Bob Knight slaps player ...

[GuessWho]

I've seen major-college coaches do a lot worse. But it's Bob Knight and with his history he should know what the fallout's going to be and avoid putting himself in those situations. But obviously he doesn't care.

 

[JR]

Junkie, I'm biting my tongue but you're absolutely wrong on this one. This has nothing--absolutely nothing--to do with discipline.

Bobby Knight is the Donald Rumsfeld of coaches--except Knight has a better record.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

If my child were ever touched by a Bobby Knight, there would be no chest-thumping nods to old-school discipline. He and I would march at 20 paces and I'd be eating breakfast at Shoney's when it's all over.

Then have them play soccer. You'll have nothing to worry about. And make sure to take orange slices for the post-game celebration -- win or loss.

Please don't mistake misplaced testosterone for discipline. Always a bad idea. And Knight has an affirmative responsibility not to act like a public sociopath, a responsibility he has repeatedly failed to live up to. Who the heck is he to represent discipline when he's hitting players, belting civilians, and throwing vases over the heads of secretaries? He's a hypocrite as well.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

Junkie, pass.

The man needs help. And maybe part of his rehabilitation/punishment ought to be coaching soccer.

 

[Ace]

Fenian, he's not a sociopath. He's a disciplinarian in a country where kids -- ages 3-23 -- run wild because they have no discipline. Kids fear nothing because there is no recourse for anything and they know it. Knight essentially wields the hickory stick that many feared a generation ago. Nobody has that fear anymore.

Should Knight send a kid to "time out" in the corner and take the remote control away for 15 minutes? Or the computer keyboard? Knight is an a-hole but he has never physically harmed anybody and he's always gotten results.

Knight's a bully. He has plenty of power as a coach to make players mind him without resorting to timeouts and the like.

I have put my hands on my kid to make him look at me but I wouldn't do it to someone else's kid.

 

[GuessWho]

Tech's statement:

MEDIA ADVISORY
November 14, 2006
Contact: Chris Cook (chris.cook@ttu.edu)


Statement from Texas Tech Director of Athletics Gerald Myers on issue involving Head Men's Basketball Coach Bob Knight and student-athlete Michael Prince during Monday night's game against Gardner-Webb:


“I have discussed this with Michael Prince, his parents and Coach Knight. Coach Knight did not slap Michael.

“Here is what happened: Michael came off the court with his head down and Coach Knight quickly lifted Michael's chin up and said, ‘Hold your head up and don't worry about your mistakes. Just play the game.'

“In my opinion, Coach Knight did not do anything wrong.”


Texas Tech will not further comment on the matter.

 

[Songbird]

That press release is up-forking-roarious.

“Here is what happened: Michael came off the court with his head down and Coach Knight quickly lifted Michael's chin up and said, ‘Hold your head up and don't worry about your mistakes. Just play the game.'

I don't have a problem with the incident, but this response is rich.

 

[SixToe]

Every coach in America does this.

No, they don't.

Not every coach in America is a bullying SOB who gets away with intimidation, abuse and holds up the winning record as a "See, everything's OK" solution.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

And thank you for that example of genuine frontier bureaucratic bullshirt.

 

[joe king]

The Texas Tech people are too initimidated by Knight to ever do anything about him. They did nothing when he got into it with the university chancellor at that salad bar a few years ago.

Believe me, I am not an apologist for Mr. Knight, nor his defender, but the tape I saw didn't indicate anything horrible. My old high school football coach did more than that, grabbing our helmets and making sure we looked him in the eye as he talked to us. There are many things you can rip Knight for, but this was merely a blip on the resume. Not that big of a deal.

Yes, it's a blip on the resume, but you can't ignore the rest of the resume. For someone without Knight's past, you can say it's no big deal. But as another addition to a long pattern of behavior, it is a big deal. Knight is a bully and a bad guy who should never have been hired at Texas Tech in the first place.

 

[joe king]

Call me the minority, but I would certainly feel comfortable sending my son to college to play basketball for Bob Knight. I say that, and the No. 1 reason why is that he teaches respect. With that being said, he has done a ton of disrespectful things himself. I guess I'm 50/50 on him, but I don't think he's a monster or bully. I think he has a temper issue, no more, not less.

To teach respect, you have to show respect. Knight doesn't and never will. Kids learn far more from what you do than from what you say.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

IN MY OPINION
Bad raps are tough to shake, no matter how foolish they areBY DAN LE BATARD
dlebatard@MiamiHerald.com
Two weeks ago, undefeated Peyton Manning went into the toughest place to win in the NFL, against the league's best defense, and pulled out the game late against Denver. Last week, he went into New England's home and shredded Bill Belichick's defense while outplaying Tom Brady. Manning somehow did this with a team that can't run the ball or stop the run. But he's allegedly a choker.

It's literally a no-win proposition once you get the kind of rep that makes Manning football's Alex Rodriguez, just like it's a no-lose proposition if you get the kind of rep that makes Brady football's Derek Jeter. Brady threw four interceptions last week, including one against a bad defense on what could have and should have been the game-tying drive. But that will be erased from our minds in much the same way it would have been embedded there if Manning had been the one doing the botching.

Good or bad, once you are stamped, we'll pick and choose only the subsequent facts and evidence that reaffirm the stamping and ignore those that might dispute said stamping.

How many game-winning shots in a row would Dwyane Wade have to miss before we questioned his assassin streak? Heck, we're even willing to overlook that Wade, forever clutch now, missed the two free throws that would have iced the Finals because Miami got a bounce on a wide-open Jason Terry shot at the end, just like we overlook the bounce Manning didn't get when Mike Vanderjagt missed a field-goal attempt that would have helped the Colts tie champion Pittsburgh in last year's playoffs.

But here's where a stigma gets bothersome if you are a fan of Bobby Knight: No amount of winning can cure the negative reputation that already has been formed, obviously. Knight's rep has been earned, certainly, but it echoes in a way that makes you wonder how it ever will be changed, echoes so poisonous that national pontificators feel comfortable sharpening their knives and carving up the program even moments after a wailing mother in her son's UM jersey grieves the loss of her just-slain child.

Bobby Knight turned the Texas Tech program into a winner, period. Bobby Knight went nearly four years without slapping anyone -- a staggering stat you will find nowhere in the top 25 -- but four years isn't enough to erase damage already done, evidently. One punch, one crime, one awful incident reaffirms preconceptions, strengthens them.

How do you push against that? If four years can be erased in a moment?

Peyton Manning can change his reputation by winning.

But what does Bobby Knight have to do?