This series will run on MONDAYS this year, but since it's Labor Day (and today is a half day, too, btw) we'll run it today to get it started. Again, consult the initial post if you'd like to help us out with this. Gratzi. And...off we go.

ONE:

IU is expected to go 0-8 this year in the big ten but we sure did go undefeated last year in tailgates. Check out this riot at the IU vs ball state game last year. there were full beers, bottles of vodka, literally anything you can find being thrown everywhere and at anyone. People were getting sniped off the tops of cars. Eventaully a line of IUPD just walked directly through and beat or ticketed anyone in there way check out these links on youtube. — Anonymous IU student

TWO:

Freshman year at Auburn University. I had just started drinking heavily, and did so the night before the LSU game. We're out tailgating near the stadium. Not being familiar with the beer shits that follow binge drinking, I attempted a fart. But it came out wet and I notice the beershits trickling out of my shorts. So I make some BS excuse and take off sprinting towards the dorm to change pants. But I run behind a Jeep and directly into the bike rack hanging off the spare tire. I was clotheslined like Bradshaw had ran by and was flat on my back. With shit in my pants. My friends are laughing their ass off, but they still don't know why I was running so hard. It was because I had shit my pants. FAILGATE. Auburn won btw. Thank God I am not superstitious. — ArtieFufkin

THREE:

Tailgaiting one of the games last year in our usual spot, a group of dudes that hated sleeves pulled in next to us. What ensued in the following hours was watching someone drive a tractor trailer through their future. They had managed to fill the bed of their truck with water and were treating it like a kiddie pool, generally sitting with their legs in it and what not. Add in multiple hours of early morning drinking with a severe lack of food and a strong hatred for clothes and it boils over poorly. As the marching band makes their way through the crowd they decide that in font of this spot is the best place to play a rousing tune before heading into the game. The scientist in question takes this as a cue to stand on the top of the cab of the truck, begin dancing and conducting for the crowd. He then proceeds to take his clothes off, piece by piece, throwing them into the crowd. He throws a shoe into the band and gets the cops attention. Standing in almost nothing, he decides to cannonball into the bed filled with water. The people cheer. The cops, do not. They come over and start talking to him telling him to get out of the truck. The band scurries away and the kid climbs back up on the cab. People start chanting jump. He is given a final warning from our blue uniformed friend. In, what I thought at the time was an act of "Fuck it, I already going to get arrested, may as well go out on top", he jumps in again. People cheer. The cops grab him and pull him out. Or attempt to. As he struggles with the officers, he is eventually dragged out of the crowd to the cop car where he is placed in cuffs. Seeing as fighting back is the only logical choice he has, he proceeds to knee one of the cops in the balls and tries to use his wet body to slip away. The police do not care for this. As crowds of people yell "Stop, you're making it worse" and he is finally apprehended and placed in the car, one of his friends approaches me. "Holy shit. He's fucked." I respond with yeah, probably. He retorts, "No, you don't understand, he's in the ROTC." Was. — Jerry D.

FOUR:

I had the pleasure of visiting a friend at UF on a game day weekend. We had been drinking since we had gotten up. We stumped toward the field, but not before coming up to a house party and invited ourselves in. There had to be 200 people crammed in this shithole of a house. After walking in, we found there were no cups. My friend and I went through the cabinets in the kitchen, and only finding tupperware, we decide that was good enough.

Good enough for us, but not for UF alum and Gold Medalist Ryan Lochte. He drank out of a frisbee for the rest of the morning. We ran into him during a signing at the local mall later that year. He was sporting his gold medal, but refused to talk about the frisbee. His handlers then asked us to leave. — Joe D.

FIVE:

I went to the Orange Bowl in 2008, Va. Tech vs. Kansas. Went to a friend's tailgate, drank beers and cocktails for about four hours before the game, and then someone tells us they have a little blow on them. So a few of us get in the front seat of the Suburban just after dark, while the tailgates around us are still wrapping up. We're all doing it except one guy who came with his girlfriend, and is sort of a jerk anyway.

He gets pissed we're doing coke, and some local news crew is wandering the tailgate lot getting a few quick interviews with drunken fans. The jerk calls over the news crew, and tells them we've got a quote for them, and before we know it, an anchorwoman and a camera man (attached to a very bright light, I might add), are standing outside the driver's side window with a light spotlighting three people huddled around an "...And Justice For All" CD case that has about four decent-sized rails carved out on it.

