By Michael Letendre

This morning, TBE has been talking about end of game handshake lines in scholastic sports and the need to eliminate that practice.

This is the third and final installment of this issue and this writer, who has been around the Bristol scholastic scene since 1990, has seen the best and worst of traditions that high school athletics still employ.

Hey, I’m as old school as anyone when it comes to scholastic sports (note the big clipboard I tow around with me to various football, basketball and baseball games instead of the computers all these young whippersnappers seem to employ with mixed results) but the end of game handshakes doesn’t need to take place again.

And there’s an easy method that would eliminate the need for huffy and angry athletes that probably don’t want to shake an opponent’s hand after a stinging loss or a close win for that matter.

So, what can be done? 

Shake hands before the game, not after

It’s simple: shake hands before the game.

Let’s give credit to Southington boys basketball head coach Ed Quick for this excellent method.

On February 14 of this year, Eastern traveled to Southington for a CCC interdivisional tilt and before the opening lineups, the teams were standing on opposite sides of the court.

Without any fanfare, Quick called Eastern coach Bunty Ray over to center court.

The coaches then shook hands before the game and the teams followed suit.

And before a trickle of bad blood could be spilled, the teams showed grace, sportsmanship and the situation turned into one of the better moments of the year.

Now, the teams also shook hands at the end of the game as Southington won 68-53.

But if the handshake line never formed at the end of the game, that would have been fine.

Before the first jump ball was even tossed in the air, the teams exchanged greetings, good luck was heaped upon both programs and win or lose, the need for handshakes at the end of the showdown was bluntly eliminated.

Give Quick credit on that move though it was funny to see Coach Ray’s face because he, and anyone from Eastern, truly didn’t know what was going on before the CCC interdivisional contest could commence.

And if the teams think shaking hands shouldn’t commence at all, there’s precedence for that as well. 

Back to the pandemic

Just like games during the pandemic in 2021, the Eastern/Southington ending could have been met with a wave and a ‘good luck or so long.’

That’s one of the different practices that was instituted during COVID and the first time I saw that at the completion of the game, I absolutely loved it.

The need for upset athletes, forced to shake hands at the end of a heated contest, was completely removed, which was a good thing when the Eastern boys took battled New Britain in Bristol on March 18, 2021.

With about ninety second left in regulation, a member of each team started fighting but order was quickly restored.

The Hurricanes won the game 50-47 and fortunately, the coaches exchanged quick waves after the game and that was that.

No handshakes, no headaches, and no added tomfoolery.

With the emotion of the game, the handshake line was a great omission that evening.

Times are changing

With the shot clock looming for the 2023-24 season, let’s also change the end-of-game handshake lines that could be doing more damage than good for our athletes.

Hopefully, our friends at the collegiate level will follow suit as all this violence has no place in sports.

I like tradition but the handshake line is something we should all do without at the end of basketball (and other scholastic) games.

Unless you enjoy all the tomfoolery that the handshake line could bring at the end of a hotly contested game, let’s make a small change for the better.

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