Coaches Post-Game Handshakes Blow
Written by Sean Salisbury, Tuesday October 18 2011
I’m all about sportsmanship and being a great example of learning how to win and how to lose (which nobody enjoys). That being said let’s be real here…in the NFL we spend 60 minutes trying to beat the living shit out of each other. It’s physical it’s nasty it’s emotional it’s serious it’s their livelihood and when you lose, nobody feels like telling the guy who just kicked your ass “Boy you were great!”
To me, the political correctness of the postgame handshake is as overrated a gesture there is in sports. It’s time to do away with this insignificant stupid requirement. There are far more confrontations in the coaches postgame handshake than just the one you saw yesterday with Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz. They’re just not as blatant and as outwardly noticed as we saw in the 49ers game.
If coaches decide they want to go shake hands fine let them but let it be between the coaches themselves. This is not necessary to fake a pat on the back and kiss the other guy’s ass because the guy who won knows the guy who won isn’t sincere and the guy who lost is pissed and even if the guy who beat ya is your friend or mentor you still have this ache in your gut that tells you this postgame handshake crap is unnecessary.
To me it actually promotes trouble as emotions are too high and it's not fair to push this on the coaches. And while losing graciously is important, nobody feels gracious in those few quick seconds after a loss or a win. And please don’t give me the “learn to be a good loser line” because you show me a guy who loses good and I’ll show you a guy who loses a lot!
And here’s how we fix this postgame fraud – you take care of it pre-game while coaches are milling around as they all do before the game. ALL coaches socialize before the game, wishing each other luck, telling stories etc.… And that’s exactly when you say “Good luck, catch ya down the road” because everyone is in a good mood because they haven’t lost yet. Why the hell do you think the TV cameras focus on the postgame handshake – for the hope that something like what happened on Sunday will happen – it’s about ratings folks!
So let’s take care of the coach’s postgame pleasantries in the pregame where it belongs. No need to put two emotional men who care about their teams in a position to screw up! So eliminate political correctness allow sportsmanship to happen, shake hands and kiss babies in pregame – problem solved.
Sean Salisbury, former NFL quarterback and NFL analyst for ESPN, covers sports for www.playerpress.com. Follow him on Twitter @SeanUnfiltered and Facebook.com/seansalisburyunfiltered.
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