A Firing- an Arrest- and a Court Case

I feel like ranting.

I know, I don’t normally rant, but nothing irks me in that way for me to write an entire article about it. I don’t care enough that Bob Huggins got fired; really, he should have been. I don’t care enough that Doc Gooden got arrested for DUI. I don’t care enough that Myles Brand is trying to cover up that his searches while he was President at Indiana were inconclusive as to what Bobby Knight did.Don’t get me wrong; I care. I just don’t care enough to write an article about each of those.

Bob Huggins. Ah, how fickle we are. We are brainwashed that Huggins should not have been fired, that the president was just out to get him. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Let me present the facts:

Let’s start off with the most blatant offense by “coach” Bob Huggins: the 1998 NCAA sanctions on the program because of eight violations and because it felt that there was no institutional control over the program. Huggins’s program put itself on one-year probation and refused to recruit JUCO athletes. The NCAA doubled it and cut scholarships.

Next, let’s look at the GPA’s of some of his players: 0.00.

Yes, you read that right: 0.00.

If you need me to count it out, I will. Ok, done. ZERO!

That is failing/not attending EVERY SINGLE CLASS!

A collegiate coach is supposed to be a role model and leader for his student-athletes. Bob Huggins was a play designer for his athletes that he brought into an institution of higher learning.

Oh, and finally, he’s supposed to win. Ten times not making it out of the second round is NOT winning when you are the coach of a perennial top ten team.

Three times in his first five years, the team went to the Elite Eight! But what have you done for me lately?

I don’t care that he had a DUI; that has nothing to do with him as a collegiate coach. I care that he is not teaching these people to be people; he is coaching them to be athletes and nothing else.

I don’t care if you are the crew coach at Harvard or the men’s basketball coach at Prairie View A&M, your job is the same: make sure your student-athletes graduate and win you games.

I have forgiveness for not winning games. I don’t have forgiveness to Bob Huggins.

Speaking of DUIs, Doc Gooden, a former 20-game winner for the Mets, has turned himself in to authorities after being pulled over for DUI.

Now, although a man in his forties should know better than to drive under the influence, disobey authorities, and then drive off, I offer a round of applause for Doc Gooden for turning himself in.

Somewhere, lost in the last twenty years of his wasted talent, there lies a little thing that recognizes right from wrong.

But maybe he needs a refresher course:

Testing positive for crack while pitching on a major league roster: Wrong.

Testing positive for crack while trying to get back to the major leagues: Wrong.

Beating your girlfriend in a domestic dispute: Wrong.

Driving under the influence for a first time: Wrong.

Driving under the influence again three years later and avoiding authorities: Wrong.

Turning yourself in: Right.

It was bound to happen. Congrats on doing something right for once, Doc Gooden. Now please take advantage of the help offered by the city of Tampa and change your ways. We don’t want you to lose your job with the New York Yankees.

Oh wait, you already did.

Staying on the trend of people who lost their jobs, we get to Bobby Knight.

Well, we get to Myles Brand and his secret investigation into the wrongdoings of Bobby Knight.

Brand, the f^^^^^^ c^^^ that declared Jeremy Bloom ineligible in football because he was a professional skier while allowing former major leaguer Josh Booty to quarterback LSU, was in court testifying to keep the investigations of two trustees into the Bobby Knight issue secret.

“I told them they needed to keep the witnesses’ identities and what they were saying confidential or they would have great difficulty discovering the facts,” Brand said, somehow thinking this matters after the investigation.

Now, it should be noted that his position of keeping the investigation private is that the trustees were hired because they were attorneys and their investigations were on a lawyer-client confidentiality.

Ok, that is plausible.

But why, oh why, tell me why the guy who exposed everything Knight did in two different press conferences, want to keep silent the findings of the university’s investigation?

Because it did not find anything!!!

It was the investigation into the chocking of Neil Reed by Bobby Knight. Well, duh he did it. But nothing new was found.

Otherwise, Myles Brand would be happy to bring it out into the open and persecute Bobby Knight.

But guess what! Nothing was found.

You’re still an idiot; don’t worry. You’ll always be that Myles.

None of these deserve a separate article, but all deserve to be mentioned. I never realized how fun a rant would be.

Especially about three gnats to society.