Handshake
 

I don't know whether or not the handshake thing happens here in WA (because we are gone after the horn goes off).

Questions: Was there a problem before this stupid rule was implemented?

If so, why didn't they just get rid of the handshake?

Rita

Rita,

The handshake is not required (at least under the playing rules), it is a custom in the game. Similarly to when Hockey teams (most people just stopped reading) shake hands after a post season series.

Peace

So stop it if it's a problem.

Rita

Are you kidding? Hockey is awesome. At least it was when Bobby Hull was playing. :)

I'd love to stop hockey, but I'm not king yet.

Seriously, the problem is not the handshake. The problem is that one particular state in the US has determined, in their infinite wisdom, that this meaningless go-through-the-motions postgame ritual can be made even more warm and fuzzy by having the game officials "preside" over the "ceremony." The kicker is that they get to do it with diminished authority.

Real men of genius.

Hockey is in an exciting time right now. Sid the Kid, Malkin, Tavares, the 2-3 guys who are fighting for the next #1 draft. That other Russian guy, from WSH I think. Not to mention the vets that are still doing well. Offensive hockey is making a comeback, I reckon.

Alex Ovechkin? ;)

[/hockey hijack]

Honestly, this is why you read the threads instead of assume what is in them. ;)

All they want the officials to do is monitor the players shaking hands and make sure nothing unsportsmanlike goes on. Normally, officials are off the floor and in the locker room. And in this case they want officials to stick around and watch something that we would not normally see. This invites right or wrong, comments and other unnecessary abuse to the officials. And only one state is making officials do this. I do not see this spreading for all the reasons I just stated.

Peace

Snaq, I hope that you understand that what's happened in MA is just garden-variety administrative mission creep. A bunch of bureaucrats acquire some power and forever after must justify their own existence. They do that according to the old idealists' motto, esse est percipi, "to be is to be perceived."

How do administrators get noticed? They change things, even things that don't especially need changing (you can't keep changing the same things, right?). Also good candidates for this kind of change are things that haven't been changed in years, and things that don't especially matter (like handshakes after games).

Sometimes, bureaucrats screw up, and they change something in a way that is inconsistent with something that matters or some higher bureaucrats' changes (like NFHS rules and mechanics). Typically, the lower bureaucrats will dig in at this point, since otherwise they lose face and appear incompetent.

And that's my happy holidays account of the post-game handshake situation in Mass. Happy holidays everyone! :)

As often as people get off topic? I don't think so.

I came late to this subject. So basically, there wasn't a problem. Just people who saw the Youtube videos and thought they should "prevent" something that hadn't happened yet.

What ever.

Rita