Stuck in the Arizona Airport …

Posted: February 5th, 2008 | Filed under: Baseball | 23 Comments »

I’m in some sort of bar in the Arizona airport waiting for my delayed flight to leave because — you will love this — it was sleeting here today. In the desert. In Arizona. Sleeting. I don’t think this had any actual effect on runways or airplanes here — it wasn’t sleeting THAT much — I just think people here started freaking out. “What is this icelike substance falling from the sky? Is the world ending? Delay flights!”*

*I did, at least, see the second-coolest rainbow I’ve ever seen. The coolest was in Alaska a few years ago — but this one was cool too, bright, bold, you could count off Roy G. Biv, you could follow the whole thing. Not to say I’m the kind of guy who is chasing rainbows. I“m just saying that rainbows have nothing to hide. Or, well, so we’ve been told and some choose to believe it. I know they’re wrong. Wait and see. Someday we’ll find it. The Rainbow connection. The lovers, Belichick and me.

Anyway, I’m in this bar, and three guys are doing shots and being loud, and my waitress will not bring me the Diet Coke I ordered like 20 minutes ago, and I just looked up at the television set and, WOW, Bob Knight just resigned from Texas Tech.

I’m fascinated by Bob Knight. But that’s not unusual — America is fascinated by Bob Knight. I don’t know if ”Season on the Brink“ is still the best-selling sports book of all time but it was for a long time (I do know that it sold more than THIS BOOK — what’s wrong with you people?). Yes, people can’t get enough Knight, and it isn’t just THIS (and if you are one of the seven people who hasn’t seen this, please do not watch it until at least 45 minutes after eating so you don’t lose your lunch), and it isn’t just THIS (I find this little moment very amusing, but I’m surprised that it ended up defining a career) and it isn’t just all the funny, insane stuff he says either.

No, Knight has that genius/flawed guy dichotomy that just intrigues us. Woody Hayes had it. The guy from a ”A Beautiful Mind“ had it. Bill Clinton probably has it. To a much greater degree, Bobby Fischer had it, and we kept searching for him even though you have to believe he would definitely have been a finalist on ”American Idol: Scumbag Division.“ I liked the movie ”Searching for Bobby Fischer,“ I really did, but I hated this line: ”I think he’s (Fischer) lying low, getting stronger, waiting for just the right moment to come back and reclaim his crown.“ Yeah, either that or he’s growing a Unabomber beard, sleeping in gutters, cursing Jews and talking about how he hopes America gets destroyed. One or or the other.*

*OK, the drunk guys in the bar are now screaming, ”RAIDERS! RAIDERS!“ And one guy keeps talking about banging some other guy’s Mom. When you think your day won’t get worse …

Anyway, Knight has that dichotomy — he’s obviously an amazing basketball coach. Even now. I remember a couple of years ago, Texas Tech was playing Kansas, and it was obvious that Knight was engaged. Toward the end, he was rarely engaged. But on this night, he was into it, he was coaching, he was stomping, he was on the referees, he was on the players. And it was like taking a time machine back to Bloomington circa 1980. His team was screening, moving, screening more, moving more, playing insane and intense defense, mesmerizing stuff. I don’t think there has ever been a better basketball coach.

And, obviously, he’s got a little temper thing … you know. I probably don’t need to go into that.

My problem with Bob Knight — and it’s a similar problem I have with Barry Bonds — is that every single time I’ve talked to him, Knight has been GREAT. Sure, I’ve SEEN him go bonkers on people. I have good friends who have been slimed by him. I know lots of stories about him, and he doesn’t come out looking like Sir Gallahad in many of them.

But all of that stuff happened to other people. It’s just like Bonds — I know he’s an insufferable jerk to lots of people. But the few times I’ve gone up to him to talk, I got the charming Barry every time. And the same is true of Knight. The first time I talked to him was something like 15 or 20 years ago, when I was doing a story on Damon Bailey. The kid was obnoxious (though — to be fair to him — I’m sure I was like the 3,493,437th person to do the, ‘Hey, Damon Bailey is an Indiana legend!” story). But Knight was terrific. Pulled me aside. Sat me down. Talked to me for 20 minutes. I was in my young 20s then, totally intimidated, undoubtedly asking stupid questions. But he guided me through it, and gave me great stuff. I was grateful beyond words.