As far as any video evidence goes, it might be in the possession of a local NBC affiliate, but I don't have any to offer. Sorry. — Alex M.

SIX:

Once upon a time, South Florida had the "Miami Hooters", an Arena League franchise which was as well known for having hooters girls running around the arena giving away freebies in the stands as it was for football.

For one of the games they ran a promo in which ticketholders could take a party bus loaded with wings and alcohol from a West Palm Beach Hooters down to the Miami Arena, where the Hooters played. My friends and I happily took up the offer but were about 3/4ths the way down to the Arena when my friend Matt realized the bus had no bathroom and all the alcohol we'd been drinking had finally gotten to him.

Luckily a good samaritan was sitting in front of us and offered up his mostly-empty tequila bottle for Matt to relieve himself into. He does his duty and stashes the bottle under his seat. The drunk fans (everyone) on the bus thinks this is funny and we all have a good laugh about it.

When we get back to the bus after the game, we notice that the bus driver has cleaned out the bus and moved the bottle out onto the curb. At this point I need to tell you that the Miami Arena was built in quite possibly the worst neighborhood of Miami. Panhandlers and crackheads all over the place. So we all pile back into the bus and before we pull out – oh damn - one of the crackhead women is going for the bottle!

Everyone on the curb-side of the bus starts banging their bus window and yelling "don't drink it!". She unscrews the cap on the bottle and takes a whiff, presumably smelling the 10% tequila that's mixed in with the urine. At that point she looks up at us with the expression of someone who just won the lottery and she races down the street as fast as her little crack legs can carry her, thinking she got away with a huge score.— John K.

SEVEN:

Not sure if you could use this or not but its my favorite tailgate picture ever. Taken during the Sabres/Canes Eastern Conference Finals when about 9,000 Buffalonians invaded Raleigh. Most by car so im sure there are 1,000's of stories. — Ed H.

Attention tailgaters. It's a long season so please help us with this project and send along any and all shady stories, ridiculous videos, and photos from your tailgating experiences from this season. Or last season. Or 1952. Just make it funny/sad/gross/shocking. Email to tips@deadspin.com. Subject: FAILgate

No one knows if Knight will attend the festivities on November 6, but now that Myles Brand no longer works in Bloomington anything is possible. His decision to enact a "zero-tolerance" policy on Knight's behavior forced the school to fire the coach after he scolded a student on campus, a move that sent the basketball program into a crazy near-death spiral. (With a nice assist from Kelvin Sampson.) A nice plaque should make up for that.

If there's justice in this universe, Knight will show up, hurl a chair into the audience, then give everyone the 'ol double deuce as he pisses in the punch bowl. Instead, he'll probably be gracious and humble and accept their symbolic apology with some class. Rats.

Indiana to induct Knight into Hall of Fame [AP]

How would things have been different if that shot hadn't gone in with five seconds remaining against Syracuse at the Superdome? "Thankfully I don't have to think about that," Smart told me during practice with the Golden State Warriors recently, where he is an assistant coach. "But I don't think things would have changed much. I think I'd be in pretty much the same position I'm in now. But if you ask my kids, that's a different story."

More with Smart on The Shot, playing for Bobby Knight, and his unique role as the only official "defensive coordinator" in the NBA.

So take us back. How has The Shot changed your life?

I always say that the history of the shot is always chasing me to do things the right way. It's an honor, but it always makes me feel that people are looking up to that moment, and I have to make sure that I do all the right things. I still bump into people all the time who want to talk about. I don't mind. I'll talk about it as much as they want.

The thing I remember most about it was that Knight didn't call a time out before the play. Not that that was unusual.

People say, well you guys didn't call a time out. But that was Knight. We knew what to do in different situations; that all came out in practice. As a coach now I see that sometimes when you call a time out and draw up a play, the player only sees what you show him and doesn't take what the defense is giving. That shot came out of the motion offense, and that's an offense where you learn to take what the defense gives you. Playing at Indiana and playing for coach Knight has given me a tremendous base for basketball.

It went to Thomas first.

Yeah, in to Daryl, and he kicked it to me in the corner. I was just thinking 'I hope it goes in.'

Your kids must be old enough now to appreciate it. How often do they see it?

Especially now, because CBS or ESPN Classic or whatever will show it from time to time. When tournament time rolls around it will be on TV, they'll see it, and of course they'll see the short shorts and they'll see that their dad had hair, and all of that stuff. But it's always fun sitting there and watching their reaction when they see it on TV .Andre is my oldest, and Jared is the youngest. They both play basketball.

