Anybody covered Bob Knight?

Saying that guy covered Knight is like saying the Washington press corps blew the lid off the WMD intelligence.

 

A valid opinion, but one that would become pretty repetitive and boring if you actually had to cover the man substantively.

I don't see anyone defending Knight. I saw a question on what it's like to cover Bob Knight, and I see lots of people responding.

Knight is an ass, plain and simple. So have been many successful people in many walks of life.

It does bring up a question: Do you cover the ass or cover the coach? If the coach does something well, does him being a prick color the way you portray the accomplishment?

As someone who covered Bobby Petrino for several years, it was a question I constantly asked myself -- and a constant struggle to not let whatever crap I was going through with him color the coverage that came out in the paper.

 

If you are a writer or historian observing college basketball, it would really be too easy and simple to just look at Bobby Knight and piegon hole him.

For instance, what would you get if you had a compare-and-contrast with Jim Valvano? or Woody Hayes?

John Feinstein, when he wrote A Season On The Brink, said in 1986 that when he weighed the good and bad points of Bobby Knight, he felt Knight would be a positive because he was a good teacher and didn't cheat.

I think in 1986, you could make a valid point - you wouldn't have to agree with it, but I think you should acknowledge it was a valid point.

However, something an old woman once told me comes to mind. She said "people generally don't change, except they get worse when they get older." I think that is a valid point in Bobby Knight's case - his bad points kind of get more grating and worse as time goes by. As I said earlier, the fact that he breaks Dean Smith's record in Lubbock, Texas may be fitting justice.

 

It seems to me that too many writers go into a Bob Knight press conference looking to create a Bob Knight moment.

I have always wondered if Knight's attitude toward the media was conditioned by the feelings of his fishing buddy Ted Williams.

 

another asshole?

 

Tom - did Williams give you a rough time? What were the circumstances?

 

boom - come on buddy. i know williams is the stuff legend is made of, but damn dude, he was a prick, too.

 

Tom - from everything I have read - with Williams it is a chicken or egg issue. Some would say he became a prick after he was mistreated by the Boston media.

 

boom - i might have empathy if you said his parents beat and abused him.

 

His son cut his head off and left him in a freezer. Feel bad now?

 

oh fuck, that was rich. i have a new sig.

 

I know I'm biased, but I can't stop laughing.