I’m back in the saddle after a long weekend at Disneyworld, catching up on some programs I recorded while experiencing The Nightmare before Christmas at the Park. While I was gone, I also made plans to go to Santa Barbara this Friday to watch the College Cup, the soccer version of basketball’s Final Four, where my alma mater Indiana Hoosiers will make a 20th appearance. On fifteen of those occasions they won the first game and then went on to win the National Championship 8 times – will they make it 9? The program was finally established as a varsity sport the year I graduated in 1973, after being only recognized as a club sport since 1947. A friend of mine played on one of those untouted teams.

When I was in school it was all about basketball, with Bob Knight in his second year as coach of the storied program. The 1972-73 team was his first to go to the Final Four, but at a time when UCLA was still dominant. Swimming & Diving was also a big deal on campus, having just won a National title with Mark Spitz and John Kinsella. Soccer was a non-factor on my list of sports favorites, so it became important only when the Hoosiers starting winning Championships.

This morning I watched the ESPN 30 For 30 special that brought back a lot of memories. It focuses on a controversial “choking” incident during a basketball practice session with former player Neil Reid. It was initially released as a premium incentive for app subscribers, so I was not part of the first group of viewers to first see it. I’m a big supporter of Bob Knight despite his tactics of intimidation. I’ve also seen the media make much out of nothing with disturbing exaggerations of his behavior, including an accidental “head-butting” incident that was disceivingly presented as a reoccuring loop of over-and-over strikes to the forehead head.

There were no complaints about Bob Knight until he started losing. I met him at the Maui Classic one year, but was never able to really talk with him until July 26, 2012. I bought a $50 ticket for a political fundraiser in Dripping Springs, Texas where he was speaking. I expected a big crowd, but instead it was at a private home with few Indiana basketball fans. I spent about a half-hour with him in the kitchen, discussing one of his former players that is a friend of my wife and I. It turned uncomfortable when I mentioned another friend, a popular IU broadcaster that he apparently detested. I saw the dark side that so many talk about – that Jekyll & Hyde personality.

It was shortly after our conversation and during his speech to the small group that his phone started buzzing. He tried to ignore it but the ringing persisted to the point where he took the call, promptly completed his speech, and left abruptly. It was later that night that I heard about Neil Reid’s unexpected death. Knight was under contract with ESPN as an analyst at that time and I’m sure the calls were regarding the nightmarish incident that changed both of their lives.

Knight left Indiana a bitter man and never returned to the campus. He has gotten together with his former players several times at the Workingman’s Friend in Indianapolis, but will always keep his distance from the Bloomington campus. For the most part, they continue to support him. The 30 For 30 special shows mostly his ugly side, but there were so many honorable things that he did behind the scenes for his players, the I.U. library, and the University in general. I felt many emotions as I watched the story unfold through the eyes of the camera. Most of us loathed Neil Reid and viewed him as a “snot-nosed punk,” but he gets long-overdue respect from reporter Robert Abbott. Bob Knight “The General” made his short life a Knight-mare.