Now that you're a coach, what do you see that made Bobby Knight unique?

You couldn't tell if we were a losing team or a championship team. Because he coached it the same way. He didn't look at it like we were a 30-4 team, he coached it like we were a 4-30 team. I enjoyed my time there. I still use the drills as far as defensive principles of where you need to be. People always talk about the line drills and suicides and things; people always think that we ran a lot, but we didn't. We didn't practice a long time either. We went from an hour, maybe an hour and 15 minutes. But it was at a high intensity level. I've been around coaches in different places when you're in the gym for 2½ hours, but there's no focus or intensity with that. With Knight, practices moved from a to b to c, and you were out of there.

Do you still keep in touch? What does he think of your work with the Warriors?

I haven't talked with coach for awhile. I've talked to his son (Pat), but I have not talked to coach. Coach Knight doesn't call you; you call him. If there were ever something I needed, or if I wanted some advice, I'd call him and he'd be right there. He'll do anything for his former players. But while you're playing for him, you don't have a relationship. One big piece of advice he gave me early on was that once you start coaching, you have to fast yourself from playing basketball. Because if you're playing, you think like a basketball player. You only see one or two players removed. But when you're a coach, you have to see the entire picture. So I stopped playing completely when I started coaching. Not a pickup game, nothing. And as I moved through the years, my view of everything started getting much bigger.

What would he do when he got mad?

The big thing was when you got back to the locker room, your bags would be outside. And if he was real mad at you, he'd throw your bag down the hall.

What's the biggest adjustment from college to the NBA? How is the coaching different?

The defensive schemes are a lot different. There's a lot of motion and pick and roll stuff in college, where in the NBA it's a lot of quick hits to your best players right away. So a lot of players don't come into the NBA with that principle. Another thing is that back when I was coming up, you had players who were in college three years or four years or whatever it had been. You develop a toughness for rebounding and getting loose balls with four years of college. Now, players are coming out of college so early that most of their skills are on the offensive side. So you have to work a lot on defense. A senior in college very seldom gets caught on a screen. He gets over it or under it. A freshman, a sophomore, will hit a screen and say ‘Oh, I need help!' So that's what you learn with four years of college; getting to places before you need to be there.

Is defense a lost art?

Yeah. Because every guy wants to have fun. They want to have fun on the break with the wide open dunk. But if you don't have stops on defense that create those situations, you're lost. I was always taught that rebounding is the most important thing. The good teams rebound. If you're not rebounding, you're constantly playing fast, trying to catch up. When the shot goes up, if you don't get the rebound, your defense meant nothing. And you have to get the loose basketballs. So the art of teaching defense is really teaching hard work.

This has been a tough season for you.

Not really, because I'm learning a lot, and the players have bought into what we're trying to do. It's just that to be successful, you have to have the talent. And you have to stay healthy. That's been the big thing.

The Warriors are probably the only team that has two huddles during a time out. Don Nelson talks, and then the players huddle around you to hear about the defense. What's been the reaction to that?

I tell you, I have friends around the league who text me from time to time saying "Man, that is something else, we've never seen that. It takes a coach with an incredible amount of confidence to be able to do that. He'll just come to a game and say ‘You got your plan?' And we go on from there. And I want to be perfect for him. He trusts me so much, that I don't want to let him down. I think it's something that may catch on. Because you see a lot of coaches that work strictly with the defense. But nothing's like this situation right here. It's direct now. If there's a timeout and the players have a question about the defense, right away they come to me. It frees you up. So he's created something that's incredible. None of us had ever thought this way in basketball. It's gone beyond what I thought it could possibly be.

You make all the defensive calls?

Coach has told me if I need to take a player out of the game, I take him out of the game. It's not a problem. So I give the player three strikes. We had a situation a couple of nights ago, Cory missed an assignment. During the time out I told him, Cory, you've got one strike. The veteran guys have bought into it, and we've gone that way. And we haven't made it to three strikes yet. You have to hand it to coach Nelson. I can't think of another NBA coach who would be secure enough with himself to allow something like that.

Do you coach your sons? Who are their favorite players?

