RIP...

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Never liked Knight as a person, but had to respect the accomplishments without question. All of those teams and he really only had one NBA superstar among them. I still find it sad that graduating athletes is perceived as a major accomplishment when it should be part of the job. It doesn't happen at a high enough rate to the point that we celebrate the programs who do it. At least in football and men's basketball.

His accomplishments balanced his faults, and he ultimately had a lot of both. Great coach, not a very good human being who had unchecked power for a very long time. He was authentic, I'll say that. Wasn't fake or put on a show. A couple of his proteges excelled at being two faced.

He pegged Michael Jordan very early. One of a handful who knew there was something there, although I don't know if anyone could have really projected how globally huge MJ would become, but Coach Knight absolutely knew from the start there was a superstar there.

 

[ab2cmiller]

LMAO

 

[Irish#1]

Legendary coach Bob Knight dies at 83

The winning, however, was never the point, and it only tells part of the complicated story which ended with Knight’s death Wednesday at the

theathletic.com

This article does a great job of painting the full picture of Bobby Knight's life. Really well written.

It sure does. I can remember when he arrived at IU. No one was sure what IU was getting in a BB coach. His brilliance was unmatched. His reverence for the old coaches served him well.

 

[BobbyMac]

A couple of thoughts on Coach Knight.

1. He personally mad a huge difference in my life. He didn't recruit me but he called some of his assistants... Bob Weltlich - Texas, Gerald Myers - Texas Tech, Bob Donewald - Illinois State, Dave Bliss - SMU and Darrell Hedric of Miami and told them they should and they did.

2. Bob Knight made successful men out of kids in his program. One thing that sticks out to me is the success his MANAGERS have had in basketball. Joe Pasternack at UC Santa Barbara might be the hottest mid major coach in the country. Dusty May too FIU to the Final Four last year, Lawrence Frank has been an NBA HC and is PBO of the Clippers, Ryan Carr is a VP for the Pacers, Scott Dolson is the IU AD and a former teammate of mine in High School. And I know I'm forgetting someone...

That's freaky.

 

[Sea Turtle]

His coaching from 75-87 was unparalleled. Coached circles around everyone else.

 

[Bishop2b5]

Former NASA astronaut Ken Mattingly has died at the age of 87. He was the command module pilot of Apollo 16, and commander of two shuttle flights in the '80s, but was probably best known for his involvement with the ill-fated Apollo 13 flight. He was scheduled to be on it, but was removed from the crew at the last minute due to having been exposed to measles. He didn't get sick, and when the flight was nearly lost due to an oxygen tank explosion, Mattingly spent almost every waking moment in a mockup of the capsule figuring out how to power everything back up with a very limited supply of power and was a critical part of getting the crew home safely. In the movie Apollo 13, he was portrayed by Gary Sinise.

 

[Irish2155]

His coaching from 75-87 was unparalleled. Coached circles around everyone else.

Yup. And…

…lost in the Final Four to UCLA in ‘73.

‘74 had a winner take all B10 vs Michigan that he lost.

He took some lumps before he broke through.

And let’s not forget the Allen Henderson-less team in ‘93.

 

[NDohio]

Yup. And…

…lost in the Final Four to UCLA in ‘73.

‘74 had a winner take all B10 vs Michigan that he lost.

He took some lumps before he broke through.

And let’s not forget the Allen Henderson-less team in ‘93.

If he doesn't get, hurt this team had a real shot at another national championship for Coach Knight.

 

[Irish#1]

Yup. And…

…lost in the Final Four to UCLA in ‘73.

‘74 had a winner take all B10 vs Michigan that he lost.

He took some lumps before he broke through.

And let’s not forget the Allen Henderson-less team in ‘93.

The '73 semi-final between UCLA and IU was basically the defacto NCG. That '73 team got screwed by the refs. Downing had pretty much played Walton to a tie and it was a tight game when Downing got his controversial fifth foul. UCLA rolled Memphis in the CG. Back then, dunking was illegal.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I remember ND beating them in South Bend in 1988 and being overjoyed seeing a guy like Digger Phelps beat Bobby Knight.

