(Image Source: Twitpic ArashMarkazi)
BY SAMUEL JOSEPH
ANCHOR JIM FLINK
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Sportsmanship took a backseat after the San Francisco 49ers handed the Detroit Lions its first loss of the season. Fox Sports shows you what happened.
ANCHOR: “Jim Harbaugh celebrating the Niners victory. A quick handshake and, you know, some kind of a wooo in front of Jim Schwartz. Schwartz takes exception to it. Some of the Lions players do as well, pushing and shoving as they’re going in to the locker room. Schwartz, then looked like he was pushing some of his guys away to make sure a fight didn’t break out. Schwartz is losing it. Harbaugh faded to the back of the pack, but then his team comes to his defense. The Lions stand their ground.”
It never went any further than pushing and shoving and the teams soon backed down. Both coaches have a different explanation for the event. ESPN has their words.
JIM HARBAUGH: “Totally on me. I shook his hand too hard. And I really went in and it was a strong, you know, kind of a slap grab handshake.... That was on me. A little too hard of a handshake.”
JIM SCWARTZ: “I went to congratulate Coach Harbaugh and got shoved out of the way. And then didn’t expect an obscenity at that point. So it was a surprise to me at the end of the game.”
An investigation is under way as to what happened- but some analysts have been quick to place blame on the 49ers coach. An anchor for the NFL Network says Harbaugh was out of line for a coach.
ANCHOR: “This is tradition. Meet at the middle of the field. It’s been going on when he’s playing and now that he’s coaching. So it’s not that he blanked out. He understood this process. I understand you’re excited and all that. But right now do what you what you have to do. Go touch the guy’s hand the right way. You’re not playing football, Jim. And that’s what it is. You are not a football player, you are a coach.”
But - some say you gotta blame Schwartz too. On NBC’s Football Night in America - Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison think Schwartz should have just walked away.
TONY DUNGY: “I think when you lose the game, I’ve had some handshakes with coaches that I didn’t appreciate. And when you lose, you just gotta go to the locker room.”
RODNEY HARRISON: “And I think the only thing is Jim Schwartz has to understand Jim Harbaugh. He’s coming from a college atmosphere and the guy gets excited. He didn’t purposefully try to do that. I’m joking now, but he didn’t purposefully try. I’ve played with the guy, he’s a good guy. He’s not that type of person.”
And others- like a blogger for Bleacher Report- are wondering why people think this is a big deal.
“If this wasn't Jim Harbaugh and Jim Schwartz but just two players, would we even be talking about this? We wouldn't be. The media is making a big deal about this because it’s two coaches—so what. Both coaches are young and very passionate about football. They were both in the wrong. Let’s move on.”
So what do you think about the two coaches getting into it? Let us know in our comments section.
Transcript by Newsy.