I don't coach my kids at all. I'm simply dad. Andre loves Jason Kidd. He gets more excited about making a pass than anything. He'll come home and say dad, I made 12 assists last night. Jared is a big Steve Nash fan. He got an opportunity to meet Kevin Garnett, and really likes him too. I just want them to have fun playing, and whatever happens with their career happens.

What do you tell your team when you're playing Kobe?

Sometimes there's nothing you can do. When he wants to turn it on and go, you can forget what you're trying to do. Those guys are so good, that sometimes you say that they're just bleeping with the game. They'll let you have fun playing with them, but they'll look at the score and say OK, we're up by six, let me turn it up a notch. Those guys, Dwyane Wade, they have the ability to allow their teammates to get involved. The key is to hold every player to his average. Don't allow other guys with a low average to have a great game.

Tell me something about Knight that may surprise people.

One of the first days I was there, I went to the dining hall. We had all of the African American players sitting at one table, all of the white players sitting at another table. Nothing big, but we knew that that wasn't how he looked at things. He told us that he didn't want to see that again. You know you don't think anything of it; right away I gravitated toward Darrell Thomas, Rick Calloway, Dean Garrett, and we were all sitting at one table. We didn't think anything of it. But you started to see that he didn't want it that way ; he wanted us all together. I didn't have the same roommate twice in a row. We rotated. He saw things differently. He and coach Nelson, their thinking is just different. I've had the opportunity to play for one who's the all-time winning college coach, and working for one who will probably be that in the pros. I am really lucky.

Then I could have broken down exactly what I meant yesterday about how the Hoosiers aren't going to be hanging any more championship banners at Assembly Hall anytime soon. This video, circa 1985, produced by the fine folks at Kartes Video Communications Inc., was purchased by me at a sporting goods store in Indianapolis in 1987. A year hasn't gone by where I haven't referred to it at least once.

That's because Knight on the video doesn't so much show you how to coach the game, but rather how to watch it. How the real beauty of it all isn't the guy shooting, but rather the six passes and three screens it took to get him open. Knight asks you to appreciate filling the lane, spreading the floor, blocking out, setting a proper screen, throwing a proper pass and getting back on defense. It's about the sublime artistry of footwork, and moving without the ball. And of how depending on each other is everything, and playing for yourself is a dead end.

And yes, there's a section on taking the charge. I happen to be good at that; I had plenty of practice yesterday with many of you. I can stand your brickbats and epithets, and the knowledge that many of you Hoosier fans would shoot me if you could. But I know that they would be gentle bullets; bullets of love.

But before getting into the specifics of that, let me get into this.

In the aforementioned 1985, I was a rookie reporter at the Peninsula Times-Tribune in Palo Alto, Calif. Our sports editor, jokester that he is, decided that one of my first assignments would be to go to Rickey's Hyatt House hotel and interview Indiana coach Bobby Knight. I knew little about Knight, so yeah, why not?

So I show up at Rickey's and listen to Knight speak at the coaches clinic there; one of the other speakers was Jim Valvano, as I recall. I had just started coaching a sixth grade school basketball team at the time, so I figured I'd get some pointers as well. While Valvano and the other coaches talked of recruiting and TV and tournament victories, Knight actually talked about the game. He talked of how to set a screen, of defensive drills (help and recover!, I furiously wrote on my pad), and blocking out.

Afterward, as he walked down the hall toward the parking lot, I intercepted him. "Um, coach Knight, could I ask you a few questions?" Of course I found out later that that wasn't the way to obtain an interview with Bobby Knight; by all rights I should have been crowned with a nearby waste basket. But he stopped, and said, "Ok."

We talked for about 20 minutes, all the questions I had. I went back to the office and reported that I had gotten the interview. "What?" the sports editor asked, befuddled. "You're kidding."

So that started my love affair with Indiana basketball. In 1987 I made the trip to Bloomington, to watch a few games in the state high school tournament, and to catch a game at Assembly Hall, against Iowa and coach Tom Davis. (15 bounce passes per possession! Not one of them more than six inches off the floor!). That trip proved to be a harmonic convergence of Indiana basketball. Not only did the Hoosiers win the national title that season (their last one), but I got to see Damon Bailey play in the semifinals of the state playoffs at Bedford North-Lawrence High.

Two things stand out for me from that game: How the Bedford gym was bigger than most small college gyms in California, and how, in the third quarter, Bailey took a spill and looked like he might have broken his ankle. I've never seen a place that held so many people go so completely quiet all at once. It was as if someone had announced that Kennedy had been shot. But Bailey bounced up, finished the game, and of course went on to play for Knight four years later.

