8:00 PMJeRome Wilkins, a former University of New Hampshire football player accused of sexually assaulting a woman outside a house, said in court Friday that he did have sex with the woman but that it was consensual.
7:30 PMRafael Nadal says he was given a surprise drug test Saturday a few days after a French TV show lampooned doping allegations against Spanish athletes.
Like you, I spent the holiday weekend reading the new book about ESPN called, “Those Guys Have All The Fun.”
On page 453, co-author Jim Miller has Bob Knight bless us with a reset of his infamous 2000 interview with now-current ESPN colleague Jeremy Schaap that followed the coach’s Indiana ouster:
“They gave me three people to choose from who would do that interview, and I picked Schaap because of his dad. I didn’t even know the kid. I had Digger tell Schaap that there was a question that I’d like for him to ask, and he refused to ask it. He told Digger, ‘I can’t do that. I can’t ask something that he wants asked.’
“I didn’t enjoy the interview at all. I thought the guy was a chickensh– little c—sucker.
“Forget that guy. I have no interest in talking about that.
“Jesus Christ, enough of this bullsh–.”
Ironic ESPN management, which catered to Knight in 2000 by allowing him to hand-pick his interviewer, scriptedquestions for ESPN radio hosts a month ago to ask ESPN book author Miller - who elicited Knight’s latest, profane outburst?
Terrelle Pryor’s escape from the burning building that is the Ohio State football program straight onto an ESPN set is firmly esconced in the long, illustrious history of unintentionally comedic ESPN programming decisions.
But while Pryor was deified by ESPN mere hours after the extra-beneficiary torched future OSU football fortunes, the same can’t be said for another notorious NCAA arsonist: former Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl. Read more…
This past Saturday at a speaking engagement in Indiana, Bob Knight said that the starters on Kentucky’s 2010 NCAA basketball tournament team “had not been to class that semester.”
Speaking to a group in Wabash, Indiana, Knight’s remarks were captured on video:
Knight’s exact quote was:
“Kentucky year before last started five players in the NCAA tournament that had not been to class that semester. That’s that one and none philosophy.”
University of Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart released a statement Monday night that reported Knight’s comment about the 2010 UK hoops team to be “blatantly erroneous.”
Tuesday ESPN college basketball analyst and former Duke basketball star Jay Williams appeared on KentuckySportsRadio.com to address Knight’s comments about Kentucky. After being read exactly what Knight said about the UK NCAA tournament team in question by show host Matt Jones, Williams said, in part:
He (Knight) does owe Kentucky an apology for that (statement) because those are accusations which are wrong.
Williams was later asked by Jones, “Do you believe ESPN as an entity, with Bobby Knight as an employee, should make a statement or address this in some way?” Read more…
Monday Brandon Fisher of WKYT-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, reported that last Saturday while speaking to a group in Wabash, Indiana, ESPN college basketball analyst Bob Knight said that the five starters on the Kentucky 2010 NCAA tournament team did not attend a single class that semester.
Knight:
“Kentucky year before last started five players in the NCAA tournament that had not been to class that semester. That’s that one and none philosophy.”
University of Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart released a statement Monday night that reported Knight’s comment about the 2010 UK hoops team to be “blatantly erroneous“:
“The University of Kentucky, our student-athletes and their families take great offense to the blatantly erroneous comments made by Bob Knight that ‘Kentucky, year before last, started five players in the NCAA Tournament games that had not been to class that semester,’ ”UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said. “Academic performance has always been a priority at UK and it’s unfortunate that, although every starter from the 2010 season finished the spring semester in good academic standing, these myths exist. Our men’s basketball team’s APR score reflects our attention to academic progress and our student-athletes take great pride in representing the University of Kentucky on and off the floor.”
Patrick Patterson, who played on the 2010 Kentucky team Knight referenced, responded to ESPN analyst’s false claim on Twitter:
Ha I’m not even gonna comment on such #bullsh– (excuse my French) think me graduating & teammates GPA’s speak for themselves.. don’t u?
Seth Davis of CBS recently noted the stunning hypocrisy of how Texas Tech Athletic Director Gerald Myers has treated his high profile coaches the past four years: “Ironic that the school that fired Mike Leach for alleged player abuse wouldn’t even reprimand Bob Knight for popping a player in the mouth.”
Davis is referencing a 2006 incident featuring Bob Knight “striking” (ESPN’s words, not mine) Texas Tech basketball player Michael Prince in the chin during a game against Gardner Webb.
