I thought I was out...

Dear readers

As Michael Corleone said in the oft overlooked yet still excellent third installment of the "Godfather" series, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

And that is the case here. 

I'm sure at this point you have read or heard about the incident involving the Michigan and Wisconsin men's basketball teams and coaches. If you haven't here is a brief summary. Wisconsin had a substantial lead over Michigan with little time left in the game. The Wisconsin coaches took a timeout with few seconds left upsetting the head coach, Juwan Howard, of the Michigan Wolverines. During the handshake line, he, and the coach for Wisconsin, Greg Gard, got into it with Coach Howard striking a Wisco assistant, Joe Krabbenhoft, setting off a skirmish between the teams. 

Coach Howard was suspended the rest of the regular season, both programs were fined, some players were suspended, and it set off a small discussion on whether or not teams should be required to shake hands after a game, especially in an emotional or tense setting. 

I'm not going to pass judgement on either program or coach. I do believe that the suspension was warranted. You cannot lose control as the head coach. But who was right, who was wrong, was the timeout crossing an unwritten rule, I haven't any idea.

Although I will say this:

I hate the commonplace of the, "unwritten rules." I hear or read that and I want to throw up. That's extreme old school, so old school that everyone's great grandparents find them antiquated. 

Sports are emotional. I've said that for the entirety of this blog. Sports are emotional. They change on the fly. When there is more at stake, the emotions run higher. 

I won't defend either coach for what took place. But I will say that those who are Monday morning quarterbacking the situation, calling for coaches to be fired, are wrong and either have not participated in sport at this level, or are forgetting themselves. The first piece of advice I received as a coach was that the older you get, the better you were, and I believe, 100 percent, that anyone comparing this situation to something that they would do is following that advice to the letter. 

I won't get into the emotions of this but I'll say that those who are judging the situation are incorrect. We have a double standard for life and for sport. We often say that when you're not ready to apologize, then don't apologize. Take the time to figure out what went wrong, what you did wrong, how you could have reacted better, and then respond. We understand that for an apology to be sincere, there has to be thought and deliberation behind it. There needs to be some soul searching. And yet we expect coaches and athletes, especially at higher levels - college, professional - to set aside these basic fundamentals we demand as individuals, and somehow act on a higher plain of existence. 

John Canzano, a sports reporter I find...let's say that I believe he is wrong 110 percent of the time, made a point yesterday about coaches. Some hold grudges. Some hold grudges for a lengthy period of time. Some coaches have shouting matches on the field or court and then at a conference meeting - typically preseason - or another session, will come together and hash out their differences in a setting that's not rife with the emotions of a contested outcome. 

I hold grudges, and I myself have done some things I wouldn't say were 100 percent professional but certainly driven by emotions. I have a personal grudge against several coaches, none of whom would know this by our interactions. But I have gone out of my way, or will continue to go out of my way to rub things in their face. An example: I have a rule that all medals must be tucked into the shirt after being won. We do not walk around with the medals hanging out for everyone to see. Everyone knows the result, they saw the race, they've seen the sheet. But on several occasions with two different coaches, I had my crews walk by their program's tent with the medals out. I recall telling my crews, "Take your medals out. I want them to see them and hear them clank against each other as you walk by," the point being that my crews had earned multiple medals and that program in question had not. 

A proud moment? Absolutely not. An emotional moment? You bet your ass it was. Would I do it again? I've grown older and more mature so I certainly hope not but just the other day I did tell a coaching friend that will consider sending one program a postcard from the nationals location writing, "This is as close as you'll ever get."

Again, not mature, but emotional. 

That doesn't excuse my behavior or motivation. Emotion doesn't excuse what took place between Michigan and Wisconsin. 

But it is the reason.