spotlight, and he'd do just about anything (especially abuse his players and tell them it was good for them) to get it back, when his coaching star faded and he didn't win enough to get fame the usual way.
Goodbye, Bobby, and don't let the door hit you on the butt on the way out.
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A legend in his own mind . . .
Thanks, King Kaufman . . .
Finally, someone has the critical thinking skills to see Bobby Knight for what he is, a bully who hasn't had a solid NCAA contender since Isiah Thomas hit the road 28 years ago. Year after year we saw the Hoosiers go into the NCAA tournament a 15-20 point favorite in the first round and lose by 6.
I have a feeling that the word got out on Knight in the inner city . . . "this guy is a jerk . . . don't go to Indiana". I noticed that his Indiana teams were starting to get very white toward the end there.
The sports punditocracy has for years tried to sell that old wisdom that Bobby is one of the great basketball minds ever . . . give me a break.
Bobby Knight is a legend in his own mind. Amen to King Kaufman and good riddance to Bobby Knight.
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Bullying the powerless
I remember that Knight was famous for bullying staffers at the university. That's beyond classless-- to bully people who could be fired if they stood up to you. (Or lose their scholarships.) Once he throw a vase at a secretary who told him he could barge into her boss's office.
I'm sure his players loved him. All those who couldn't stand him left (and many, many did).
And sure they all graduated. He would have choked any player that ruined his record. But notice, while he proudly proclaimed his grad rate, he had no problem scheduling junk games (against the Campus Crusade for Christ team, say) during these students' winter break, so that they couldn't go home for the holidays. HE had no problem insisting that they practice far more than they are supposed to even if it meant they had no time to study. (No, they didn't complain. Would you, knowing that complaining would have NO EFFECT other than to get an hour of abuse from him?) He very well could have been prosecuted for a couple of his assaults, but no one at IU or in Bloomington was going to take him on. He'd get them fired. That's what he did.
Bullies always have their fans. It doesn't mean they were good at much more than bullying. Many, many coaches have w-l records as good as his, and graduation records too, and they don't abuse their players. Just up the road from IU is Butler University, which is 1/10th the size of IU or Texas Tech, with a dedicated coaching staff which treats the players with respect... and actually teaches them the basketball Knight pretended to teach. But look at the difference-- not just in the records (Butler made the sweet 16 last year, with only 4000 students), but in the record of how many players and assistant go on to be coaches-- that is, players and assts who learned the game.
You don't need to choke a player to get love, respect, and results.