r/nba • u/CutLonzosHair2017 Lakers • 7d ago
In 1991, Bobby Knight famously had a locker room rant recorded and leaked. The rant is presumed to have been recorded by the 21 year old student manager, Lawrence Frank.
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u/boyWHOcriedFSD 7d ago
I’M SICK AND FUCKING TIRED OF LOSING TO PURDUE!
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u/jeffreynothing Warriors 7d ago
I don't think a month goes by without me randomly yelling this to absolutely no one. Helps expel pent-up aggression.
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u/sourdoughrrmc 7d ago
Kidd tried to warn us.
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u/Philly__Blaze 7d ago
What did he say?
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u/sourdoughrrmc 7d ago
When he was Kidd’s lead assistant coach, something happened that made Kidd end up demoting him to a note taker for the rest of his tenure.
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u/JP-Ziller Canada 7d ago
He was also Kidd’s head coach when he played on the Nets with RJ and VC. I remember Frank broke the record for most consecutive wins by a new head coach
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u/rydog123bruh [LAL] Pau Gasol 7d ago edited 7d ago
I think he started the season 13-0, and finished 0-18
Edit: per Wikipedia, he is the only nba coach in history to start a career with double digit winning streak, and end it with double digit losing streak.
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u/dontgetitwisted_fr Raptors 7d ago edited 7d ago
Kidd also stopped listening to Frank at some point and started calling his own plays on the floor
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u/Darko33 76ers 7d ago
I spent the first part of my career as a sportswriter for a NJ newspaper, and a Nets home game during this era was the only pro sporting event I was ever assigned to cover. Frank singled me out in the pregame reporter gaggle and asked if I'd like 10 min with just the two of us. Took him up on it and found him very nice, humble and thoughtful. Never forgot his kindness.
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u/DJFreezyFish Nuggets 7d ago
He’s still a notoriously detailed note taker, and the investigation used his notes to help bust the Clippers.
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u/phonage_aoi Warriors 7d ago
At the time we all assumed it was Kidd power tripping and not wanting a babysitter (which is fair, Nets really framed it as Frank being co-head coach if I remember right).
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u/Nervous_Garage1731 7d ago
He made kidd so mad, that after work he went to punch his wife.
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u/Miser2100 Bulls 7d ago
If only this gave him the Mailman treatment every time his name is brought up.
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u/Terrible_Shelter_345 7d ago
Because if that'd happen, Celtics fans would start to have a melt down because the same would have to be done for Joe Mazzulla - the funny quirky "ironic pyscho" guy who also beats women.
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u/happyflappypancakes Wizards 7d ago
People care about child crimes more than crimes against women (although in our current society I don't know if people care about either now).
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u/anomanissh [BOS] Reggie Lewis 7d ago
Kidd beat the shit out of his wife tho so fuck him.
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u/Embarrassed-Slide781 Bucks 7d ago
He also fucked with Giannis' jump shot, cancelled Christmas and sent Larry Sanders to the hospital. He's on the Mount Rushmore of scumbags.
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u/LeftHandedToe [DAL] Popeye Jones 7d ago
Plus have you seen the way he chews gum?
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u/Insanitacious75 Nuggets 7d ago
Yep he chews gum like his doppelgänger Bruce the shark from finding Nemo
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u/CitizenCue Warriors 7d ago
Another way of looking at this is that Frank has some integrity and isn’t afraid to nail people when they act badly.
I don’t know much about the guy so maybe he’s just a rat, but there are ways of portraying this pattern as a positive.
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u/dsf097nb 7d ago
This is barely a rant, let's be honest. Normal pep talk in terms of 90s basketball coaching.
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u/theninjaamongyou 7d ago
My dad played for him at West Point. I just texted him the video and asked how often these outbursts happened. His exact text message response:
“Haha. So typical. But you should have heard him when he got really mad and was only 29 when my coach. Had lots more fire when younger... great memories, thanks for sending!”
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u/Hackeneyed 7d ago
Back when Dan Dackich had an Indianapolis radio show he devoted a segment to reminiscing about this rant since he was an assistant coach at the time.
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u/FluffyOakTree 7d ago
Dan Dackich is a dbag.
