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Sampson-Knight Comparison Ridiculous, Review the Facts by Justin Waganer Senior Sports Columnist January 28, 2002
Here's the facts, Kelvin Sampson struck Jabahri Brown on the leg during the Oklahoma-Texas Tech game on Saturday afternoon in Lubbock, Texas apparently dissatisfied with Brown's play in the center. Another fact is that the Sooners were defeated soundly by the Red Raiders in a game that most will realize isn't a "bad" loss at the end of the year, though it certainly wasn't a good one. My opinion on the small controversy that has arisen since the Sampson-Brown confrontation is ludicrous, here is why.
After Sampson got upset with Brown's play in the game and struck him, Brent Musberger and Dick Vitale showed during the ABC telecast a replay of the situation to which Musberger said and Vitale agreed that the "double standard" Knight is treated with in comparison is "unbelievable." The only "double standard" these two should be accustomed to is the "unbelievable" amount of respect they show the East and lack of respect given to anyone West of that coast.
While the right and wrong of what Sampson did is to be debated, the fact is that calling it a "double standard" is unbelievable. Before you start e-mailing and protesting that this site or myself as a writer has a bias and that I am defending Sampson because he is a Sooner, hear me out.
I will agree that Sampson is out of line once he catches up to Coach Knight in ridiculous behavior, but before you start asking for a resignation, Sampson has a lot of work to do. That's right fans once Sampson throws a chair across the floor during a game, gets ejected from countless games and stares down the official upon his departure, stuffs a person in a trash can in Puerto Rico, starts a fight outside a restaurant, berates reporters in nearly every press conference, throws his athletic director out of practices and post-game locker rooms, kicks his son, chokes a player, cusses out a 60+ year-old female secretary, shoots someone during a hunting trip, and blows up on a college freshman for not addressing him "correctly" then we may have something to talk about.
Forgive me if I left out some more behavior that was said to be "embarrassing" to the University of Indiana, but I believe that may be enough to convince some people that this "double standard" is only obvious to those television reporters that are too terrified of the bully to say how they really feel.
I will not write that Bobby Knight isn't a good coach and look like an ignorant fool, he's done a great job at Tech this year and deserves to be commended for his job. Bobby Knight is a good coach and will be for a long time, but as a person, he has and always will make me sick.
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