SB Nation User Blog: Crow

Deconstructing the Red Ogre

Crow — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:05:43 -0000

Rex Murphy, in his review of the book “A Short History of Rudeness" observed the following: “Television is the grand etiquette master of this age, and it is irresistibly and turbulently rude. It abides nothing but noise, exhibitionism, stupidity and clamour. Television is Hell's own river of modern manners. Hence wrestlers running for governor and Jerry Springer lunging from his set of drooling horrors to the thought of politics. There is no facet of modern social intercourse that has not been abraded and corrupted by its Niagara torrent. We speak, act and think less finely under its influence. We are rude now, in the main I think because of television, without even knowing we are rude. That is rudeness in its primal and chaotic state.”

Robert Montgomery Knight, a fired coach with a long history of disciplinary problems (including allegations of racism), from the podium of a ceremony honoring the Hall of Fame for a program that is currently on NCAA probation, decides to take a cheap shot at an undefeated coach at college basketball’s winningest program and who, by the way, has no NCAA infractions on his record (unlike, say, North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Louisville’s Rick Pitino, and Indiana’s last basketball coach).

If John Calipari is to be held accountable for Marcus Camby’s actions in accepting money and then playing for UMASS, then what exactly should Mike Krzyzewski’s (a Knight disciple) punishment be at Duke for Corey Maggette getting caught with his hand out? Bobby say anything about that? I guess not since the NCAA is still “investigating” it.

Is everyone blind to the self-serving purpose of Knight’s cowardly outburst? His not-so-subtle indication that the reason he is no longer in the game is that you have to cheat to win, and HE is not a cheater?

Well, how about we extend that logic to his buddy Mike Krzyzewski? Does Duke, UNC, Florida, Kansas, and every other program currently cheat in order to successfully recruit? Is that what Knight seriously wants to maintain as an excuse for his firing and fade to irrelevance? Or maybe the fact that he is an arrogant and exceedingly rude bully with the people skills of a Russian tax collector?

Think he’s jealous of John Calipari? After all, who in the game has better people-skills and is more polished in front of the camera? Think that undefeated record, 30 million dollar contract, #1 recruiting class, and rabid National attention might have caused Knight to engage in a little retrospect and perhaps find himself wanting?

He must be cheating. Because if John Calipari is not cheating then Robert Montgomery Knight is just a fired washed-up ornery old coach that nobody wants on their floor anymore?

So like a big fat red puffer fish, Knight blew himself up and, as is his curse, shared his twisted and misguided excuses for himself with everyone else. This is not a different Knight. This is not a crusading Knight. This is the same self-indulgent blowhard that talked himself out of Indiana where they treated him like a king. He ruined that. He ruined himself. He ruined his legacy.

What feels better than company? You see, Calipari is everything Knight could never be in today’s game. Charismatic. Good looking. Self-depreciating. Let’s his players talk back to him, even. Being the highest paid coach in the game at your most bitter rival doesn’t help Knight feel any better about how pathetic his “Hall of Fame” career ended either, I bet. Think he noticed any of that?

How long has it been since Knight has actually been relevant in the game, anyway? Whenever it was, do you really think the game was cleaner 20 or 30 years ago than it is now? He really believe that things have become so bad as compared to his heyday of the 70's and 80's that he simply had to leave the game? Is that supposed to be taken credibly?

Yet there he was. Only, don’t expect ESPN to point out the tortured nature of his blindingly obvious self-serving agenda. They’re vested in controversy. Vested in taunting, tearing down, humiliation, and destruction. Whatever sells. They’ve got twenty-four hours to cover. Not even Knight can talk that long.

A short history of Bobby Knight courtesy of Sports Illustrated:

Sept. 10, 1979: Knight is sentenced in absentia to six months in jail after being convicted of hitting Puerto Rican police officer Juan de Silva before a July practice at the Pan American Games. The U.S. team had won the gold medal five days after the incident. The government of Puerto Rico decides in 1987 to drop efforts to extradite Knight.

1981: On his weekly TV show, Knight brings out a donkey wearing a Purdue cap after showing films of a "sucker punch" involving Isiah Thomas and Purdue's Roosevelt Barnes.

Jan. 16, 1982: Ohio State guard Troy Taylor claims Knight cursed at him, "calling me everything in the book," after he thought Taylor flagrantly fouled Jim Thomas. Knight and four Indiana players deny the charge and sends films to the Big Ten and Ohio State. Ohio State later supports Knight.March 28, 1981: After IU defeats LSU 67-49 at the Final Four in Philadelphia, Knight gets into an altercation with an LSU fan, allegedly shoving him into a garbage can. Knight claims that the fan used obscenities to provoke the incident. No charges are filed.

Feb. 16, 1983: Critical of Big Ten officiating, Knight stands at midcourt cursing at Big Ten commissioner Wayne Duke, who was sitting in the press box. Three days later, Knight publicly blasts officials for the "worst officiating I have seen in 12 years" and is publicly reprimanded.

