Shaken and Disturbed
Is it too much to ask that adults don’t take a swing at other adults when shaking hands at the end of a basketball game?
Wisconsin coach Greg Gard and Michigan coach Juwan Howard apparently could not make it through the handshake line without starting a scene. Howard was the worse offender, escalating the situation twice and ultimately striking a Wisconsin assistant coach in the head, which led to some players throwing punches as well.
And yet, several ESPN personalities came to Howard’s defense. Damien Woody thought the whole situation was funny. Ryan Clark worried that “they’re gonna try to bury” Howard now, because Howard was the real victim here all along. Howard, a 6’9” former basketball player, tried to claim that he was defending himself from the much shorter Gard. Howard was so determined to defend himself that he walked back to the confrontation to smack a Wisconsin coach who wasn’t Gard.
But Kendrick Perkins and Dick Vitale had the most infantilizing take: Handshake lines should be eliminated entirely. Sure, high school athletes can get through them with no problems, but Juwan Howard can’t. Instead of expecting him to act like an adult for 30 seconds, why not just eliminate the small moment of sportsmanship after the game?
It isn’t hard to get through a handshake line. If you’re upset, all you have to do is shut off your brain, repeat “good game” a dozen or so times, and leave. Have we really abandoned every notion of personal responsibility that that is too much to ask of a 50-year-old coach who is responsible for leading a group of 18-year-old players?
Luckily not everyone is on board. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo promised his team would shake hands with air if other schools decided to forego the line. Perhaps his rivals at Michigan could have Howard do the same during his suspension. Practice makes perfect, after all.