Bob Knight is Key West; he is the shell on a hard-boiled egg; an outsider, Coach Knight lives a polar life. His unvarnished personality has proved motivational on occassion, but stirs the deepest depths of hatred in student-athletes, fans and media more often than not. Now, at age 72, he is still the maker of few friends and many enemies.
In a report on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered Thursday, fans in New Orleans bristled at the fines and suspensions the NFL leveled against their beloved and heroic team. Speaking to NPR, one fan said the punishment handed down by Commissioner Roger Goodell will hurt the team, the fans and the city.
Stop right there.
Peyton Manning will celebrate his 36th birthday this weekend knowing his future is secure; not like he had anything to worry about before Tuesday’s announcement that he’d signed a five-year, $96 million deal to play for the Denver Broncos. The combination of his NFL salary and multiple endorsements has made Manning one of the highest paid athletes in history.
Wait … How long? How much? He’s how old?
There was a time when journalists were encouraged to mix fact with fiction. “They were piping, making up quotes or inventing sources,” wrote Roy Peter Clark in the 2007 book Telling True Stories. “(In journalism) when we add a scene that did not occur, or a quote that was never uttered, we cross the line into fiction.”
In the minutes and hours after this week’s episode of This American Life aired on NPR, the media and fans of the show charged their computers and smartphones to share their personal thoughts. All the trust and goodwill, the kind words and positive reviews, Mike Daisey had built around his show “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” started falling apart. By Sunday evening, the scrutiny facing This American Life — who dealt with the editorial errors head on — was redirected at Mike Daisey.