Feb. 23, 1985: Knight tosses a chair onto the Assembly Hall floor while Purdue's Steve Reid attempts to shoot technical free throws. Knight is ejected from the game and later suspended for one game by Duke. Knight makes a formal apology.

Jan. 25, 1986: Receives a technical foul for shouting at the officials during a game against Illinois. He then kicks a megaphone and chews out the Indiana cheerleaders for disrupting a free-throw attempt by Steve Alford.

March 22, 1987: After being assessed a technical foul, Knight bangs his fist on the scorer's table during Indiana's NCAA tournament game against LSU. The university was fined $10,000 by the NCAA and Knight received a reprimand. Hoosiers go on to win the game 77-76 en route to their 1987 NCAA title.

Nov. 22, 1987: With 15:05 remaining and Indiana down 66-43, Knight refuses to let his team finish an exhibition game against the Soviet Union after he is ejected for arguing with referee Jim Burr. He apologizes and is later reprimanded by the university.

Feb. 1988: Knight fails to receive enough votes to be elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, and later terms the snub "a slap in the face."

April 25, 1988: During an NBC interview with Connie Chung on the subject of stress, Knight utters the now-infamous quote: "I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it." The remark triggers a protest march of about 300 people on the Indiana campus.

March 10, 1991: In a growing spat, Knight leaves the court without shaking hands with Illinois coach Lou Henson, who calls Knight a "classic bully" who thrives on intimidation.

May 1991: Knight asks not to be re-nominated but is elected to the Hall of Fame, joining Larry O'Brien, Tiny Archibald, Dave Cowens, Harry Gallatin, Larry Fleisher and FIBA's Boris Stankovic.

Dec. 3, 1991: Following a game against Notre Dame, Knight bans female AP sportswriter Beth Harris from the locker room, saying it was inappropriate for her to be there and also against university policy. All reporters were subsequently barred from the locker room.

May 25, 1992: During practice for the NCAA tournament, Knight draws national attention and protest from the local NAACP and other black leaders when he pretends to bullwhip black player Calbert Cheaney. Cheaney later says it was a joke and says the whip was a present from the players.

Dec. 7, 1993: Knight pulls son Pat, a junior guard, from a game and appears to kick him in the leg. Knight later claims to have kicked the chair, and not his son.

March 9, 1994: The coach accidentally head-butts freshman Sherron Wilkerson during a timeout at Michigan State.

March 12, 1994: After the Hoosiers' home finale against Wisconsin, Knight recites the following during Senior Day ceremonies: "When my time on Earth is gone, and my activities here are past, you can bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ----!"

March 17, 1995: The NCAA reprimands Knight and fines Indiana $30,000 for his outburst toward an NCAA tournament media liaison at a postgame news conference.

March 24, 1998: Knight receives three technical fouls in a home loss to Illinois on Feb. 24 and is ejected by referee Ted Valentine, whose officiating Knight later calls the "greatest travesty" he has seen in his 33 years as a college coach. The Big Ten gives Knight a choice between accepting a $10,000 fine or a one-game suspension, which would cause him to miss the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Feb. 13, 1999: Knight briefly feuds with Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill following their game, with Knight later explaining he was upset with a group of Northwestern fans chanting, "Who's your daddy?"

June 7, 1999: Knight is investigated for possible battery after allegedly choking restaurant patron Christopher Foster, who said he overheard Knight making racist remarks. Monroe County prosecutors later announce that no charges will be filed against Knight or Foster.

Oct. 12, 1999: Knight accidentally shoots friend Thomas Mikunda in the back and upper shoulder while hunting, causing wounds that were not life-threatening. Knight is later cited for failing to report an accident and hunting without a license

March 17 - May 14, 2000: The university investigates Knight after former player Neil Reed claims the coach choked him during a 1997 practice. A videotape appearing to support Reed's claim appears in April. Other reports that have followed: Knight attacked a former Indiana sports information director, attacked former assistant coach Ron Felling shortly before his 1999 termination and once threw a threw a vase near an athletic department secretary.

May 15, 2000: Indiana president Myles Brand suspends Knight for the first three games of the 2000-01 season, fines him $30,000 and announces a "zero tolerance" policy regarding any future incident by Knight deemed to be inappropriate.

Sept. 7, 2000: Knight confronts 19-year-old freshman Kent Harvey, allegedly grabbing his arm and lecturing him after the student addresses the coach only as "Knight."

Sept. 9, 2000: Indiana president Myles Brand announces that Knight will no longer serve as the school's basketball coach following a pattern of "unacceptable behavior" since the zero-tolerance decree was issued.

March 23, 2001: Texas Tech hires Knight to a five-year, $250,000 contract. There are no conduct or behavior provisions in the contract.

Dec. 22, 2003: Knight goes on a profanity-filled tirade during an interview with ESPN's Fran Fraschilla about his relationship with Steve Alford, who was also involved in the interview.

