Basketball's Tarnished Knight

He's the polar opposite of the great man who taught me about life and sport

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Of course, we didn't understand or realize this while we were living it. We thought he was nuts, a walking antique. And why not? We won all of our games during my first 3 1/2 years at UCLA. It wasn't until we started to lose a couple of games at the end of my senior year, and I ran into the adversity that Coach Wooden had said would be in both the NBA and in life, that I realized just how special we had it at UCLA.

Indiana's complacency, and complicity, in the face of the injustice that has gone on is sad and embarrassing. And so Nixonesque, to the point that the apologists are being trotted out to proclaim Knight's integrity. How could anybody in a position of authority--say, whoever's running Indiana U.--tolerate this type of abusive behavior? They're not educators; they're enablers.

In the past, the sporting world has shown an ability to take a leadership role on such issues as racial integration, social tolerance and equal opportunity for minorities and women. But one aspect where it's been slow to change is in its blind obedience to authority, even when it becomes abusive. Is that what teaching is about? The foul language, the bullying, the violence, the endless list of incidents that should have cost Knight his job? It is at Indiana, where the bleak side of college sports has been revealed for all to see.

Academic All-American Bill Walton was part of two UCLA NCAA title teams. A basketball Hall of Famer, he is an NBC-TV analyst

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