THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Focus on the journey, not the final result

I’ve always agreed with Bobby Knight on one issue.

(Yes, THAT Bobby Knight.)

It’s hard to think of more than one, because whenever I’ve had any interaction with Knight, he’s been insulting me personally — or slapping at my profession.

The highlight of these jousts came during my years in the Midwest, when I was covering Illinois basketball and there were a bundle of wild rivalry games against Indiana.

During a media conference after one buzzer-beater, I asked Knight why he had switched from man-to-man defense to a zone in the second half.

It seemed like a reasonable question.

“Did you see the damn game?” he shouted back at me (and the gathering in general).

“You gotta be a moron!”

And with that, he stormed out of the room.

Most of the reporters present had seen that act on other occasions.

If Knight didn’t want to talk about a game that had gone wrong, he’d hiss at a question and use that as an excuse to leave.

Of course, he was no friend of the media in general.

“I think we all learn to write in the second grade,” he once said, “but most of us go on to greater things.”

SO, YOU feel the animosity here, correct?

Bobby Knight was a hell of a basketball coach, but not the kind of guy I’d invite over for coffee.

This is the man who once was asked by a female reporter how he handled stress, and he replied: “If rape is inevitable, just relax and enjoy it.”

Knight ultimately was fired by Indiana University, but it should have happened the morning after that remark.

Anyway …

Yes, there is something in the overall sports landscape on which Knight and I share an identical view.

I’m bringing him into the discussion because he’s probably the best-known personality who has sounded off on the subject.

The issue?

We have become so caught up in postseason playoffs or tournaments in every sport, results from the regular season are now almost ignored.

Knight has always claimed that’s wrong, and I agree a hundred percent.

“Everyone looks at winning the NCAA tournament (Knight did it three times),” he said. “That’s just rolling the dice.

“It’s tougher and more of an accomplishment to win the Big Ten.”

This is a perfect time of year to address the subject, because the NBA and NHL finals are just getting started.

In a bit of irony (and perfect for the point I’m making), each sport matches a team with an outstanding regular season record against an outsider that barely scraped into the playoffs.

In the NHL, Vegas won the Western Conference and absolutely belongs in this showdown series, while Florida made it into the field by one tiny point — then got flaming hot, knocking off far superior teams in Boston and Carolina.

The NBA, meanwhile, features powerhouse Denver against upstart Miami.

What is it about these south Florida teams crashing the party, anyway?

Seriously, now …

Besides that geographical oddity, what we have in both series is the possibility that a team that accomplished zilch over the regular-season grind might wind up holding the title trophy.

Doesn’t that seem upside down?

CLOSER TO home, we’ve gotten used to Gonzaga having one brilliant season after another.

Entry into the Big Dance feels almost like a birthright.

And yet …

The Zags are considered something of a failure on the national stage, simply because they haven’t won an NCAA championship.

Never mind that they’ve made it to the Sweet Sixteen in eight straight tournaments — a current streak longer than any other school — or that they’ve played in the title game twice since 2017.

Boneheaded pundits like to rip the Zags, and Mark Few, as some sort of chokers who can’t handle the big-name teams when it counts.

What absolute nonsense.

It’s infuriating that Gonzaga’s records — and that of the Seahawks since 2013, for that matter — are tossed in the trash solely because they haven’t won it all.

This whole postseason triumph-or-nothing mindset drives me crazy on several levels — but one of them is that it dismisses the entire wonderful experience athletes enjoy during their seasons.

Washington State’s hoop teams didn’t win any national trophies last year, but the men sure had a great time pounding Arizona in Tucson.

The flight home from that trip probably had the dreamy feel of an NCAA championship.

Same thing for last season’s Mariners, who broke their playoff drought on Cal Raleigh’s blast, seized a wild-card series in Toronto, and eventually lost to a Houston team that won the World Series.

Those Mariners and their fans throughout the Northwest had a whole lot of fun.

My “pal” Bobby Knight had it right all along.

The games and the fans and the sheer joy of sports are where our feelings and thrills belong.

If you win a championship, great.

But that’s just a bonus.

The season-long journey is the cool part.

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”