Bobby Knight Pushes Chins? Who Cares?!

Bobby Knight engaged in the chin pushing, chin slapping, chin tugging or some other nonsense of Texas Tech player Michael Prince on Monday night. Neither, Knight, Prince or Prince's parents understand what the big deal is, but, of course, the media is jumping at the opportunity to chastise Knight for his "abuse." Whatever... Everybody criticizing him are the same people who won't sign permission slips for their kids to play dodge ball in school. Most coaches are assholes. What difference does it make if it make whether it's Mike Krzyzewski cursing a guy out or Bobby Knight tugging on guys' chins? Not much. It's all technically abuse. Sometimes so-called "abuse" has a beneficial effect on a person. The players and the parents know what their getting into. It's their choice. It doesn't deserve more scrutiny than that.

Too bad ESPN and the like don't pay too much attention when Knight does something good, like when Knight recently suspended his best player for not meeting the team's academic standards. It's unfortunate when they fail to highlight when Knight is one of the few to value the importance of being a student athlete, and when they fail to see that he is making his best attempt to mold men.