Call This a Blooming(ton) Shame

I don’t feel bad for Bobby Knight, whose Teflon idiocy appears boundless. I don’t feel bad for the players who choose to play for him, apparently fully aware of what they’re getting into. And I don’t feel bad for the [school] president and craven trustees who lack the nerve to do anything about it.

But I do feel bad for all the Indiana grads whose university will never again be taken seriously by anyone.

BILL BEDSWORTH

Laguna Beach

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Bill Plaschke and Diane Pucin had differing views on Bob Knight, but did anyone expect the decision to be other than that handed down?

For the last 40 years, consequences for bad behavior have steadily declined--in the court of law and in the court of public opinion. And if you are a sports celebrity, chances are you can get away with, well, murder.

Remember the adage,--”Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” Shame on all of us for putting winning ahead of character.

HARRY F. HENSON

Thousand Oaks

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It was with amazing interest that I read Pucin’s article of May 16. I am amazingly interested that anyone could possibly brush off a teacher strangling a student as an educational lesson.

Ms. Pucin, adults don’t throw chairs, or vases, or strangle people who make them angry. Not those in their right minds. Little children do. And children don’t coach college ball. Neither should a bully like Knight.

DIANA MERRICK

Sherman Oaks

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I’ve always been too confrontational, especially when I know I’m right.

--Bob Knight

What kind of apology is that, particularly when it comes from someone who always knows he’s right? It would have been far more gracious had Knight said something like, “I was wrong, and I promise not to strangle any more of my players. Unless, of course, they start acting like college kids and I know I’m right.”

Or, he might have said, “It was all my fault and I swear I’ll never, ever again choke Neil Reed. Except maybe if I can get my hands on that little twerp and I know I’m right.”

He could have cleared the air further by simply stating, “I apologize profoundly and in the future I will definitely never beat the crap out of another sports information director. At least not on this campus. Or unless he ticks me off and I know I’m right.”

It would also have been appropriate for him to have said, “I made a big mistake and I have only myself to blame. In the future, I’ll be absolutely certain that I never again shoot a hunting buddy in the back. Unless he happens to be somewhere near where I’m aiming and I know I’m right.”

ALLEN E. KAHN

Playa del Rey

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Enough is enough, Bill Plaschke. If I have to hear one more time about a chair-throwing incident that took place more than 15 years ago . . .

Since the days of the chair, I have interviewed at Indiana University and lived in the Midwest. The stories of Bob Knight’s kindness abound. All word of mouth, first- and secondhand, but certainly not from pompous sportswriters like Billy Boy.

Now, I know that Knight is not an ambassador to basketball like John Wooden, but if Plaschke wants to assassinate a basketball coach, why doesn’t he spend time on crooks such as Eddie Sutton, Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Harrick?

I would have Bob Knight as a coach, as a friend or as a father. Name any one individual with a greater graduation rate, and then, let anyone without sin cast the first chair.

TED GAMBOGI

Palos Verdes Estates

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We should all be thankful that Bob Knight is not the leader of a third-world country and instead only runs (because Myles “Inchworm” Brand obviously doesn’t) a third-class university.

I guess the only hope is that there really is a hell.

TIM MORALES

Los Angeles

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Like that notorious old curmudgeon, Woody Hayes, before him, Bobby Knight physically abuses his players under the pathetic old man’s delusion that he’s still a tough guy. He isn’t. Almost any of those athletes could put him in the hospital in about two minutes if they got fed up and decided to risk their future in basketball.

Knight dares to do it only because he knows they won’t retaliate, which makes him not only the thoroughly obnoxious character he is, but also a coward.

CHUCK QUEENAN

Encino

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Indiana President Brand’s punishment of Bobby Knight, which might have well been a slap on the wrist, will prove to be meaningless.

Why not get him where it will affect him more substantially? Here’s my suggestion: Forbid him from ever wearing a red sweater on the court--during practice or games--while coaching for IU.

HAROLD MUROV

Shreveport, La.

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If I ever physically threatened or assaulted any of my co-workers, no matter their age or gender, or ever screamed obscenities and threw objects at my workplace, or ever acted in a totally rude and boorish manner while representing my company, I would quickly find myself looking for another job.

The fact that bad-behaving coaches such as Knight and the seemingly endless string of ill-mannered (or worse) athletes continue to be given extra chances is because, despite being bad citizens, they produce winning results that are perceived as adding value to the teams they represent. If Knight was a career .500 coach, would he have gotten the same punishment?

JOHN SLADE

Goleta

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Indiana President Myles Brand said Bobby Knight is a man of integrity.

Knight denied ever choking one of his players, Neil Reed, at a 1997 practice. Then we all saw the videotape of that practice.

Never mind the beef. Where’s the integrity?

LEN LIPTON

Santa Monica