Knight Sees Fan Shove as a Natural Response

So how would Bob Knight react if a fan threw a beer at him? One hint is what Knight did at the Final Four in Philadelphia in 1981. On his way to dinner after his Indiana team had beaten Louisiana State, Knight shoved an LSU fan into a garbage can, saying the fan was inebriated and yelling obscenities at him.

In an interview Lawrence Grobel did with Knight for Playboy magazine in 2001, Grobel asked the coach why he hadn’t just walked away.

“How do you avoid it when the guy is screaming at you in front of 100 people?” Knight said. “Do you think there are many competitive people who would avoid that?”

Probably.

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Trivia time: How old was Knight when he became a head coach?

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Top secret: Grobel, who teaches interviewing in the English department at UCLA, included his interview with Knight in his recently published book, “The Art of the Interview.”

Grobel asked Knight whether the pressure coaches put on tutors to keep athletes eligible might lead to cheating.

“How the ... would I know?” Knight said. “You think coaches talk to each other about how they cheat?”

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No rap fan: Another question directed at Knight by Grobel was what he thought of Allen Iverson’s rap song that included lyrics such as: “Man enough to pack a gun/Be man enough to squeeze the trigger.”

Said Knight, “If I were the owner, upon hearing that one time, the guy would be traded.”

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Moving on up: Craig Fertig, a former USC assistant football coach and Oregon State head coach, is now coach at Costa Mesa Estancia.

“Usually, a coach goes from high school to college,” Fertig said. “My career is going in a different direction.”

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More Fertig: When Fertig spoke at the Pasadena Quarterbacks Club luncheon Friday, moderator Harvey Hyde said he had waived his usual speaking fee of $5,000.

“Yeah, right,” Fertig said. “You’re kidding around about $5,000 and my yearly salary at Estancia is only $1,800. That doesn’t even cover my bar tab for one night.”

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Mother of all injuries: Minnesota Viking center Matt Birk, sidelined by a stomach ailment, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press, “It was like there was a midget in there, punching me over and over again in the stomach.”

Wrote Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times, “Doctors, however, quickly discounted pregnancy and instead recommended surgery for a sports hernia.”

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Trivia answer: 24. When Knight was promoted from assistant to head coach at Army in 1965, he became the youngest varsity head coach in major college history.

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And finally: The Philadelphia Eagles play the Green Bay Packers today, and Eagle wide receiver Freddie Mitchell, a guest on NFL Network, was asked about the Packers’ hard-running Najeh Davenport.

“The only Davenport I know plays tennis,” Mitchell said, referring to Lindsay Davenport.

Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.