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KINNEY: Handshakes will not end war, hunger or health care debate
Pre-game shake is supposed to signify sportsmanship.
NORMAN — For those who spent their weekend watching college football, you may have noticed something disturbing about some of the games. And I’m not talking about offensive lineman jumping offside. (See OU-BYU).
This summer the American Football Coaches Association asked coaches around the country to have their players take part in a pre-game handshake. Not just captains, like they do now, but full teams. And the handshake would take place at midfield.
The pre-game shake is supposed to signify sportsmanship.
“It is symbolic,” said Grant Tearff, who heads the AFCA. “But it is, we think, a very important initiative.”
Along with the Sooners and Cougars, several schools around the country took part in the inaugural handshake. That included longtime rivals Miami-Florida State Monday night.
However, coaches from Oklahoma and Georgia wanted nothing to do with it.
“Our first concern was [we’ll] have 115 guys out there and they’ll have 70, it just takes one guy to pop off,” OSU coach Gundy said. “Then I don’t know how you’re going to break it up. How do you control something like that?”
The Pokes went on to beat Georgia without having to shake hands before the game and no incidents taking place during or after the contest.
The University of Oregon wasn’t so lucky. The Ducks took on Boise St. Thursday and the two teams displayed the type of sportsmanship the AFCA wanted. However, once the game was over, the handshakes didn’t stop Oregon tailback LeGarrette Blount from punching BSU defensive end Bryan Hout in the face. The entire incident was caught on tape and showed over and over. Along with Blount shaking hands before the game with his opponents.
But according to Tearff, the handshakes may have kept the punch from turning into an all-out riot.
“I thought to myself, ‘What would have happened if they hadn’t shaken hands before the game?’ “Tearff said to ESPN. “This wasn’t a fight. This wasn’t a brawl. I was impressed by the coaches and players who showed restraint and self-control last night. That would have been a brawl back in the day. This was one player who was frustrated and infuriated and lost control.”
Sadly, I have to disagree with Tearff and the entire initiative. If a player or team wants to fight, they are going to fight. No pre-game handshake is going to stop that.
To have young, fully testosteroned players come together in mass before a game is asking for trouble. All it takes is for one of them to flip off and say the wrong thing. Then the brawls Tearff is hoping to avoid would become inevitable.
Coaches are worried about sportsmanship and the antics that many college, high school and pro players have displayed the last decade or so and think its gone too far. That may be so, but a handshake is not going to stop it.
If coaches just teach their players at any level to always play hard, respect their opponents and play to win, everything else will take care of itself. And take it from someone who talked his share of noise during his playing days, there is no handshake in the world that is going to teach a player that.
Michael Kinney
366-3537
Mkinney@mooreamerican.com
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