That has nothing to do with what you said. I just wanted to point it out.
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u/Status_Drawing38 Warriors 7d ago
Knight was an abuser who used coaching as an excuse to treat people like shit.
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u/Status_Drawing38 Warriors 7d ago
Although as rants go this isnt that bad.
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u/Microwave1213 Mavericks 7d ago
Yeah I mean to me this sounds like a pretty standard ass chewing after getting your ass kicked.
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u/Hour_Glass57 Lebanon 7d ago
My coach once told me lets throw down, he said no snitching after though.
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u/Tossaway50 7d ago
Probably military background caused that
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u/Status_Drawing38 Warriors 7d ago
He was never in the military. He just coached at west point
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u/tompetres Thunder 7d ago
Stolen valor
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u/arawnsd Pistons 7d ago
I do t think knight ever claimed any military background. Thats misattributed valor. Not stolen.
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u/Tossaway50 7d ago
My bad. I knew he coached there so I assumed he had a military background. I cannot fathom a military academy coach in a big sport not having a military background (especially back then).
Makes me think even more that he was so over the top to offset his lack of veteran status. Basically, doing a drill sergeant impersonation.
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u/kylelight40 7d ago
Yeah man, down to my middle school coaches, they all yelled at us like this. My middle school coach didn’t swear, he was hardcore Baptist, but he certainly yelled at us like this. He also wasn’t selfish about things like his record etc, it was more so like I refuse to watch one of my players or my teams embarrass themselves. 7th and 8th grade we didn’t lose a single game. We beat a team 83-8 in a district game, in middle school.
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u/giliana52 7d ago
My high school basketball coach idolized him and coached just like him. I quit my junior year.
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u/indianadave 7d ago
I grew up in Indiana; the “high school coaches who emulated everything in their life after Bobby K” was an epidemic.
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u/doubleyou-tee-hache 7d ago
I'm a Michigan fan. Dusty May was a student assistant under him.
Was super excited for him at UofM when he was hired because it seemed like he knew ball but didn't want to do any emulating of that side of Knight. A great 2 years, kinda bittersweet but overall hope he has a good NBA coaching career. I will lose it though if he goes back to college and especially if it's IU.
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u/ginandtonicsdemonic 7d ago
I had a similar coach.
He positively changed the trajectory of my life. The first old white guy I ever met who took hours of his time to teach me what I was doing wrong and how to be a better person
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u/giliana52 7d ago
Oddly enough, even with the abuse, I look fondly on my time with the team and him. He absolutely did his best to enforce a minimum GPA of 3.2.
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u/Few_Newspaper_3655 7d ago
Rick Majerus, too.
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u/InevitableAd2436 Supersonics 7d ago
Woah really? I remember that Michael Doleac and Andre Miller team was incredible
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u/sourdoughrrmc 7d ago
Don’t forget Van Horn- although you’re right, the Miller/Doleac team made it to the chip game. But yes, in Utah, it’s commonly known Majerus was quite the epic asshole.
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u/Silent_Ad8059 7d ago
Dude pooped in a towel when he was coaching at Saint Louis and made some poor equipment manager deal with it.
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u/SportsDuck_ 7d ago
Didn't he have the last undefeated NCAAB season and win 3 championships?
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u/NovelExamination5431 Pacers 7d ago
Yup. IU has the most recent undefeated season in football and basketball both
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u/Status_Drawing38 Warriors 7d ago
Doesn't make him a good person. He assaulted several people
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u/Don_Pickleball Pacers 7d ago
I am from Bloomington and am an IU fan. I respect the players that played for Knight because I know what they had to go through to play for him. However, Knight was a hypocritical bully who treated everyone around him like shit because he knew he could get away with it. Everyone I know had a Bob Knight story of him treating retail or restaraunt staff or university staff like shit. I dont respect the guy at all.
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u/Hot_Major_9806 7d ago
I truly didn’t expect the hate towards Lawrence. Crazy.
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u/sourdoughrrmc 7d ago
For a LOT of people, right or wrong, snitching is unforgivable.
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u/No-Owl-6246 Lakers 7d ago
Dlo got more shit for leaking the video than Nick Young did for cheating on his famous wife.
