Originally Posted By: pizzaboy
Originally Posted By: goombah

Re: Manning walking off the field. This is something that is also completely overanalyzed by the media, particularly in the last 5 years. The only incident that was classless was Belichick refusing to shake another head coach's hand after losing a few years ago. LeBron walking off the court after losing to Orlando last year and Peyton Manning are both non-stories.


I agree, Goom. As far as a classless act to match Belichick's, I have to go way back to the Pistons in '91, when the Bulls finally got past them. Not only wouldn't they shake hands with Jordan, Pippen and company, they started to walk off the court while there was still time left on the clock.

The strange thing is that their coach, Chuck Daly, was one of the all-time class guys in the history of the NBA (a nifty dresser, too). But Isiah, Salley, Dumars, Laimbeer, Rodman, et al. displayed one of the single greatest showings of poor sportsmanship that I ever recall in a "Big Four" sporting event.


To put it mildly there was a lot of bad blood between Detroit/Chicago and specifically between Thomas/Laimbeer and Jordan. whistle

But let the record show that Dumars did indeed stay behind and shake Jordan's hand. Thomas shook McHale's hand despite years of similar bad blood between Detroit/Boston and Parish's vicious attack on Laimbeer. There was something about Thomas and Jordan that just rubbed the other guy the wrong way beyond the normal limits of sports decorum.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.