Thursday Knights

Aside from being universally loathed, unabashedly biased and comically out of touch, Bob Knight is a good color analyst and an all around sagging sack of joy. So it came as no surprise when the network that willingly writes large checks to Skip Bayless and Dan Dakich revealed earlier this week that Knight will be back baby, for Thursday night SEC action. Knight has been with the network since 2008, when he stepped away from the self-inflicted ruins of what was once a legendary head coaching career spanning 43 years. It was reported back in February that ESPN would not renew his contract when it expired at season's end, probably due to the fact his approval rating was in the red coupled with the daily hell he likely inflicted upon colleagues and bystanders. It made sense to everyone. Out to pasture, I think it's safe to say. So why, ESPN, do you choose to purposefully alienate your audience? Why put us through this auditory waterboarding? It's hard enough watching Auburn and South Carolina do...whatever it is they do on the basketball court, but now you douse us in flammable grouch and light the match?   Oh, he traveled. Got away with a travel.  See how he palms that basketball? They should call that every time.   Some of you will ask, "so what?" Others will say, "turn the sound off or just don’t watch," or, "your the worst on this site this was an epic fail and your just dumb." But just think of the number of competent analysts currently living on this planet. There’s gotta be, I don't know, at least 100k. Or, think about people that are not professional commentators but are simply insightful, maybe even objective humans more adept to handle this job. There’s gotta be like, 6, 7 billion. Really, dead air is better than Bob Knight. Your annoying little yap dog that won’t shut the hell up and eats inedible objects including its own poop, is better than Bob Knight on TV. It’s actually not even close. Meanwhile, the otherwise superb Reece Davis is relegated to the role of VA clinic caretaker. Bob Knight is the absolute worst as an analyst which comes as no surprise, as he is the absolute worst as a human. Which is what makes this all the more puzzling, considering how often the network is perched on its sanctimonious high-horse and force feeding viewers blanket denouncements of the latest unflattering episode from The Week in Sports. You know, like its been doing this very week with collective condemnation of the alleged bully culture in the Dolphins locker room. Hmm. A touch hypocritical maybe, considering there is, once again, a bona fide bully on payroll. That's not this man's opinion, rather, the opinion of the very university whose basketball program he built all the way to the top. Verbally abusive to the media and faculty; verbally AND physically abusive to players and students, and Joe B. Hall. The General? Nah, The Bully. On ESPN's payroll. But please, don't let this get in the way of Herm Edwards's poetic waxing of the Dolphins and if Payton Manning would be a better three point shooter than Kevin Durant would be a pocket passer.   What this team needs to do is stop trying to score. Crisp chest passes. Move without the ball. See, that's a terrible sho...well, that one went in but bad bad shot.   This is not jaded Joe Wildcat talking. For one, put me squarely in the camp that doesn't think the media holds secret underground conferences to formulate a plan to alienate UK and its fans, and wouldn't care anyway. I understand Knight hates Kentucky, despises Calipari, and that’s just dandy. Best case scenario, actually. The only things Bob Knight does not hate are good entry passes, crisp flex cuts, and Ulysses S. Grant. I'm speaking on behalf of human beings that like to watch college basketball without the added element of a confused, disgraced, cantankerous bully with an agenda. For the world's largest sports network, now holding the SEC hostage, that was simply asking too much.