4um: Indiana promotes manager to, yes, play basketball

Indiana basketball has hit its fair share of lows in 2008-09, one of which came last night when Northwestern beat Indiana in Bloomington for the first time in like 256 years. Maybe not that long. But it had been forever, and that Northwestern finally broke its streak is a testament to just how far the Hoosiers have sunk this year. If you like IU, you may now cry. If you hate IU, you may now cry tears of joy.

Ah, but wait. There's more. What's worse than losing to Northwestern at home? Losing to Northwestern at home immediately after promoting 5-foot-9-inch team manager Mike Santa to play reserve guard. Yes, this is really happening:

Mike Santa, all of 5 feet 9 inches from Huntington, Ind., suited up with the Hoosiers on Wednesday after spending the season prior to last night as a student manager. Santa played as well, logging one game minute. “I didn’t do this as a reward,” Crean said. “It is a special deal to be a manager here. Those guys come out here and they work.”

In any real sense, this is no big deal. The manager, one of the more thankless positions in all of collegiate athletics, gets to say he played basketball at Indiana University, that he logged court time at the same school as Isiah Thomas and Calbert Cheaney. It's a nice little gesture if you're willing to look at it practically.

If you want to make jokes, though, oh, can you make jokes. Start with "The Waterboy" (warning: Sanderlian language) and just work your way down. There's gold in these southern Indiana hills.

That's what they get for succumbing to political correctness and firing one of the best coaches in history.

Note to Pat Knight: When you have the pedigree your father did, temper tantrums are endearing -- even lovable -- to some of your team's fans. When you are 2-10 in Big 12 play, however, tantrums are just annoying. They come off as childish gum-flapping.

Earlier this month, Knight had a nice little on-court tirade, and he followed it up this past Saturday with a technical foul and officiating complaints. He has now received a one-game suspension for said complaints. Apparently, though, he doesn't mind. He said as much after the game in his press conference.

The second time he went after the officials, after being tossed, was off the hook.

Back in the day when a young Darrell Royal was being interviewed for the head coach opening at Tulane U, he called Bear Bryant to ask his thoughts about the job.

Bear told him, 'Son, you never want to coach anywhere that doesn't begin with The_______ .'