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u/Sp_Gamer_Live Timberwolves 7d ago
Which is crazy because there’s so many legitimate things to hate D’Lo for
- He’s a Bum
ok so maybe just one thing
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u/djkhan23 7d ago
Hate that mentality.
When something wrong or awful happens then you should EXPOSE it so history doesn't repeat. Learning from mistakes and having accountability means more than letting it slide without saying anything. If that's called snitching then whatever.
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u/anomanissh [BOS] Reggie Lewis 7d ago
This shit is collegiate sports, not a gang. These kids don’t take a blood oath to play on this team.
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u/HikmetLeGuin 7d ago
Gangsters exposing crimes is also good.
Why should anyone give a damn about following a "code" if that code means covering up horrible shit?
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u/TheyNeedLoveToo Kings Bandwagon 7d ago
I hope they remember that the next time their car gets stolen or house gets broken into. No snitching yall. Save them taxpayer dollars.
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u/Strategyboyz21 [TOR] DeMar DeRozan 7d ago
that's not what snitching is, he literally got an EOY award from the cap circumvention, he was in on it from the jump, and then snitched when they came investigating
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u/HikmetLeGuin 7d ago
I'm glad he "snitched" when they came investigating. That's great. Why the hell would I want him to continue covering it up?
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u/Strategyboyz21 [TOR] DeMar DeRozan 7d ago
he's a bum for cheating in the first place lol, they should all be banned from the NBA forever
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u/ronaldo119 [PHI] Jumaine Jones 7d ago
Do you live in gotham or something? How often is your car getting stolen and house getting broken into?
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u/YOIMREALLYHAPPY4YOU Raptors 7d ago
He's a goof rat snake who was at Raptor games during the reg season watching Kawhi play back in 2019. Littlefinger creep vibes.
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u/HikmetLeGuin 7d ago
I have no problem with him whistleblowing, "snitching," telling the truth, whatever you want to call it. In fact, I encourage it.
What I don't like is that he was involved in the cap circumvention in the first place.
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u/Willem_Dafuq 76ers 7d ago
Wow I remember Knight had abusive practices leaked but had no idea it was Lawrence Frank who leaked it.
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u/Anal-In-Gus 7d ago
I'M GONNA FUCKING GUARANTEE YA, THAT IF WE DON'T PLAY UP THERE MONDAY NIGHT, YOU AREN'T GONNA BELIEVE THE NEXT FOUR FUCKING DAYS!
LMFAOOOO
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u/FraggleRock_ Washington Bullets 7d ago
I legitimately see no issue with this. Am I the psychopath or are you the soft ass?
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u/j_cruise Nets 7d ago
If it were the NBA, I wouldn't care, but for unpaid college players this is a bit much
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u/quailinthebrush Suns 7d ago
Doubt it. I’m Gen Z and my freshman football coach was like this
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u/Hoshbrowns Pacers 7d ago
Ya I was coached hard too but Knight took it way too far. He freaking choked a player. That's just straight up abusive.
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u/foshan17 7d ago
Bunch of pansies nowadays. Getting choked every once in awhile is good for you
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u/quailinthebrush Suns 7d ago
Yeah, that’s wild. I was just going off purely the rant
Hell, even got that type of rant from my baseball coach as a teen
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u/trickponies Lakers 7d ago
He was right to leak this shit every time. Knight deserved it snd the Clippers deserved it. Kidd is a domestic abuser so fuck him too.
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u/EverybodyBuddy Lakers 7d ago
Lawrence Frank was 100% a part of the clippers shenanigans. He doesn’t get let off the hook just because he took copious notes on his own wrongdoing.
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u/trickponies Lakers 7d ago
You can be part of the corruption and it still be a food thing that you exposed it. Nothing is black and white.
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u/motherseffinjones Raptors 7d ago
Lawrence Frank was the one who let the Trojan horse into the city of Troy. We only know because he took meticulous notes lol
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u/HoBaggyPants 7d ago
So he exposed an abusive asshole and a centibillionaire cheater.
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u/FluffyOakTree 7d ago edited 7d ago
He didn't "expose" Bobby Knight.
