Bob Knight is Pokemon

By: Derek "Hotel" Hottell

One of the greatest benefits of living on the west coast is that College Gameday is playing as soon as you wake up in the morning. I used to feel like a little kid waking up for Saturday morning cartoons jumping out of bed and bolting to the TV to check out Bugs Bunny and the gang.

But, this joy has recently become less and less appealing because of the addition of Coach Bob Knight to the Gameday lineup. It feels like when they started to play cartoons like Power Rangers and Pokemon instead of the good stuff.

Now, I would never tell him this to his face because if I did he would kill me and eat my children. (If you aren’t sure about his general attitude toward humanity, here is a clip of him doing his golf show: Click Here) But, while he may be a great, legendary coach, he is an awful sports commentator and an even worse color analyst.

A perfect example of this would be him droning endlessly about the value of the shot fake during the Gonzaga vs. Memphis game on Saturday. We aren’t talking about three or four times, either, but more like 20 minutes of the game. Gonzaga is trying to make a furious comeback with their second string in the game, Jay Bilas is doing an admiral job of drumming up excitement and actually giving interesting insight, and Knight keeps talking about the shot fake. 

Someone needs to pull him aside and tell him it isn’t a film session with his team, but instead it is television show, which should have some entertainment value!

But, I’m not sure if that is worse than his detailed analysis while picking games where he speaks like a caveman and not the Geico kind.

“Ugh, me Bob Knight, Kansas,” he grunts. Great pick Coach! Thank God you are there to give us your extensive knowledge of the game.

Not only is he personally awful, but because he is such a bully, he makes everyone else worse. I wish that Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas, and the rest of the gang would just tell him to shut up and stop pandering to him. 

I hope he takes the Georgia job just so I don’t have to listen to him anymore. It is amazing that someone who is so entertaining as a coach can be so awful as a commentator. I liked him better when he was punching students, chocking his players, and throwing chairs, but at least we still can rely on Pat Knight to carry on the family tradition. After all, like father, like son. So, ESPN I implore you. Please give me back the adult version of Saturday morning cartoons!