RIP Bobby Knight | Page 5 | Syracusefan.com

RIP Bobby Knight

You joke (and it is a good joke by the way), but fanbases and this board specifically look at their own teams shortcomings differently than their opponents/rivals.

For instance, this message board reveres Eric Devendorf, who hit a woman while he was at Syracuse. Do you think this fanbase would be as equally forgiving if Scottie Reynolds, Levance Fields, or Kemba Walker hit a woman in college?

You and I both know the answer to that.
Very true.
 
Much to my surprise, I really like his announcing as well. Felt like I was learning something. “The shot fake!” He was big on that.

Yes, he and Hubie Brown were great teachers as announcers.

Al McGuire and Jeff Van Gundy had their shticks, but both were also very knowledgeable observers of the game.
 
Bobby Knight was a great coach and I enjoyed some of the games I heard him call when he was at ESPN. I never really had as a big of a problem with him as most and I know that is probably an unpopular opinion.

Times were different 40 or 50 years ago.
It's hard to believe that much time has passed, but it has.
Bob Knight was from the "Mad Men" generation.
Society has changed two or three times since his hey day.
 
The biggest example with the SU fanbase is when some of our fans play dumb or minimize Jim Brown's domestic violence history.
Jim Brown was one of the most prominent and important civil rights figures. Not sure why an SU fan would bring up his personal issues. Not directing this at you but plenty of people love to discredit Dr King or Malcolm X for their own short comings its sort of the same thing to me when I hear folks go after Jim Brown.
 
I don't like Bobby Knight at all complete a hole and probably deserved criminal charges for some of the antics he pulled. Trash university and trash fanbase I hate IU.
 
Jim Brown was one of the most prominent and important civil rights figures. Not sure why an SU fan would bring up his personal issues. Not directing this at you but plenty of people love to discredit Dr King or Malcolm X for their own short comings its sort of the same thing to me when I hear folks go after Jim Brown.
I never make exceptions for violence against women.
 
Jim Brown was one of the most prominent and important civil rights figures. Not sure why an SU fan would bring up his personal issues. Not directing this at you but plenty of people love to discredit Dr King or Malcolm X for their own short comings its sort of the same thing to me when I hear folks go after Jim Brown.

And he did a lot to help rehabilitate young men in prison. He was a tough man from another era, a kind of Charlton Heston, Sean Connery, Marlon Brando kind of guy. Society has changed so much since then.

But then, when you think about it, so much of what we did in the 60s, 70s or 80s - song lyrics, movies, books, so many things - would never ever fly today.
 
In a lot of ways Knight defined Indiana basketball, and they've never been anywhere close to the program they were with him at the helm since he was fired. Lots of changes happened around the same time - Malice at the Palace, Payton Manning going to the Colts, and changes to the state basketball tournament all helped make Indiana more of a football state and less of a basketball state (relative to where they were four decades ago) which makes it a harder job than it was when Knight was there.

But there's lots of changes going on now in college basketball nationally...I'm hoping we don't end up like Indiana fans, looking back on a golden era of hoops at the school which we have little likelihood of recapturing.
There’s no reason Indiana can’t be really good again. I think Woodson has already ramped up the program and will have them winning again. If Purdue can be a consistent winner and a tiny little program like Gonzaga can become a power, Indiana should certainly be able to be back to winning regularly in the Big 10.
 
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There’s no reason Indiana can’t be really good again. I think Woodson already has them ramping up again. If Purdue can be a consistent winner and a tiny little program like Gonzaga can become a power, Indiana should certainly be able to be back to winning regularly in the Big 10.
Was wondering what happened last year that Dane Fife, a former IU star who had ridden up the coaching ranks and turned down HC jobs to be Woodson’s asst at IU was let go in his first year there. There were rumors that Woodson thought he was after his job.
 
I had always given him a pass as a super-talented basketball mind with anger management issues.

Then I watched the 30 for 30 and realized he shouldn't get a pass at all...

He was definitely a great coach for a time, but by the time the mid-80's rolled around he had morphed into a tier 1 narcissist dee-bag who knew a lot about basketball... and that transformation had a lot to do with the Indiana brass and fan community wholeheartedly allowing it.
Syracuse would have and should have 2 national titles if we hadn’t lost to this chair-throwing, player-strangling lunatic in 1987. I did enjoy some his ESPN color commentary, especially during those magical 2010 and 2012 Syracuse seasons when he did a bunch of our games. But the guy just couldn’t ever help himself from being a jerk and an abuser.
 
Syracuse would have and should have 2 national titles if we hadn’t lost to this chair-throwing, player-strangling lunatic. I did enjoy some his ESPN color commentary, especially during those magical 2010 and 2012 Syracuse seasons when he did a bunch of our games. But the guy just couldn’t ever help himself from being a jerk and an abuser.

2 words...

Keith Smart.

... who evidently did not like Bobby either... But still played to win terrified.
 
Jim Brown was one of the most prominent and important civil rights figures. Not sure why an SU fan would bring up his personal issues.
In fairness, those five words represent how incredibly toxic sports fandom can be. "Not sure why an SU fan." You should hold own your favorite athletes to the same exact standard as the athletes of your rivals. That kind of thinking is how situations like at Penn State transpire.
 

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