When the last guy said "Happy Thanksgiving" while announcing a new head coach on the second day of January, the bar for the next owner to clear in order to appear like a competent, public-facing individual and not a painfully awkward owner of the Washington football franchise could not have been lower. (Not to mention all of the scandals and all of *gestures hands around the entirety of the last two decades* that going on.)
But new Commanders majority owner Josh Harris had a minor flub during his appearance in the ESPN broadcast booth during the second quarter of his team's 29-28 preseason win over the Baltimore Ravens that was slightly reminiscent of the last fella. But in Kevin Sheehan's mind, this wasn't entirely Harris' fault. (Listen on the audio player below starting around the 14:20 mark.)
What happened was Joe Buck, in gesticulating shortly after Harris joined the booth, extended his hand toward the owner's space, which, well, lead to this awkward clasping of hands and a smile from Troy Aikman.
"First of all," Sheehan begins, "I don't care whether or not the owner is awkward or smooth or [a] not great communicator or [a] phenomenally smooth communicator. I only care that he's not Dan Snyder for right now.
"And ultimately I will care that he's a good owner. But for right now the only thing, like I said back in April, May, June, July, the story of the offseason wasn't Josh Harris and Mitchell Rales and Magic Johnson. The story – and it's still the story – is that Dan, amazingly is gone. Like last night there was a home game at FedEx Field and they were interviewing an owner of this franchise and he wasn't Dan Snyder."
While Harris' moment may have been awkward in a manner similar to Snyder (who would have never agreed to do an interview like that), it was not at all the same as the former owner's awkward nature because, as Sheehan noted, Harris comes off like a genuine person.
"He does to me, I don't know him, he comes off as genuine," Sheehan said. "And like everybody, there are going to be moments of awkwardness when you're not a person that lives in the limelight and he doesn't, he hasn't. Even though he has been a big-time sports owner."
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But Buck probably could help Harris out by shaking his hand and handling the situation a little better.
"He put his hand out there not for the purpose of shaking Josh Harris' hand," Sheehan continued. "...but once he realised that Josh thought that that he was shaking his hand, [Buck] shoulda shook his hand and said, 'This is really nice of you to join us here. Really, really appreciate it.'"
Of course, Buck's minor blunder is excusable as he is multi-tasking in the moment.
But, perhaps the best sign of all. A minor moment that could demonstrate how much the new regime is not going to be like the old one: The Commanders' social media team felt empowered to use the cringeworthy moment and use it as content.
Yes, this was an awkward moment, but one that shows there will be fewer bumps in the road ahead.
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