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Indiana University Sports
Stunner: Coach Agrees
With Chuck
- Coach Bob Knight did
something he rarely does January 19 on the Bob Knight Show
on local television: he agreed with something the show's host
and lifelong Knight lapdog, Chuck Marlowe, said. Marlowe opened
the show with an obsequious and syntactically tortured summary
of how awful Indiana played the night before in losing at
Purdue. Knight, who's made correcting and disagreeing with Marlowe
a staple of their decades-old bizarre relationship, agreed the
boys were awful and went even a step further: he said the team
wasn't very well coached, without specifying whether he meant
his own coaching or that of his assistants. The broadcast ended
on a plaintive note, with Coach telling Chuck and eager listeners
that "I just don't know (what's wrong with this team). .
.but we'll try to figure out something. . .". (January
19, 1997)
- A little over a year
ago with much ballyhoo it was announced that The Bob Knight
Show was dropping longtime broadcaster WTTV (Channel 4) and
moving to a new, upstart Indianapolis station, WNDY. Knight and
his handlers denied money had anything to do with it, though
of course it had everything to do with it. Listeners were
promised hard-hitting interviews, expanded sessions, and guest
appearances by some of "Coach's famous friends." The
show indeed has expanded from a half-hour to an hour. It has a
younger, more articulate host, WNDY sports director Vince Welsh,
and occasionally drop-in commentary from former IU player Joe
Hillman. Coach's "famous friends" have been less
conspicuous. An interesting but little remarked upon sidelight
to the changes has been the ongoing frequent presence of Chuck
Marlowe on the show. It was commonly assumed by the public when
WNDY took over that Marlowe, a longtime Channel 4 employee who
himself was brutally fired in the early 1990s, would be
out of the picture. But something's happened behind the scenes,
for Marlowe continues to conduct interviews with Knight from remote
locations, and Knight is seldom interviewed by anyone affiliated
with WNDY. A quick reading of the tea leaves--and it's nothing
more than this, for the parties to the scam are silent--suggests
that Knight has maneuvered this situation to his ongoing advantage
and bullied WNDY-TV into allowing him to keep his fawning manservant
Marlowe as his "interviewer." Marlowe, showing the
terrible, debilitating effects of recent ordeals, struggles mightily
to articulate his thoughts, approaches every topic apologetically
while Coach slumps in his chair, head down, looking at the floor
or off into the wings, a sour, sullen sneer of boredom on his
face. Marlowe still lobs up those beautiful puffball questions
and comments, though, and religiously avoids even the remotest
hint of disagreement, and that's the key thing for Coach. He's
got someone he can completely control. Grotesque as this is, you
have to just ache for poor Marlowe. (January 18, 1997)
- Dick Vitale's sidekick
on the ESPN broadcast of the Indiana-Michigan basketball game
the other night opened his evening's work by noting that the game
was being played in an "as always sold-out Assembly Hall."
He was wrong about that. IU had not had a single sellout in the
1996-97 season to that point. No doubt he's being paid a 12-figure
annual income to play loose with details. (January 25, 1997)
Dale Brown Right This
Time
- Sometimes buffoonish
Louisiana State basketball coach Dale Brown has it right this
time. Brown has announced that LSU will not release freshman Lester
Earl from his national letter of intent to play for the school.
Earl was suspended in December for unspecified infractions. After
a brief reinstatement, Earl quit the team and enrolled at Kansas
in early January. Releases from NCAA letters of intent are traditionally
granted without fuss. One rare exception occurred a few years
ago during the Lawrence Funderburke Unpleasantness at Indiana
University. Indiana refused to release Funderburke, who transferred
to Ohio State. In such cases the student doesn't lose eligibility,
but does have to sit out for a longer period. Brown offered eager
reporters a truly novel rationale in defending LSU's position.
"Had he finished out the season," Brown said, "we
would have willingly given him his release. Somewhere in life,
you must be held responsible for your actions."
- Does anyone know the
whereabouts of Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight
in the days and hours leading up to the Heaven's Gate cult's mass
suicide in California? That baby has grape Kool-Aid written all
over it! (April 12, 1997)
- Best Headline I've
Seen In The Last Five Years Department: "Hoosiers Land 'Thalidomide
Dandy'" and above that a kicker which read: "One-Handed,
One-Footed Point Guard Rounds Out 'Great IU Class', Says Vitale."
