Has there ever been a player who was on Knight-coached team who has said that they wouldn’t play for him if they had to do it all over again?

Well, yeah. And Bird’s a bad example. He did transfer from IU as a freshman (before practices even started) — but not because of Bob Knight. Bird later went on to say that, more than anybody, it was Kent Benson that made him want to leave.

But there were a number of IU players — including starters — who transferred on bad terms with the General. Luke Recker, Neil Reed, Jason Collier, Lawrence Funderburke, Billy Cunningham, etal.

I’m sure it was no picnic playing for the guy. He’s a Grade A jerk. But he does know his stuff, which is why I like him on ESPN.

Personally, I find him a better color man than that lawyer from Charlotte whose jock everyone is on.

i know i’m part of the problem with this thing continuing, but i can’t help it: it’s amatuerish to post the trabscript IF YOU ARE WRITING FOR A NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE that has traditional journalistic standards. this place does not, therefore, he can post what he wants without worrying about professional or amateur. you can argue that because tradtional places would not post that transcript, his posting of it is refreshing, unique–you can’t see it anywhere else. that’s not an endorsement, it’s an observation

I get all this, but I just don’t see how that could be construed as news-worthy. I just find the entire Knight phone call thing to be completely pointless and uninteresting. What gets me is that by posting it, he makes it seem like some important or insightful interaction/occurrence, which it is not. It’s just making the jilted “reporter” the focus of the story.

the empathetic side of me (the .5%), the part that makes me feel bad for shirts i haven’t worn in awhile, cringes whenever commenters are overly critical of the writers and eic here, but that doesn’t mean i disagree, i just don’t choose to join in. but i always compliment if in my opinion it’s warranted

real reporters cold call, all the time, I’m sure. What I find more amateurish is actually posting a transcript of, what I’d imagine, happens to real reporters on a pretty regular basis.

This. I say that as a former journo who had to cold-call people all the time. Generally, if they were pissed and demanded to know how you got their number, and you wouldn’t tell them, and they hung up on you, you’d say something like they “declined to comment.” You didn’t inject the whole matter into the larger story.
But in this case, the larger story was JMac and his butthurt at being hung up on by an admittedly douchebag coach.

kaiser i know. that was his main mistake. if you’ve never been a true journalist, it’s probably easy to call yourself one incorrectly. if you have been, you never would call yourself that if you crossed a line because you would feel fraudy.

we see eye to eye on it. the site has definitely changed a great deal over the years, commenters are great, most articles are great, interaction with the head honcho has seemingly taken on a more confrontational tone when it was more lighthearted and respectful on both sides.

What about Neil Reed, the kid Knight allegedly choked?

now this one I liked

Has there ever been a player who was on Knight-coached team who has said that they wouldn’t play for him if they had to do it all over again?

Larry Bird? Remember, he started out in Bloomington before transferring home to Terre Haute.

this place does not, therefore, he can post what he wants without worrying about professional or amateur.

my gripe is that in defense of posting the transcript TBL called himself a sportswriter. Calling yourself a sportswriter or journalist implies you consider yourself a professional, posting the transcript was not a move a professional would have done.

Vez, a big part of the problem is that I’m quite sure TBL disagrees with pretty much everything you just said.

I would think that TBL would say they don’t have to follow the standards of the “old media” but have the same credibility. The former is correct, the latter is not.

i know i’m part of the problem with this thing continuing, but i can’t help it: it’s amatuerish to post the trabscript IF YOU ARE WRITING FOR A NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE that has traditional journalistic standards. this place does not, therefore, he can post what he wants without worrying about professional or amateur. you can argue that because tradtional places would not post that transcript, his posting of it is refreshing, unique–you can’t see it anywhere else. that’s not an endorsement, it’s an observation

My guess is no, but I’m honestly wondering, I don’t know.

seems a bit strong. he’s not out there getting DUI’s or beating his wife. He’s just a guy with a short fuse that’s not a fan of the younger crowd giving him backtalk and runs a tight ship. Or calling his cell phone.

billy packer v. knight, most jagful, broadcaster/former player or coach category

who ya got?

It’s Billy Packer and it’s not even close.

Bob Knight is a reprehensible individual, but I would much rather listen to him talk basketball than any other analyst ESPN rolls out there. Including Jay Bilas.