This is not true. Howard didn't even get in line to shake hands initially - he waited, and the announcers saw that and commented on that. Then when Howard approached Gard, and Howard dropped his mask and said, "I'll remember that ****[/url]", and you can see on the video Howard dropping his mask as he approaches Gard. That's when Gard reacted and stopped him, according to Gard to try to explain why he did what he did. Gard didn't stop Howard because he passed him or disrespected him - Howard started it by swearing at Gard first. Proof:
Thanks, I hadn't seen that when I posted earlier. Gard's behavior looks even worse to me than what was on TV; he reacted to the comment by getting in front of Howard, physically detaining him, and shouting angrily at him (can't tell if that's the f word there or not). Whether the initial trigger was a comment or just walking by (which would have non-verbally communicated the same thing), Gard significantly escalated things instead of de-escalating them. He stays in Howard's face even after Howard says get your hands off me until he's pulled away. We'll see how this sorts out but I'll think a lot less of him if he doesn't acknowledge that he could have handled this better. And he's got a history; it previously took a Come to Jesus intervention by his players before he admitted he had some issues as a coach. You just won the game, why do you have to be so angry? I have this problem too so I kind of know from it. BTW no one is suggesting that Howard didn't behave a lot worse, that's the 97/3.