Feb. 2, 2004: Knight gets into a verbal confrontation with Texas Tech chancellor David Smith at a Lubbock grocery store.

In honor of Patterson returning I wanted to repost an old blog of mine about him

Crow — Fri, 08 May 2009 23:58:45 -0000

via i191.photobucket.com

If you test a man, boil him down until nothing is left except the thing that makes him take one more step when all others around him have fallen, then you are left with the reason why grown men love sport.

Absent war, sport is the single greatest instrument for revealing character in a man. Politics, love, intellectual pursuit…. All pale in comparison to sport for revealing the fabric of our will when condensed under pressure and layed bare before frothing masses. Some are granite while others crumble to nothingness and trickle away like the ball squirting behind a fragile and broken Bill Buckner.

In one instance the entire measure of a man's life becomes due. Like soldiers on a battlefield, it's not until the ultimate questions are asked do you know whether or not you have what it takes to go over that wall. All the training, all the preparation, all the hard work mean nothing when the final bill comes due and you are lacking.

In sport, as fans, we watch and wait. Sifting through countless hours of ho-hum viewing. Watching and waiting to see if one of those rare moments present themselves where one man will be asked the questions and we hold our breath collectively and await the answers. No movie, no play, no other form of entertainment can compare to those intoxicating moments.

Rarer still are those players that are born for such moments. Pete Rose, hatless, rounding third and heading for home under a full head of steam. Mohammed Ali pacing the canvas like a caged lion staring through an invincible George Foreman on a steamy night in Africa. Joe Montana with a minute and thirty-nine seconds left on the clock in the Super Bowl.

Patrick Patterson is such a player. Inside Patterson's cast iron heart winning and losing are not statistics, they are life and death. Patterson, as in all truly great athletes, takes defeat personally. Long after all hope of winning has vanished the great ones play on because the very thought of losing is hateful and an affront. Men like Patterson play because they must play. In some ancient primordial swamp when men clawed for their existence against great beasts of prey, Patrick Patterson still roams.

Loincloth, club, or basketball, he would still be the same man. Patterson is the perfect sum of a million years of evolution. A modern savage at war upon the sterile battlefield we call an arena.

Thousands of years ago we roared in approval as the strongest and most gifted among us went forward to slay great beasts in the night. Centuries later we still feel that connection. That admiration.

So the next time you stand at a game in a big moment, maybe it's okay to go ahead and let out your best roar. Scream savagely and perhaps you too can feel that ancient connection to why grown men love sport. We were born to.

I have see office blowups before, but this one tops all of them by quite a large margin. This dude...

Crow — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:37:36 -0000

Office Worker Goes Absolutely Insane - Watch more free videos

I have see office blowups before, but this one tops all of them by quite a large margin. This dude totally loses it.

Insane hike.

Crow — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:51:57 -0000

Insane hike.

Patrick Patterson

Crow — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:43:24 -0000

Absent war, sport is the single greatest instrument for revealing character in a man. Politics, love, intellectual pursuit…. All pale in comparison to sport for revealing the fabric of our will when condensed under pressure and layed bare before frothing masses. Some are granite while others crumble to nothingness and trickle away like the ball squirting behind a fragile and broken Bill Buckner.

In one instance the entire measure of a man's life becomes due. Like soldiers on a battlefield, it's not until the ultimate questions are asked do you know whether or not you have what it takes to go over that wall. All the training, all the preparation, all the hard work mean nothing when the final bill comes due and you are lacking.

In sport, as fans, we watch and wait. Sifting through countless hours of ho-hum viewing. Watching and waiting to see if one of those rare moments present themselves where one man will be asked the questions and we hold our breath collectively and await the answers. No movie, no play, no other form of entertainment can compare to those intoxicating moments.

Rarer still are those players that are born for such moments. Pete Rose, hatless, rounding third and heading for home under a full head of steam. Mohammed Ali pacing the canvas like a caged lion staring through an invincible George Foreman on a steamy night in Africa. Joe Montana with a minute and thirty-nine seconds left on the clock in the Super Bowl.

Patrick Patterson is such a player. Inside Patterson's cast iron heart winning and losing are not statistics, they are life and death. Patterson, as in all truly great athletes, takes defeat personally. Long after all hope of winning has vanished the great ones play on because the very thought of losing is hateful and an affront. Men like Patterson play because they must play. In some ancient primordial swamp when men clawed for their existence against great beasts of prey, Patrick Patterson still roams.

Loincloth, club, or basketball, he would still be the same man. Patterson is the perfect sum of a million years of evolution. A modern savage at war upon the sterile battlefield we call an arena.

Thousands of years ago we roared in approval as the strongest and most gifted among us went forward to slay great beasts in the night. Centuries later we still feel that connection. That admiration. So the next time you stand at a game in a big moment, maybe it's okay to go ahead and let out your best roar. Scream savagely and perhaps you too can feel that ancient connection to why grown men love sport. We were born to.