“And I’m scared that I talk too much about what I think’s going on/I got a way with this, they might drag me away for this/Put me in a cage for this, I might pay for this/I just say what I want like I’m made for this/But I’m just afraid some days I might be wrong/Maybe that’s why me and Mike get along.”
-El-P, “Letter to the Shareholders” Run the Jewels 3
Recently on The Dan Patrick Show (a fine program, btw), Bobby Knight said that he hoped the administrators who ran Indiana University when he was fired were dead. He was offered a chance to ease up, but he doubled down.
Look, I grew up playing basketball in Indiana, and I went to Indiana University as an undergrad. Bobby was still coaching when I was in Bloomington. In fact I was across the street from him on one of the days someone took a shot at him (note I said “one of the days,” as it wasn’t uncommon, though it was under-reported by the media, for people to threaten Knight’s life). I know that in the 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s Bobby was considered a basketball God.
He’s a huge piece of shit. He just is. It’s really not even something that can be debated, seeing as he just recently celebrated the fact that Miles Brand– the University President who fired Knight after like incident 20 of abusing a student athlete– died of cancer. Knight threw chairs. He strangled more than one player. He was the most racist, loud-mouthed man-baby I’ve ever seen people heap praise on. He yelled constantly. He was like the bad part of Archie Bunker and the bad part (I guess all) of David Duke shoved together in a stupid little v-neck sweater.
I’ll give the devil his due. He had some innovative coaching ideas. But they weren’t THAT innovative, and they only resulted in amazing play when he had just the right mix of players. By comparison, guys like Tom Izzo, Mike Spell My Name from Duke, Dean Smith, and even people like Patino and Calapari had more impressive careers. I’d even go so far as to say that Tark the Shark was a better coach because Tark didn’t pretend to be some sport of do-gooder while being slimy. Tark was a unrepentant scumbag. Bobby acted, even to this day, acts like it’s Bobby Knight, Jesus, Apple Pie, the Flag, Donnie Trump and white ‘merica for the absolute win.
I’m a proud IU alum. I’m also a proud Miami alum (and employee) and MSU alum. I have given more back to IU than to MSU (hard to judge what I’ve given to Miami because I work there, so it’s sort of “is this an alum or an employee volunteering?”). But I won’t give IU a cent, or a second of my time, until they formally officially cut any and all ties with Bobby Knight.
Newsflash, fellow IU fans and basketball booster type people: Bobby’s teams weren’t THAT good. Honestly, look at the run Izzo has had at MSU. Compare that to what Bobby Knight did. All he really did was bring disgrace and shame to a program that would have been just fine without him (and seems to have done okay since he left, honestly).
The guy cut down a few nets, and he made a short, less-than-athletic Steve Alford a household name. Good for him.
He’s also a racist, mean-spirited, abusive, PTSD-in-a-popcan piece of human garbage.
Brand was a hero giving Knight his walking papers. The current IU administration needs to slam that door, slap on a padlock, buy security system with armed automated response, and hire two guards.
Bye, Bobby. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. I mean I wouldn’t want you to try to choke it to death.