Knight has since left the Tech job, replaced by his son Pat Knight.
I’d love to show you the video of the Knight-Prince incident, but the evidence has mysteriously been pulled off ESPN.com. Like Craig James, who helped hasten the termination of football coach Mike Leach at Texas Tech, Knight is now an employee of ESPN. Is it reasonable to think that ESPN might’ve deleted Knight “striking” a player in 2006 because of the Craig James-fueled incident?
Regardless, I contacted ESPN public relations earlier today about the Knight video being pulled and have gotten no response. There were also two videos of the the ESPN broadcasted Knight-Prince incident on Youtube recently, but those have since been pulled. One had been up for three years until recently. Coincidence?
On the bright side, at least Bob Knight is gone from Lubbock and Red Raiders fans can now count on a classy coach in Pat Knight.
That is, if you consider dropping three f-bombs at a media press conference in 20 seconds classy - as Knight did on Tuesday night after Texas Tech was blown out by New Mexico. Why do I have a feeling “Coach Knight” won’t be hearing from Myers about his public profanity?
Video is after the jump. Since it isn’t ESPN video, perhaps it won’t get subsequently deleted. (Not that I’m implying in any way that ESPN did that with the Bob Knight video.)
As we mentioned a couple months ago, Bob Knight will finally be enshrined into the Indiana University Hall of Fame in November. Though we’re sure hostilities linger on both sides of the fight after Knight’s acrimonious departure, this would be as good a time as any to bury the hatchet and act like adults for once.
(In many ways, this chair represents good will, which–aw jeez, he’s throwing it again.)
To that end, Indiana even went the extra step of sending Knight a check for $75,000 to cover his expenses of being the coach at Indiana, which resolved a legal battle that Knight and his lawyer had been fighting since his dismissal nine years ago. Problems solved and we’re all on the right track, right?
Um, no - Knight’s furiously sending the check back.
It’s no secret that Bob Knight’s departure from Indiana was less than amicable. Myles Brand, the current NCAA president but then the president of Indiana University, canned Knight in 2000 over his repeated episodes of outbursts and other “unacceptable behavior.” Knight eventually ended up at Texas Tech and hasn’t been back to Indiana since.
(These were the good old days, when a man could call an underperforming player a “****ing ****-****ed ****sucker **************” without having to look over his shoulder the entire time.)
Shame, really, seeing as how he delivered three titles to the Hoosier State and ran a pretty damned good program overall. Never so much as a sniff of scandal, graduated nearly every player who came into the program, and littered the NBA with dozens of drafted players. It’s a hell of a legacy, even if it ended badly.
Apparently, even Indiana’s coming around to that fact, as Knight’s going to be inducted into their Hall of Fame.
We’re also learning more about Rodrigues, like the fact that she’s a 23-year-old former stripper - in fact, they met at an “exotic” club in Brazil. (And I don’t want to know how “exotic” things can get in a Brazilian strip club - I just hope that jaguars aren’t involved.) And she had received a restraining order against him earlier this year that required him to stay 200 meters away from her and quit drinking.
Needless to say, while this is a tragedy, perhaps it’s not a shock. After all, Gatti’s sister is claiming that Rodrigues had planned to murder him and was only in it for the money. Meanwhile, Rodrigues’ lawyers are apparently going to claim that she is “too skinny” to have strangled Gatti to death. Which would make sense if they claim he was conscious when this happened, not passed out after a night of drinking (and possibly getting stabbed in the back of the head).
In less messy and horrific news, you may think the Home Run Derby is at best a pointless exhibition that tarnishes baseball by reducing it to its basest level (MASH BALL HARD) while ignoring the subtleties the make the game so enjoyable. You many even possibly consider it a major factor in the rise of the Steroid Era. Or, you might just enjoy seeing some of the game’s biggest names blast the living bejeezus out of the ball while drinking enough to ignore the infernal booth combo that is Chris Berman and Steve Phillips.
While last night’s edition at Busch Stadium didn’t have the transcendent moments of, say, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa hitting rubber baseballs with Flubber cores out of Fenway Park, or Josh Hamilton hitting 500 home runs in one round, it was entertaining enough. And while the hometown crowd might have been disappointed with their hero Albert Pujols bowing out in the semifinals, they seemed to enjoy the show that Prince Fielder put on in winning the event.
