Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Bullying the Bully

University of Kentucky fans are outraged that ESPN commentator Bob Knight dare insult their beloved head coach basketball coach, John Calipari. Count me among those who couldn’t care less.

Calipari has been needlessly jabbing away at University of Louisville head coach Rick Pitino for months. His passive-aggressive assault has included the following:

• Calipari said he was rooting for U of L late in the season since his team had “spanked” them earlier in the year.

• Calipari said UK’s Eric Bledsoe was not as highly touted as U of L’s Peyton Siva, but was drafted early (while Siva was not, presumably because of superior coaching).

• Calipari said UK would not lose its assistant coaches (like Louisville has) because its jobs are destination positions (unlike Louisville).

I’ve added the material in parenthesis to give you an idea of what the slippery one really meant since he won’t come right out and say it.

Pitino didn’t respond to any of these barbs because he’s too classy. As we all know, Knight has no such filter.

Knight apparently didn’t get it all right, but I’d argue the context is close. Regardless, it’s hard for me to feel sorry for the bully who gets bullied. Or as my mom always says, “don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.”

No comments: