RIP Bobby Knight

Wow. Does God allow throwing of chairs in heaven? So many memories of those monster Indiana teams.

https://www.bobknight.com/bob-knight-legendary-coach-dies-at-83

 

Oh yeah - very good basketball coach.

 

Since death was inevitable I wonder if he just laid back and enjoyed it?

 

Wow. RIP to a legend, for better or worse.

 

He lived a uniquely American life, for all that entails.

 

An all-timer, no doubt.

Also a bit of a "what if." Had he been able to adjust, even a little bit, to the changes in college basketball, he could've been perhaps the greatest of all time.

But he was absolutely inflexible to change.

 

Also a reminder that Ohio produces all the craziest coaches. Come across a hardass, weirdo coach? He was either born or spent time in Ohio, almost unfailingly.

 

Also a cautionary tale to any of us who may have had even moderate levels of success in the past in whatever it is we do.

I find myself having some Bobby Knight moments at work, but only in my head, with the occasional snarky remark creeping out about shoddy content or poor writing that comes across my desk.

 

Have to admit that Knight and I got along great, and I got a lot of awesome interviews from him. This is possibly because on our first encounter (not too long ago, 1981 Final Four), I told him that when reporting I stopped my thoughts of good and evil and divided the world into interesting and dull. Lord knows he wasn't dull.

 

A view I wish had been presented more during journalism school. I later found all the great historians I loved took the same tact.

 

Growing up in southern Indiana in the '80s, and with my old man working for Indiana University, he was a larger than life figure.

My mother never said a bad word about the man, but routinely talked to me and my sisters about how Dean Smith graduated players without cussing or bullying. Message received. Wasn't easy being a fan of a different team.

Condolences to those who cared about him.