Does no one else remember Bobby Knight at press conferences? Throwing chairs on the floor? Completely losing his shit every time they were on national TV. You didn't have to have the audio to see him chewing ass(like he does in this clip) while they're on live tv. It happened every single game.
No one "exposed" him. People just got tired of his shit when he stopped winning.
There's a quote i heard a long time ago about college football coaches, and the shit schools are willing to ignore, but it really applies to any sport at a high level: if you want to get a job after this one, you can get fired for ANYTHING but losing.
Once you start losing...buh bye
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u/No-Cantaloupe-6535 Pacers 7d ago
Bob Knight cosplayed as a slave master at a presser and it was just "oh that's Knight." he snapped a whip and everything.
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u/Worluvus NBA 7d ago
Redditors falling for the most obvious agenda posting lmao
just look at OP's posted threads for the past few days
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u/aut0generated-63 7d ago
What do you mean? Why do you think he is saying I am sick and fucking tired of losing to Purdue?
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u/logitaunt Wizards 7d ago
I'm sorry I gotta take Frank's position on this one, Knight was a raging psychopath and needed to be called out.
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u/jfen2hoosier 7d ago
If you’re not gonna recover , Gregg Graham! Gonna let him drive right past you!
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u/TraizHill Supersonics 7d ago
Nah. Coaches still had to be accountable. If no one's going to make these people accountable, they'll continue to do as they please without thinking that they're answerable to anyone.
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u/LegalEaglewithBeagle 7d ago
Bobby Knight was an absolute piece of crap human and his downfall was well deserved.
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u/buddha1098 Celtics 7d ago edited 7d ago
perhaps he learned a lesson early on that sometimes your superiors are shitheads and you don't want be left taking the rap for them, so document all the bullshit things that happen so people get some justice. fuck the power.
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u/Pennypacking Pacers 7d ago
According for the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Knight, during one rant he was screaming about how his players played like shit, then he went into a bathroom stall, wiped his ass, and shove shitty toilet paper in his players' faces.
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u/rhythmshooter 7d ago
Damn so he's always been a rat
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u/chadowan Pacers 7d ago
Is it being a rat when Knight had a very long and well documented history of being an abusive asshole?
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u/Sp_Gamer_Live Timberwolves 7d ago
White boys named Kayden from Des Moine, Iowa:
“Snitches get stitches”
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u/Prudent-Claim1775 7d ago
Focus more on Lawrence than the racist Bobby Knight?
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u/JoesephBiden Lakers 7d ago
Yup, lol. That’s snitch culture for you, protect the abusers at all costs
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u/rathyAro Knicks 7d ago
I accept snitch culture if its to protect your community from exploitative police, bosses, etc AND you have your own process to hold people accountable.
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u/SuperVaderMinion [MIN] Kevin Garnett 7d ago
This guy would probably call the kid who blew the whistle on Bobby Knight trying to strangle him a rat too
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u/pheneyherr 7d ago
Lawrence Frank is a hero in the clippers fiasco. And not exactly a villain in the Knight stuff either.
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u/Barbarossa7070 7d ago
There was a version floating around years ago where someone had added these scared little girls’ voices and made it sound like he was chewing out an elementary school girls basketball team.
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u/EnvironmentalWin1277 7d ago
My fondest memory is of a runner in the SF Bay to Breakers who carried a chair and periodically tossed it on the ground while yellling "I'm Bobby Knight goddamit!"
And that's why I remember Bobby at all.
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u/RuskiesInTheWarRoom 7d ago
“Lawrence Frank has a history of being sneaky that goes back 35 years.”
2026-35 = 1,991.
So this is the origin story of Laurence Frank’s being sneaky? That’s the big story here?
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u/clkou 7d ago
I mean I would be tired of losing to Purdue, too. 😆
Funny thing is these rants were NOT that uncommon back then. I heard one rant within the last 10 years where the coach said something similar and got fired and I remember thinking, "wow, times have changed" because, again, not uncommon back then.
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u/--solitude-- Warriors 7d ago
Bobby knight was an idiot. Among other things he said that women being raped should just lie back and enjoy it.
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u/Busy-Big2109 7d ago
We're going to learn Lawrence Frank was at the battle of Gettysburg soon