That was also the year that the movie Hoosiers came out, which I saw on its opening night in an ancient downtown Bloomington theater — also packed — as everyone cheered the montage scene where all of names of the Indiana towns went by.

Not shown in the photo above: Other Hoosiers memorabilia, such as my J. Edgar Hoosiers matchbook, Indiana key chain that plays Indiana, Our Indiana (it still works), Assembly Hall ticket stub, and Bobby Knight autographed photo. I made the Indiana trip every year after that until 1995. I've meant to return, but Knight's gone now, the state high school tournament is split into divisions (blasphemy), and hell, it's just so hard to get away.

What was the question? Oh, yeah. I've been to Bloomington.

On your next point, how Crean has this great freshman class coming in; I'll give you that. Should have mentioned it. And Indiana will improve next season. But that doesn't change the main theme; that Indiana basketball as you have known it is gone, probably forever. In terms of wins and losses, we've reached the end of an era. Oh, Bloomington will still be a great basketball town, but what I mean by basketball backwater is that the Hoosiers will always take a back seat to Duke and North Carolina and UCLA and even Wake Forest and UConn. They're no longer special. Email me the next time Indiana reaches the Elite Eight. I'll be waiting.

This has nothing to do with the beauty of the campus and the community, which many of you have cited in emails. Um, what? San Jose State has a nice campus, too, but they're not beating Pitt.

No, that magical, John Feinsteinian year of 1987 is gone forever, and not Tom Crean nor the return of Steve Alford or Norman Dale himself is bringing it back. Knight lifted the program by the weight of his genius. Yeah, he had blue chippers, but the bulk of his rosters were always populated by JC transfers (Keith Smart, Dean Garrett) and local kids (Bailey, Joe Hillman, Alford) which he took and beat the likes of Syracuse and Shaquille O'Neal's LSU in the Big Dance. Sure, you'll continue to pack Assembly Hall, but do you think that success is coming back?

I've talked to Knight a handful of times since meeting him that day in 1985. Once I asked him why he gave me that interview. "Because," he said, "I saw the stuff you were writing down. Out of all the reporters there, you were the only one interested in things that matter."

So if I'm wrong about Crean and Indiana, I'll be the first to say so, and the Hoosier Reds will be on me. But be aware that you're in my wheelhouse on this one. I've been watching the situation for more than 20 years. And I've been taking notes.

With their 65-52 loss to Illinois on Sunday, the Hooisers fell to 6-18 overall, 1-11 in the Big Ten, both school records for losses in a season. Yes, Indiana has bypassed rock bottom, and found a whole new, heretofore undiscovered bottom beneath that.

Indiana was without leading scorer Devan Dumes for the second straight game. The junior guard, who is averaging 13.8 points per game, was suspended indefinitely by head coach Tom Crean for unacceptable behavior in the Hoosier's loss at Michigan State on February 7.

And here we have a clue. There was a time when a previous red-sweatered coach wouldn't have waited until mid-February to iron out the personality wrinkles in his best offensive player. It would have been no later than Nov. 1 that Mr. Dumes would have either been a.) Walking back to campus from somewhere in Iowa; b.) "grip tightening around neck *choke!* ... can't breathe ..." or c.) playing for Ohio State.

For those waiting for a resurgence in Indiana basketball: It ain't going to happen anytime soon. The system's not designed for sleepy backwaters like Bloomington, Indiana, to have powerhouse teams in the revenue sports unless there's a great coach to draw them in, or a coach who's willing to play fast and loose with recruiting rules. Indiana had the latter with Kelvin Sampson, and they're still looking for the former. Tom Crean — even though he hasn't really had a chance to prove what he can do with his own players — isn't the answer. Have you been to Bloomington? What multi-talented player is going to go there to play for Tom Crean?

And when you think about it, where is the next generation of great coaches? Where is the next Dean Smith or Pete Carril? Because I don't see him. But then, I'm out here mainly looking at the Pac-10.

Welcome To Indiana Basketball [Josh Q. Public]
Illinois Fends Off Indiana [The Sports Network]

Gordon returns to play a game in his home state on Friday for the first time since he played for Indiana as a freshman last season, when he led the Big Ten in scoring and helped the Hoosiers to a 17-1 start. But the team finished the season 8-7, including one-and-out losses in the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments. Head coach Kelvin Sampson was forced out in February, eventually accepting a $750,000 buyout.

