Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Bob Knight and Iraq

Bob Knight "slapped" a player in the face to get his attention during a game this past weekend.

This normally would be something I would just let slide, but I think all the hub-bub* shows the incident to be reflective of America in general.

I just want to make a few points:

1- Bob Knight is a very successful basketball coach- one of the greatest college coaches of all-time.

2- Bob Knight has a history of being very intense, borderline crazy, and extremely vocal.

3- Even the casual sports fan knows the these things well- it is no surprise when you hear something newly controversial about Bob Knight, but most people write it off as "Knight being Knight".

4- EVERY player recruited by Knight is absolutely familiar with his greatest hits: Throwing chairs, choking players, being ejected.... on and on.

5- This is perhaps the most important- He is consistent. He acts the same with every player in every situation. He is universally crazy and critical.

Bob Knight is like many successful people in sports: He thrives on competition. Without competition, he would be bored to death. He loves proper execution of play, he loves victory, he loves success- and he will act in the way that he is accustomed to being best in achieving these results.

So if you mess up... if you lose your focus on the court and make a mistake and Bobby Knight gives you a quick little smack on the cheek- you expect it. You know what you signed up for- playing basketball under Bob Knight- whether at Indiana in the past or Texas Tech presently.

This is America's problem with the war in Iraq presently. We know what we signed up for, but we (Democrats) are looking for a way out. We want success, but we don't want to face the consequences along the way. And when we face difficulty or when we are reprimanded, we accuse the reprimander rather than fault ourselves for failure. We must realize that we signed up for World Superpower, and not go running or crying anytime someone gives us a slap in the face. This is how Bob Knight is related to war strategy in Iraq.

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