Maybe the newly vegetarian Fielder was following Pujols’ lead from when the Cardinals slugger blew out the “i” in the “Big Mac Land” sign in the Busch Stadium outfield deck earlier this season - with his goal to bring the whole sign down to punish McDonald’s for their carnivore ways. No matter what the reason, Fielder had enough in the tank to hold off Nelson Cruz (again, I said “some” of the game’s biggest names) in the finals after bombing an event-best 503-foot blast in the semis.
And then there was poor Brandon Inge, who had been so excited to be a part of the Home Run Derby that he said it was bigger than actually making his first All-Star team. I’m guessing he didn’t feel the same way after becoming the first batter since Jason Bay in 2005 to take a donut in the first round - or as my friends used to call it, “Posting a Piazza” (named after Mike Piazza, who went 0-for-his career with blanks in 1993 and 1994).
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers might be ready to make a move that could either turn them into playoff contenders or…OK, let’s be honest, it’s not possible to ruin the Clippers, so what harm could come from Allen Iverson joining the team? Marcus Camby played with A.I. in Denver, and he’s on board with the idea, with PRO BASKETBALL NEWS saying that he’s willing to help recruit Iverson to the team. Even Eric Gordon is OK with it, even if that means losing playing time in a backcourt with Iverson and Baron Davis.
The one person not too hip on Allen Iverson right now in Los Angeles seems to be Ron Artest, whose opinion doesn’t matter too much since he’s now playing for the Lakers. Plus, he’s totally nuts. But his Tweet that Iverson is “missing more shots than Muhammad Ali with a sniper rifle” is pretty damned good.
Still, Iverson could provide the veteran leadership and role model that Blake Griffin could use as he establishes himself in the NBA - and he might be a force, based on his NBA Summer League debut of 27 points and 12 rebounds versus the Lakers yesterday. Except for that whole “practice” thing.
Hey kids, want to spend money to get football lessons from Andre Rison? After all, he told the ALTOONA MIRROR that he’ll spend the second day showing you his highlights so he can “really let them know, in my eyes, I was the best to ever play the game.” And parents, if you think Andre Rison is a good role model, I’m coming to your house with Child Protective Services.
As usual, more chaos coming from the Oakland Raiders: PRO FOOTBALL TALK reports that they’ve cut sixth-round draft pick Stryker Sulakbefore even signing him to a contract, which a league source says he’s “never seen happen before.” Meanwhile, Raiders blog JUST BLOG BABY thinks that PFT is making a big deal out of nothing.
I didn’t mention the Celebrity Softball game that was part of the MLB All-Star festivities. I’ll just show you the final out, where Ashanti managed to make the type of play to end the game that makes coed softball a nightmare for most guys. She should consider herself lucky that Bob Knight didn’t piledrive her at first:
David Beckham swears that his spat with Landon Donovanis a thing of the past as Golden Balls returns to practice with the Los Angeles Galaxy. In related news, Landon Donovan was found dead in his Home Depot Center dressing room, with a six-inch stilleto heel in his eyeball as Victoria Beckham was seen leaving.
The Chicago Blackhawks want to thank GM Dale Tallon for putting together a team that got to the Western Conference finals this season - by giving him a severance check and making sure the door doesn’t hit his butt on the way out the door. Reports says that assistant GM Stan Bowman will replace him.
If anyone is interested in an 34-year-old quarterback who was never really that great in his prime, please call Brian Griese - he’s available after being cut by the Bucs.
Former MLBer Billy Koch has been arrested after a 2 a.m. altercation with his next-door neighbor. The ironic part? The neighbor had grabbed a baseball bat in an unsuccessful attempt to defend himself.
There have always been people who love Bob Knight and people who hate Bob Knight. He’s just one of those polarizing figures that doesn’t leave much room for indifference in opinion. He’s either a fantastic basketball coach who has helped mold hundreds of boys into men, or a lunatic that shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near somebody’s children.
Even so, I think it’s safe to say that ever since he’s left coaching and started working as an analyst on ESPN he’s become a lot more likable. When he’s not cussing out beat reporters, choking players, or throwing chairs he actually turns out to be a pretty funny guy who knows a hell of a lot about the game. It’s no surprise he’s won over 900 games in college basketball.
Which is probably why he was asked to cross the Atlantic and coach up a group of young basketball players in the Netherlands. Unfortunately for Knight, and fortunately for us, he never had a chance to train the Dutch media before answering a Q&A session. Then they had to go and ask him about that chair incident.