The whole season was a house of cards from the beginning, says Gordon, who now plays for the Los Angeles Clippers.

"It was the guys that were doing drugs that were separate," Gordon told The Indianapolis Star. "Sometimes it felt like it wasn't even a real basketball team because of all the turmoil that went on. I was just thinking about that the other day. It was so crazy that all that stuff threw off a good season and made it a waste, basically.

"It was really tough for us to be around each other all the time off the court because we were so separate."

Gordon didn't say which players used drugs, but he said D.J. White and two others still on the team were among those who did not. Attempts to reach White and several other former players were not successful.

Gordon said Sampson "tried to stop it," but the coach "was just so focused on basketball and winning and everything."

Gordon himself could be immature at times; that's something I've noticed just by watching him play. (Why not jack up another 3-pointer four feet behind the line? Oh, and cutting to the basket and setting screens to get others open is for suckers). And according to one blogger who attended IU last year, Gordon was somewhat notorious for missing class. AJ Shea, from Bleacher Report:

Yes, I actually attend IU and had plenty of friends who had classes with Gordon and said he would rarely show up.

So Gordon is presumably saying that the drug use didn't involve him; even though his scoring and field goal percentage numbers went into dramatic freefall during the second half of the season.

It didn't take long for things to go to hell once Bobby Knight was removed, eh? Can you imagine something like this happening while he was in charge? He may have been a dictator, but players went to class and the trains ran on time.

Now We Know Why IU Was Recruiting Bud Mackey: His Stash [Rush The Court]
Gordon: Drug Use Wrecked IU Season [Indianapolis Star]

East Coast Bias has the same thought we do: Why is the Indiana job so attractive?

Indiana could lose all 5 of their regular starters from last year, as two seniors graduate, two starters were dismissed from the team this week, and Freshman Eric Gordon could bolt for the NBA. At this point, the Hoosiers program is clearly a rebuilding job, while Marquette seems to be on the cusp of something bigger.

By the way, we're pretty certain Kelvin Sampson is gonna pull a Todd Bozeman and coach, like, Stephen F. Austin in a couple years, bring them to the tournament, get promoted to a mid-major job, then to BCS school, and then this whole process will repeat itself.

Oh, and Crean has the greatest endorsement possible:

"He's got a brilliant basketball mind — definitely a good hire for Indiana — I was very vocal about Dan [Dakich] getting the job, but Tom is definitely qualified and will do an excellent job at Indiana," Knicks coach Isiah Thomas said before his game in Milwaukee on Tuesday. "Any way that I can help him, I definitely will."

What could possibly go wrong?

Is Indiana Really A Step Up From Marquette? [East Coast Bias]

INDIANA HOOSIERS

1. Dan Dakich is a savvy fellow. The Hoosiers' interim head coach is part of a new trend for interim coaches: Being vastly overqualified. (Kevin O'Neill at Arizona also qualifies here.) Dakich was formerly the coach at Bowling Green before serving as West Virginia coach for one week. He left because he got spooked about potential recruiting violations that could hinder his time there, and ultimately came back to Indiana, because Indiana would never, ever be involved in recruiting violations. Within four months of his arrival, Kelvin Sampson was gone and Dakich was the temp coach.

2. F— Eric Gordon? The Hoosiers' overtime victory over Illinois in Champaign was a personal highlight for our family. Hearing the "fuck Eric Gordon" chants on television, we called our father and asked if he heard the people yelling the chants. "Heard 'em? I'm one of 'em!" Illinois athletic director Ron Guenther apologizes for the Illini fans, but we're not sure why that's necessary. If you're actively taunting a guy's family, then yes: You're an asshole. But is there really something wrong with screaming, "Fuck Eric Gordon!" at the top of your lungs? Isn't that one of the rewards of being a sports fan, something that comes with the price of the ticket? Gordon might not deserve the jeers, but shouldn't the fans have the right? We say yes.