After that, there were some press conference questions — he was always good — and a couple of in-person things in small groups. He was good there too. I had a one-on-one interview with him about whether or not coaching has changed. He was great. I called him about something once. He was great. This past offseason, he came to Kansas City and asked if there were any baseball questions. I had a few. He was great again.

Now, I fully understand that this is a very small sample size — but really, what am I supposed to do here? I like the guy. I can’t help it. I think he’s one of the last big-time, fill-up-a-room, stars we have left in sports. My friend Bernie (and I hope you have read his explanation of the Football Hall of Fame voting in the comments — I don’t necessarily agree, but I think he lays out a good case) once said of Knight: “He’s like Sinatra,” And that’s it. The guy is an old school, bigger-than-life, angry, grumpy, funny, coarse, talented and slightly crazy genius. And now matter how you feel about him, you would probably agree: The games won’t be the same without him.

23 Comments on “Stuck in the Arizona Airport …”

  1. 1: wcw said at 2:27 am on February 5th, 2008:

    Amen.

  2. 2: tex said at 2:37 am on February 5th, 2008:

    As Jimmy Van Heusen said about Sinatra, “The first thing that you have to understand is that the dago’s crazy. Once you realize that, everything else falls into place.”

  3. 3: MonkeyHawk said at 3:45 am on February 5th, 2008:

    I suspect, Joe, you asked pretty good questions, even as a pup.

    Knight’s worst moments with the press tended to come when the TV bunnies asked a series of stupid stuff; sometimes apparently on purpose just to get the Coach to erupt.

  4. 4: MonkeyHawk said at 3:49 am on February 5th, 2008:

    Oh, btw –

    Condering “… the drunk guys in the bar are now screaming, ”RAIDERS! RAIDERS!“ And one guy keeps talking about banging some other guy’s Mom. When you think your day won’t get worse …, I suspect they were from the Raiders front office. And Michael Vick has job security once he gets out of stir.

  5. 5: Tom said at 5:23 am on February 5th, 2008:

    My main problem with Knight is that his boorish behavior was not only tolerated but glorified by some people. He was a good basketball coach but he is a total jerk and people have let him get away with it throughout his life. It’s just too bad. Maybe if someone would have called it on him early in his life he could’ve turned out decent — or be living in a cabin somewhere.

  6. 6: Pat said at 8:34 am on February 5th, 2008:

    I totally agree w/ your assessment of Bob Knight. He, like Barry Bonds, is a polarizing figure. Many who have an encounter w/ either guy (I had mine w/ Barry) find the guy transcendent. These are the greatest of all time. Bob Knight, numbers aside, is arguably the most talked about coach of all time. His numbers are usually not why. His highlights are awesome (or horrific how you see it)….not to mention he’s the best college basketball coach ever by the numbers. But there is an asshole quality to all of the best in any profession it seems like. Clinton (i hated Clinton but he did a great job), Bill Gates, Brady, Jordan, Bonds, and….Knight. No one should forget Bellichick in this conversation either. He’s not exactly a good Samaritan. He’s Knight w/o the ability to even say anything, let alone anything really emotional, to the press. Great post Joe. I’m a KC native and a new blog reader. Hope you keep it up.

    Thanks

  7. 7: Drew said at 2:11 pm on February 5th, 2008:

    Knight is (was–is ‘coach’ a title like ‘general,’ ’senator’ or ‘president’ that one keeps for life?) a great coach who sees every aspect of the game on the court–in an age where off the court issues matter more. It was his inability to convince top notch talent to play in a team frame-work that eventually cost him his national prominence (along with the aforementioned temper), and this might have changed had he stayed at IU, but it was not guaranteed.

