Live from London, England and getting ready for Chicago/Tampa Bay International Series V at Wembley on Sunday. The guest list is bursting at the seems for Saturday night’s big bash at Sports Cafe. Make sure you have RSVPed to jeff@rarn.net
Some extra-curricular activities took place on Sunday and this time it was initiated and involving head coaches. After a fantastic victory by the 49ers over the undefeated Lions, Niners coach, Jim Harbaugh was chased 20 yards down field by losing coach, Jim Schwartz, who took issue with a hard slap on the back at midfield. Schwartz, who has been known to take some shots and indulge in his share of fist pumps and victory celebrations apparently did not like being on the other end of the festivities.
In another move to make sure Tim Tebow cannot be successful, the Denver Broncos shipped off Brandon Lloyd, their most effective wide receiver to the St. Louis Rams in exchange for a conditional pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. OK, so we are making the move to Tim Tebow – oh, I know how we can help him, by taking away our best offensive downfield weapon. Clearly John Elway and coach John Fox have better ideas… at least we hope so.
MRI Monday includes a Head Coach & a player not even on a team. Head Coach Sean Peyton – surgery for broken leg after being rolled on by one of his own players and Jeff’s boyfriend, Jimmy Graham. Jason Campbell broke his collarbone and the Raiders would have liked to have considered the much bemoaning, David Garrard, but an MRI revealed herniated disk which will require surgery. Sam Bradford is listed as day-to-day with high ankle sprain and is sporting a walking boot his status for Sunday is in doubt. Jahvid Best suffered concussion. And finally, Peyton Hillis pulls a hamstring.
Speaking of Hillis, it seems that the Madden Curse Continues to affect players. Peyton Hillis, this year’s Madden 12 cover boy set to miss more time due to injury. He already missed one game with a virus and has now suffered an injured left hamstring vs the Raiders. He is scheduled to miss more time although the Browns don’t know how long he will be sidelined.
I would respectfully disagree with the idea that Schwartz is in the wrong. While I’m sure he displays some less than desirable traits of his own, in this instance, I feel it was Harbaugh who was in the wrong, and I probably would have reacted in just the same manner had I been in same situation as Schwartz. Harbaugh was jumping up and down, celebrating, slapping players and team personnel on the back and high fiving and he appeared to continue that celebration as he interacted with Schwartz, and Schwartz in no way wanted to be included in Harbaugh’s victory lap. As a head coach, you have to bring yourself back down to earth and at least have a professional exchange with the losing coach in the midfield handshake. I’ve heard a lot of commentators say that it wasn’t so much the hand shake as it was the back slap that set off Schwartz, but from the video I saw, it looked like he as much slapped Schwartz “five” as he did shake his hand. Maybe Schwartz is a jerk in his own right, and maybe he needed to be the bigger man, but I would have taken exception to Harbaugh’s actions had I been on the receiving end of his attempt to include me in celebrating his win.
Well, I can certainly see how you might think he was “trying to include Schwartz in the win”, but Schwartz has done his share of celebrating over opponents as well. I understand not liking the handshake, but chasing another head coach 20 yards down the field to try to make a point is silly and stupid, no matter what happened before.
No class, Schwartz just lost the something so important to him and his team and harbaugh hasn’t the decency to calm himself down for two seconds and show a little respect to another head coach. Vince Lombardi, John Madden, Don Shula, Bill Walsh, great coaches won massively more important games and always had the decency and class to calm themselves down and respect another coach not to slap their hand and back like a big kid. To your point steven Schwartz has done his fair share of celebrating over opponents be has always shown respect in the midfield handshake.
@Steven – I can see your point about it not being appropriate to chase Harbaugh down..but is your opinion colored because you don’t appreciate the way Schwartz comports himself during games (yelling “know the rules” over at Harbaugh after the challenge penalty?). Had it been Jason Garrett in that situation, and had Garrett done the same thing, would your view be different? I’m the last person to come to the defense of the Cowboys, but had that happened to Jason Garrett in Cowboys Stadium, I’d be all in favor of him confronting Harbaugh on it, even if he did have to chase him down to do it. Of course I think we all know that in reality, had that happened in Cowboy Stadium to the Cowboys, Rob Ryan would already have Harbaugh on the ground and would be pummeling him before Garrett would even be able to react. :-)