A sure way to give a jolt to college hoops
As uncharacteristic as it is of me to say so, it's time for Booby, er, Bobby Knight to return to coaching like a villain re-emerging in a slasher movie.
Yes, folks, that Bobby Knight. The one I dislike with a passion for being a boorish embarrassment to the sport of college basketball.
We're talking about the Bobby Knight who was given a second chance by Texas Tech and then had his people feel out better basketball programs so he could escape Lubbock.
The Bobby Knight who couldn't win enough at Texas Tech for people to resume glorifying him so he quit on the Red Raiders in the middle of last season.
The Bobby Knight who hooked up with ESPN so goofs like Dick Vitale would kiss his three NCAA title rings.
You do remember that Bobby Knight, don't you?
Well, Knight reportedly now is flirting with Georgia in the hope the Bulldogs have run out of sensible ideas.
Please, don't start in with the Vitale marketing pitch that Knight graduated players and played by the rules.
Even if that's true - though I just assume any coach simply never was caught - his behavior for decades as Indiana's coach still was inexcusable.
I mean if the trade-off for graduating players is abusing them and for not cheating is abusing everybody else -
No, sorry, I'm not willing to believe that college basketball has become so desperate that schools can't have a coach who both operates with integrity and behaves with dignity.
Anyway, this isn't a day to bash Knight for throwing that chair, terrorizing game officials, defying authority, belittling critics, demonstrating perpetual anger and overall conducting himself in a manner that reflects poorly on a university.
It's a day to say college basketball could use a bad guy.
The people who run this sport, which used to be so interesting for six months, have turned it into a one-month postseason.
When seventh-place teams and worse are invited to the NCAA Tournament, does anybody really care who wins the conference championships?
That doesn't even take into account that leagues conduct their own meaningless postseason tournaments.
College sports really are all about the money now, aren't they?
Around here, DePaul is in the Big East now. The regular season is such a nothing that the Blue Demons regularly play Top Ten teams and I'm not compelled to get off the couch to attend.
Heck, on most nights I'm not even prompted to stay on the couch and watch. So many games are on TV that they all start to look alike.
College basketball is so mundane until March that I'm ready to endorse a Bobby Knight comeback to enliven it.
Not in the Big Ten, however. Yikes, not anywhere around here. Texas Tech was barely far enough away, and Georgia would be OK, too.
Let Knight assault players down there. Let him strike fear into his bosses down there. Let him incite crowds by chasing after refs down there.
From several states away, Knight could be perversely entertaining again as a curiosity of Stephen-King-novel, Quentin-Tarantino-film proportions.
So bring back Knight and along with him some life to the basketball season, like a head-on collision brings life to a sleepy suburban intersection.
Just don't allow Vitale to broadcast any Georgia games.
mimrem@dailyherald.com