Podcast: A Season on the Brink by John Feinstein

Thank you for checking out the Torg Stories Podcast. Today, my sister Anne and I revisit a major feature of our childhoods: Coach Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers. As a catalyst for conversation, we read John Feinstein’s 1986 book about the Indiana men’s basketball team, A Season on the Brink.

Some relevant dates in relation to myself and my sister Anne when it comes to Bob Knight, John Feinstein and his book A Season on the Brink.

• 1971. Knight comes to Indiana. I’m a one year old living in Logansport, Indiana. Mankind is two years away from the arrival of Anne. As my wife Megan would say, Anne is still in God’s pocket.
• 1981. I’m 11 and Anne is 8, Isiah Thomas leads the Hoosiers to the title, Knight’s second title.
• 1956-86 Season: Feinstein embeds with the Hoosiers and they have a bounce back season.
• 1986. A Season on the Brink comes out and the Hoosiers go on to win the title in the spring of 1987. I’m a sophomore in high school. Anne is a seventh grader.
• Fall of 1991, Anne enrolls as a freshman at Indiana. The Hoosiers are coming off a Big Ten title. That spring the Hoosiers go to the final four.
• Spring of 1993 the Hoosiers win the Big Ten title again. Anne is a sophomore.
• 2000 Knight’s last season at Indiana.

What memories and/or connections do you have with Coach Knight Indiana Hoosier teams?

• My earliest memories are of my elementary friends Kevin Keller, Curt Kline, and Brian Tomson really getting after me when Purdue would beat Indiana. When there are big rivalries or sports hate for teams, it’s often the opposing fans in your life that fuel this more than the team.
• I believe we saw the Blab team play in the NIT.
• Car trouble. An answered prayer. Calloway’s dad selling us the tickets.
• Leaving the family room during the 1987 title game to watch it by myself in the basement. I watched that game over and over on VHS tape.
• Going to the coaching clinics and practices.
• An assistant coach leaving me in the film room to copy tapes.
• Being on a flight with Knight from Charlotte to New York and catching up to him in the airport.

Passages to Read:

• p. 38. Chapter 4. The Idea of a Mentor Text. (My Losing Season) I’d love to write a book like this about coaching with daughters on the team. Interesting to me that chapter 4 starts the first practice. What to write before it. How can I gather up the details so that when my daughters aren’t working out with me, I can write the book, even if just for myself and my family.
• p. 41 about getting thrown out of practice. This shows the “what it’s like” to play for Knight.
• p. 46. Knight’s recruiting pitch.
• p. 56. November in Indiana…
• p. 67. The walk-though section.
• p. 71. What’s it like in the Indiana locker room? That’s the kind of thing people really ate up.
• p. 174. The passage about Mrs. Rink and dinner.
• p. 204. Super Bowl story including Alford FTs.
• p. 268. The Knight coaching tree.
• p. 307. Feinstein on Knight.

Golden Lines:

• p. 40. “The problem with calling Daryl Thomas a p****,” he said one night, “is that he believes you.”
• p. 58. You can beat a bad team with a press but not a good team.
• p. 65. Do you really think that God is going to help a team that I’m coaching?
• p. 73. Over the next twenty days, they would have one day off. They would practice twenty four times, look at endless hours of tape, and receive absolute hell from their coach.
• p. 86. His fundamental approach to motivation has never changed: fear is his number weapon.
• p. 114. I want people to understand that our way is the best way to play.
• p. 134. He’s not a man, he’s a set of rules.
• p. 178. Do you think we’ll ever catch another fish?
• p. 216 If a bad kid screws up you get rid of him. If good kid screws up you do what you have to do and let it go at that. Rules just get you in trouble.

Questions/Observations for discussion:

1. The access. It’s like the Halberstam book we read, The Breaks of the Game.
2. The Mind Games. Fear. Does it work? It works until it doesn’t and the team is happy the season is over.
3. POV: interesting how much is in the present tense, but sometimes, Feinstein goes to the POV where he knows what is coming.
4. Whew, the late nights. Tape after the game. The late night eating.
5. I appreciated moving through the games pretty fast. The play by play and. the score is less interesting than the motivational tactics and what the locker room looks like, the things Knight says looking back and looking ahead.
6. Wow, Damon Bailey comes onto the scene as an 8th grader.
7. The player who isn’t there seems better than the one he’s working with.
8. The addition of the three point shot. The ’87 title team was also the first year for the 3, 19’9.
9. Where are we at with Hoosier fandom?
10. What do we think of Bloomington as a town?

Feinstein books I’ve read: (he’s written 44 books in total, age 66, went to Duke)

• 1986 A Season on the Brink. Wow, it was the first one.
• 1989. A Season Inside.
• 1995. A Good Walk Spoiled.
• 1998 A March to Madness.
• 1999. The Majors.
• 2001 The Last Amateurs.
• 2006. Last Dance.
• 2007. Tales from Q School.
• 2016. The Legends Club. 2017. the First Major.
• 2020. The Back Roads to March.
• I might enjoy the Feherty book!

Where are they now? How did it turn out?

1. Steve Alford. 6 years older than me. Same birthday. At Nevada.
2. Damon Bailey. A year younger than me and 51. Drafted by the Pacers. Didn’t play in regular season NBA game. Quite a bit of coaching including a girls state champ at Bedford. Co owns Hawkins Bailey Warehouse.

Up next: Season 1 of Ted Lasso

A look ahead to Ted Lasso Season 1…the challenge of being interesting. What’s an interesting book about a TV show? Books about TV shows:

1. Click here for the NPR article on the 7 ways to write about television.

Thanks for listening to the podcast!