Sports Radio Interviews

John Feinstein: The Good Side Of Bob Is So Good

Bob Knight is always seen as the black sheep, the jerk, the psycho who threw the chair on the court.  We all love the sensational stories and don’t care for the articles outlining the good things people do.  It’s fact.  If Knight saved 30 people from a burning building, we would all still remember that time he threw a chair on the court.  Author of the book documenting Indiana University’s 1987 season, John Feinstein, joined 1070 The Fan to discuss Knight as a person and whether or not he’ll attend the university’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony in November.  Feinstein knew Knight well and he’ll tell you how good a person he was below – but truthfully, it’s all hard to believe when we don’t absorb it from the media.  The press never really told us many feel good stories about Knight, but would we remember them anyway?  Naw.  Feinstein’s quotes follow.

Do you think Bob is going to go to the ceremony?

“Trying to predict what Bob is gonna do next is like trying to predict the weather, except that he’s probably more mercurial.  I would have hoped without having Indiana consult with me that before you go ahead and make this announcement that you try to find the answer to that question, because if you don’t then everybody walks away looking bad and feeling bad.  Indiana feels bad and looks bad because they reached out to Knight and said obviously we want to put the past behind us, the way your career ended behind us and focus on all the great things you did at Indiana.  And, Knight ends up looking bad because he doesn’t have the graciousness to say, ‘Okay, it’s a bunch of different people.  Myles Brand isn’t there anymore, the people who fired me aren’t there anymore, it’s been ten years, enough is enough, so I’ll come back.’  So, I would hope, would wish that Indiana reach out to Knight to find out, and if they did and got no response, that that would be a pretty good hint that maybe they oughta wait a couple more years to do this.” 

Is there a character on the save level of polarization as Knight?

“McEnroe.  It’s interesting that I knew them both well, and I still remember, the year that I was at Indiana, McEnroe was playing an exhibition match with Borg in St. Louis.  And, my boss at The Washington Post asked me, it was before the season began and Bob had given the kids a day off during the weekend and my boss called and said, ‘Why don’t you to fly over to St. Louis, see if you can get Borg to talk?’  This is when Borg still mattered a little bit; it was hard to get an interview with him and I did.  And, McEnroe actually walked me in and got Borg to talk to me, but when I got back, so when I was in St. Louis, McEnroe said, ‘What are you doing here?’  And, I said, ‘Well, I’m in Bloomington right now, working on a book on Bob Knight.’  And, McEnroe looked at me and said, ‘Isn’t he a little bit crazy?  I said, ‘Sure, John, unlike you he’s a little bit crazy.’  The reason I put Bob and John in the same category is because they both are so confusing because the good side of each of them is so good.”

What would you tell Bob to do if he was invited to the Indiana for the ceremony?

“I’d say, ‘Go, come on Bob.’  For just the reasons that I just told you; I mean 95% of Bob Knight’s career at Indiana was good, not just winning games but producing great kids, graduating kids, and never, ever breaking an NCAA rule.  I’ve said this many times: if you said to me, name the list of coaches that you are 100%, 100% sure never cheated, I’d say here’s the list, Bob Knight.  And, so put aside that 5% or 7% or whatever it is and go, and be gracious, and be a bigger man than everybody else by doing it.”

Listen to John Feinstein on 1070 ESPN The Fan in Indianapolis

Tags: Basketball, Bob Knight, College Basketball, Indiana University, John McEnroe, NCAA