Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard and Wisconsin basketball coach Greg Gard both acted like knuckleheads to varying degrees. That’s why both were punished to varying degrees following the nonsense that occurred in the handshake line after the two teams played in a Big Ten matchup the other day.
You have seen the commotion by now.
If you haven’t, you must be on a different planet and I don’t feel compelled to bring you to this one, so you’ll have to go to YouTube or somewhere and check it out for yourself.
Anyhow, you’ve seen it by now.
While I’m not in the least bit shocked about the dustup and melee that occurred in the handshake line, I am puzzled at the solution some have. We will get to that solution in just a bit.
But first, you see, I’m not surprised at all this happened.
We see this periodically.
When machismo and testosterone mix with an inability to mind your own damn business, we get this in sports. Someone says something to someone in the handshake line that the other person doesn’t like and --- WHAM! --- it pops off.
It jumps off.
People push and shove and maybe swing a bit.
Generally it is the result of the breaking of some silly unwritten rule (as was apparently the case here) but these things all seem to go down the same way and they happen from time to time.
Again, I’m not at all surprised. Stupid brawls happen in sports because, well, men get hotheaded and act stupid.
But what stunned and saddened me was the “solution” some had for this. Some went right from zero to 100 and started crying about ending the handshake line.
“We don’t need it!” they exclaimed.
“It’s unnecessary,” they whined.
“It’s so antiquated and it’s just a stupid tradition, anyway,” people shrieked.
Know what? Get over yourselves. All of you.
Logic would tell me there are hundreds of thousands of competitors throughout this country each week that participate in such a handshake line following athletic competitions of all sorts and it never rises to the level of having any angst.
Instead, it is a moment of respect, reflection and admiration for both your opponent and the endeavor in which you both pushed through. It is a time to congratulate someone not just for that game, but also understand they poured as much into what just happened whether they beat you or lost to you.
It is about respect, humility, reverence and, hell, just being a good person.
Have we lost our way so much as a society that we can’t partake in and appreciate such a moment? I sure hope not.
If we have, we really are doomed.
All that said, if you’re the kind of jerk who can’t adequately function within a handshake line, know what the problem is? I do. The problem is you.
It isn’t the system, the tradition, the task of gathering and shaking hands or that the ritual has run some sort of course.
The problem is you. Period.
Handshakes after games aren’t a problem. They never will be.
Jackasses after games are a problem. They always will be.