As an Indiana University freshman in 1980-1981, I was treated to an uneven season of basketball from what will always be my favorite team. The beginning of the season was difficult to watch – the end was glorious. The worst was a 66-60 loss to Texas-Rio Grande Valley, and the best was the national championship game against […]
Indiana Basketball fans are probably as tired of being painted as dopes as they are of the way their favorite team fails to compete. Twitter can be an echo chamber of idiocy, reducing people and groups to their lowest common denominator. Stereotypes are embraced and proffered as absolute truths. This has happened to IU alums […]
So, I wrote yesterday about how I am no longer invested in former Indiana coach Bob Knight returning to Assembly Hall, and how being jerked around by Knight has grown tiresome. The phone started ringing as soon as I published the post. On the other end of the phone for the rest of the morning […]
Rumors are circulating again that Bob Knight will be back at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. This time, I don’t care. Indiana fans have been down this road before. Knight’s steadfast refusals to come back to the building where he coached for 29 years softened a little over the last 12 months, so people got excited about […]
Indiana Basketball getting back to where fans crave it to be is not about Bob Knight. It’s about the values that are established by successful basketball programs – many of which were embraced by Knight as he led the Hoosiers to 11 Big 10 titles and three national championships. Being successful is not dependent upon […]
Today, it’s Indiana’s turn in the crosshairs of the “Chasing Ghosts” series at ESPN.com, and the regurgitation of the last 19 years since Bob Knight was fired is not pretty. Mike Davis, Kelvin Sampson, Dan Dakich, Tom Crean, and Archie Miller are discussed as unworthy successors to Knight’s throne as the King of Bloomington, and […]
Indiana’s Basketball team has lost seven straight games, and people are wondering why a promising season has spun wildly out of control. Injuries, scheduling, effort, coaching, and toughness are among the many guesses being proffered by fans and media. All are correct to one extent or another, but Indiana Basketball has been a consistently mediocre […]
Last night, I watched “The Last Days of Knight” – an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about the CNN/SI work that led to his firing at IU – and I felt dirty. As with any basketball fan who studied at Indiana University in Bloomington during the Knight era, I’ve given a lot of thought to […]
My Dad was a guy who liked to say outrageous things, and then when people became upset he never understood, “Why are they worried what I have to say?” I would think, “Words have power.” I wouldn’t say it because you didn’t poke the bear. Amusing himself and the people who shared his unique wavelength […]