    [Side note: Despite his temper, which gets all of the attention, Indiana NEVER committed NCAA violations during his tenure there. He was undoubtedly a clean coach--it was part and parcel of his no-nonsense, gruff and my-way-or-the-highway coaching style. I don't think this gets enough play. (Maybe most schools need to skirt the edge of ethical recruitment to sign top talent these days...perhaps yet another way the game changed on Knight.)]

    It will be odd, when tournament time comes around, to not wonder “Hey, Texas Tech is playing #2 seed UCLA in the 2nd round…I wonder if Knight can pull it off…” Even when he was at Texas Tech, he was relevant (though as the underdog).

    An era has ended…The General has left the building…

  8. 8: joseflanders said at 3:25 pm on February 5th, 2008:

    I was one of the seven people to not have seen that golf clip.

    Holy shit.

  9. 9: JRM said at 6:21 pm on February 5th, 2008:

    One of the top three b-ball coaches of all time……one of the top three assholes of all time. I’m sorry to see him go. The entertainment value is second to none.

  10. 10: Martini Agonistes said at 6:31 pm on February 5th, 2008:

    Bob Knight is what he is. My experience with guys who rely on intimidation is that they’re sitting on some massive insecurities, but Knight has been more than successful, so more power to him if that’s how the world makes sense to him.

    I’ll disagree with Pat, though, about there being an asshole quality to all of the best in any profession. Looking only at the world of sports, you can find plenty of examples to the contrary.
    Guys like John Wooden and Hank Aaron spring to mind.

    I think the assholes just stick in our minds for some reason. I guess they’re more memorable than the nice guys. That, or all people, whatever their profession, have good and bad days, react better or worse and give more or less favorable impressions depending on any number of other factors in their lives, but for athletes, especially elite ones, the cameras and notebooks and recorders are omnipresent. Good behavior is part of the background, lapses get reported. You get more than a few and then people are looking for it, waiting for it, even looking forward to it.

    I’m not forgiving Knight or Bonds, both of whom seem to be much more abrasive and confrontational to fellow human beings than is necessary, but in the end, they’re working in a fishbowl where a lot of us wouldn’t come out smelling like roses either.

  11. 11: Chris C. said at 6:42 pm on February 5th, 2008:

    Bob Knight always reminds me of Dennis Hopper, they even sound similar. In many movies, they even act similar…

  12. 12: Tim S. said at 7:56 pm on February 5th, 2008:

    I love “Searching For Bobby Fischer” and that line’s always sort of bothered me, too. I think ultimately it’s not about Bobby Fischer–as the movie is not, either–it’s about Josh and what he needs to believe. Fischer left the world of chess, in Josh’s view, because he was beaten down by the establishment, not because he was a lunatic. And that line really fits with the whole theme of Josh being “the next Fischer” (which, by the way, if you track him down now, he’s doing some kind of crazy martial art and writing books: http://www.joshwaitzkin.com/): laying low and getting stronger, learning to use his gift and work within the system.

    I dunno, maybe it’s just a stupid hokey line. The film isn’t perfect, but I like it a lot.

  13. 13: Larry said at 10:07 pm on February 5th, 2008:

    I was in Puerto Rico, staying, coincidently, in the same hotel, when Knight threw the chair. It was humiliation by national, or cultural, association. The Ugly American personified. After that, I found every instance of Knight’s success an injustice perpetrated by the gods, and resented them all. Great coach, miserable excuse for public focus. Say, what other hugely successful coach fits that description.

    And, hey, if you haven’t at least read ‘the Buck book,’ what the hell _is_ the matter with you. This is ne of the most wonderful books, sports or not, that will be written in your lifetime. READ IT!

  14. 14: Kevin said at 10:27 pm on February 5th, 2008:

    From a pure coaching standpoint, I’m glad he’s hanging it up. Watching him sit still and disinterested on the Texas Tech benched with that frown on his face was beginning to tarnish his legacy as a basketball coach. He got up about once a half to either coach his team or ride the officials. After the first two years the Tech experience proved and provided little.

  15. 15: Tim said at 12:24 am on February 6th, 2008:

    I’m ****** tired of losing to Purdue!!