3. Enjoy this while you can. As exciting a player as Gordon is, Indiana pretty much needs to win a national championship to make his recruitment worth the trouble. To get Gordon, Indiana had to bring in Sampson, who brought with him shady recruitment techniques that are going to cost the school with the NCAA in the next few months, and over the next few years. Gordon, however, will be long gone by that point, sure to be one of the top 10 picks in the NBA draft next season. But his aftereffects will be around for years. So they better win it all now. Otherwise ... heck, one might end up being better off with Demetri McCamey. — Will Leitch

ARKANSAS RAZORBACKS

1. Record Breaker. New coach John Pelphrey set the record for most wins by a first year head coach at Arkansas with 20 when the Hogs beat Auburn at home to finish the regular season. That isn't a minor feat when you realize two of the best coaches in history coached at Arkansas, Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson. They had 17 and 12 wins in their first seasons, respectively. The record was held by Eugene Lambert who led his first team to a 19-7 record during the 1942-43 season. Pelphrey also broke the 100-win barrier with that victory.

2. Road Woes. The Razorbacks squad can't seem to find their groove away from Fayetteville this season. They are 4-9 when playing outside of Fayetteville. But when at Bud Walton Arena the team is 16-1. These stats include a loss in Little Rock to Appalachian St. at Alltel Arena.

3. A Tumultuous Year. In the span of 12 months the University of Arkansas pretty much turned over the entire leadership of the Athletic Department. Frank Broyles, Athletic Director retired after 50 years in Fayetteville. He was replaced with former Pittsburgh AD Jeff Long. Broyles fired Basketball Coach Stan Heath in March of last year and hired John Pelphrey. Then in December, football coach Houston Nutt left and Long replaced him with Bobby Petrino. — Hawg Blog

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2. F— Eric Gordon? The Hoosiers' overtime victory over Illinois in Champaign was a personal highlight for our family. Hearing the "fuck Eric Gordon" chants on television, we called our father and asked if he heard the people yelling the chants. "Heard 'em? I'm one of 'em!" Illinois athletic director Ron Guenther apologizes for the Illini fans, but we're not sure why that's necessary. If you're actively taunting a guy's family, then yes: You're an asshole. But is there really something wrong with screaming, "Fuck Eric Gordon!" at the top of your lungs? Isn't that one of the rewards of being a sports fan, something that comes with the price of the ticket? Gordon might not deserve the jeers, but shouldn't the fans have the right? We say yes.

3. Enjoy this while you can. As exciting a player as Gordon is, Indiana pretty much needs to win a national championship to make his recruitment worth the trouble. To get Gordon, Indiana had to bring in Sampson, who brought with him shady recruitment techniques that are going to cost the school with the NCAA in the next few months, and over the next few years. Gordon, however, will be long gone by that point, sure to be one of the top 10 picks in the NBA draft next season. But his aftereffects will be around for years. So they better win it all now. Otherwise ... heck, one might end up being better off with Demetri McCamey. — Will Leitch

In 2005, during a high school state championship game, Hoffarber heaved a shot (while lying on his back) on the perimeter to tie the game and force double overtime. His team went onto win the state title, and he would win an ESPY in 2005 for Best Play.

And now, for both shots:

When Hoffarber plays Mario Kart, he doesn't need any goddamn red shells. Green ones, baby. Green.

In fact, there are murmurs that the US Navy tapped Hoffarber to shoot down that spy satellite using a sling and pebble. And while we never did find out who this kid was, we can only assume he was the little boy who heaved that thing down the court. Or perhaps he was the little boy who got clocked ... and that inspired him to dedicate his life toward the preservation and advancement of goofy-ass game-winning shots.

Hoffarber Nails Game Winner - Again! [The Love Of Sports]

Aside — Dear Indiana coach Dan Dakich:

Never forget your roots of failure.

Lovingly,
—Suss

According to the sources, after Greenspan informed five selected players — namely D.J. White, Eric Gordon, Kyle Taber, Lance Stemler and Adam Ahlfeld — of his decision to replace Sampson he called a meeting with the entire team in an attempt to "prepare" them for Friday's official announcement that Sampson would either be suspended or terminated in time for the Hoosiers' weekend game at Northwestern. But before Greenspan finished his speech, the sources said an unidentified player stood up and insisted "if Sampson ain't coaching, we ain't playing" and that Greenspan responded with what he thought was a rhetorical question. "Greenspan asked if he should just cancel the whole season," one source said. "And the player told him 'We don't care what you do. But if Sampson ain't coaching, we ain't playing.' And then they just walked out."

CBS is saying that Indiana wanted Sampson to resign, and that he refused, figuring to sue the school for breach of his five-year contract. I can't imagine that Indiana is going to be persuaded by that threat; after all, the school was also sued by Bobby Knight. Think Sampson is going to scare them after that?

