Slapped silly

I'm no fan of basketball coach Bobby Knight.
He was a Neanderthal and a bully at Indiana and he's a Neanderthal and a bully at Texas Tech.
You can change his XXL V-neck sweater from Hoosier red to Raider black, but you can't change who he is on the inside.
He's done plenty of juvenile things over the years, abusive acts worthy of censure, from throwing a chair to making an inappropriate comment about rape to kicking his own son to choking a player to grabbing a student who smarted off to him.
So it comes at no surprise that TV cameras and writer's tape recorders are poised at the ready to catch his next volcanic meltdown.
This week, he's catching heat for allegedly slapping a Texas Tech player during Monday's home game against Gardner-Webb. As the players gathered around Knight during a time out, the coach saw the attention span of player Michael Prince wandering. Prince dropped his head, losing eye contact with his coach and Knight lightly tapped him beneath his chin to regain his attention.
Because it was caught on camera, it's now the Slap Seen Around the World.
This thing has been played and replayed ad nauseum on ESPN.
Never mind that the player in question and his parents have no problem with what Knight did. Never mind that the supposed slap was more of a tap.
The incident is suddenly being treated as yet another example of Knight's rage uncaged.
I don't like Knight and don't like feeling the compulsion to defend him.
In this case, however, Knight is being penalized for his past.
He really didn't do anything all that wrong in this case, but it's a near certainty that he will do something abusive and utterly stupid in the future.
So save the outrage until then.