Sweet and so very sour...

By now, most of the sports world knows that a couple of days ago Bob Knight did something.

Depending on your point of view, Knight struck a player, hit a player, made contact with a player, or pushed a player's chin.

Again, depending on your point of view, Bob Kinght...

• deserves to be punished.
• didn't do anything wrong.
• doesn't know times have changed.
• 's actions cannot be condoned.
• 's incident [is] mostly much ado about nothing.
• will never change.
• was just being Knight.

I'll admit that I tend to side with the Knight defenders, and that colors everything that I hear and see about Bob Knight.

I grew up in the shadows of his glory, a shadow that ruled most of Southern Indiana and nearly the entire state as he won three national titles in just barely more than the first decade of my life. He was a larger than life personality whose actions and incidents were all treated with a wink and a chuckle.

It is clear, in retrospect, that Knight was given too long a leash and he learned that no matter what actions he took, he would be lauded. No person needs to believe that he (or she) is entirely above the rules of their business or common decency.

And he is a man who 90%+ of his former players will defend to the absolute ends of their days. He is one of the greatest and most skilled coaches to ever tread the hardwood of a college basketball court. He is an articulate and intelligent man who simply seems unable to control his own passions and competitive spirit.

Knight and his Texas Tech wingman Myers were right about this latest incident: Knight doesn't have to apologize for a thing. This wasn't even a misdemeanor.

But Knight's problem isn't what he did this time, it's what he might do the next time. It's always what he might do the next time.

- Gene Wojciechowski on ESPN.com

It saddens me that so many people think of Bob Knight as a bully, a jerk, an ass - but it saddens me even more to think thank Knight has no one to blame for that other than himself.

We all make our legacies in this world, and most of those legacies will be complex, but Bob Knight's is especially so.