 

[Irish#1]

I remember ND beating them in South Bend in 1988 and being overjoyed seeing a guy like Digger Phelps beat Bobby Knight.

When Digger and Knight were coaching, ND & IU played pretty much every year. I still remember watching ND beat UCLA in '74 to end UCLA's 88 game win streak.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

When Digger and Knight were coaching, ND & IU played pretty much every year. I still remember watching ND beat UCLA in '74 to end UCLA's 88 game win streak.

Indiana won most of those games. It always drove me nuts as a little kid but that was before I really understood who Bobby Knight was. My grandfather and father were Notre Dame fans, not huge on basketball, but they always wanted to beat IU when beating IU was probably it's most difficult. LOL. Made it frustrating.

Growing up I saw guys like Digger Phelps, Lou Henson, Ray Meyer....how they acted toward their players, the media, other human beings in general. Then I looked at Bobby Knight and couldn't understand why he acted the way he did. His teams were so good but he was always angry. You grow up, things make a little more sense, but even now I can't help but wonder what ate at that man that made him be the way he was.

The sad thing is that Knight did a lot of good things behind the scenes in terms of helping people and charitable work. Nobody knew. Most of what the public got was the miserable ogre bully that threw chairs and screamed at people.

 

[Irish#1]

Digger's '73/'74 team was loaded and beat IU at Assembly Hall. '73/'74 was a great year. Ara won the NC and the basketball team went 26-3. Won a lot of bets that year.

 

[NDBoiler]

Indiana won most of those games. It always drove me nuts as a little kid but that was before I really understood who Bobby Knight was. My grandfather and father were Notre Dame fans, not huge on basketball, but they always wanted to beat IU when beating IU was probably it's most difficult. LOL. Made it frustrating.

Growing up I saw guys like Digger Phelps, Lou Henson, Ray Meyer....how they acted toward their players, the media, other human beings in general. Then I looked at Bobby Knight and couldn't understand why he acted the way he did. His teams were so good but he was always angry. You grow up, things make a little more sense, but even now I can't help but wonder what ate at that man that made him be the way he was.

The sad thing is that Knight did a lot of good things behind the scenes in terms of helping people and charitable work. Nobody knew. Most of what the public got was the miserable ogre bully that threw chairs and screamed at people.

I think that all the different reactions I am seeing to Bobby Knight’s death are very interesting. On one hand you have the great coaching accomplishments, and on the other you have the asshole personality moments. You can even see where some high profile people are choosing their words very carefully by emphasizing his coaching accomplishments, while avoiding any references to him personally. I think that he was a great leader on the court, but not a very good person at times. That makes it difficult to genuinely honor someone after their death. I also think there is an important learning moment from his life. That is, in order to be a truly great leader, you don’t have to also be a jerk. You really aren’t a leader if you have to scream in someone’s face or throw a temper tantrum to communicate. That’s actually more of a reflection on you and your inability to not act based on emotion. Look at MF for example, who clearly displays what a true leader is and how a leader should act. Sometimes as a society we tend to elevate success in a career over doing things the “right” way. But the bottom line is, they are not mutually exclusive. You can do both, and if you look at Bobby Knight’s legacy, I think it’s fair to point that out. In the end, you will reap what you sow.

 

[NDdomer2]

I think that all the different reactions I am seeing to Bobby Knight’s death are very interesting. On one hand you have the great coaching accomplishments, and on the other you have the asshole personality moments. You can even see where some high profile people are choosing their words very carefully by emphasizing his coaching accomplishments, while avoiding any references to him personally. I think that he was a great leader on the court, but not a very good person at times. That makes it difficult to genuinely honor someone after their death. I also think there is an important learning moment from his life. That is, in order to be a truly great leader, you don’t have to also be a jerk. You really aren’t a leader if you have to scream in someone’s face or throw a temper tantrum to communicate. That’s actually more of a reflection on you and your inability to not act based on emotion. Look at MF for example, who clearly displays what a true leader is and how a leader should act. Sometimes as a society we tend to elevate success in a career over doing things the “right” way. But the bottom line is, they are not mutually exclusive. You can do both, and if you look at Bobby Knight’s legacy, I think it’s fair to point that out. In the end, you will reap what you sow.

i think there are also a lot of people that are afraid to publicly say they like him as a person due to certain unecessary backlash. Can't have your own personal opinions these days.

