Angry coaches, angry teams
Is it just my imagination, or are there a lot of angry sports people out there?
In the last week, there were at least three highly public spats after football games. In each case, there was some trash talking between coaches and/or players. In one case, it escalated into a near-riot.
Whatever happened to the friendly post-game handshake? Actually, that was part of the problem — at least after the Detroit Lions-San Francisco 49ers game. In that case, Niners coach Jim Harbaugh gave an overly enthusiastic handshake to Lions’ coach Jim Schwartz, which led to the two being separated.
After the Vanderbilt-Georgia game, Vandy coach James Franklin was upset at a Georgia player for rubbing the outcome in his face, resulting in words with UGA defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.
Then there was the Southern-Arkansas-Pine Bluff post-game “mixer.” That was a case of overcooked emotions.
So the question I’m asking is whether this is business as usual or something new? Post-game fights are sort of a tradition in prep and college sports. But is it happening more than it used to? What makes this interesting to me is that coaches were involved in at least two of the three incidents?
My only observation is that it’s hard for a coach to keep his team under control when he’s not all the way there.