  16. 16: Ryan said at 12:34 am on February 6th, 2008:

    That golf video was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. I’ve got tears in my eyes.

    “An appetite is a f$*%^$@ great thing to have.”

  17. 17: David said at 2:15 am on February 6th, 2008:

    Hey Pat, I don’t think even the biggest Patriot-hater in the world is putting Tom Brady in the category with Clinton, Gates, Jordan–and more importantly Knight and Bonds.

    People may be jealous of his success and who he dates, but like Peyton Manning, he appears to be a class act. In discussing Bonds, Knight, Roger Clemens and Mike Tyson to name a few more, we are talking about the most polarizing sports figures of the last 30-40 years.

  18. 18: Old Man Duggan said at 6:49 am on February 6th, 2008:

    I am one who is prone to really hating those polarizing figures in sports. I loathe Karl Malone, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, John Elway (that horse-toothed primadonna…), etc., but I actually like Bobby Knight. His press conferences were always great, and when he would blow up, it always seemed to be because he was asked a ridiculous question (in the hopes of baiting him into a freak out). I thought he was a great coach and wished he was Iowa’s coach.

  19. 19: Zach said at 7:28 am on February 6th, 2008:

    _Searching for Bobby Fischer_ was written in the early ’80s (the book has an extended sequence in Soviet Russia watching the Karpov-Kasparov world championship — a fine book, by the way). Karpov won the title by default when Fischer wouldn’t defend it, and the matches against Kasparov featured something like 40 straight draws. The line makes a lot more sense in that context.

    Speaking of Kasparov, isn’t it interesting how close he is to the Bobby Fischer story gone right? Great attacking style, beat the embodiment of the Soviet system in Karpov, plus he has an afterlife as a surprisingly courageous anti-Putin politician.

  20. 20: Byron said at 2:41 pm on February 6th, 2008:

    Duggan, just out of curiosity what do you have against Karl Malone?

    He always seemed like a stand up guy to me.

  21. 21: Jon said at 5:39 pm on February 6th, 2008:

    Pitcher: So I have a movie idea?
    Producer: What is it?
    Pitcher: Sports movie, sort of, also a dramatic comedy based on real life, sort of.
    Producer: Who’s in it?
    Pitcher: Joe Posnanski and…
    Producer: Who is that?
    Pitcher: Excellent sports writer who works out of Kansas City, writes an excellent blog, wrote a book about Buck O’Neill?
    Producer: Never heard of him…who else?
    Pitcher: Dan Marino. They meet in a bar in Arizona while waiting for their flights after the Superbowl. Joe doesn’t like Dan because of one time Dan was a jerk to him. (excellent flashback scenes) Either way, they are being annoyed by rowdy drunk guys at the airport bar and both see that Bobby Knight is retiring. They somehow start discussing how Bobby is great and how the game won’t be the same without him. They realize they have to leave because the drunk guys are getting too rowdy and have to put their differences aside as they embark on a road trip to find Bobby Knight and try to get him to stay as a coach.
    Producer: How does it end?
    Pitcher: He chokes them both out and throws a chair at them causing them to realize that even though they’ve failed, they have become friends on this trip.
    Producer: What do you call it?
    Pitcher: Searching for Bobby Knight…it’s kind of like Thelma and Louise meets Ace Ventura meets Blue Chips meets something you’ve never seen before.
    Producer: I love it. Do you think we can get John Daly to play Joe Posnanski?

    Haha…reading this post somehow this idea came to my mind.

  22. 22: Jim Haas said at 6:59 pm on February 6th, 2008:

    What do coaches do after retirement? They become commentators. Can you imagine the director who is told that Bob Knight will be joining the half-time panel!

    Or maybe he and Dick Cheney can co-host an outdoors show.

  23. 23: emanosteele said at 10:47 pm on February 6th, 2008:

    I loved Bobby Knight growing up. I forwarded an article about his retirement to my father since both he and I shared some of Coach Knight’s magical moments together. Here was my father’s response:

    You had to live during that time to understand it. He was the best. Any negative comments from people under 40 don’t count.

    Dad

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