Truth is there are alot of great coaches throughout history that were assholes. Some even with current jobs at the top of their profession.

No one is perfect and there are lots of ways to skin a cat as they say.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

i think there are also a lot of people that are afraid to publicly say they like him as a person due to certain unecessary backlash. Can't have your own personal opinions these days.

You can, but if you say something ridiculously stupid, you'd better be prepared to own it. I think a bigger problem these days is that admitting you're wrong about anything is perceived as "a sign of weakness." We're all human, no one is perfect, but when you spew dumb crap into the atmosphere there could be consequences. Bobby Knight, since we're on the subject, said whatever because he could without anyone telling him "no" because he won games in sports.

Imagine if someone came out and said the world is a better place now that Bobby Knight no longer in it. There'd be some backlash from the "respect the dead" crowd alone, let alone all of the people who revered him for being a winning basketball coach. So far Jay Bilas, Dan Patrick, Dick Vitale and others have glowed on about their relationships with Bobby Knight. There's not much to see otherwise.

The focus has been on his accomplishments in basketball more than anything. The worst being said about him is that he was "turbulent" or "controversial". He won things and had "outbursts." People are saying good things for the most part, lukewarm at worst. He was a jerk and a bully that had success in sports. If he was your junior high math teacher or the guy down the street there wouldn't be anything "complicated" about him. He'd just be an asshole. Since he won things in sports, the character flaws get sugar coated and excuses are made for toxic behavior.

Regular people like you and I don't have the luxury of having been success in sports to cover up our flaws. Yeah, no one is perfect, but not everyone cast a shadow of intimidation over people and went through periods of life having unchecked authority because they won basketball games either. We all get to make choices about how we behave when no one is watching and how we treat others when other people actually are watching.

 

[Irish#1]

Knight was a better person than most want to give credit for IMO. His tantrums were typically related to basketball and not his personal life and because he coached at a blue blood he got a lot more attention when he did those. It was rare to read about all of his charitable work or his acts of kindness, but he treated the "regular people" with respect. Like Bobby's example. No one ever read that Knight took the time to contact other coaches and have them take a look at BobbyMac. I doubt Kelvin Sampson would do that.

 

[stpeteirish]

Digger's '73/'74 team was loaded and beat IU at Assembly Hall. '73/'74 was a great year. Ara won the NC and the basketball team went 26-3. Won a lot of bets that year.

Those were the days. We old farts got spoiled. People under 50 probably don’t realize how good ND basketball was in the 1970’s.

 

[NDWarrior]

 

[ab2cmiller]

 

[Irish#1]

Berkshire Hathaway was hacked a couple of weeks ago and just announced it today. Many of their systems are still down.

 

[ab2cmiller]

 

[dublinirish]

 

[Irish#1]

We could use Kissinger in his prime right now. The best SoS in my lifetime. Very large ego, but he made things happen.

In the 1970s, he had a hand in many of the epoch-changing global events of the decade while serving as secretary of state under Republican President Richard Nixon. The German-born Jewish refugee’s efforts led to the diplomatic opening of China, landmark U.S.-Soviet arms control talks, expanded ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and the Paris Peace Accords with North Vietnam.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I'd have rather Shane lived to be 100.

 

[Bluto]

We could use Kissinger in his prime right now. The best SoS in my lifetime. Very large ego, but he made things happen.

Kissinger was a piece of shit. What he facilitated in Chile should have landed him in The Hague.

 

[Bluto]

Adios Shane. Lot of good times had with his music as the soundtrack.

 

[FDNYIrish1]

 

[Tejas]

Bummer. I was able to see Shane MacGowan at the Dallas House of Blues about 15 years ago. It was pretty fun if I remember correctly.

 

[ozzman]

Sandra Day O’Connor, First Woman on the Supreme Court, Is Dead at 93

During a crucial period in American law — when abortion, affirmative action, sex discrimination and voting rights were on the docket — she was the most powerful woman in the country.

www.nytimes.com