(June 29, 1997)
- The phone rang the
other night and it was Missy--some name like that--calling for
the IU Varsity Club. Would I be interested, she fairly
chirped, in joining? There were many benefits and many levels
of giving at which I could participate. "Missy," I said,
in clear, emphatic, and boldly firm tones, "I'll donate money
to Indiana University when you folks get rid of Bob Knight."
There was silence for a few seconds. Missy indicated she'd had
difficulty hearing, so I repeated it, adding the word "vile"
to describe The Mentor. Missy chuckled, said they'd "had
a lot of comments like that." She then doggedly proceeded
with her script, giving me more opportunities to join the
Crimson-clad loyalists. I told Missy I was quite enthusiastic
about the new football coach and would be attending a football
game or two, but that so long as Knight was on IU's payroll
I could not donate a penny to IU. I told her I hoped she wouldn't
take it personally, and wished her every success rounding up cash
for our beloved Hoosiers. This was a satisfying Kodak Moment for
me, and I'm pleased I did my duty and spoke up. (July 17,1997)
Coach And Chuck Head
Back To Channel 4
- The Indianapolis
Star's sports shorts section offered a terse two-paragraph
item today noting that Indiana basketball coach Bob Knight's weekly
television show will be "returning" to WTTV-Channel
4 this fall. Last year about this time Knight dumped WTTV to move
to WNDY-TV 23 while denying that money, which had everything to
do with it, had anything to do with it. The Star's mostly
inert passel of sports scribes provided not a hint of what's
behind the lastest decision. Oddly enough, the WNDY version was
actually a better program than its predecessor, primarily because
it offered more insightful analysis from hosts Joe Hillman
and Vince Welsh and less on-air time for Knight himself. Going
back to Channel 4 probably means more air time for Knight and
his lapdog and host, Chuck "The Babbler" Marlowe. (August
8, 1997)
- Good News For IU Basketball
Recruiting Department: Today's Chicago Tribune carried
this headline: "FDA Ready to Approve Thalidomide Sales."
(September 25, 1997)
- The Steve Fisher Unpleasantness
(Steve's firing) at the University of Michigan reminded me of
an interview conducted at halftime of the Indiana-Michigan basketball
game in February of 1994 when IU broadcaster Max Skirvin's
guest was then Michigan athletic director Joe Roberson. By
sheer incredible coincidence, several Michigan basketball players
had been videotaped stealing beer from an Ann Arbor convenience
store just days earlier and the public debate was hot over
what, dear God, should be done about the miscreants. Roberson
had no trouble fielding Max's puffball softies, and was allowed
to spend the entire interview evading and prattling on about how
important it was not to be judgmental and how crucial it was that
this great institution, the University of Michigan, be scrupulously
careful to protect the constitutional rights of the miscreant
young men. And by sheer incredible coincidence, the young
criminals were made eligible in time for the Indiana game.
I found it more than odd that there was no similar handwringing
and agonizing last week when Michigan cashiered an older man.
UM was similarly lacking in tenderness and concern a couple
of years ago when it fired another older man, football coach Gary
Moeller, long before his trial. Hypocrisy remains a major growth
industry in Ann Arbor.
Keeping Our Minds
Off The Game
- Attended my first
IU football game of the current sorry season October 11. Bought
seats from a scalper at half price and joined a crowd of about
35,000 to see a 31-6 loss to Michigan State. Before the opening
kickoff the public address system began reminding us of all the
opportunities to shop both at the stadium and at the nearby IU
Athletic Outfitters (formerly our beloved Big Red Gift Center).
The booming voice kept it up all afternoon--shop, shop, shop,
shop--just in case we fans had forgotten what our national religion
is. There are few places on earth you can go and not have somebody
jump out from behind a bush and try to sell you something.
We're far from finished with it, too. The day will come when they'll
come to your house with guns, break in, kidnap you and take you
to a mall where you'll be forced to shop (while surrounded by
heavily armed mall and local government troops, of course).
- A clue to the personal
progress I've made lies in the fact that for the first time in
countless years, I do not have a copy of the upcoming season's
IU basketball schedule. And some months ago I let my charter subscription
to Inside Indiana, a publication devoted entirely to IU
sports and one I would have killed for in an earlier life, expire
without renewal. (November 15, 1997)
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