The Zoo Continues Unabated, Part 2

Two more stories where the excrement has hit the air circulator...

First, it is no longer desirable (it's not outright banned, but the state association doesn't want it going on anymore), at a high school sporting event in the state of Kentucky, to engage in the handshake line, according to Yahoo! Sports.

Not for the reason you think, but the exact opposite:  The KHSAA (the Kentucky High School Athletic Association) has registered over two dozen major incidents of poor sportsmanship in the handshake lines the last three years (with incidents in all three major fall sports this year), and can no longer justify their continued usage, given they can no longer trust the students of the state of Kentucky to act like human beings (forget the parents and coaches and the like!).

Here's a thought, Kentucky:  Don't worry yet about how you can "marry the importance of sportsmanship to an event where their players can't shake hands with their opponents", as the article puts so many Kentucky athletic directors struggling to do.

You have to get the first half of that equation down first.  Force sportsmanship into the equation (and, yes, I used "force" intentionally), or you have nothing to marry to this situation, and no need to continue high school sports at all, at that point.

I fear that the KHSAA may have few other options should this continue.  If this step is necessary, the termination of high school sports (on a case-by-case basis or in general) must then also come.

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And then you get to the latest UFC news, and showing why Dana White doesn't take any shit from anybody.

Like him or not (and I know people in both camps), it's clear that Dana White is not afraid to make a statement.

Dana White has, permanently and forever, thrown Rousimar Palahares out of the UFC.

Why?

Because Rousimar Palahares, on more than one occasion, doesn't realize Rule Zero of MMA, and one of the main reasons that MMA is always on the edge of getting banned in a number of North American jurisdictions:  This is not Thunderdome.  When the match is over, THE MATCH IS OVER.

He has, twice now, excessively held a heel hook (his main submission hold) after the fight was declared over.  The second incident marred a victory this week on a live UFC telecast.

Heel hooks are some of the most dangerous submission moves out there.  It does not take much (and I know from a single angry incident where a misplaced kick bruised a heel and set off plantar fascitis) to bust something up seriously in the heel or foot.

Dana White is making it clear:  That's not going to in the Octagon.