In the NFL this month, 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh and Lions head coach Jim Schwartz made headlines after their scuffle following a tense post-game handshake. Harbaugh was “exuberant,” Schwartz was “disappointed,” and the men let their emotions get the better of them. Everyone agrees that their behavior was shameful, but the incident awoke a debate in the blogosphere about one of the most visible, and some would say most superficial, displays of sportsmanship in professional sports.
Ross Tucker of ESPN.com, for example, does not like the post-game handshake that NFL coaches are compelled to share:
I understand that it is supposed to be about sportsmanship, and I respect that. Is it really sportsmanship, however, if it is an obligation? The fact that it is pretty much coerced takes all of the meaning out of the act.
If there is someone on the other team you know, or perhaps an opponent whom you respect and want to seek out after the game, then that is great. That is natural. That feels right. If not, and you just want to go into the locker room and shower, that’s fine too.
Hua Hsu of Grantland digs up a little history of NFL handshaking:
Most head coaches find the tradition irritating or, if you were to carefully ask some of the more outspoken, old-school types, evidence of how lax and PC things are these days… It’s an inorganic encounter engineered for televised sports, the closure-signifying equivalent of the frozen montage at the end of a sitcom. “I wish I could pinpoint the one seminal moment that made us, as viewers, [insist] they do it and we see it,” CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz admitted in [a 2007 article in the Boston Globe]. “But we in the media, all of us, have applied the pressure on the principals to [shake hands] and the directors have fallen in love with the shot. We cover and try to interpret what we see.”
Handshaking in the NFL is a relatively recent tradition. Anti-shakers like to point out that Vince Lombardi never shared post-game handshakes with opposing coaches. But in the NCAA, handshaking has been mandated by the American Football Coaches Association’s Code of Ethics since 1953.
In the Big 12’s weekly teleconference after the Harbaugh-Schwartz incident, Texas Longhorns Coach Mack Brown signaled that he would welcome the end of the NCAA post-game handshake requirement. Emotions are running to high for the shake to be carried out in a real spirit of sportsmandship, he said, as reported by the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune:
That’s why I’ve always tried to walk over, say, ‘Good game, good luck,’ and get out of there as fast as I can because it’s really sensitive… We want great sportsmanship, but I think you’re better off calling on Monday and saying, “Good game,” than at the heat of the moment, because coaches are so competitive. Our jobs are on the line.
But defenders of the shake, like Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, say that’s the entire point. The post-game handshake should be an opportunity to show mastery over one’s emotions, and to set an example for younger players:
It’s showing good sportsmanship. I think at the college level … it’s the proper thing to do. It sets an example for everybody watching. You either humble yourself and do it properly, or you suck it up when you’re on the other end and do it properly, too.”
So what do you think? Vote in our poll, comment below, and we’ll report on the results. Voting ends November 18.
Should professional and college coaches be expected to shake hands at the end of every game?
- Yes – Mastering your emotions and demonstrating that good will toward your opponents is the essence of sportsmanship. (84%, 81 Votes)
- No – Too often handshaking comes across as insincere or superficial. Coaches should save their energy for gestures of real sportsmanship. (16%, 15 Votes)
Total Voters: 96
Loading ...Image: Flickr user Svadilafari
In my humble opinion the more respect you have for your opponent the more respect you deserve. Did they give you a good game? Did they show you your team’s weakness?
There’s a great tradition in hockey where the teams line up and pass each other and share words after competing aggressively.
Professionals should be setting the example for our youth who are always trying to emulate them. We had an incident on our volleyball team this year where a player on our team sneered and pulled back her hand and would not congratulate the winning coach then turned, flung her head in the air and walked away leaving the coach standing there stunned. The parents in the audience were appalled by this behavior. from the professional all the way down to high school sportsmanship needs to be brought back to the forefront of the game. Really in ten years who won is not the issue because most people won’t even remember who won, but what is important is the lessons and experiences that the players take away from the game. By the way this player went on to an entire season of bad behavior one thing after another and i wonder if sportsmanship was taught right along with fundamentals if she could have been a stand out player instead of a mediocre player with a bad reputation. Unfortunately she has the skills and ability to be so much better but is hindered by the lack of sportsmanship and dedication. I feel the role models out there are responsible for alot of this attitude in our youth as well as parents that are misguided or non existent.
If these athletes and coaches truly respect the game they participate in then I would think they would have enough respect to sincerely shake their opponent’s hand at the end of a competition. Maybe it would mean more if it was somewhat organized. As Gary said above,look at the National Hockey League. At the end of each series during the playoffs, both teams line up and shake hands. They congratulate each other, wish each other luck, etc. The coaches are all involved in it too. This is a very intense sport to begin with, but when it’s playoff time it is even more intense, yet each member of each team lines up and shakes the hand of each of their opponents. This is even done at the end of the final game when one team wins the championship. The losing team waits on the ice for the winning team to finish their initial celebration and then they line up for the hand shake. What other sport does that? Lastly, these are grown men. Aren’t they mature enough to, even after a very competitive and emotional competition, look their competition in the eye and say “good job, well done”? We are living in a time when it is so uncommon to look our competition in the eye and say anything. What’s next? Will these professional athletes and coaches start texting their hand shakes and congratulations to each other?
Competition is (very) temporary, but relationships can last a lifetime. Not being able to congratulate an opposing coach on a job well-done after losing a game is horrible sportsmanship and sets an extremely bad example for our youth. Coaches have the responsibility, and more importantly, an opportunity to prepare kids for life.
[...] of professional football coaches scuffling on camera after a customary post-game handshake, we asked what you thought: Should post-game on-screen handshakes continue to be an expectation of NFL coaches? Or should the [...]