What was ESPN thinking?

Oh, good-goody, Bobby Knight returns as an ESPN basketball analyst today.

Don't worry, the sarcasm isn't a prelude to declaring Knight doesn't say anything worthwhile.

What would be the sense of that, considering hardly anybody on ESPN ever tells you anything you didn't already know or at least suspect?

Knight did plunge into typical TV babble with, to paraphrase, "Teams that play good defense win in the NCAA Tournament."

Oh, really? Defense wins in sports? That never occurred to you, did it?

ESPN has been playing a collection of Knight sound bites to promote him and he makes some valid points.

So my quarrel isn't with Knight, it's with ESPN.

Just when the self-proclaimed "Worldwide leader in sports" can't demonstrate any more shame, it outdoes itself.

Remember, this is the cable channel that employed as analysts any number of cheating coaches and steroids users.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens might be next this summer, to say nothing of Bill Belichick and Pacman Jones.

Of more relevance, ESPN employed Sterling Sharpe after he spent his football career menacing journalists as if Knight wrote his material.

So maybe it shouldn't be surprising that this particular media outlet would provide a national forum for somebody who for decades routinely ridiculed the media.

It's enough to make you think that if ESPN were a food channel it would hire Hannibal Lecter to host a cooking show, and if it were a financial channel it would offer studio seats to the geniuses who caused the credit crisis.

Sorry, those are cheap shots because Knight can't be compared to a cannibal or a greedy businessman. At least I don't think he can be, but it's a call each of us will have to make.

Seriously, Knight has been to the media what Michael Moore has been to General Motors. I can't envision Moore playing Mr. Goodwrench in TV ads or GM's neighborhood grease pit.

Yet, Knight is sitting in Bristol with Digger Phelps, Dick Vitale and the rest fawning over him like he is Father Teresa.

You'll notice that Knight's teammates have to wear jackets and neckties, while Knight is in a sweater as if every day were casual Friday.

ESPN relaxed its dress code for him just as, you know, Knight certainly would if one of his players wanted to accessorize the team uniform with high-heeled sneakers.

Apparently ESPN decided Knight's 902 coaching victories warrant special status. If he hit 1,000 they might let him lounge on camera in his underwear.

Heck, Jeremy Schaap must be thrilled that his bosses are pandering to the man who went out of his way to humiliate him during an interview.

Is Knight worth it to ESPN? Is he worth compromising standards? Is he worth his ample weight in increased ratings?

Probably not, unless he goes on one of his infamous tirades, throws a chair, wraps his hands around an intern's neck, stuffs a security guard in a trash can ...

We can only hope Mount St. Knight does go off, which would make ESPN look more foolish than he often does.

But don't expect any embarrassing eruptions. Knight only blows up when pressured by a superior opponent or an intelligent question.

Neither of those will happen at ESPN, where they decided to feed the hand that bit them.