Fort Worth, Texas ? Bob Knight’s acolytes and apologists have another reason to ask “Why, oh why, does the media hate coach Knight?”

Unlike the coach in question, who has no problem painting with a broad brush, I’ll answer for myself. I don’t hate coach Knight. He’s a brilliant man who knows more basketball than any living person. After Texas Tech’s season ended with a loss to Southern Illinois, Knight couldn’t have been more gracious or giving in his praise for his opponent.

But here’s where I get off the Knight train. For all his positive traits, his 787 victories, his graduation rates and his spotless record with the NCAA high sheriffs, the bottom line on Robert Montgomery Knight is that he is a selfish, vindictive, hypocritical bully.

Friday night my assignment was to attend a book signing in Denton where Knight would be autographing copies of his biography, “Knight: My Story. (After reading the 375 self-serving, rationalizing pages, I would amend the title to read “Knight: My Story … And I’m Sticking To It.”

My assignment changed when the “Star-Telegram” ran a story Friday that questioned some business practices used by Knight’s son, Tim, an assistant athletic director at Tech. Speaking to a Tech booster club Friday, Bob Knight trashed the story, labeling it as “inaccurate.” My mission was to get Bob Knight to elaborate on his comment.

Knight, fixing me with a stare reserved for referees and Indiana University presidents, in so many words told me to get lost. Knight presented no facts to refute our story. In chemistry terms, Knight was gaseous, not solid.

Knight’s genius is that he plays people. He played Texas Tech’s administrators into hiring him and giving him “carte blanche”. Knight delivered a winning team. All is happy in Lubbock. For now.

Will the school’s audit of Tim Knight’s activities set off Bob Knight? Knight has been calm and content mainly because he has surrounded himself with a layer of trusted bobos and he knows that no one at Tech is going to tell him it’s chicken droppings for Knight to deny a media credential because he doesn’t like a reporter or a paper.

Bob Knight gets mad, then he gets even. That qualifies as bullying. Unless you’re a Knight fan, in which case you’re like one of the 200 or so fans who showed up in Denton on Friday night.

Knight has been promoting (shilling?) his book all over the country. He’s been on every talk show this side of “Oprah”, and the talking heads have been more than happy to have him but on Knight’s terms.

On March 26, Knight was scheduled as a guest of Bill O’Reilly, the Fox News Channel’s Rotweiler/interviewer. Knight was a No Show. Noting that Knight was the first guest in two years to stiff his show, O’Reilly said: “That says a lot about Bob Knight. He is not a man of honor.”

When Knight sauntered on stage to meet Jay Leno, he was carrying a … folding chair. Hilarious. I laughed so hard I cried. What a card, that coach Knight. And as a bonus he was on network TV, hitting a few more softball questions out of the park and shoving his book a few more rungs up the bestseller list. Knight and his chair sight gag was a priceless glimpse at this flawed coaching icon. Only Knight makes fun of Knight. With him, there’s only Knight … and wrong.