Bob Knight slaps player ...

Just saw it.

He has a clenched fist and hits the kid with a short, under-handed punch.

I tend to lean toward this being a pretty big deal.

 

I don't know if Alley Allen or Three Bags Full have been reading this thread, but they would know this better than I would and hopefully provide some insight.
As I understand it, in the military, drill instructors are not allowed to hit or swear at recruits. I understand that's the official policy. What actually happens during recruit training, I can't say.
But it seems to me that if drill instructors can get their job done without resorting to those things, why can't Bobby Knight?
After all, if Knight doesn't do his job successfully, nobody goes home in a body bag.

 

Because the next kid -- and there will be one -- and his parents may object and it's already too late. Precedent's been set. Again.

 

In the rhetorical sense, I agree. But I'll be damned if I'm going to impose my personal standards of appropriate behavior on others in this matter, because I sure as fuck don't want them trying to govern my personal behavior in other matters.

 

As long as the kid and his parents have said publicly that they have no problem with the incident, none of us have a damn thing to say about it. Leave it alone. It's a non-issue. The kid is over 18 and his parents aren't pissed. That means our opinions means squat.

 

His team played very well last night. At one time in the second half Tech had 19 assists and two turnovers. That's hard to do against air. They looked like they were having a lot of fun playing.

 

They have to look like they are having fun or they get the crap slapped out of them.

 

When I went through (back in 96) a "Drill" couldn't hit you, obviously. I was once pushed out of the way for doing something stupid (imagine that), but never hit, and I understood why the drill sergeant did what he did. I have a buddy who went through Parris (sp?) Island at the same time, who was punched on a number of occasions and even challenged to a fight by his instructors.

But, in the Army, those days are gone. No more loud yelling for minor offenses. No degradation. Period (it's useless, anyway). They only get yelled at for the most serious offenses, i.e., losing a weapon, disrespect, etc. I had an internship at what the Army calls Phase IV and V unit (after basic training, where they learn their specific jobs. this one happened to be an aviation maintenance unit). TRADOC (Training and Doctrine Command) regulations have these drill sergeants so handcuffed it isn't funny. If the privates fuck up, so what. There's nothing a drill sergeant can do. Fail PT. Whatever. Get tired while doing push-ups. Just go to your knees. It's OK. Go AWOL, we'll just take some money and restrict you to the barracks. I was really disappointed, and I can officially say I'm old school (at least in the Army), because basic training is a fucking joke. It ain't what it was 10 short years ago, that's for sure. Hell, now the privates have to be in buddy teams before they even SPEAK to a drill sergeant or officer. Of course, that protects the drill sergeant, but still. Jeez.

*ba dump*

That's me jumping down from the soap box.

 

I think it's pretty disingenuous for people to say he "raises the kid's chin with his hand."

The kid's head snaps back. It isn't a slap or a punch. But it ain't anything to admire either.

To be clear, it's pretty pathetic, as Buck and Dan Wetzel pointed out, for ESPN to fill up 18 straight hours of programing calling this a non-issue, and having various apologists (like Dan Patrick, who was twisting himself into a pretzel yesterday trying to justify this) telling us how silly the outrage is, but stay tuned for more coming up next hour on how silly the outrage is, Keith Olbermann's outrage, including a fake press conference to break down the outrage, plus more footage of Knight throwing a chair, and by the way, we'll be replaying Season on the Brink over on ESPN 2 at 9 p.m., and be sure to check out Dan LeBatard on PTI calling us all haters for feeling outraged.

I don't particularly like Knight, and I don't think you need to treat people like shit to get them to listen to you. And frankly, the romanticism over coaches like Lombardi and Parcells is, I think, about as overblown and phony as anything. Joe Gibbs, John Wooden, Bill Walsh, Dean Smith all managed to win and get their point across with out regularly humiliating people, but it's more fun to celebrate the characters who remind us of a time when men were men, I guess. The whole "these kids know what they're getting into with Knight" argument seems silly too. What if the General had straight up punched the kid in the face? Or kneed him in the groin, then choked him because he forgot to set a back pick? Would it still be ok because both the player and Texas Tech knew what they were getting into when they hired him? Where is the line? The point isn't that this incident is particularly worthy of outrage. It's not. It's that Knight has never known where the line is. Choke a player, throw a chair, kick your son, throw a flower pot, punch a cop, wipe your ass and show the toilet paper to Rick Reilly, embarrass Jeremy Schapp (the son of one of your best friends), grab a student by the collar for saying 'What up Knight?', scream at the university chancellor at the neighborhood salad bar, raise a kid's chin with a gentle pop of the fist. What happens when Knight pulls a Woody Hayes? Will it still be forgivable because he graduates players? Don't the referees know "what they're getting into" by agreeing to work Texas Tech games?

I'm all for giving people second chances. And third chances. Maybe even an occasional fourth. But eventually, you run out of chances. And those who continue to give them out based on some macho code that references "the good old days" are enablers, pure and simple.

 

End of fucking thread.
If DI's can't do it, overaged juvenile basketball coaches can't do it.

 

Watch your language, Mr. Pottymouth.

 

"You trying to tell me you can't do one fucking pull-up for my beloved Corps!!!! Get the fuck off my obstacle course!!!"