I had to wait a week for the bile to recede after reading Bob Kravitz's puling rebuke of legendary Indiana basketball coach, Bobby Knight in the Indianapolis Star.  Seems carpetbagger Kravitz feels it is his responsbility to ride in to Indiana on his politicially correct horse and instruct the General on the finer points of etiquette.  Denver Bob's column would have been more appropriate to the society page of the Indy Star.  Kravitz, like the vast majority of American sports columnists, wears his political correctness on his sleeve.  And what is etiquette but  a set of politcally correct rules for manners?  So it's certainly O-K, at least in his own mind, for Kravitz to serve as Miss Manners to the General.

 The college that fired Knight after building its basketball program into one of the top programs in the country is having a little soiree associated with its Hall of Fame induction ceremony on November 6.  The ultimate no-brainer has Knight being inducted into the fellowship of such hallowed legends as Debbie Oing, Charles Hornbostel, and long-time equipment manager, Red Grow.  Perhaps the Hall could have a tandem induction for Knight and his nemesis, Myles Brand, busybody former I.U. president and the man personally responsible for destroying the Indiana basketaball dynasty Bobby Knight had established in his 29 years as head coach. During Knight's tenure, the Hoosiers compiled a 353-151 record.  Coach Knight has won more games than any other coach in NCAA Division I history.  Knight's teams at IU won 11 Big Ten Championships, 3 NCAA National Championships and one NIT national championship.  Knight's programs were free of recruiting violations and nearly all of the players went on to graduate from college.

 Since Bobby Knight left, the once-proud Hoosier basketball program looks like Amy Winehouse's apartment after a week-long jag.  The long downhill post-Knight slide includes a rash of NCAA recruiting violations and suspensions and has an execrable 9-29 record since the start of the 2008 season. The Indiana University administration and the blithering nimrods in the athletic department have effectively destroyed the dynasty Bolbby Knight established with his disciplined, knowledgeable, creative and completely clean coaching and recruiting regimen. 

 But Mr. Kravits thinks Knight owes the Indiana Hall of Fame an rsvp for their invitation to make their ceremony into an event worth covering.  The other 2009 inductees include soccer coach, Jerry Yeagley, Steve Downing, Katrin Koch, Joe Norman, Mike Rabold and Alan Somers.  I'm sure these Indiana alums deserve their props, but I doubt that the national media will be out to cover this Knight-less rubber chicken testimonial.

Kravitz goes on to whine that "Everybody on the list has RSVP'ed" except for Knight.  Of course they have.  This nice little ceremony is probably a career highlight for many of these respected Hoosiers.  It's hardly a milestone for Bobby, who won an Olympic Gold Medal in addition to his many championships.  Why should the man who devoted nearly 30 years of his life to IU dignify the university with a response to their attempt to aggrandize their little Hall of Fame by adding the man they slandered and attempted to publicly humiliate before they proceeded to dismantle his creation:  arguably the finest college basketball program in the county?

Make no mistake about it:  Bobby Knight is a proud and ferociously loyal man who would have fought for the Indiana University with his last breath if they hadn't impugned him, dismantled his creation and went on to present a farcical shadow of the respected basketball program the Coach built for them.

Duke's Coach Krzyzewski suggested in an espn.com interview that the school hadn't done enough to celebrate Knight's acheivements and the great young men he had developed.  He even suggested that re-naming Asembly Hall in Knight's honor might be a good start.

Not according to PC Kravitz however.  The myopic columnist suggests that attending the Hall of Fame induction would be a "good first step" in repairing the damaged relationship between IU and the man who gave the school its finest hours in the national spotlight.  As though the university should be able to dictate the terms of any "first step" in that direction.  Kravitz asks sarcastically:

"Should there be a month-long Bob-a palooza? Should we all be required to kiss his, um, ring?

No, Mr. Kravitz.  Coach Knight, as usual, has a better idea.  Posted on the Wikipedia site for Knight is this quote from the winningest coach in NCAA history:

"When my time on Earth is gone and my activities here are past, I want they bury me upside down and my critics can kiss my ***."  (1994)

Bob Kravitz should be first in line.