Only one thing is certain: When all is said and done here, everyone loses. The NCAA is going to bomb Indiana back to the stone age for Sampson's recruiting violations; the players are going to lose out on tournament competition, possibly transferring anyway; likely interim head coach Dan Dakich is going to inherit a mess; and my NCAA Tournament brackets are now even more doomed than usual.

Sources: Several Hoosiers Threaten To Quit If Sampson Fired [CBS Sportsline]
Wheels Turning On Sampson Decision [The Hoosier Scoop]

Remember Bob Knight's infamous furious speech in which he gets his Berman on? Well, it turns out, it might have been recorded by Frank.

Lawrence Frank is a prime suspect. The New Jersey Nets coach couldn't be reached, but he was a basketball manager at IU then and was in the room. "Lawrence Frank definitely could have done something like this," Leary said. "There was never a manager that was more full of (it) than he was. He would take us to fraternity parties on campus and just walk us all in — and it wasn't even his fraternity. He was just as full of (it) as they came."

Seriously, just to kick off your day right:

They threatened to kick him out of the game and, ultimately, arrest; he finally just took the thing off, which is scary enough, actually. Our favorite part about this is the shirt itself; he clearly put a ton of time and effort into it. Have to respect that.

No Bring Back Bobby T-Shirt For You [Inside The Hall]

In an awful, grueling season, every Illini fan told themselves going in: If they could beat Eric Gordon and that slimy Kelvin Sampson, the whole season would be worthwhile. Even the players felt that way; Illini point guard Chester Frazier's aggressive pregame bump on Gordon was completely classless and totally awesome. That it went two overtimes, and was lost on the old Illini saw of miss free throws, is just fitting; it might as well be as painful as possible.

Gordon's surely going to the NBA next year, and Sampson, being slimy, may have gotten himself and his school in trouble anyway, trouble that may come to roost in the next couple of years. So Illinois will likely not have the chance to boo Gordon all game again. It might be time to move on. Still sucks. At least our March will be more relaxed this year.

Heartache Find A Home With Illini [Decatur Herald And Review]

We've quoted this before, but it bears repeating. In his book "To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever" - which is about hating Duke - author Will Blythe quotes from a work by 19th-century essayist William Hazlitt called "On The Pleasure Of Hating."

Nature seems made of antipathies. Without something to hate, we should lose the very spring of thought and action. ... Pure good soon grows insipid, wants variety and spirit. Pain is a bittersweet, which never surfeits. Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust: Hatred alone is immortal.

Any growing young sports fan needs someone to hate. The Red Sox have Jeter and A-Rod. Eagles fans have Terrell Owens. North Carolina has Coach K. And we, growing up, had Bob Knight. To us, Bob Knight wasn't just an angry man coaching our rival basketball school; he was the personification of fire-breathing rage, the uncontrollable monster who, some day, we all suspected, would finally flip out, attack a referee and destroy everything he had built.

Yet you still were both in awe of him, and you respected him. For a 10-year-old kid, this red-faced, floor-stomping, snorting wildebeest almost served as a father figure, the nightmare authoritarian figure always waiting for you, if you deigned to screw up. (It didn't help that, when our dad would get mad at us, he'd have the the similar red-faced nostril flare that Knight did. This was not something that would have been wise to mention to our father at the age of 10.) Bob Knight was that little self-flagellating part of you that was ready to pounce if you made a mistake; he was an authoritarian who was constantly in our heads. We can't imagine what it must have been like to actually play for him; we were terrified of him, and we displaced our terror with the more acceptable fan hatred.

In the later stages, at the end of the Texas Tech run, it was actually kind of sad to see Knight so sedate; age finally got to him. That's probably for the best; we're pleased he retired before finally attacking that ref after all.

Bob Knight was one of those grand figures that only sports can give us. In the real world, his antics would never be tolerated; in sports, as long as he won, he could stomp and curse all he wants. College basketball seems a little emptier already without him in it. Also: A little safer.

Oh, and yes: We did finally stand up and ask Coach Knight a question, at a postgame press conference after the Hoosiers had beaten the Illini. We don't remember what we asked, but Knight looked us up and down, paused for a moment and went quiet. Then he exhaled and, calmly, answered the question. We don't know if that made us a real sports journalist or not, but we will say this: We were relieved he was not mad at us. Even as a senior in college, we were terrified of him. We kind of still are. We'll probably miss that.